Attuned Dramaturgy: Trust You To Kill Me @ Sloans, Glasgow

Attune Theatre present 
Trust You To Kill Me 
Sloans as part of Wee Theatres Glasgow

November 24th multiple performances from 7pm



Hannah works in a job that deals with life and death, literally. Her office allocates resources to those in need and it's her job to decide who gets help and who doesn't. 

Naturally she is getting a little tired of this, but when she gets the case of someone she knows, she has a real fight on her hands.
Trust You To Kill Me is written and directed by Stewart Schiller and created in collaboration with his partner at Attune Theatre Simon Devon. It makes use of Attune's distinctive style of confronting serious issues with a darkly comic tone. 

 Stewart Schiller takes on the Vile generic questioning...

1. Inspiration
The show is inspired by my time working in an office that dealt with PPI complaints. Though we were often dealing with complaints relating to large sums of money you'd never know by the way the way the people doing the cases behaved. 

I found the dissonance between talking to someone about general trivia (i.e. how great was the last episode of Game of Thrones, Parks and Recreation, etc.?) whilst you were deciding whether or not someone should get £15,000 interesting.

Also related to the ins and outs of the job, for fairness, you had to have a process by which every case was judged but that could result someone getting money, or not getting money, for very pedantic reasons. Since this is a common feature of our current corporate culture, it got me wondering what would happen when more Government functions were privatised.

2. The Team
The team are all people I've worked with before. In the cast, I

believe they all bring something interesting to the role unique to them. To me, casting's not about asking an actor to disappear in a role. It's about finding something in that actor that is interesting to bring to the character, which then in turn makes their performance unique. 

There was another version of this play done at an earlier stage in development, with a completely different cast. This version of the show will feel very different because of those changes.

3. The Venue
The Wee Theatres Glasgow night is an interesting night where the audience are presented with three pieces or one depending on their preference. So you could come see our play, or you could some our play, some short films and take in a bit of music all in one night. For me, this makes the experience very cosmopolitan.

The Wee Theatres night takes place in Sloans bar in a variety of spaces. There are no traditional theatres spaces in the venue and no stages. That felt like a good fit for this play, because that means the audience will be very close to the action, which removes the sense of distance you often get in conventional theatre performance. 

Considering the decisions these characters are making, I think that closeness to the characters will really make you feel the weight of their decisions.

4. Is This Typical to our Process?
To some extent, we don't have a 'typical process' as the shows we

tackle are very eclectic. But this show is maybe one of the simplest shows we've put together and one of the challenges for us to embrace that simplicity. 

So that means resisting the urge to over choreographic the movement, or explain too much in the dialogue, and just the simplicity of the concept breathe, use stillness in the performance and let the script have elements which are not fully explored, just hinted at.

5. Audience Experience
I hope the audience think about what the characters are doing and how that effects the people not in the room.

I hope they consider how realistic the concept of an office like the one in the show is. 

And maybe just ask are there answers to the problems the characters face? 

6. Tradition
If I were to pin down to any one tradition. It's drawn a lot of inspiration from writers like Pinter, and Beckett. In the sense, that the plot is quite light, whilst the concepts the characters are dealing with are quite heavy. In the sense, whilst there's not a lot of obvious action, there is still a lot for the actors to get their teeth into.

7. Further Questions
Something that's important for me in my process is the transition from an idea to a script, and then script to performances as a lot of choices and changes can happen in that time. 

One thing I've discovered in the process, that I was discussing with the actors, is when the idea started out, there was a lot more complexity to the idea, which has generally eroded away through development as it just wasn't necessary. 

The core concept, that there is this office that decides whether some people live or others die, which works exactly like a lot of offices in Glasgow's city centre, has been that's very easy for people to engage with and what's refined into this sharper simple show.







Attune Theatre have had work on in various Scottish venues, in particular, Glasgow. They have also taken two productions to London's Lost Theatre, with their production Belief Beyond Hope receiving much acclaim from Times Theatre Critic Jeremy Kingston*, and most recently Life is Shrinking which premièred at the World of Film Festival, which was described as “Overall, a well written piece for all lovers of the dark and twisted” by TV Bomb, and a “dark modern fairy tale gem” by Mumble Theatre.

      

Tracks Of The Winter Dramaturgy: Rona Munro @ Traverse

Traverse Theatre Company Announces
Tracks Of The Winter Bear 
By Rona Munro & Stephen Greenhorn 
Directed By Orla O’Loughlin & Zinnie Harris


 
The Traverse Theatre Company today announces the cast for its forthcoming production Tracks of the Winter Bear. 

