Dramaturgy Yet? Katie Berglöf @ Courtyard, London

HAPPY YET?

by Katie Berglöf

Following a sell-out run at Edinburgh's 2016 Fringe, where it was awarded 4 stars from The List, Happy Yet? comes to London’s Courtyard Theatre Oct 24-28. The dark comedy set in Stockholm combines elements of Nordic drama and farce, to offer a fresh take on depression, anxiety and mental illness. 

From an attic flat in Stockholm, Torsten wages battle not only with his brother and his sister-in-law - but with his own mercurial mind. Happy Yet? is the story of the Sandqvist family and their struggle to understand Torsten and his disordered moods and dysfunction. 

As a permanent guest in his brother's home, Torsten is constantly reminded of his inadequacy and inability to live up to conventions of Swedish society. Relying on his intelligence, quick wit and unnerving charm, Torsten fools and flirts his way in and out of trouble: he toys with the law, his brother’s hospitality, and ultimately his family’s love. Torsten’s decisions become more extreme and increasingly irreversible - will he and his family survive his antics and unravelling mind?

What was the inspiration for this performance?

When I was eleven, I lost my uncle to suicide. Like so many other families, for many years we were unable to talk about our grief. For me, writing Happy Yet? was a way of processing the trauma- I can only hope the play helped my family too. 

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

I believe that for issues as complex as the mind and mental health, theatre and film may be the most powerful spaces for discussion. My uncle was depressed, but he was also the life and soul of every party- he was always laughing, at least when in public. With Happy Yet? I am trying to do justice to my uncle’s wit, and to everyone who has experienced the lows, but also the highs. The conversation surrounding mental health needs to change- nothing is black and white. The most life-threatening cases are going unnoticed because of society’s obsession with putting people in categories with suitable labels and then treating accordingly.  

How did you become interested in making performance?

I have always written down snippets of dialogue- whether it’s a funny quote or a conversation overheard in a coffee shop, I’ll record it. Imagining and recreating the scenes around these comments seemed to be a natural next step.  

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

We showcased Happy Yet? at the Edinburgh Fringe last year, where we had an hour and ten minutes running time- including five minutes to set up and take down the set. Naturally, our set designer is rejoicing at the opportunity to keep the set up for longer than one hour. Our approach with the performances at the Courtyard has been to learn as much as possible from last year. Having said that, the play is now very different- I have edited and doubled the script in size, and we have an almost entirely new cast.

Does the show fit with your usual productions?

Well this is my first and only play (but hopefully not my last), so it is very much a development from last year’s production.

What do you hope that the audience will experience?

I want the audience to experience the rollercoaster of Torsten’s moods; I want them to feel the sadness, but also the joy and light that he brings to his family. The play is about these fluctuating, and often volatile emotions, and the effect they have on the family- I hope this comes across.

What strategies did you consider towards shaping this audience experience?

With this production we are hoping to bring out the comedy as much as possible. For me, dark and tragic moments are most powerful when offset by humour.    

A fresh voice to theatre, 22-year-old Swedish playwright Katie Berglöf wrote her first play Happy Yet? from personal experience. Berglöf grew up watching a close family member endure years of depression, mood swings and misunderstanding. The play uses humour to turn tragedy into a source of understanding, dignity and hope.

Above the Moon Productions was created to address the epidemic of anxiety, depression and mood disorders amongst the millennials. Happy Yet? its first play, tackles the stigma and humiliation of being labelled mentally ill.

Showcased at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2016, Happy Yet? has been revised and extended for its London debut at Courtyard Theatre, October 24 – 28.

WHERE The Courtyard Theatre | Bowling Green Walk | 40 Pitfield Street | London, N1 6EU

WHEN Oct 24-28, 7:30pm 

The Fabric of Dramaturgy: Abi Zakarian @ Edfringe 2016

FABRIC

A powerful new play by Abi Zakarian exposing the shifting roles and expectations of women in today’s society asking how, if ever, they can be fulfilled.

Performed by Nancy Sullivan

On tour 22 June – 22 July 2016 I Edinburgh Festival Underbelly 4 – 28 August

Leah has lost her friends, family and dignity. Forced to move for a third time following a harrowing court case, she is sorting through all the stuff that has accumulated in her spare room: clothes she doesn't wear, books she doesn't read, things she doesn't need anymore. 

Leah relives painful events in her past as she desperately tries to unpick just where it all went wrong and who is really to blame. FABRIC is a hard-hitting play that deals with the aftermath of a rape.


What was the inspiration for this performance?
Tom, Nancy and I were interested in producing a piece that reflected on the inherent inequality of women in our society and what those inequalities result in; how they shape society and attitudes. 

We spent a lot of time coming up with exercises to test Nancy in

everyday life so she could gather information about how she was treated in certain situations, or to behave in a certain way and see how people reacted.

How did you go about gathering the team for it?
Tom and Nancy had worked together before (Tom directed Nancy in Fastest Clock... by Philip Ridley) and they wanted to work together on a one woman show. They approached me through my agent, and after an initial meeting with Tom where it was clear we had many similar ideas and inspirations I joined the team as writer.

