January 2017 – Page 4 – Theatre Things

Interview: Guillaume Pigé, The Nature of Forgetting

Published on January 11, 2017January 11, 2017 by Liz1 Comment

“The name of the company comes from the prefix ‘re’. It is the ‘re’ of re-discovering and re-imagining. For us it is not about inventing but about breathing new life into what is already there.”

Guillaume Pigé founded Theatre Re in 2009 while in training at the International School of Corporeal Mime in London. He was joined in 2011 by Katherine Graham, Malik Ibheis and Alex Judd and an international ensemble was formed, producing work that combines mime and theatre to examine fragile human conditions. Their last show, Blind Man’s Song, was a surprise (to me, anyway) entry in my top 10 of 2016, and they’re now looking ahead to the world premiere on 18th January of their latest project, The Nature of Forgetting.

Photo Credit: Richard Davenport for The Other Richard

Inspired by recent neurobiological research and interviews with people living with dementia, the show tells the story of Tom, as he’s re-awakened on his 55th birthday by the tangled threads of his disappearing memories.

“As a company we work very collaboratively, and for this project we started by doing things, by moving, by playing,” says Guillaume. “A few objects very rapidly became central to the piece, like the wooden school desks for instance. We also collaborated with UCL Neuroscience Professor Kate Jeffery and interviewed older people and people living with dementia. The point was not to collect their stories or what they remembered, but to explore how they remembered. This was fascinating. The main question that guided our exploration was: what is left when memory is gone? We could not put the answer into words…so we made a show about it.”

The collaboration with Professor Jeffery proved invaluable to the creation of the piece: “She not only helped us to understand memory mechanisms, but she also helped us to gain a better understanding of the information we were getting through our interviews,” explains Guillaume. “She was also in rehearsal with us to support our physical and visual dramaturgy. In fact, this collaboration went so well that we will be organising a seminar with Professor Jeffery at UCL about the science behind the making of the show ahead of our premiere, where we will discuss how the concepts of the neurobiology of memory has shaped the making of the work.”

One of the unique features of Theatre Re’s work is composer and musician Alex Judd’s live music, which has been part of the company’s previous shows Blind Man’s Song, The Little Soldiers and The Gambler. “Alex’s music for this show is absolutely gorgeous and all created live from more than ten instruments on stage! It has all been composed in the rehearsal room as the piece was being developed. The music and the sounds are totally integral to the performance. Also, for the first time, Alex is joined on stage by a percussionist, Keiran Pearson, who adds different timbres, colours, and textures to the score.”

The show was also inspired by the work of theatre director Tadeusz Kantor: “I was originally drawn to the work of Tadeusz Kantor because the world of childhood memories (long term memory) became very rapidly central to the development of The Nature of Forgetting. I was especially inspired by pieces such as The Dead Class and Wielopole.

“While watching those pieces, I was fascinated by the mysterious raw visual and physical poetry that was developed on stage. Especially the use of ‘poor objects’ and the work of the actors; stylized and yet so real.”

The show premieres next week as part of the London International Mime Festival. For those not sure if mime is for them, Guillaume shares what first attracted him to the art form: “Everything. Absolutely everything. The disciplines, the imagination, the technique, the freedom, the vocabulary, the figures, the pieces and the whole world around it…

“I would like the audience to come out of the theatre with both a smile on their face and a tear in their eye.”

Book now for Theatre Re’s The Nature of Forgetting at Shoreditch Town Hall from 18th-20th January.

Interview: John Risebero, Henry V

Published on January 9, 2017July 22, 2018 by Liz1 Comment

John Risebero is co-director and designer of award-winning theatre company Antic Disposition, along with co-founder and director Ben Horslen. Next month they’ll be reviving their acclaimed production of Henry V; previously performed in France, with two London runs and a 2016 national tour, the show is taking to the road once more, giving audiences another chance to see what British Theatre called “one of the most impressive revivals of a Shakespeare play that I have seen in recent years”.