The all-female, ensemble cast features a number of well-known performers: Deborah Arnott (Caucasian Chalk Circle, Royal Lyceum), Karen Bartke (My Name Is..., Tamasha Theatre, UK tour), Caroline Deyga (Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour, National Theatre of Scotland), Kathryn Howden (The Last Witch, Edinburgh International Festival/ Traverse) and Molly Innes (The Artist Man and the Mother Woman, Traverse Theatre Company).

The double bill brings seasonal stories, with a touch of the mystic, to the stage. It features world premieres by Rona Munro and Stephen Greenhorn inspired by ideas of wintery landscapes, Edinburgh and polar bears. 
 
Both playwrights have achieved considerable fame for their work in stage and other media and have a long association with the Traverse, which counts them among its most successful alumni. 

Both expressed their excitement at the prospect of this unique project and have worked closely to bring their individual ideas to fruition. Here again they bring their renowned wit and surreal but incisive gaze to bear on contemporary issues.


Orla O’Loughlin said, “What a wonderful way to end the year, with a double bill of wintry plays by two of Scotland’s finest playwrights and Traverse alumni. These plays offer a heartfelt and often fantastical insight into themes of loss, fear and love. As such they feel very much of the season. Both create a dreamlike canvas on which two very individual but equally inventive journeys unfold. By turns tragic and darkly comic, our Tracks of the Winter Bear double bill promises an exciting and daringly theatrical experience for Traverse audiences this December.”

 

GKV: What was the inspiration for this performance?Rona Munro: Okay, you said challenge you. What do you mean by ‘inspiration’? Conjures up visions of a radiant muse.
 
There are loads of reasons to write a play, the most common is desire to tell certain stories which, if one’s lucky enough to start making a living at it, is very rapidly followed by economic necessity, ‘because someone offered to pay me to tell that story’. 

Then there’s the delight of working with people one as enjoyed working with in the past. In this case lovely people I’d worked with in the past tempted me with the treat of working with them again and I had an idea that that matched theirs. I love Stephen Greenhorn and I’ve always wanted to write a Christmas show about a bear.

How did you go about gathering the team for it?
That was done by others.
 
What made you decide on this particular venue?
See above.

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

Pretty much, though in this case I had a series of meetings with Stephen and Zinnie Harris where we talked about what the common themes between the two plays might be and how we’d make hem work together.

What do you hope that the audience will experience?
Midwinter magic.

Do you see your work within any particular tradition?
I try and avoid that kind of thinking altogether. It’s like a millipede concentrating on what its legs are doing.

Are there any other questions that might help me to understand the meaning of dramaturgy for you in your work? 
I can honestly say that I had no idea what dramaturgy was till I read your comics. I am still not entirely certain. I think, for an actual creative, it may be as well not to ever think about it. See above lame simile about millipedes. 

Playwright Biography

Rona Munro

Rona Munro has written extensively for stage, radio, film and television including the trilogy The James Plays for the National Theatre of Scotland, The National Theatre of Great Britain and the Edinburgh International Festival.

The James Plays won the Evening Standard best play and Writer’s Guild best play awards in 2015.

Other credits include award winning plays Iron which won the John Whiting Award in 2003, The Maiden Stone which won the Peggy Ramsay Memorial award and Bold Girls which won the Evening Standard award, Critics Circle award and Susan Smith Blackburn award.

Film and TV work includes Oranges And Sunshine directed by Jim Loach and starring Emily Watson and Hugo Weaving, the Ken Loach film Ladybird Ladybird which won a Silver Bear at the Berlin Festival, Aimee and Jaguar, Silver Bear winner and Golden Globe nomination, and BAFTA nominated Bumping The Odds for the BBC.   

She has also written many other single plays for TV and contributed to series such as Casualty’ and Dr Who.

Ternary Patterns for Insomnia @ Tramway

I don't actually believe that applying the Bateson/Goffman parameters for play is an effective way to review an event. For that matter, I don't believe that Bateson's observations of otters at the zoo were of play in the first place. I think he was watching an educational process (the otters teaching other otters to fight, or at least rehearsing it -and with a pedagogical process that human teachers could well learn from).

But I am trying to get to grips with Goffman's idea of the frame (which I think is the way in which context is recognised by a performance). So buckle up, it's round two!

A great deal of repetitiveness occurs.

Throughout Ternary Patterns for Insomnia, certain musical forms are repeated throughout the Goldberg Variations (an arrangement for string ensemble provides the soundtrack to the dances). And there are repetitions of movements, some props are re-used, including a big tube and some rope. 