How did you become interested in making performance?
I worked for many years as a picture editor for several newspapers; one project I worked on was a book about the Iraq war in 2003; which was compiled as the conflict was ongoing. I had to edit the raw images as they came in – it was so disturbing that at the end of each day I thought I would go blind. 

I was struck by this idea of psychosomatic blindness (which I later learnt afflicted many soldiers returning from the trenches after WWI) and decided to write something about it. This became my first produced play A Thousand Yards.

Was your process typical of the way that you make a performance?
It was a different route from a normal commission in that the project came with a director and actor attached but the opportunity to collaborate was great – being able to observe Nancy and her mannerisms allowed me to create the character of Leah in a different way.

What do you hope that the audience will experience?
Personally I hope the audience will respond to the challenging subject matter in a way that allows them to question previously held notions. The subject matter is not easy to tackle and it may provoke extreme reactions. But this is good if it forces us to confront and discuss it.

Nancy Sullivan (The Rise and Fall of Little Voice and Les Miserables) stars as Leah in this premiere production directed by Tom O’Brien.



Full tour dates are: 22 – 25 June, EM Forster Theatre, Tonbridge; 2 July, Theatre Royal, Margate; 5 July Old Fire Station, Oxford; 6 – 7 July, Mercury Theatre, Colchester; 8 – 9 July, The Cryer, Carshalton; 11 – 14 July, New Wimbledon Studio, London; 20 July, The Hawth, Crawley; and 21 – 22 July, Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury and Iron Belly, Edinburgh 11.55am 6 – 28 August.



This brand new play was developed by TREMers and is supported by Arts Council England.


Creative team

Directed by Tom O'Brien

Set & Costume Design by Alyson Cummins

Sound Design by Max Pappenheim

Lighting Design by Zia Holly



Recommended for age 15+

Criminal Dramaturgy: Jilly Bond @ Edfringe 2016

CRIMINOLOGY 303

Retired detective Norma Bates has solved every murder case presented to her. Except one. It's quite literally coming back to haunt her.

Performance Dates: 6 - 27 Aug 

(Not 8 or 15 Aug)

Venue 13 21.30 (35 min)  

27 July (19.15), Bute Theatre, Cardiff                                

When her lecture is hijacked by an apparent ghost in the machine, Norma is forced to confront the details of her unsolved case. Reliving her encounter with the pivotal witness, whose own prejudices cast a lingering shadow over her investigation, she uncovers a tale of racism, betrayal and lost love. The figure who walks among the misty Scottish woods carries a lantern to light his way, but the very nature of the killer is called into question.

What was the inspiration for this performance?
 Discovering the first ten minutes of the play itself at a dramatised reading I was involved in as an actress - I was gripped by the idea of a traditional ghost story being wrapped in the sterile atmosphere of a university lecture theatre, but still having the power to terrify.  I have always been drawn to ghost stories anyway - not blood and gore, but the creeping realisation that something supernatural is at work - and is inescapable.

How did you go about gathering the team for it?  
We were very lucky to get Tommo Fowler on board as director - he and I had worked together at the Finborough Theatre last year, on a production which won the Studio Theatre Award for best play of 2016.  He directed and I acted.  I knew he was able to help me navigate my way through a monologue delivered directly to the audience, as I had done in I Wish to Die Singing, but also that he has a fantastic eye for visuals and the combination of technology and theatre.  

Originally my husband, who was a successful actor for 16 years and then switched careers, was going to play the non-speaking part of the Technician and take three weeks' holiday in Edinburgh while I performed - but then Tommo pointed out that he was perfect casting for the other main character - the Laird.  Julian has Scottish ancestry and red hair!  

And he went to public school, as we imagine the Laird to have done.  And he's still a brilliant actor!  Our third cast member will have just graduated from the drama school - Drama Studio London - at which Julian and I both trained, and where I still teach.  I auditioned a number of young men for the role, and Antonis stood out as having imagination and physical flair - a perfect combination for our mysterious technician.  And when I looked for a PR expert, Miriam was the obvious candidate.  

Our play sits absolutely in the centre of her sphere of interest, she did wonderful work for a company last year, and she and I got on like a house on fire (I use that term advisedly!!) when we skyped.

How did you become interested in making performance?  
I've been an actor since 1983, working in theatre, radio, TV, film and audiobooks.  I really love to keep pushing my own boundaries - I think it's the way to stay alive and vital - so in 2009 I started producing my own work (sometimes), with a writer I'd known since university, who'd written a part I wanted to play!  

And last year I helped to devise a piece about neurotransmitters in the brain and how they bear on addiction.  That experience increased my desire to keep working with new writers and helping to bring their work to the stage, if a play or a part seizes my interest.

