Dramaturgy Now: Chris Davis @ Edfringe 2017

One-Man Apocalypse Now is a hilarious and dark adaptation of the iconic war film Apocalypse Now.  Chris re-imagines some of cinemas' greatest characters like Marlon Brando as Colonel Kurtz and Dennis Hopper, but also delves into his own personal journey as an artist.  While a faithful adaptation, One-Man Apocalypse Now explores the multiple comedic and dramatic layers that exist in the film, and in the re-creation of it.   

 One-Man Apocalypse Now 

by Chris Davis

Sweet Venues - Grassmarket 3 - Venue 18      

 Aug 3 - 27  

What was the inspiration for this performance?

Many years ago I bought the Apocalypse Now soundtrack on vinyl.  I was surprised to discover that most of the soundtrack was dialogue from the actual movie.  I jokingly suggested to the director Mary Tuomanen, a close friend of mine, that I could re-enact the entire movie but let the soundtrack speak for me.  

She said I should do that but only mouth the words that Martin Sheen said.  We laughed.  The idea was mostly a joke and we both forgot about it.  But in my mind I kept coming back to it time and time again, what if I tried to adapt the movie?

Last year I finally decided why not try to do the whole movie in under 60 min and title it One-Man Apocalypse Now.  I figured it'd be funny and strange.  We abandoned the idea of only using the soundtrack, and I wrote the adaptation late at night in two days during last year's Edinburgh Fringe Festival,

Is performance still a good space for the public discussion of ideas? 

Definitely.  The live event allows people to

transform and change.  If anything it may be the last place you can really change a person's mind.  You can get two people of totally disparate views, have them watch a show / participate, and they can become fast friends.  Nothing like the online world.

How did you become interested in making performance?

I am an only child raised by a single mother.  I say this because I spent a lot of time alone as a child.  Honestly I was bored and I needed to entertain myself, and T.V. could only do so much.  I started acting in front of mirrors around 5 or 6 just to pass time.  Later in life I went to a small college that did not have enough men for a production of Curse of the Starving Class.  They cast me.  And after making my first entrance on stage, and blanking on all my lines, I was hooked.  I thought, maybe I can do this.

Is there any particular approach to the making of the show?

I have done a lot of adaptations in the last few years, and I follow a few rules that some friends made when we first started.  

1. Do not use any dialogue from the source material, and if you do it must be a very salient moment (I break this rule about 4 times in OMAN).  

2.  Modernize the work so it fits to contemporary times.  

3.  Make it under 60 min.  I used these three rules for One-Man Apocalypse Now.

Does the show fit with your usual productions?

Yes.  This is the fifth solo show I have brought to Edinburgh.  (4 others in 3 years.)  Not only did I write it in Edinburgh, but also after 3 years of watching great solo-work in Edinburgh and seeing what audiences are driven to, this is the first show that I feel finally uses all the tricks and aesthetics I've learned from performing in this fringe.  At least I hope it does.

What do you hope that the audience will experience?

The idea of performing a movie like Apocalypse Now with one person is silly.  That's a given.  That being said, the play works on many levels.  At times it is a faithful adaptation, but then veers off into my own personal history, while maintaining and living in the world of Apocalypse Now.  

Robert Duvall can have a personal moment about his childhood, which is my childhood, but never break character, he is Robert Duvall, after all...

Because the adaptation is under 60 min events happen very quickly and there is something automatically comedic when plot advances rapidly.  Audiences have laughed a lot during this show, however underneath the laughter is a sadness that deals with my own life as an artist and my relationship with my father.  

Fortunately both of these themes are also found in the actual movie Apocalypse Now, specifically between Martin Sheen and Marlon Brando.  I think the audience leaves with the knowledge that our lives ultimately are most successful when we confront ourselves and our relationships, and that all of us are on a journey up some river, where it goes, nobody may ever know...

What strategies did you consider towards shaping this audience experience?

I used all the solo-tricks I saw great shows do here in Edinburgh.  There is a lot of 'meta-theater', there is self-referential post-modern whatever you call it, there are little techniques I stole from solo-performers on character introduction, there is minimalism in the set, the story has an arc that follows the movie and also follows a personal arc, I found that Edinburgh audiences and critics gravitated towards work that was both funny and carried an underlying depth that is very important. 

I have tried to capture and explore that depth in this work, while keeping a highly comedic pace and having fun.

