Well, the time has nearly arrived for us to take our
physical theatre piece ‘Three Words’ up to the Edinburgh Festival this year. It
has been a long journey to the Fringe over the last few months but it seems all
our hard work has started to pay off. After a very positive preview performance
last Saturday night; we have all been struck with the realisation of mixed
feelings, that it is this Sunday that we are travelling up. These aren’t necessarily
bad feelings, but the idea that we are taking our piece to one of the biggest
and most renowned arts festivals in the world, does make the most comfortable
actor or actress worry.
In the last week before we head off, we have tried to
tighten up sections of ensemble work – this has been quite intense work as
there are a lot of dance and choral sections to our piece. Also, we have tried
to focus on characterisation, as there is a few parts where a few actresses
play one character (Rosemary) there needs to be a standard way of playing her
role.
We are all really excited at the prospect of going to the
Edinburgh Fringe this year and really appreciate the support that everyone has
given. It is the biggest thing the BYT Rep has done so far and we are really
excited to how our piece will be recived.
Jack
The Crucible - News!
This week I have been visiting the
cast of ‘The Crucible’! Here’s an interview with Rosmary…
Jack: So, please introduce yourself
Rosemary: Hello, I’m Rosemary.
J: What you eating Rosemary?
R: Erm, someone just gave it me –
it’s, a gold McVities bar and it’s delicious.
J: Very good, ok, so I believe you are
doing a play called the crucible by Arthur Miller, could you give me a quick
overview?
R: I’m not actually in it; I’m just
here helping out.
J: Oh well, but surely you should
know?
R: Well, I kind of know, it’s
basically set in way back when in America around the time of the witch trials
and what-not, erm, lots of people are accused of witchcraft when there’s no
real witchcraft going on.
J: So what happens?
R: Well, lots of people die who were
innocent – it’s like, if they confessed to being a which then they get set
free, but if they deny it then they get hanged, but, it’s all a metaphor...
J: Love it.
R: ...for capitalism, not capitalism,
err, something that Arthur Miller says...
J: McCarthyism?
R: Yes!
J: We got there in the end! So, how’s
it all going? Its next week right?
R: Yeah, next week. I think it’s going
really well, it’s a great play and everyone’s doing really well. I think
there’s a couple of slip ups with lines, but they should be fine by next week.
J: Hopefully. Now, can you tell me
about the staging of the play itself? Is there anything new, or is it quite
traditional?
R: Hmm, well at the start of the play
there’s going to be something a bit different , where the audience are coming
in there’s going to be some action already taking place, erm, I don’t want to
give too much away.
J: Well we’ll stop you there. So can
we expect any special effects?
R: Not really, it’s quite minimal,
stripped back – it’s all about the acting.
J: So what is, in your opinion the
most exciting part of the play?
R: Erm, because the scenes are so tense,
I think it really helps to erm, because there’s nothing there, it’s just the
acting and it’s really powerful actually that the scenes are so tense and it
just builds up and builds up and builds up.
J: Would you say that’s the defining
feature of it then?
R: Yeah, definitely it’s very intense
J: Thus, ‘The Crucible’.
R: Yeah.
J: So, how easily have people got to
grips with it – have they managed with the language?
R: Yeah, it’s a great cast and they’ve
done really well to be honest, erm, the language is not too straight forward
but they seen to have managed really well and it’s just natural to them now.
J: Great, what problems have you
encountered so far?
R: I think with all of them, it’s just
getting the tension; it’s a matter of getting the right amount.
J: So could it be said that you’ve
stuck with the ‘traditional’ Crucible or have you found more from it?
R: Yeah, it’s fairly traditional
because there’s not too much that can be changed – nothing can replace Miller’s
genius.
J: So when’s it on?
R: The 6th and 7th
of July which is next week.
J: Great stuff, thank you Rosemary.
R: Thank you!
Jack
Moonfleece
Well, this week I had a chat to Jack Herbert, who is a member of a group that is working on a new play by Phillip Ridley called 'Moonfleece'. Here's how it went...
1) Jack, could you
tell me a bit about your involvement in BYT, past productions, years at BYT
etc.?
I first joined BYT in September 2010 on word
that they were doing 'A Christmas Carol', so I auditioned not expecting much
and I ended up playing Bob Cratchit! Then the year after I played Ketch and
Campbell in 'Our Countries Good' and this is the third one playing Curtis!2) So, without giving too much away, could you give us a rough idea of what ‘Moonfleece’ is about?
Moonfleece is about how a leading figure of a far right wing party
(Called Avalon) finds out about his family past through unforeseen
circumstances.