Founded in 2005, Antic Disposition have become known for their innovative interpretations of classic texts, particularly the works of Shakespeare – and the timing of this particular production was no accident. John explains: “We’d wanted to stage Henry V for several years but because we always tour our Shakespeare plays in France, we could never see a way to do it without being insensitive to our French hosts. But then we realised that not only was 2015 the 600^th anniversary of the Battle of Agincourt, it was also the centenary of the Great War, which gave us the opportunity to create a production that reflected on the change in the relationship between England and France in those five centuries – from mortal enemies to loyal allies. So our production is set in a military hospital in France, where wounded British and French soldiers work together to stage their own production of Henry V. It’s really a play within a play – Henry V meets Oh, What a Lovely War.“

In addition to Shakespeare’s text, the play also includes original songs and live music inspired by the poetry of A E Housman. “We knew we wanted to include music in the show but using period songs seemed too obvious and we weren’t comfortable writing new ones,” says John. “Then we discovered George Butterworth’s musical setting of ‘The Lads in Their Hundreds’ from A Shropshire Lad and found that Housman had acknowledged he was inspired by Shakespeare. Although Housman’s work predates the Great War, so much of it reads like he knew what was coming. Our brilliant composer, Christopher Peake, set six more poems to original music for our show but we still use Butterworth’s version of ‘The Lads in Their Hundreds’ – it’s our tribute to him, as he died on the Somme in 1916.

“The music is completely integral. Soldiers have always used song to lift spirits or celebrate victory. As well as poetry, the Great War gave us so much music that’s still with us, songs like ‘Pack Up Your Troubles in Your Old Kit-bag’. In our production, we use music at key moments to bring the two sides together and remind the audience that war is a shared experience. It’s emotional shorthand.”

Although the play may be set in the past, John believes it still has a powerful message to share with a modern day audience: “Absolutely. War is a huge gamble, often taken too lightly. The French massively outnumbered the English at Agincourt but still lost the battle. In 1914, everyone thought the Great War would be over by Christmas, but it turned into one of the most destructive conflicts in history. It’s easy to open Pandora’s box, but the consequences can never be fully foreseen.”

Antic Disposition have also developed a reputation for staging productions in historic buildings and unusual non-theatre spaces, and this tour is no exception; Henry V will visit eight cathedrals around the UK, including Ripon, Lincoln, Peterborough, Ely, Norwich and Southwark. “We started out working in theatres but haven’t staged a play on a conventional stage for six years now,” John explains. “We find working in unusual buildings more exciting. There’s a special kind of magic when you are performing Henry V with the tomb of King John in the front row of the audience, as we did at Worcester Cathedral. It can be challenging from an acoustic perspective – many of our venues weren’t designed for this kind of performance, but we feel that those challenges are more than made up for by an atmosphere you can’t get in a regular auditorium.”

The 2017 tour of Henry V opens at Southwark Cathedral on 2nd February – and it’s not only audiences who are looking forward to its return. “We had a wonderful experience touring cathedrals last spring and wanted to bring the show to new venues and new audiences,” concludes John. “We think it’s the best work we’ve done as a company, and we’re very proud of it.”

Antic Disposition’s Henry V visits eight cathedrals around the UK from 2nd to 22nd February.

Interview: John Stanley, The Monkey

Published on January 8, 2017 by LizLeave a comment

Next month, Battersea’s Theatre503 plays host to Homecomings, a festival of new plays by prisoners and ex-prisoners about getting out and going home. Produced in partnership with the Synergy Theatre Project, the festival runs from 21st February to 18th March and will feature two of the winners of Synergy’s third national prison scriptwriting competition – Glory Whispers by Sonya Hale and The Monkey by John Stanley.

John, a lifelong Londoner, describes The Monkey as “a dark, comic contemporary drama of criminality, addiction and money owed”. The four characters he’s created, he explains, offer “a brief glimpse of the many diverse and varied people I met during my life’s erratic and unusual journey”.

Until he joined the Synergy project, John never imagined a future as a playwright: “The short answer is no, although I’ve always dabbled in poetry. Recently I completed a book about my life, but the truth is that until I completed the Synergy playwriting course I never had an interest in theatre.”

The Synergy Project, founded in 2000, seeks to build a bridge from prison to social reintegration, prevent young people from entering the criminal justice system, and inspire change by capturing the imagination of participants and public. After learning about the project from a friend who worked at the Young Vic, John joined the Synergy playwriting course and went on to write The Monkey. He’s thrilled to have his first ever play selected as a winner, out of a record 134 entries.

“I was over the moon when I found out, truly elated. Synergy has had such an enormously positive impact on my life that it’s impossible to quantify in a few sentences.” His advice to others thinking about getting involved in Synergy is simple: “Don’t hesitate and don’t delay, take the opportunity and go for it immediately.”