Pick of the Philadelphia Fringe 

  

For the last three years Chris has been a mainstay of the free festival with solo theater shows Drunk Lion (★★★★★ - TV Bomb), Violence of the Lambs (★★★★★ - The Student Newspaper), Bortle 8(★★★★ "...a tour-de-force." - Three Weeks), and Chris Davis: Chinchilla Coats (★★★★ - Outlier Scotland).  In addition to One-Man Apocalypse Now, Chris brings his fringe show The Last Emperor of Mexico to the Free Fringe Festival.  

Chris is a writer and performer residing in Philadelphia, PA.  Other projects Alias Ellis Mackenzie (Thaddeus Phillips), The Post-Show (Berserker Residents, Edinburgh Fringe).

  

  www.realchrisdavis.com          

Best Actor in Pittsburgh Fringe

Best Plays by a Professional Theater - DC Metro        

Cacophonic Dramaturgy: Cast Iron @ Edfringe 2017

The ‘vibrant’, ‘innovative’ and ‘stimulating’ Cast Iron Theatre are delighted to announce their Edinburgh fringe debut with the physical theatre solo show Cacophony featuring the ‘tremendous’ Heather-Rose Andrews. 

  

Sweet Holyrood 3 - VENUE 94

19:30 (55min)

August 3-8th / 10-15th /  17-23rd /  26-27th

What was the inspiration for this performance?

Our inspiration is Heather-Rose Andrews, our performer!  She's just brilliant.  Cast Iron Theatre (Michelle Donkin and Andrew Allen) have enjoyed watching her perform in Brighton as part of the theatre community there and in the sketch comedy troupe Fannytasticals.  

We’ve cast her before in various plays on our Cast Iron Theatre short play nights and she’s an incredibly versatile performer across many disciplines; drama, improvisation, comedy and movement.  She's simply magnetic, statuesque and an amazingly natural, physical and engaging comedic performer.  

She reminds us of The Kagools and Tape Face.  We've wanted to create a show around Heather-Rose for some time and (can you tell?) we're just a little bit giddy that she's agreed to be part of our experiment in physical theatre, mime and clowning. Cacophony is the result!

Is performance still a good space for the public discussion of ideas? 

Absolutely!  Cacophony explores the idea that in the midst of a world of chaos, noise and information, ideas and meaning can be made through performance alone, though physical gesture, through being attentive and being expressive.  Essentially, Cacophony is about taking ideas down to their bare bones and communicating them to all.  

Language can sometimes be a barrier to ideas.  We're all trying to communicate on Social Media, in the boardroom, on the Royal Mile.  Cacophony is about the power of clarity and confidence in an idea being translated through movement and caricature. Previously in his writing, Andrew has been fascinated and driven by dialogue.  For this show, he wanted to set himself and Heather-Rose the challenge of producing a show without the safety net of clever words, to explore making meaning thorough the physical.   

Heather-Rose, in one solo show, is able to create a hubbub of characters that interact with each other and inhabit words which are comic and cartoonish, with a limited use of vocabulary and hardly any props at all.  

How did you become interested in making performance?

Michelle Donkin is first and foremost a writer.  She trained in Scriptwriting at the National Film and Television School but had an affair with theatre and has never looked back.  She still writes and recently staged a short play with Rich Creative: The Female Gaze at the Cockpit in London.  

Michelle’s love of story and performance led her to co-found Cast Iron Theatre in 2014 with Andrew Allen (who last year became her husband). She wrote this year’s Cast Iron Theatre Brighton Fringe one-woman play Model Organisms featuring Chelsea Newton-Mountney.   Their lives are completely overtaken with theatre-making and they are passionate about creating not only their own work but working with new and emerging writers, directors and performers.  They have a close relationship with Sweet Dukebox in Brighton and are to be found most days writing, devising, directing, teaching and producing shows there.

Andrew Allen trained in theatre making and has been teaching acting to children and adults for over fifteen years.  Also a writer at heart, he has written for the stage and page.  He wrote Cast Iron Theatre’s 2015 Brighton Fringe play Year Without Summer (Highly Recommended –Fringe Review).  His short story, The Slow Invasion, a Dr Who Universe adventure is due to be published by Candy Jar later this year.  An experienced performer, Andrew was awarded Best Actor by Brighton and Hove Arts Council for his role as Yvan in Art and in 2014 played Proctor in Pretty Villain’s Brighton Fringe production of The Crucible.  As a regular workshop facilitator in improvisation, Andrew enjoys collaborating with performers to explore making meaning through devising.    