3) Great, so what are some of the major themes of ‘Moonfleece’?
Errrrrrrrrm, sexuality and racism3) Great, so what are some of the major themes of ‘Moonfleece’?
4) You mentioned sexuality and racism there, some quite topical and controversial issues at the moment, how do you feel about a play that tackles these evocative subjects?
It’s fascinating to tackle such things because it’s obviously a very touchy subject to a lot of people. It’s good to see BYT taking a nice little risk.
5) ‘Moonfleece’
has been referred to as “Shakespeare for the Banksy generation”, do you agree?
Haha, yes absolutely. Everything you would find in Shakespeare you have
in this. Humor, tragedy, twists and turns, clever wordplay. It's like
Shakespeare's gone 12 rounds with Mike Tyson and decided to write about the
BNP.
6) How are
rehearsals going?
Rehearsals are going great! Everybody's loving it! I
think it’s important for everyone to be a close unit when tackling such a
touchy subject, and I think it’s fair to say we've all become really good
friends
7) How can we see
it when it’s ready?
We are performing it at BYT on the 24th SeptemberJack
News from Arrow…
Well, this week I visited my good friends at Arrow
to have a snoop at what they’re getting up to! Arrow stands for, ‘Art: a
Resource for Reconciliation Over the World’ and is a group for young people who
are passionate about the arts and want to help make a difference to society. I
found the group enjoying the Burnley sunshine as they rehearsed their current
project – Paloma’s World.
Directed by Adam Zaman, Paloma’s World follows
the story of a Pilipino girl called Paloma as she seeks work abroad and eventually
finds herself in England working for a tyrannical boss. Although this seems
like quite the ‘Cinderella story’, the reality is that exploitation of foreign
workers by employers does happen - the Arrow group decided that throughPaloma’s
World they could raise awareness of this sad fact.
When I asked Adam how the theme came about he said
that they came across it in a Dispatches documentary on Channel 4.
This starting point led the Arrow group onto the work of Kalayaan a charity
established in 1987 to provide advice, advocacy and support services in the UK
for migrant domestic workers.
If you want to see Arrow’s production of Paloma’s
World then come to Sharing event that takes place in the last week of
term and for more information on Kalayaan then visit,http://www.kalayaan.org.uk/.
Cheers Guys!
Jack
2012 is the 400th anniversary of the Pendle Witch Trials,
one of the most famous and well documented episodes of witchcraft in English
history.
From March 1612 when it began with a roadside incident
and a naive confession, to August when it ended with the execution by hanging
of seven women and two men and the death of an eights woman in the dungeons of
Lancaster Castle, Pendle and its surrounding villages in the shadow of Pendle
Hill were gripped in an atmosphere of jealousy, superstition, fear, accusation,
counter accusation and rumours of devil worship, witches' Sabbaths and murder.
The so called witches were among the poorest people in
the community, members of two competitive families headed by elderly
matriarchs. Social outcasts who existed on the edge, some may have had physical
deformities or mental handicaps. They lived by begging, casting spells and
curses and kept starvation at bay by what amounted to an early 17th century
protection scheme. People in the villages had long tolerated them and often
gave them what they wanted rather than risk being cursed.
And unlike the Salem "witches", who always protested their innocence and who were pardoned en masse within a decade of the infamous Massachusetts trials, most of the Pendle witches believed in their own powers. No one was ever pardoned and none of the communities involved ever repented of the trials and executions.
According to contemporary reports, one Alizon Device, granddaughter of her family's matriarch, the witch known as Old Demdike, had an encounter on the road with a peddler over some pins. She called on her familiar, a black dog, and cursed the peddler. When the man collapsed, paralyzed on the road, a few steps further along, she was convinced that she had caused it (modern writers guess he had a stroke). When she was subsequently accused, she confessed and sought her victim's forgiveness. It's likely that what happened next was set off by competition for local dominance between Old Demdike's family and the family of the other 80-year-old matriarch, Anne Whittle, known as Old Chattox. But soon one accusation followed another, with curses and deaths going back decades being attributed to the men and women of the two families and their associates. And, since the casting of minor spells and curses was part of the fabric of everyday life in the area, many of the accused confessed to casting spells and believed they were effective.
Look out for our productions of Roald Dahl’s The Witches in and Arthur Miller’s The Crucible as part of the 400th
anniversary of the Pendle Witch Trials. Also don't miss our Fundraising 'Walk up Pendle Hill' on 30th of June!
No comments:
Post a Comment