Was your process typical of the way that you make a performance?  
I think as an actor I have certain basic building blocks in my method which I use when I'm preparing a role, but aside from that, every piece and performance is different, so the way of working is different too.  There is a certain shorthand between Julian and myself because we worked together as actors for 18 months in one company when we first met - and again a couple of times after that - so we share a language.  And Tommo and I have some of that too (a different language from mine and Julian's though!).  

What is most different about this performance is actually that the writer is rather geographically remote, as she was only in London for a short course and has now returned to the U.S. - she is helping to run a summer camp, so we can only contact her by email about once a week.  This has made the process of discussing and modifying the script slightly trickier than having the writer in the room with us, but the upside is that there is a very clinical focus on why and how certain parts of the text adapt.

What do you hope that the audience will experience?  
We hope the audience will be afraid, in the enjoyable way of people choosing to confront themselves with their fears and test their own boundaries!  We've thought a great deal about what frightens an audience as they watch both supernatural and crime stories - because our play is set in two different times and situations, what creates suspense in one part won't be the same as the other - and we have to keep the tension up throughout!  We also hope they'll recognise the dilemmas of the two main characters - and that we'll provoke discussion and thought afterwards about a number of prevalent themes:- the fragility and mutability of memory; how we define someone as an outsider; and how we all deal with what we find beyond our comprehension.

What strategies did you consider towards shaping this audience experience?  
We hope the audience will have an experience which surrounds them - so that they feel truly part of the 'lecture theatre' - and the other space into which Norma, the Professor, guides them.  We also thought about what frightens us as individuals, and have tried to incorporate those aspects – chaos; a sense of undefined menace; the inability to help someone in danger about whom you care; our own inevitable mental decline as we age.  

To create this, we'll use the technological paraphernalia of the lecture hall, with which many of the audience will be familiar - but we'll also use this to threaten the audience to some extent, as well as feeding in an unpredictable element from the cast and their behaviour.  And we hope that the audience will recognise in themselves the potential for self-destruction in Norma - particularly with regard to the unreliability of her memory which, again, we intend to enhance using the technology.  The audience shouldn't be sure what's true and what's not.

Do you see your work within any particular tradition?  
I think it's very much in the tradition of the best ghost stories - M R James's A Warning to the Curious; The Monkey's Paw by W W Jacobs and The Turn of the Screw by Henry James.  We hope we can follow in the footsteps of the stage version of The Woman in Black too!  

But the flawed female detective at the heart of the narrative also puts our play into the genre of the most current television series, where wonderful actresses like Suranne Jones, Lesley Sharpe and Anna Friel wrestle with their personal demons, while trying to do a decent job in a traditionally male arena.

 The work of promising new writer Rose Miller, 'Criminology 303' is the Edinburgh Festival Fringe debut for Tangent Theatre Company. By embedding the traditional ghost story in modern digital society, this play unearths deep fears about the vulnerability of human memory, while reminding us that nothing is really forgotten in the internet age.

"The ghost likes it when people lose sight of themselves" Rose Miller, Writer


About Tangent Theatre Company:

Born out of a match made in theatre heaven, Tangent Theatre has championed new writing - which they call 'the life blood of theatre for the future' - for just over a decade. Actress Jilly Bond and writer Peter Kesterton partnered on a number of projects, beginning with 'Air Guitar' for Bristol Old Vic, followed by Afternoon Dramas for BBC Radio 4, and a production of 'Glasshouse' in 2009. Most recently, Tangent commissioned and produced the World Premiere of ‘The Most Gorgeous Lady Blessington’ by acclaimed radio writer Martyn Wade, at the Wallace Collection in London.

Jilly Bond is known for her work with the National Theatre, with BBC Radio 4 (including 'The Archers') and for her award-winning audio books. If Jilly Bond is the famous voice, then her partner Julian Gartside is the face you'll recognise. Julian has made regular appearances on TV ('Casualty', 'Poirot', 'Morse' and 'Jeeves & Wooster') and film (Kenneth Branagh's 'Henry V’ and ‘Twelfth Night' and Stephen Poliakoff's 'Close my Eyes'). Director Tommo Fowler was Assistant Director for 2012 play 'Rainbow', which took home a Scotsman Fringe First Award, and recently directed award-winning 'I Wish to Die Singing' (also starring Jilly Bond).

Criminal Dramaturgy: Jilly Bond @ Edfringe 2016

CRIMINOLOGY 303

Retired detective Norma Bates has solved every murder case presented to her. Except one. It's quite literally coming back to haunt her.

Performance Dates: 6 - 27 Aug 

(Not 8 or 15 Aug)

Venue 13 21.30 (35 min)  

27 July (19.15), Bute Theatre, Cardiff                                

When her lecture is hijacked by an apparent ghost in the machine, Norma is forced to confront the details of her unsolved case. Reliving her encounter with the pivotal witness, whose own prejudices cast a lingering shadow over her investigation, she uncovers a tale of racism, betrayal and lost love. The figure who walks among the misty Scottish woods carries a lantern to light his way, but the very nature of the killer is called into question.