Cast Iron Theatre has been around in Brighton since 2014 - This year we launched the Cast Iron Theatre Podcast where we celebrate grassroots theatre-making by chatting to theatre-makers and performers about their projects, the creation of their work and where they get their inspiration.  Usually, we chat to those working in or passing through Brighton but this August we're taking the Cast Iron Theatre Podcast to Edinburgh Fringe with us and we'll be chatting to lots of people throughout the Fringe to see what makes them tick.  

As well as being very passionate about collaboration, we've always been very interested in scripted narrative and comedy.  This year we decided to set ourselves a challenge by bringing a physical theatre show to Edinburgh Fringe.  With Heather-Rose, we wanted to create a nearly non-verbal show.  We wanted to explore sound and lack of sound.  Our aim with Cacophony is to create a world where meaning is made through physicality, limited vocalisations and clowning.  We devised the show with Heather-Rose, workshopping little vignettes and seeing what made us smile and laugh, what moved us. 

Is there any particular approach to the making of the show?

We wanted something fun.  We knew that Heather-Rose was a master of comedy and we wanted to explore that and really play to her physical strengths.  As the writer/director, Andrew Allen wanted to see if he could discuss making meaning amid the chaos and noise of modern life.  

Together they decided to test themselves to see if they could boil comedic and meaningful ideas down to their most elementary physical elements and then build on them.  They workshopped for months and explored movement, comedy, mime and clowning.  Cacophony was born from their joint love of these disciplines and their desire to challenge each other to tell stories and sketches in ways which could be appreciated without words.  

Does the show fit with your usual productions?

Since 2014 Cast Iron Theatre has been making theatre in Brighton and we have a very collaborative approach with local writers, directors and performers.  Cacophony has that same collaborative ethos, in that while the idea started with Andrew the show itself has been jointly devised with Heather-Rose at its core.  

We have a wide portfolio of shows in Brighton, where we stage short play nights (with writing from Michelle and Andrew, in addition to work by local writers, being staged), we host poetry and short story nights and we have staged two plays at Brighton Fringe.  Our work is varied with a joy of theatre-making at its core.  Our one running theme, if we have one, is that we're generally very excited by work that gives meaningful and powerful roles for self-identifying female performers.  

For the past two years at the Sweet Dukebox’s International Woman’s Week programming, we’ve been delighted to curate Cast Iron Theatre’s Not Just the Companion night, where self-identifying female actors perform monologues and scenes traditionally cast for males.  Heather-Rose is proof that female performers are a hugely talented bunch and any work that will give them a chance on stage is always going to appeal to Cast Iron Theatre.  

What do you hope that the audience will experience?

We hope that the audience will be delighted and engaged by Heather-Rose's cartoonish world.  We think the show is childlike, funny and at times darkly comedic.  It crosses lines between mime, physical theatre and clowning and we're not claiming to be any one of these things, more a baby-step into that world for audiences who might find hard-core physical theatre a little overwhelming.  The feedback (and standing ovation) Cacophony received at our preview event proved to us that we’re on the right track to doing something right.  

One audience member told us they usually dislike anything to do with mime but they adored Cacophony.  We really think that experiencing an hour of Heather-Rose Andrews on stage creating her madcap world is going to be a unique, funny and enchanting thing for our audience.  

What strategies did you consider towards shaping this audience experience?

We wanted the audience to feel safe and get to know Heather-Rose a little first, which is why the first few minutes of the show are easy to digest and have some of the most recognisable 'cartoonish' elements.  As Cacophony builds Heather-Rose able to move into more shorthand and use some call-backs, which we know the audience really enjoys.  

Then there's a little audience participation, which is nice and fun and done with a light-hearted touch.  We've really built this show with a lot of respect for an audience and how we want them to leave the show laughing and delighted.  The whole show is shaped around a childlike sense of fun and chaos, Heather-Rose becomes the audience's guide through this world and we hope the audience end up just as bowled over about her as we are at Cast Iron Theatre. 

Cacophony is a solo-show where Heather-Rose Andrews mixes physical theatre, mime and clowning to conjure up a hubbub of surreal, delightful and darkly comic characters including a cartoonish lion, an unlucky puppy and a philosophical lumberjack.

Cast Iron Theatre is Sweet Dukebox Brighton’s resident theatre company.  

Co-founded in 2014 by artistic directors Andrew Allen and Michelle Donkin, they produce evenings of short plays; lead acting, writing and improvisation workshops; host seasonal storytelling events and curate poetry evenings.

For Brighton Fringe 2016 Cast Iron Theatre staged Year Without Summer by Andrew Allen which was ‘Highly Recommended’ with ‘finely wrought writing’. 

They returned to Brighton Fringe in 2017 with the four star ‘adroitly structured…dystopian vision’ Model Organisms by Michelle Donkin.