John’s now looking forward to seeing his work come to life on stage: “It’s exciting and nerve-wracking to see it come to life. I wrote The Monkey in 2012 and when I finally got to hear it in its entirety at the rehearsed reading recently, it was somewhat unreal but it was really gratifying. I am a touch nervous as to whether people will like it or not, though my feeling is you either do or you don’t and that’s how it is. Some people will find it hilarious and some won’t, but I hope they at least find it funny. If they do that would be wonderful.

“I’m sure I portray a world that most people are unaware of, so I hope they go away educated in some degree to an underbelly that exists in their midst – but most of all I hope they find it funny and have a good laugh.”

Catch The Monkey and Glory Whispers at Theatre503 from 21st February to 18th March.

Review: The Trackers of Oxyrhynchus at the Finborough Theatre

Published on January 8, 2017July 22, 2018 by LizLeave a comment

Proud Haddock’s production of The Trackers of Oxyrhynchus opens in Egypt in 1907, where two archaeologists and a team of local men are sifting through scraps of ancient papyrus. It’s an appropriate introduction to Tony Harrison’s 1988 play, which has itself been unearthed and given new life nearly 30 years after its last London performance.

Grenfell and Hunt (Tom Purbeck and Richard Glaves) are academics searching for a lost satyr play by Sophocles. Dismayed at their lack of success – all they seem to find is endless petitions for help from the dispossessed – Grenfell grows increasingly obsessive, and Hunt starts to worry about him… with good reason, as it turns out. Before we quite know what’s happening, Grenfell’s been possessed by the god Apollo, while Hunt’s transformed into Silenus, and (with a bit of audience participation) dramatically released his band of dancing satyrs.

From here, the story takes us to ancient Greece and into the lost play, Ichneutae, where Apollo charges the satyrs with tracking down his lost cattle, only for them to discover instead something far more valuable to him. And finally, we’re whisked off to London’s South Bank in 2016, where the effects of that discovery are still being felt – but not necessarily in a good way.

Believe it or not, all of this happens in 75 minutes. The Trackers of Oxyrhynchus is a whirlwind of a production that’s barely contained by the Finborough’s tiny stage, and allows very little time to process what’s going on – yet still somehow manages to remain accessible to those of us without a degree in ancient Greek literature. Don’t get me wrong, the story is completely bonkers, and there are certainly a good few moments where we’re left wondering what on earth just happened (the sudden appearance of Hermes the man-baby would be a good example). But it all comes together in the end, with a powerful message not only about the dichotomy between high and low art, but more broadly about the divide between rich and poor, and a direct appeal to the audience which challenges us to examine our own attitudes. (That said, the perfectionist in me would have welcomed a chance to circle back to the beginning of the story, if only to find out what happened to Grenfell and Hunt.)

Tom Purbeck and Richard Glaves lead the cast with strong performances, handling with ease Harrison’s rhyming verse. Purbeck particularly excels during a wild-eyed transformation from Grenfell to Apollo, his head snapping back and forth as the two personas war against each other. Glaves’ key moment comes late in the play, but is worth waiting for; as Silenus, he recounts movingly the flaying of his brother satyr Marsyas, who was punished by Apollo for having the temerity to become an accomplished flute player. But perhaps most memorable – for reasons that become obvious (costume designer Vari Gardner, take a bow) – are the satyrs, played by Dylan Mason, James Rigby, Nik Drake, Sacha Mandel, Dannie Pye and Adam Small. Energetic and irreverent, they stomp, dance and joke their way through the middle section of the play… yet this story is not destined to end happily, and their 21st century incarnations channel their energy in much darker ways.

The Trackers of Oxyrhynchus is a decidedly odd play, entertaining and tragic in equal measure. Jimmy Walters’ production could at times move a little more slowly, and could certainly benefit from a slightly bigger stage – but given the nature of the play and its message, a small theatre, in which audience and artists are within touching distance, feels like an appropriate setting for the rediscovery of this little-known work.

Can’t see the map on iPhone? Try turning your phone to landscape and that should sort it. I don’t know why but I’m working on it… 😉

Review: The Hound of the Baskervilles at Jack Studio Theatre

Published on January 5, 2017January 6, 2018 by LizLeave a comment

Guest review by Ross McGregor

The Brockley Jack annual Christmas show is the stuff of Fringe Legend. It sells out before it even opens, and the reasons for this incredible success are legion. The Brockley Jack is one of the most reputable and iconic venues in London, and it’s run by people who know what they’re doing and care passionately about the space. They pick good scripts, cast talented actors and produce the Christmas show themselves so audiences know it’s a sure thing. Added to this, the Jack does something other than panto – so it’s great marketing for those who are Cinderella-ed out.