What was the inspiration for this performance?
 Discovering the first ten minutes of the play itself at a dramatised reading I was involved in as an actress - I was gripped by the idea of a traditional ghost story being wrapped in the sterile atmosphere of a university lecture theatre, but still having the power to terrify.  I have always been drawn to ghost stories anyway - not blood and gore, but the creeping realisation that something supernatural is at work - and is inescapable.

How did you go about gathering the team for it?  
We were very lucky to get Tommo Fowler on board as director - he and I had worked together at the Finborough Theatre last year, on a production which won the Studio Theatre Award for best play of 2016.  He directed and I acted.  I knew he was able to help me navigate my way through a monologue delivered directly to the audience, as I had done in I Wish to Die Singing, but also that he has a fantastic eye for visuals and the combination of technology and theatre.  

Originally my husband, who was a successful actor for 16 years and then switched careers, was going to play the non-speaking part of the Technician and take three weeks' holiday in Edinburgh while I performed - but then Tommo pointed out that he was perfect casting for the other main character - the Laird.  Julian has Scottish ancestry and red hair!  

And he went to public school, as we imagine the Laird to have done.  And he's still a brilliant actor!  Our third cast member will have just graduated from the drama school - Drama Studio London - at which Julian and I both trained, and where I still teach.  I auditioned a number of young men for the role, and Antonis stood out as having imagination and physical flair - a perfect combination for our mysterious technician.  And when I looked for a PR expert, Miriam was the obvious candidate.  

Our play sits absolutely in the centre of her sphere of interest, she did wonderful work for a company last year, and she and I got on like a house on fire (I use that term advisedly!!) when we skyped.

How did you become interested in making performance?  
I've been an actor since 1983, working in theatre, radio, TV, film and audiobooks.  I really love to keep pushing my own boundaries - I think it's the way to stay alive and vital - so in 2009 I started producing my own work (sometimes), with a writer I'd known since university, who'd written a part I wanted to play!  

And last year I helped to devise a piece about neurotransmitters in the brain and how they bear on addiction.  That experience increased my desire to keep working with new writers and helping to bring their work to the stage, if a play or a part seizes my interest.

Was your process typical of the way that you make a performance?  
I think as an actor I have certain basic building blocks in my method which I use when I'm preparing a role, but aside from that, every piece and performance is different, so the way of working is different too.  There is a certain shorthand between Julian and myself because we worked together as actors for 18 months in one company when we first met - and again a couple of times after that - so we share a language.  And Tommo and I have some of that too (a different language from mine and Julian's though!).  

What is most different about this performance is actually that the writer is rather geographically remote, as she was only in London for a short course and has now returned to the U.S. - she is helping to run a summer camp, so we can only contact her by email about once a week.  This has made the process of discussing and modifying the script slightly trickier than having the writer in the room with us, but the upside is that there is a very clinical focus on why and how certain parts of the text adapt.

What do you hope that the audience will experience?  
We hope the audience will be afraid, in the enjoyable way of people choosing to confront themselves with their fears and test their own boundaries!  We've thought a great deal about what frightens an audience as they watch both supernatural and crime stories - because our play is set in two different times and situations, what creates suspense in one part won't be the same as the other - and we have to keep the tension up throughout!  We also hope they'll recognise the dilemmas of the two main characters - and that we'll provoke discussion and thought afterwards about a number of prevalent themes:- the fragility and mutability of memory; how we define someone as an outsider; and how we all deal with what we find beyond our comprehension.

What strategies did you consider towards shaping this audience experience?  
We hope the audience will have an experience which surrounds them - so that they feel truly part of the 'lecture theatre' - and the other space into which Norma, the Professor, guides them.  We also thought about what frightens us as individuals, and have tried to incorporate those aspects – chaos; a sense of undefined menace; the inability to help someone in danger about whom you care; our own inevitable mental decline as we age.  

To create this, we'll use the technological paraphernalia of the lecture hall, with which many of the audience will be familiar - but we'll also use this to threaten the audience to some extent, as well as feeding in an unpredictable element from the cast and their behaviour.  And we hope that the audience will recognise in themselves the potential for self-destruction in Norma - particularly with regard to the unreliability of her memory which, again, we intend to enhance using the technology.  The audience shouldn't be sure what's true and what's not.

Do you see your work within any particular tradition?  
I think it's very much in the tradition of the best ghost stories - M R James's A Warning to the Curious; The Monkey's Paw by W W Jacobs and The Turn of the Screw by Henry James.  We hope we can follow in the footsteps of the stage version of The Woman in Black too!  

But the flawed female detective at the heart of the narrative also puts our play into the genre of the most current television series, where wonderful actresses like Suranne Jones, Lesley Sharpe and Anna Friel wrestle with their personal demons, while trying to do a decent job in a traditionally male arena.

 The work of promising new writer Rose Miller, 'Criminology 303' is the Edinburgh Festival Fringe debut for Tangent Theatre Company. By embedding the traditional ghost story in modern digital society, this play unearths deep fears about the vulnerability of human memory, while reminding us that nothing is really forgotten in the internet age.