Cast Iron Theatre is dedicated to developing new writers through their short play nights, and takes a particular interest in female representation.  Their aim is to champion meaningful and vibrant roles for those who identify as female.  

In addition, Cast Iron’s passion for collaboration and marketing theatre using new media has led to the creation of their weekly Cast Iron Theatre Podcast where they chat to theatre-makers about their work, their creative process and the business of grassroots theatre-making.  This year they’ll be bringing The Cast Iron Theatre Podcast to the Edinburgh Fringe.

           

Cacophony’s producer is Michelle Donkin

Michelle Donkin is an MA Screenwriting graduate of the National Film and Television School.  In 2009 she was the winner of the NFTS/NBC Universal SyFy Channel’s TV series pitch competition. 

Michelle has produced two Brighton Fringe productions and numerous short plays, storytelling and poetry evenings at Sweet Dukebox Brighton. 

Michelle’s writing credits include short plays staged at NVT Brighton, Cockpit Theatre, Theatre 503 Rapid Write Response Night, Soho Theatre NFTS Showcase and Sweet Dukebox.   

Cacophony’s writer and director is Andrew Allen

Andrew is a writer of short stories and plays.  He has over 15 years of experience of theatre-making in Brighton.  His directing credits include: The Snow Queen; Four Play; Beginning, Muddle, End; Piratanical; Year Without Summer and Model Organisms.

Cacophony is performed by Heather-Rose Andrews

Heather-Rose Andrews trained in physical theatre and dance.  In addition to her work with Cast Iron Theatre’s short play nights, she performed at the 2016 and 2017 Brighton Fringe in Am I F#*kable?  by PopHeart Productions.  A skilled comedian, she is also a member of comedy troupe Fannytasticals.

The Phoenix and the Dramaturgy: Pragati Bhatia @ Edfringe 2017

THE PHOENIX AND THE CROW 

EDINBURGH FESTIVAL FRINGE

VENUE (18)

SWEET VENUES

APEX HOTEL

GRASSMARKET 

EDINBURGH

AUGUST 14TH - AUGUST 20TH 3.35PM (50MINS)

Before the sands of time

In lands undefined
Did dwell two friends,
two states of mind - 
the Dancer and the Poet.

The Phoenix and the Crow is a mystical tale set in a fictional land of wealthy merchants, warriors and dark dancers. While her friend the poet spectates from the shadows, the dancer’s pursuit of adulation leads her to an empty victory. 

A chance encounter with a courtesan and a warrior challenge her to shed layers of her identity and find her authentic expression.

She discovers that the limelight pales in comparison to her inner light."

What was the inspiration for this performance?

Originally this piece was inspired by the need to create meaningful work for myself as an actor. Shayna’s journey was loosely based on my own experiences. But soon enough this story had nothing to do with my own experiences or aspirations and had a life of its own.

Now, I see, it is really about anyone who is chasing their dreams, in pursuit of their personal goals and overcoming obstacles, albeit self-imposed, to be true to their heart’s calling.

Is performance still a good space for the public discussion of ideas? 

Absolutely. The purpose of the performance is to raise questions about our choices, the limitations we place on ourselves in our quest to be the best versions of ourselves.  

To discuss or question racial and gender prejudices in addition to societal pressures to conform and be accepted.

How did you become interested in making performance?

Storytelling has been a passion of mine since I was a young girl. Though my experience is mainly on stage or on screen as an actor, I am finding directing and producing extremely fulfilling - I am always keen to learn and the best way to learn is by doing. So here I am.

Is there any particular approach to the making of the show?

This is a devised piece of movement and dialogue.  As my play is still a working draft, my objective for the production is to test the themes and character arcs in front of a live audience and get further insights into the characters themselves.  

As such, my approach is slightly unconventional, we will nto be working with a finalized script. Purely with a story outline and improvising as we go. Once again, its a raw piece that I am so thrilled to bring to life with my incredibly talented and passionate team.

Does the show fit with your usual productions?

This is my very first theatrical production. I usually produce 'mockumentary' video clips or large scale dance performances.

So I would say it is something very different to anything me or my team have worked on - it's very exciting!

What do you hope that the audience will experience?

I want the audience to be taken to a world of possibilities, beyond our imagination and limitations. I would like them to be part of the setting so they, too, can experience what the artists are experiencing emotionally.  

I hope the story inspires them and leaves them with mixed emotions about the characters and their choices.

What strategies did you consider towards shaping this audience experience?

