Footfalls

So far this year, Dominic Hill has made a very strong statement about his future intentions for the Citizens. In the recent interview for The VileArts Radio Hour, he comes across as thoughtful and intelligent, defining his vision for the theatre and making the connection between his practice as a director and the status of the Citizens as Glasgow's home for the well-written play. The three plays that announced his arrival - Betrayal, King Lear and Krapp's Last Tape - are eloquent examples of how a script can drive the drama. Even a sceptic like me, obsessed with site-responsive physical theatre and dance, is convinced that there is still a place for the author on the stage.

The final part of Hill's Introductory Trilogy is a double bill of Beckett. Krapp's Last Tape is the headliner, but it is paired with a lesser-known piece, Footfalls. Like Krapp, it is a sort of monologue: only the protagonist is female, equally captured by circumstance and answering to an off-stage voice. 

After the full-scale melodrama of King Lear, this pair of Becketts is a more contemporary take on despair: Lear might get to go bonkers in the storm and sound off about the inequalities of justice and the state, but Beckett's boys and girls are far more familiar. The restraint of their anxiety, the bubbling horror, the palpable threat. It's too easy for this critic to disappear into predictable comments on a world without God, without meaning and only the relentless and inevitable push of natural selection and social control lending shape to the evolution of the self, which is ultimately erased...

Instead, I bothered Kay Gillie, a Scottish actor most recently seen in The Steamie's celebratory tour, about how it feels to play a part that is heard and never heard...

1. How do you feel about taking on a role that might be more

like a radio play than live theatre?

I don’t see the part as a radio play. It was definitely written for

theatre. I suppose on its own it could be read on radio but to really

work it has to be in the context of the whole play, as part of a range

of classic Beckett style elements. The precise stage directions and the

use of light and sound together – my part feeds into this.

It is part of something larger.

For me the role also still requires that connection with the live theatre

audience even though I am offstage. This is what makes Beckett so

special.

2. Are you a Beckett fan? How does this play's process compare

to, say, doing The Steamie?

Yes, I am definitely a Beckett fan. I have played the part of ‘woman’

before but in a different play! I was in the 2005 production of Rockaby

at the Arches with Andy Arnold directing.

It is funny to compare both parts. My voice in Rockaby was

pre-recorded although I was physically present on stage reacting to

my voice being played. This time I will be speaking the part live but

offstage!

In comparison with The Steamie, of course the plays are so different

but I always approach plays in the same way, working from the

writing.

3. What is the atmosphere at the Citz like- from the outside,

there seems to be a real energy about it!

It is an amazing atmosphere and there is always so much going on. It

really is a hive of creativity. You meet actors you have not seen for

ages and get the chance to chat about different productions. It is a

very stimulating place to be.