"The ghost likes it when people lose sight of themselves" Rose Miller, Writer


About Tangent Theatre Company:

Born out of a match made in theatre heaven, Tangent Theatre has championed new writing - which they call 'the life blood of theatre for the future' - for just over a decade. Actress Jilly Bond and writer Peter Kesterton partnered on a number of projects, beginning with 'Air Guitar' for Bristol Old Vic, followed by Afternoon Dramas for BBC Radio 4, and a production of 'Glasshouse' in 2009. Most recently, Tangent commissioned and produced the World Premiere of ‘The Most Gorgeous Lady Blessington’ by acclaimed radio writer Martyn Wade, at the Wallace Collection in London.

Jilly Bond is known for her work with the National Theatre, with BBC Radio 4 (including 'The Archers') and for her award-winning audio books. If Jilly Bond is the famous voice, then her partner Julian Gartside is the face you'll recognise. Julian has made regular appearances on TV ('Casualty', 'Poirot', 'Morse' and 'Jeeves & Wooster') and film (Kenneth Branagh's 'Henry V’ and ‘Twelfth Night' and Stephen Poliakoff's 'Close my Eyes'). Director Tommo Fowler was Assistant Director for 2012 play 'Rainbow', which took home a Scotsman Fringe First Award, and recently directed award-winning 'I Wish to Die Singing' (also starring Jilly Bond).

Scorching Dramaturgy: Claire Coache @ Edfringe 2016

Open Sky presents:

Scorched

Zoo Southside, Studio, 5 – 39 Aug 2016 (not 15 & 22), 3.30pm (4.30pm)

Based on the life of his grandfather, writer Lisle Turner presents the story of a World War II veteran whose self-tattooed body reminds him of his past as dementia erodes his memory. In 1991 Jack reigns from his armchair, a decorated veteran of Tobruk, former river warden, boxer, horse whisperer, boat builder and charmer, but his mind drags him back to 1941 when he chased a German prisoner of war for two days across the scorching sands of the Sahara desert.

Claire Coache – (Director) – Scorched, Open Sky

What was the inspiration for this performance?

This is a really personal project for our writer Lisle Turner. His grandfather Jack was one of life’s true characters and a powerful male role model in his life. Jack never spoke about his experiences in WW2 but one summer suddenly started to tell these stories. Lisle would sit by the river with him, near Jack’s home in rural Northumberland and they’d talk for hours. 

Sadly this was in fact the onset of dementia and would lead ultimately to Jack being hospitalised and dying soon thereafter. The stories were so raw and powerful they needed to be told. Jack’s stories have been combined with other true stories told by veterans and stories from Lisle’s own experiences to provide the source material for our work.

For myself as director I have been leading drama sessions in care homes with elderly people, many of whom live with dementia, for the last eighteen months. I've been struck by how very elderly people are invisible in our society. We have an aging population but many of them are tucked away out of sight. 

We are so preoccupied with youth and beauty, we are in denial about our own inevitable decline. I have been humbled by the magnitude of people's lives. Telling Jack's stories was also a way of sharing some of the experiences that I’ve learned from.

How did you go about gathering the team for it?

Lisle and I have collaborated on all our theatre work and in our personal life for the last 20 years so that was a no-brainer. Robin Berry has worked with us on two other projects: From Newbury With Love and Cold (in development). Robin is such a joy to work with, a lovely cheeky chappy in real life and on stage a powerful presence. He also has the unusual combination of visceral physicality and great command of text. 

Making work is hard enough, so we are always looking for team mates who say 'yes', who take risks and are willing to jump off with us into the unknown. As a company we’re keen on building a network of professionals near where we live. This had led to new collaborations with production designer Purvin, one of the founder members of Pentabus, Ben Hughes our lighting designer who is a lecturer in technical theatre at Worcester University and costume designer Juliet Blamey who we met socially and has designed for Paines Plough and the Manchester Royal Exchange.

How did you become interested in making performance?

I was lucky enough to be involved in collaborative theatre making from a young age with the Birmingham Rep Youth Workshop. I have always enjoyed the process and how, if it's successful, we create something greater than the sum of our parts. I watched The Street of Crocodiles when I was in my first year of University. When the actors emerged out of piles of books and walked down the stage walls I was hooked. I wanted to create something magical too. 

My two years at Lecoq in Paris developed a performance-making reflex that I can only describe as compulsive. Every week we had to make something from scratch and now, eleven years after leaving, I still feel that kick from within that it is time to make something.

Was your process typical of the way that you make a performance?

We've worked in this way several times now. Lisle undertakes huge amounts of research and then writes prose fragments of action within a larger narrative framework. The descriptive and poetic prose provides fuel for the creative team and we find all kinds of images, movement scores and text in the space. When all those ideas surface we work collaboratively on them. 

I ask the actors, musicians and designers to respond in their own medium and then watch for that flicker of magic. When it’s there we tease it out and join it together until the story unfolds. Lisle then edits, writes any further dialogue and guides the structural shape of the final piece. It is a labour intensive way to make work but we find it gives a depth of feeling and a complexity of imagery that is difficult to achieve from a scripted dialogue alone.