The only strategy is to follow my instincts. Switch my head off, so not get caught up in thoughts and self-

judgments, be open to ideas and do what feels right to me and the cast and crew. If it feels right to us, then it will feel right for the audience.

A beautifully portrayed piece of dance theatre from first time Australian writer Pragati Bhatia (www.pragatibhatia.com) 

The Phoenix and the Crow is at the very beginning of its worldwide journey. With Broadway its spiritual home, the production is beginning its life in front of audiences at the 70th anniversary Fringe this August.

Golem Dramaturgy: Richard Waring @ Edfringe 2017

Richard Waring presents

Golem

When we feel powerless, we create monsters - and then? 

Sweet Grassmarket

August 21-26, 8.20pm, £10 (£8 concessions) 

A funny, moving and haunting one-man show retelling the Jewish folktale that inspired Frankenstein is to run during the final week of the Edinburgh Fringe at Sweet Grassmarket. 

What was the inspiration for this performance?

 A friend of mine reminded me that even at University I was talking about the Golem story.  The monster story is an archetype story that we revisit again and again: Frankenstein, Robocop, Terminator etc; and the Golem is an example of a really early “monster story”.  

I was also really interested with the rise in power of fanatical men with beards.  I have read a number of interviews with such men and with people who know them, and they so often are reported as friendly and charming – “a nice bloke”.   I thought the Golem story was a great metaphor to explore these ideas.  

 

Is performance still a good space for the public discussion of ideas? 

There is always something dangerous and exciting about live performance.  It can be a very personal experience and there is nothing that can replace it.  Of course it’s still a good space to discuss and challenge ideas.

 

How did you become interested in making performance?

I love the risk and fear of performing - the fact that it’s in the moment and it’s live!  I think this is why theatre is still so popular.  My movement teacher at drama school was Leqoc trained and this has really influenced me.  (Nearly 40 years later I am still in touch with him).   

My first job after leaving drama school was with Ken Campbell in The Warp (then in the Guinness Book of records for the longest show - 22 hours). After that I worked with a number of experimental performance art companies like Rational Theatre and Loose Change with Tessa Schneidermann as well as companies like Birmingham Rep, Paines Plough and the wonderful Deal Theatre Project.  

I have done a lot of work with young performers and love watching them find their confidence and be supposed at their own hidden abilities.         

Is there any particular approach to the making of the show?

Have fun

Be truthful

 

Does the show fit with your usual productions?

I don’t think I have a “usual” production – at least I hope not.  I co-directed Tartuffe also at this year’s Fringe, come see that and Golem and then you can judge.

 

What do you hope that the audience will experience?

A friend came to see a preview performance of the show.  She said this:  “I expected to admire it, I expected to appreciate it, but I hadn’t expected to enjoy it!  It was a great night out”  I think that sums it up.

 

What strategies did you consider towards shaping this audience experience?

Surprise!

Golem, which received rave reviews at its premiere during the 2016 Brighton Fringe, is a dark comedic horror story with stark parallels to current affairs including the demonisation of immigrants and refugees.  

The play is a re-working of the old mythical Jewish folk tale of The Golem, supposedly Shelley’s source material for Frankenstein. It explores the question of what it means to be a man or a monster; as actor/playwright Richard Waring transforms and switches between both the charismatic Rabbi desperate to protect his people from anti-semitic attack, and the mythical Golem that brings hope but also terror to the streets of Prague.  

Richard, who has worked extensively in theatre and is also an author, set designer and drama practitioner, said: “I wrote this retelling of Golem a couple of years ago when the world’s ‘monsters’ seemed to be a bunch of supposedly religious bearded fanatics and when the thought of a monstrous Trump becoming president was just an absolute absurdity; and now look where we are! 

This ancient tale, and that of the Blood Libel, is one that echoes throughout the centuries and feels

eerily relevant today.  Golem is, as one audience member said ‘a great night out’, but is also a study of how blind belief can lead to disaster.”

Golem is Richard’s fifth Edinburgh Fringe production, but the last time he brought a show to the festival was over 30 years ago in 1986.  

On his return to the Fringe, Richard adds: “I couldn't have picked a better year than the 70th anniversary of the Fringe to come back; it’s such an important festival that showcases the best in creativity and the freedom of expression, and I feel immensely proud to be a part of it again.”  

Golem will also be on the streets of Edinburgh as the production team invites festival goers to make their own monsters out of clay on the Royal Mile during the final week of the festival, #golem.  

Performed and written by 

Richard Waring (Paines Plough, Ken Campbell, Almeida) 

Directed by award-winning international director Luke Dixon (Theatre Nomad, Conway Collective)