This year’s offering is a comedic pastiche of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Hound of the Baskervilles. The plot is simple enough: Mr Baskerville has been murdered. People think it’s a huge hell-hound. Holmes goes up there with Watson to solve the mystery. He does. The End. The show is sold out now, so go and read the book, it’s great.

The script owes a lot to plays like The 39 Steps or The Play That Goes Wrong, yet even those examples aren’t original ideas themselves, so this can be forgiven. Hound is a tight-paced physical comedy that has its three actors multi-roling rapidly between scenes, moving scenery and donning different hats, jackets and accents. It breaks the fourth wall constantly as the very conceit of the play is perpetually on the verge of falling apart, and the actors are forced to break character and become “themselves” more than once. Now, whilst I do have an issue with shows that try to do both a crappy play and make that funny (cod-accents and dodgy props), whilst doing a play crappily (falling down sets and scene changes going wrong), I have to admit the grace and tenacity with which this production was helmed completely won me over and had me giggling with glee. The highlight of the show for me was just after the interval when one of the actors gets irate with the audience after reading an interval tweet and forces his co-stars (and us) to go through the first half at triple speed to prove he was capable of a quicker pace. This moment of building chaos really sums up the production for me; it’s self-aware and tongue-in-cheek, it’s modern and humble, but it’s done with such slickness and panache that the audience are happy to be whipped through the same scenes again, like reading a York Notes Study Guide whilst on amphetamines.

Joey Bartram plays the Great Detective Sherlock Holmes – a role made difficult to make your own after so many iconic performances on screen recently (perhaps the 21st century’s Hamlet?), and this production sees Bartram striding about the stage dripping with confidence (sometimes sweat) and a faraway look, whilst whipping his dark locks about him like he’s modelling shampoo. It’s a boho, gin-drenched, Oxbridge kind of a take on the role, and it’s in keeping with the show, but it’s really the character actor side role/suspects where Bartram shines, teeth-gnashing, winking and scowling his way through scenes.

Adam Elliott plays the Doctor Watson role, which really, due to the absence of Holmes for a large section of the production, is promoted to leading man status. Watson is normally a dog of a part, if you pardon the pun, and yet Elliott does it, thankfully, with charisma and charm. Having seen Elliott perform on the Fringe multiple times now, I’m starting to think that there aren’t many things the actor cannot do. He is a great talent, and one that has a bright future ahead of him. He’s eminently watchable, has an almost flawless grasp of comedic timing, and handles the numerous roles he’s awarded with versatility and a sense of child-like glee.

Andrew Fitch completes the trinity with a wide-eyed and energised Sir Henry Baskerville – the next victim of the Hound that Holmes and Watson are trying to keep from becoming pedigree chum. Fitch has a mountain of roles to contend with (even some that have to be performed on the first floor of the building above the theatre), and he manages to distinguish each one clearly and without undue effort, and he more than gives the two heroes a run for their money in terms of acting chops.

Kate Bannister (director), Karl Swinyard (set design) and Michael Edwards (lighting design) deserve all the credit for turning the small acting space of the Jack Studio Theatre into dozens of different locations, flicking instantly between a foggy moor to a dining room to a train carriage to a horse and cart, all with simple props choices, movement direction, action set pieces, moveable scenery and some of the slickest and most inventive lighting operation I have EVER seen on the Fringe circuit, helmed by Stage Manager John Fricker who seriously deserves an Off West End Award by himself just for managing that many sound and lighting cues on a fringe theatre tech desk.

If not already clear, this play is hilariously funny. The idea is not a new one, nor does it particularly care to strive for anything above an entertaining night out, but it doesn’t have to. It’s an incredibly well-directed, well-performed and well-constructed comedy, that’s firing on all cylinders and never lets up for a second. It’s a work of true skill, made by professionals who know their craft.

Fringe Theatre, at its best, transcends its limitations and is palpably made with love, passion, creativity and care. Kate Bannister and her team have done exactly that. I would say this should transfer somewhere bigger, but then perhaps it might lose some of the charm that makes it so impressive a feat of the face of their restrictions of space and budget. So perhaps I will say that the Jack Studio Theatre deserve and need all the support, investment and love that their community and fanbase can give them, for they really are a jewel in the London Theatre Crown. Edinburgh Festival 2017 Venue Managers, you better get this show booked in whilst you can…

Can’t see the map on iPhone? Try turning your phone to landscape and that should sort it. I don’t know why but I’m working on it… 😉