What do you hope that the audience will experience?

I hope they will get a sense of Jack’s personality, the futility of war and its impact on those we send to fight. There is also a deeper comment within the piece about masculinity and how we shape men in our society. I've been very moved by my work with dementia sufferers and I hope we manage to communicate the reductive nature of this condition. I also hope the audience can reflect on the impermanence of our own existence as they watch Jack's mind and body disintegrating. We’re not here forever and should probably be kinder to each other in what time we have.

What strategies did you consider towards shaping this audience experience?

We find that our most important strategy, in fact our only strategy, is to be emotionally honest in the work. There’s an expression used sparingly at Lecoq which is “C’est juste”. It means something feels right or true or real. As an artist if it feels like that to you it will probably feel like that for the audience. There are moments in the theatre when something simply rings true and if we feel this resonance collectively we develop it and build on it. You have to follow your heart and then fix the practical problems with your head. If you can make an audience feel, they’re motivated to think and thought can lead to positive action. Hopefully this is how as theatre makers we can contribute to society.

Do you see your work within any particular tradition?

We are definitely shaped by my training at Lecoq so sit within the European theatre tradition. Lisle is a film-maker and brings a sense of the cinematic to his storytelling. We both practise meditation and themes of compassion and impermanence underpin our work. I'm also a mother and female artist. I am defining and defined by that emerging movement of women juggling these roles. 

Now we live and work in rural Herefordshire we often perform in non-traditional spaces. We turn up, create our world and tell our stories like countless minstrels and mummers before us.

ZOO Southside, Studio, 5 – 29 Aug 2016 (not 15 & 22), 3.30pm (4.30pm)

Elephantine Dramaturgy: Rebecca Monks and Madison Maylin @ Edfringe 2016

Tyke - a gripping new play by Rebecca Monks that imagines the events leading up to the true story of an abused circus elephant’s tragic break for freedom. We're taking the show to this summer's Edinburgh Fringe Festival for a full (month-long) run, with three previews at Above The Arts Theatre in Leicester Square. 10% of all our takings at the Fringe will go to a (soon to be chosen) animal welfare charity.


So, what's it about?
Proudlove’s world-famous circus is crumbling. Faced with a financial crisis, his enterprise could fold within a year. The ringmaster knows he needs to bring in the crowds to save it, and for this, he’s relying on his prize attraction: Tyke the elephant.

Stefan – Proudlove’s protégé – is tasked with teaching Tyke new and more demanding tricks. He hires a skilled and passionate apprentice, Veronica, to assist him. The two fall in love, but their relationship is tested when she rebukes the circus’ brutal training methods.

This touching new play is grounded in the true story of Tyke – who killed her trainer in front of thousands of circus spectators, escaped, and died in a hail of gunfire. The play uses puppetry to explore love, power, morality, and animal nature.

Tyke Q&A, with writer Rebecca Monks and director Madison Maylin

What was the inspiration for this performance?

Rebecca Monks: Tyke is based on a true story. In 1994, a circus elephant (named Tyke, naturally), killed her trainer on stage during a performance in Honolulu. She then went on to rampage through the area, and was eventually killed in a hail of gunfire. The incident really stayed with me because it was tragic on so many levels: the death of the animal, the death of the trainer, the fear instilled in the audience members. I wanted to write this piece to examine who was to blame, and the idea of conflict within human and animal nature.

How did you go about gathering the team for it?

RM: Initially, Tyke was going to be produced by my own production company (Peacetime Productions), but due to scheduling conflicts, our Artistic Director had to pull out. As a playwright, I was left with a new play I was excited about, a good Fringe venue and a time-slot in the programme, but no creative team to bring it to life. I thought I was going to have to cancel it, and I was absolutely heartbroken.

I went for a bit of a Hail Mary pass before I gave up, and contacted everyone I knew in the theatre industry asking them to pass on a message to everyone they knew in the theatre industry. It explained the basis of the play, what I needed (a director, cast and crew), and what I could offer (a full script and some feet on the ground since I'm based in Edinburgh).

Madison got in touch with me about a week later, and it felt like fate (though I don't believe in fate, nor do I believe in being this cheesy. I apologise profusely). She said she was an actor / director, has worked closely with PETA, and had campaigned against the use of animals in circuses. She even had a pet named Tyke. 

We chatted about the project, I watched her show-reel, I sent her the script and after that, she assembled a crack team that have been doing a fantastic job pulling the piece together in London. I couldn't be happier with the team taking it on, and I'm excited to watch it come to life under her vision, and the vision of those involved - Madelaine Cunningham as co-director, and James Lawrence as producer to name another two.

Madison Maylin: I on the other hand, do believe in fate. I was meant to work on this play. It's an important message, one I feel very strongly about as a storyteller and as an animal rights champion. I am very lucky to have worked with some incredible people who know even more incredible people, so it was almost easy to bring the right team together - and who wouldn't want to work on something that could help shape how we view our world?

