|
As a drama student in 1974 I was lucky to have seen the Lindsay Kemp Company’s extraordinary production of Flowers at the Bush Theatre. It was described as a pantomime for Jean Genet based on his novel Our Lady of the Flowers. It was very different from anything I had seen before. The story crossed boundaries at that time in sexual politics. It unashamedly shared the tragic story of a gay love affair, in a world of criminals and drag queens. Woven with sex, violence, adultery, rape and suicide, it was performed with a physical poetry in gesture, dance and silence. Shocking, sad and funny at the same time it taught me that when theatre addresses sexual politics or any other subject matter that needs a platform, it is compelling and important.
The imagery in Flowers was stunning and I enjoy collaborating with designers to realise sets that are intrinsic to and support the story, as it was in Kemp’s production. Creativity and bold choices spring up from the story itself, the planning and research around the piece, and in the rehearsal process, whilst I retain an open communication with my designers. When I read a play or find a story, for devising, pictures come into my mind. They develop into an overall vision and the context and purpose of the piece. Jez Butterworth’s The Ferryman at the Dominion Theatre in 2018 was set in a kitchen in a rural cottage with such attention to detail, that the audience was transported inside it, for an uncomfortable story about the impact of the IRA in Northern Ireland. It was real and needed to be. Likewise, for my production of Harold Pinter’s The Homecoming the set also needed to be realistic. A living room in a North London home with the ornaments on the dresser and cracks in the wall; a suffocating boiling pot of family conflict. |
Theatre de Complicite’s Master and Margarita in 2012 realised their settings in the action itself, when a few chairs became a railway carriage, it was joyful to see how this brought with it a fast- paced ever-changing narrative. My production of Twelfth Night needed to be a fast-paced comedy where all the action took place on a beach. The actors, using deck chairs and simple props changed the scenes simply and effectively and the visual as well as textual storytelling flowed.
Drama is about people, conflicts and journeys. I like to re- imagine old classics and bring contemporary work to the stage that is audacious. Stories from playwrights of the classics are powerful in their own right but can be influential mechanisms in today’s theatre when addressing current issues or conflicts. By contextualising classics into a contemporary setting, makes them more accessible for today’s audiences. Simon Stone’s adaptation of Lorca’s Yoram at the Young Vic in 2017, held a resonance with its audience because it was set in a current, desirable ‘2.5 children family-unit’ society, while women suffer the harrowing torment of infertility. The possibilities are endless in re-imagining classics that raise questions about our social politics. My own views, intuition and instincts run like a seam through my productions and I recognise my overall, responsibility to pay attention to the detail and create accessible, engaging thought- provoking theatre. |