However, I can't accept this as a frame for play, performance or pedagogy. It might have been different in Bateson's day, but life is pretty repetitious these days...


When more than one participant is to be involved, all must be freely willing to play...

Again, I struggle with this... it needs so much clarification. I'm dumping it, calling bullshit. This is no help at all.

Frequent role switching occurs during play, resulting in a mixing up of the dominance order found among the players...

I'm cheating by ignoring a detail, but this does free me up to comment on Ternary. At various points in the production - notably during the Aria, the musicians dance about, taking on a new - and pretty often clearly unfamiliar role. There is even a dance solo by a viola player.

In that instance, a dominance order is broken. It's a relatively subtle order, but the viola tends to hold a supporting  position in an ensemble (not only and always, mind). But then there is another break, of the musician usually being defined by their instrument.

Throughout the evening, there is plenty of cavorting by the musicians - perhaps the dancers could have had a crack on the violins at some point. The contrast between the physicality of the dancers and musicians is very evident.

The play seems to be independent of any external needs of the participants, often continuing longer than would the actual behaviour it is patterned after.

Yeah, this is thin stuff now. Time for bed.  
  

In Cahoots as Play...

Goffman liked to look at everyday life like it was a big show. He read a book by Bateson which described otters at the zoo having a laugh. From this, Goffman describes a number of qualities that describe 'play'. It is the way that Bateson knew that the otters he was watching weren't getting nasty, but actually having a bit of fun.


The playful act is so performed that its ordinary function is not realized. The stronger and more competent participant restrains himself (sic) to be a match for the weaker and less competent.

Already, the conference is identified as a site not of play but aiming towards its ordinary function. However, Goffman's description of the power relationship here (apart from re-enforcing an already present hierarchy) does describe a possible teaching scenario: the 'stronger' participant being the teacher, the weaker being the student.

The stronger participants at In Cahoots - that is, those selected by the organisers as experts and given time to address the audience - have their power emphasised by the format. For example, Nele Hertling's conclusion talk (a fairly predictable selection of platitudes about the advantages of collaboration) was given authority not by the content of her speech but the situation. She was at the front of the room, she had a microphone. The audience was seated in a theatre space, facing her.

There is an exaggeration of the expansiveness of some acts.

Anyone who has been lucky enough to see Brian Blessed do Shakespeare knows that this certainly describes theatre: equally, the choreography of a stripper expands suggestive movement, drawing attention to the erotic potential of the body. Perhaps the panel format, such as in the conclusion talk or Errollyn Wallen's keynote speech, is an expansion of the act of conversation.

Wallen's keynote, which excerpted from her various work (including the spectacular opening ceremony of the UK Paralympics), was an expanded description of her process. Equally, some of the performances - for example the Ensemble Thing's You Can't Get There From Here expanded the process of performance.

(In You Can't Get There..., the ensemble played a selection of pieces that had been composed through the collaboration of several composers. Before each piece, a recorded version of an early draft of the collaboration was played, highlighting the process, and possibly exaggerating the expansiveness of composition to reveal how the process operated.)

The sequence of activity that serves as a pattern is neither followed faithfully nor completed fully, but is subject to starting and stopping,to redoing, to discontinuation... to mixing with sequences from other routines.

The Bateson/Goffman model, once again, does not appear to completely fit the conference format. It does describe a process that is optimised for learning, however. It's pretty clear that Bateman, when he was watching otters, could have equally defined their activity as education. 

In Cahoots was clearly well-structured, jumping from lectures to workshops to performances, offering a variety of experiences. Although this implies discontinuity, and plenty of starting and stopping, the overall structure integrated the event into a whole. 

For example, the workshop on Dance and Music was complemented by an evening performance of Sandglass, a collaboration between choreographer Lucy Boyes and musician Thomas Butler. The interaction between the soundscape and the performers went beyond choreographing to the music, with the dancers making some of the sounds on stage. 
  

Dramaturgy's Burlesque: Festival of Burlesque @ Glasgow

The Glasgow Festival of Burlesque was founded in 2014 and will take to the stage of The Classic Grand in November 2015.


The show will run from 20th till 22nd of November and will showcase some of the finest burlesque talent from Glasgow and a little further. We're hosting workshops, shows and a afternoon showcase for all you lovely lot... not to mention the after parties!!!

How did you get into burlesque in the first place?
Lady V: I started performing burlesque back in 2007 as a way to keep performing after finding that I wasn't the typical size/shape for commercial or theatrical dancing. As an audience member I loved the atmosphere, costumes and showmanship of Burlesque. I approached a local show for a newbie slot and that was my big start.