How did you become interested in making performance?

RM: I have been involved in various theatre projects from a young age, mostly amateur acting and a very brief stint studying at the Moscow Arts Theatre. But my main love is creative writing, and so writing plays felt inevitable. I wrote my first play, Scour, last year and it got some great feedback.

MM: I come from a very gregarious family. On my mum's side there are jazz club owners, artists, and market-stall sellers. On my dad's side there are session musicians and 80s pop stars. My brother (who helped co-found Black Sheep Productions with me) works in the TV and film industry. It makes sense that I'm a writer, actor, director, and all-round show off. It was either that or be a shrinking violet. And purple doesn't suit me.

Was your process typical of the way that you make a performance?

MM: I don't know about typical, but everything I've done before this very moment has shaped how I approach theatre-making. I've worked in Advertising for six years so I also value preparation, strategy, organisation, delegation and structure. That's my first step when making theatre. I'm also a writer, with a BA in English and an MA in Creative Writing, so table work and focus on the words is paramount. Setting up parameters ensures there's overall vision and cohesion. But at my core, I am a performer, so I value creativity, beauty, collaboration, freedom and playfulness above all else.

What do you hope that the audience will experience?

RM: The main thing is empathy for Tyke. The incident should never have happened, and Tyke's death (and the death of those involved) could have been avoided. But this play isn't a black-and-white, blame-the-baddy story. It is complicated, and asks you to consider the various pressures put on each character, and what motivated them to behave badly in the first place. I hope the audience will think about the challenges we all face within relationships, work environments and society. More than anything, I hope it will trigger a conversation about the way we treat animals and each other.

MM: I want people to leave our show having experienced something truthful - no matter what that might be. Anger towards humanity. Empathy for animals. No matter what it might be, truth transforms into action: An urge to donate, a pledge to never visit a zoo again, a demand on our government ban wild animals in UK circuses.

What strategies did you consider towards shaping this audience experience?

MM: I'm not sure you can shape an audience's experience. Our job is to tell the story. There is no right or wrong experience of that story. As theatre-makers and performers, we put our everything into a show - but once it's out there, in front of an audience, it's completely out of our hands. That's what makes theatre so thrilling.

Do you see your work within any particular tradition?

MM: Every show that Black Sheep Productions brings to life is bold and dynamic. We put on 'Full Circle' at The Arts Theatre in Leicester Square last year - a play based on ancient Greek women - but the modern aesthetics (drum and bass / 1950s mixes alongside electrifying lighting) were essential to the story-telling. Expect the same adventurous style with Tyke.

The Inevitable Dramaturgy of Gavin Plimsole: Sharklegs @ Edfringe 2016

The Inevitable Heartbreak of Gavin Plimsole

Pleasance Dome (10 Dome), 1 Bristo Square, Edinburgh, EH8 9AL Wednesday 3rd – Monday 29th August 2016 (not 16th), 13:40

Winner of Les Enfant Terribles Award 2016, The Inevitable Heartbreak of Gavin Plimsole prompts us to consider our own lives and how we make the most of our heartbeats.

If you knew you had a finite number of heartbeats, how would you make each beat count? Gavin feels a flutter in his heart and is given a life-changing diagnosis. In the time between the beat before this revelation and the beat after, he assesses his entire life; what has he done with those beats? Which has he thrown away? And how many did he lose when she broke his heart?

Gavin Plimsole is hoarding his heartbeats in the shed at the bottom of his garden; he may not have enough heartbeats left, so he may need to borrow some of yours... SharkLegs will measure audience members’ heartbeats using state of the art fitness heart rate monitors during the show. These readings will be projected onto the set and will influence the action and experience of the production every single performance. Through a partnership with ActivioFitness (the forerunner of heart rate group training), the company have created a new way of engaging with theatre.


What was the inspiration for this performance?
As with most creative thoughts, it came out of an idea whilst sitting on a sofa, although I cannot confirm or deny if it was whilst wearing giraffe onesies and drinking wine... 

We were watching a documentary about hoarders and hording, chatting about deep questions: How do people fill their lives? What do they choose to mark the passage of time? (Is there more wine?) Why do things become important to us? Why can't we let things go? (Are you going to get more wine?) Do we need things to remind us of the moments in our lives, or are the moment enough? (Fine, I'll get it.)

We were talking about the strange things that you could hoard. Memories, perfect moments, your perfect comebacks, and finally moved onto how cool it would be if you could store heartbeats and if you could, what would you do with them?  People are measuring their lives in more ways than ever before with FitBits, Health apps, pedometers and '#Gains' pictures on Instagram so the idea grew and  voila, The Inevitable Heartbreak of Gavin Plimsole had its first heartbeat.

How did you go about gathering the team for it?

SharkLegs, Kezia and Rich, have been working together for 3 years. We have worked with Rhys Lawton on two previous shows and love how his wacky brain matches ours. As the idea developed, it became clear that Rhys was the ideal actor to come on board and to help us create the character of Gavin Plimsole.  We are currently casting for another female actor and cannot wait to meet the awesome person (whoever she might be).  

