At work and in his home, Joe Kilter has his daily set routines. Although some people think Joe is obsessive, Joe would prefer not to be thought of at all. When an unexpected event changes his everyday habits Joe’s world is turned askew. His life is no longer his own, he’s off his game… Joe Kilter is most definitely off-kilter.
Feeling more and more isolated, Joe’s life seems increasingly impossible and perhaps the only solution is to exist in darkness. Exploring mental well-being, identity, and those unsettling times when you feel a little bit different from everyone else, Off-Kilter is a darkly comedic visual theatre production, incorporating illusions, masterful physicality and dynamic, non-verbal storytelling.
What was the inspiration for this performance?
Feeling more and more isolated, Joe’s life seems increasingly impossible and perhaps the only solution is to exist in darkness. Exploring mental well-being, identity, and those unsettling times when you feel a little bit different from everyone else, Off-Kilter is a darkly comedic visual theatre production, incorporating illusions, masterful physicality and dynamic, non-verbal storytelling.
What was the inspiration for this performance?
There wasn’t one
specific event or source of inspiration, much of my work has previously touched
on mental / emotional well-being. While I haven’t explicitly explored Mental
Health before, family / relationship breakdown and resulting isolation was
explored in Snails and Ketchup, while
Gin and Tonic and Passing Trains looked at the impact of
loneliness and hinted at alcoholism.
A lot of theatre explores this albeit that it is not implicitly focusing on mental health. This time I’m being more explicit and have attempted to put a piece together that focuses on mental well being – it’s an observation rather than a narrative, although the character is on a journey that for him is challenging and at times crippling!
A lot of theatre explores this albeit that it is not implicitly focusing on mental health. This time I’m being more explicit and have attempted to put a piece together that focuses on mental well being – it’s an observation rather than a narrative, although the character is on a journey that for him is challenging and at times crippling!
Mental health has
been much over-looked, stigmatized at times – that’s the driving force behind
Off Kilter. No-one really wants to admit
having a diagnosis associated with mental health, no-one wants to admit when
they’re not coping with the day and what it brings and often suffer in
isolation, this is what I wanted to explore and attempt to highlight.
How
do you feel your work fits within the remit of the manipulate festival?
My work is entirely visual – as a
deaf performer / theatre-maker I spent many years exploring how to make my work
entirely accessible and have always considered how to extend my visual
theatrical vocabulary. Since the
beginning of my career in the arts I’ve thought visually – it’s been a huge
part of my deaf identity, Manipulate champions visual work and ‘visual’ is what
I do! Is performance still a good space for the public discussion of ideas?
Yes –
I’d like to think so or what is the point of performance! I think irrespective of the type of
performance there is always discussion.
I’ve always viewed performance as a public dialogue – a presentation of
an idea through whatever form the performance takes.
How
did you become interested in making performance?
I became increasingly
passionate about theatre when I could see the power of the theatrical
language. Language and having to explore
how people communicate has influenced me greatly, the desire to be able to
communicate in a universally accessible way has always been the challenge that
keeps me going.
When I’ve been exposed to a
piece of theatre, dance or film that has been able to say something to me on
the same level as the person sitting beside me (even if their language is
different from my own) I wanted to create work that did exactly that –
communicate on many levels and to people from all walks of life.
Recently I’ve talked at length
about pushing myself and extending / developing my skill level as I strive
towards developing an extensive visual vocabulary.
As a deaf person it has become
important for me to find a language that is shared – that allows me to not
alienate folk, that allows people to appreciate that deaf share many of the
same experiences, ideas and thoughts as hearing.
Is
there any particular approach to the making of the show?
I worked closely with Andy
Arnold (Tron Theatre) and Kevin McMahon (illusionist) to explore how simple
illusions and sleight of hand might work within a narrative structure, that
would appear to happen to the character rather than him ‘doing magic’. Once we’d explored a range of illusions we
developed a visual script that gave the illusions a place within the story.
The script provided us with a
structure – a journey for the character that we then used to further develop
and devise the final piece.
Does
the show fit with your usual productions?
I like to think that my productions are at
least a little different from each other, the stories are different, the themes
I hope are different. While they all
have in common that they are all purely visual I do make efforts to develop and
explore a new visual elements and visual ideas.
For Off Kilter I’ve incorporated a new visual
element - illusion. The illusions are
fairly small in scale but none-the-less are integral to the character and what
happens to him. The illusions aimed to
make the character feel out of sorts and confused and they work on that
level. This is not a magic show, the
illusions were chosen and designed to support what we wanted to happen to the
character, he doesn’t perform a trick but his mind sort of plays tricks on him.
What
do you hope that the audience will experience?
The initial idea was centered around the
experience that many of us have of having an off day - I think like most folk
I’ve experienced that type of day too.
However, I wanted the Off Kilter ‘off day’ to explore a day that had
more serious consequences. I wanted to
identify the isolation felt, the fear, anxiety, confusion, deep sadness and
even anger and I hope that audiences empathize with this by considering moments
in a day in their own life.
Reading about mental illness I was beginning
to appreciate the stigma felt by those who suffered (a stigma that is a result
of much ignorance), that makes some feel completely alone.
I think with Off Kilter I wanted to offer a
sense of the real stories and not over dramatize these – I was hoping that the
audiences would identify with some moment experienced by the character. I think most of us have experienced not
being ourselves. In terms of my own
experience, things have happened in life that have triggered a host of emotions
that were ‘off’ and needed to be worked through…I assume we can all identify
with that.
Ramesh Meyyappan‘s award-winning solo performances and collaborations have toured extensively, both nationally and internationally to much critical acclaim, most recently with his production, Butterfly, which was presented at manipulate in 2015. Ramesh is currently part of the Design Team for new BA Degree for Deaf Actors at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.
Off-Kilter, Co-produced with Ramesh Meyyappan Productions, Torn Theatre, Glasgow & TheatreWorks, Singapore.
Ramesh Meyyappan‘s award-winning solo performances and collaborations have toured extensively, both nationally and internationally to much critical acclaim, most recently with his production, Butterfly, which was presented at manipulate in 2015. Ramesh is currently part of the Design Team for new BA Degree for Deaf Actors at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.
Off-Kilter, Co-produced with Ramesh Meyyappan Productions, Torn Theatre, Glasgow & TheatreWorks, Singapore.
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