Roxy: I just kind of fell into it! I've always loved the theatre and love the idea of being part of something that's so old and yet just keep changing and stays so fresh! Combine this with my love of pin-up and 50s' culture and Roxy Stardust was born!

In an individual performance, what do you look for?
Lady V: For me, its really that thing that holds my attention through a particular performance. It can be a style of dance, a particular skill, a unique looking performer or just a really interesting costume. I don't have limitations on the type or style of performance I gravitate towards.

Roxy: For me it's all about the energy a performer gives off. Maybe someone is not the best technically or there costume isn't a work of art but if they have that spark, there's just that something that you can't put your finger on, but it's there...

And was their any particular them or approach or taste that drove your selections for the festival?
When making selections for the festival we were really looking for a broad selection of performers which could show as many different facets of Burlesque as we could. We wanted there to be performers that would suit a wide range of tastes but also to enlighten audience members to things they haven't seen locally before.

For headline acts we wanted performers who had been influential on the Scottish scene and who had really made Glasgow grow.


Where is burlesque at these days? Is there any particular style that is dominating?

Everywhere! Glasgow is a cabaret hive! We have Wild Cabaret and The Riding  Room who constantly have live entertainment on display and there's many independent night ran for performers.

There's a lot more performers diversifying their skills and bringing new and unexpected things to their acts. It's now not enough just to be good at one thing. Ultimately it shows that styles and expectations chance over time and performers and constantly are challenged to come up with something new and innovative. But that's certainly not a new concept for this industry.

How do you feel about the 'controversy' of burlesque - the 'is it/isn't it feminist' matter?
Lady V: It's only controversial if you make it so. Glasgow and Scotland in general is so open to the burlesque, cabaret and alternative scene in general. It's certainly that attitude that makes Glasgow unique and known worldwide for their friendly nature. Burlesque is what you want or need it to be.

Roxy: I think that the best way to deal with this is let everyone have an opinion, and then just accept that everyone has one.

Is there much connection between the wider cabaret scene and burlesque at the moment?
Of course there is. Cabaret and burlesque cross over so much now. We think with so many performers bringing a plethora of skills to their performances the lines a blurred between the two because burlesque isn't about just stripping and cabaret isn't just all about singing and comedy.

What kind of audiences are you hoping for - and what will they experience?
There is no typical audience member for us. We just want the whole of Glasgow and beyond to come along! Audiences will experience a fun filled weekend showing the many facets and faces of Burlesque but also focusing and highlighting on what makes the Glasgow scene unique and fabulous.

Why have the festival in Glasgow?
Glasgow is home to the world's largest burlesque show, club noir. Glasgow also has the world's oldest surviving music hall, Britannia Panopticon. We are also home to the best audiences the world has to offer, well if you believe what touring musicians say! This is also our home city which we both love dearly.

Does it celebrate a Glasgow scene?
Glasgow has always embraced and celebrated burlesque and cabaret. Think it's something to do with the water! But yes the festival has a big focus on Glasgow performers particularly at the closing show.

Are there national or international artists coming?
We have local, national and international artists coming. The closing night will focus in Scottish artists but each headliner across the festival is Scottish.

Is there one night that would be the best for a 'newbie'?
For newbie performers we have a show on the Sunday afternoon at The Riding Rooms, Roxy's Round-Up. Although for the festival it's not strictly new performers it runs the last Thursday of every month and is a show specifically for performers finding there feet . 

For someone who's never been to a burlesque show, any of our nights would be a superb night out.


And is there any artists who might surprised a jaded old critic?
Of course there will be! Burlesque is so much more than a pretty performer taking their clothes off to an old piece of jazz music. We have a particular female performer who is bringing a comedy act which we both agree you'll love. We have a variety of male performers who are not just dancers too. Oh and we think that Granny Stardust might be popping along to give us her opinion on a few things too.

Oh - and any guys doing boylesque, too?
Certainly! Burlesque is not gender specific. It is heavily influenced by female or feminine performers but the boys certainly give them a good run for their money. For us there's no separation of boylesque from burlesque, its just a different facet of the same coin.




Roxy Stardust
Described as "Explosively Gallus" Roxy Stardust specialises in Singing and Comedic routines. 

Roxy is the mastermind behind Monster-A-GoGo, Roxy's Round-Up: Cabaret Showcase and various other shows the UK. Roxy has performed all over the UK and in 2012 made her first US appearance and then toured the states in 2014

She's a Glasgow showgirl through and through.


Lady V
Lady V started performing burlesque back in 2007 and has been performing across the UK since. A trained dance teacher who owns her own school and also an accessories designer under the name "Twirls and Delights by Lady V".