We have loved the work of Kinetic Sculptor Jim Bond for a while now having come across his work with Faulty Optic and were uber excited to get him on-board to make our responsive marble run that measures the audience's heartbeats throughout the show.  It’s really a question of finding people whose work you love, people who take an idea and run with it and people who bring their own special kind of magic to the table. 



How did you become interested in making performance?

Growing up in a little town in the middle of nowhere in Wales, Richard went to the theatre and saw astro-turf on the stage, for the first time. Needless to say his mind. Was. Blown. He was 100% certain that you could not ever put grass on the stage of a theatre. He was, of course, wrong. 

Blown mind in hand, he went to discover what pictures, ideas and vegetation could in fact be put on the stage.   Kez is fascinated by that moment when the world turns, the tipping point on the edge of the cliff, the moment of no return. So together we chase the moment we can re-see the world and it is this moment which keeps us looking for the idea, the picture and the game that will make the audience realise that something which was impossible could perhaps be possible...



Was your process typical of the way that you make a performance?

Yeah - we made this show in a typical 'SharkLegs-y' way.  We will develop the ideas, narrative, themes and concepts and build this into a "working script". However when we get into rehearsals and start working with the actors we throw the script out of the window having torn it apart, stamped on it and tried to make a rudimentary origami Dragon from the pages. 

We encourage the actors to say anything other than what was initially written down. This makes the process one of discovery for us all - finding characters as well as mood, emotion and images that resonate with the ideas, concepts and most importantly the experience of the show. We never know at the start what will appear, how it will be formed  or what the end product will be - Terrifying and the most exciting thing in the world (aside from the Origami dragon which was clearly a great idea...)  

 What we love most is creating a show that emerges from the brains of the whole company during a rehearsal process. We are not there to tell people where to stand and how to feel, but to work creatively with other creatives who all bring their experience, joy and mischief to the work.


What do you hope that the audience will experience?
The aim of all of our shows is to send the audience out to see the world in a new way - to look at a cardboard box and see the robot it could be... For Gavin this is particularly relevant; whilst it is about a man confronting his quickly diminishing life span, we want the audience to step out of the show ready to experience each moment of their lives.

It is not about telling people how to live their lives - who the hell are we to do that?! 

We are professional pretenders -  But the idea we keep coming back to is that is that it is fine to spend 4 hours scrolling through Cat Videos on YouTube as long as you are present, and aware you are doing it - so much of our lives pass almost without us noticing that it is sometimes important to turn our attention on to the moments we experience.

We want the audience to take an hour with us and experience their hearts beating during the show, sharing each heartbeat with us.


What strategies did you consider towards shaping this audience experience?
We are using heart rate monitors during the show which will measure the audiences' heartbeats. They will then be projected onto our set so each audience member will be able to see their own heart respond to each moment on stage. 

The collective heartbeats will be totaled and used to make decisions about what happens to Gavin, what scenes we experience and importantly if Gavin will be drinking chamomile tea or red bull throughout the show... This strategy directly connects the heartbeats of the audience with the performance which is created in front of them, turning their attention on to the time they have chosen to spend with us. Each of their moments is essential to the creation of our moments in the theatre.  

This strategy may sound cold, technological and like we are stealing your heartbeats to sell to PPI Cold Callers however, our approach is surprisingly Low-Fi. We are in Gavin's shed at the bottom of his garden, he has built us an awesome marble run which keeps track of our passing beats and he has been storing his own heartbeats in the musty, soggy moving boxes he meant to throw out four years ago. The mixture of High-Tech and Low-Tech opens up the experience by placing our heartbeats literally centre-stage, allowing our audience to see and experience something that they rarely even notice but is with them every second of every day. 



Do you see your work within any particular tradition?
It sits in the very broad contemporary tradition of Visual Theatre as we play with visual metaphor, using puppetry, object manipulation  and that thing that happened to be in the rehearsal room because somebody left it behind after their contemporary dance class... We beg, borrow and occasionally steal from high and low art, swinging between popular culture and not so popular Fighting Fantasy Book references. 

With puppetry, three actors, a toy pig and a marble run, The Inevitable Heartbreak of Gavin Plimsole brings a surprisingly low-fi approach to some very hi-tech equipment. It takes a stab at answering three important questions; what do we do with our lives, how do we make each moment count and how does bungee jumping make anyone happy?

Sharklegs

SharkLegs are committed to creating work for the creative audience. The company have been working together for three years and are Associate Artists with The Point Theatre, Eastleigh. 

Before this Richard was an actor, physical performer, puppeteer and stunt man whilst Kezia worked as a freelance Director and Project Manager - which makes Richard sound much cooler... SharkLegs is a visual theatre company that makes work to encourage the audience to see the creativity in their own lives - to see the robot in the cardboard box, to see the puppet in the scrunched-up newspaper or the life in the taxidermy diorama.