Effing robots: How I taught the A.I. to stop worrying and love humans
Brighton Fringe
28th May – 27th June, 2021
With the Brighton fringe underway I found my way to ‘Effing robots: How I taught A.I. to stop worrying and love humans’ which was performed by L Nicole Cabe of Giant Nerd productions. She appeared on screen with black on either side as a simple online discussion offering introductions to who she was as a person and what her passions were, self admitting a pull towards sex. She was setting us up for an hour of extremely well informed information about A.I. With twists and turns of the monologue that gave up a real sense of personal consideration towards our A.I. education.
She well knew that today the infiltration of technology can nowhere be ignored by anyone, as having cemented a place in the hearth of our very living rooms. She has taken the show on for a few years and is a hardened contributor to the Brighton Fringe itself.
She took us lovingly in hand making it work for us, delivering her messages in her role as an important informer. Her love of technology transferred onto us to greater and greater levels, in an accuracy that levelled the playing field. It was about how well we know programmes and apps, but dropped a few grenades that she smoothed over by delving into sexual problems of males in society, using America for compelling example.
She made no bones of censorship when she suggested that our human and super human happenings are because we are all already cyborg’s! Cyborg’s who are interconnected with lap tops, video games with the formation of communities of what she called a wider tribe. The monologue was peppered with her outgoing personality calling herself a self absorbed Artist, joking about online dating. This aspect allowed her to investigate how far ahead her theories are on A.I. taking over.
But her take wasn’t like a 1984 warning it was in fact the polar opposite of that. It was her embracing of the self revealing roots that robot’s or as she called them sex – bots are at the point of being a fact that cases the love we have for ourselves which is actually being increased with A.I. interaction. And that at this stage the primary function of technology is for understanding humans.
She had role reversal experiments to enhance her across the board opinions on this new highly effective state of human and machine relations. It was clearly visible that her take on tech has been long established and that the intimacy between them is offering an unignorable relationship of clearly positive and powerful promise of things to come.
Refreshing, dynamic, reasonable very well mannered joking with us kept the hour to a speedy pace in an interaction that was full of masterful presentation. It was fun, informative and giving of things that many of us are unaware of. I’m happy to leave these things be for now but I’m now more than curious to see the next level of this new integration so well executed by Miss Cabe who played the robot and the human teacher of love’s new possibilities.
Reviewer: Daniel Donnelly
The Old House
Brighton Fringe, 20201
May 28 – June 27
Kate Maravan is an exceptional actress with a polish’d pedigree. From wherever in the world, & from wither which angle, her one woman play – The Old House – is nothing but enjoyable. Some will like it more than others, that’s for sure, but no-one will ever dismiss the play; it is too raw, too tender, too well done to ever think otherwise.
The crux of the content is a mother-daughter getaway to a former holiday home by the sea, somewhere beyond Chelmsford. The daughter is approaching middle-age & the mother definitely has dementia’s onset hovering over all her actions & words. Kate swaps between the two characters with a snap & a flop, tansitioning seamlessly with a well-timed face wrinkle, or a relocation of the head’s angle.
Kate: We’re off to the old house, all the way to the coast
Mother: The old house, we had some wonderful summers at the old house
Inbetween these scenes we have various slices of the most marvellous performance poetry; it really is stuff well-written & recited just as well. Overall this minimalist masterpiece of mime, rhyme & memories is more than a fine watch, & more of a radio play than a physical play, & it positively works as a stream. The Old House literally pulses with life; while the subject matter of decaying mind & fraying consciousness is handl’d supremely delicately, born from the fact the play is an elegy to Kate’s own mother’s battles with the perilous & unforgiving wastelands of old age.
‘The Old House’ is the second play I’ve seen in the streaming age. The first was full of live action, sets & props, & I didn’t really enjoy it. The Old House, however, with only a smattering of sound effects to coax the mind into its cosy bosom, was something I got into &, dare say, enjoy’d. Not for everybody, but for those who its is for (you know who you are), The Old House is an entertaining spectacle of professionalism, love & joi de vivre.
Damian Beeson Bullen
Decades: Stories from the City
Leeds Playhouse 50th
19 – 29 May, 2021
It seemed that for the Leeds Playhouse 50th year celebration the number 6 was at the centre of everything. The online unfolding of six stories was written by six directed, by six, performed by six. The gentle performance of simple monologue showed all kinds of sides to stories that come from the troubled yet hopeful experience of many people today.
They honed in on the life experiences of all six acts. It was nice to see real theatre again after what has felt like a drought (to use a serious yet dispassionate word). But the passion that arose from these interpersonal conferences didn’t leave us until the end. The event was called Decades: Stories from the city which cut into the six decades from 1970s till 2020s. It began with gusto when the video revealed the scrawny dressed Isobel Coward as the endearing character Loz.
Named ‘Nicer than orange squash’ by Alice Nutter, the fresh dialogue was fit to bring us into this world of Leeds traditions of a love for grass roots culture which as we know can be choppy stuff. This 30 min experience took us into the many worries and ups and downs of poor or rich Loz. She seemed through this story telling to live a courageous life but in the turns and twists of her story her faith in life was shaken and even disturbed when it hit her that she was singled out by her fellow squatters as being less than human and so discarded.
But for her greater, more naive moments she would join protests against the government with flying passion. The short play held the flag up for Leeds to generate its powerful, exemplary stance as a place whose roots lie at the heart of it. Even in the ‘Nicer than orange squash’ which served as the perfect introduction to the 5 other plays or monologues to come. We were ready to receive.
So onto the second performance of recollection called: ‘The Bodyguard’ by Simon Armitage, which was set in a bedroom with (Conner Elliot) as Wilf sitting on it. For which we were ready for second phase of event. He spoke about his mother, family and about his tastes and young preferences, being but a boy. His reflections mirrored the time period of the 1970s accompanied by his clothing and bedroom decor. It was like an iconic take of the written word where he behaved fully and then emptily as to correctly follow his experience through the emotion of a young man. Sometimes comedically prancing other times more down or low choosing to sit on the floor.
For the 2000s decade we were treated to ‘The unknown’ (mysterious) by Leanna Benjamin: another short piece but with the now customary plethora of subject information. We were now at a stage of leaning into these lives that were being represented and were created for representation of the heart of Leeds itself. Set in her apartment, which was of nice furniture, we joined Nicola Batha (who played Sophia a young woman in the progress of the 2000s). She would laugh with glee when recalling her life that we were to see was filled with loss and heart ache.
At this point of revelations we were intimately involved in her performance as Sophia who walked around compassion and sensitivity and who listened and sang to songs of the time. We think she passes as the play ends but not before losing her beloved mother “I want my mum” was one of the final things she said. These plays were written to be felt and endured for such is the fate (apparent) of grass roots love.
The title of play number 4 of the 1990s was ‘Don’t you know it’s going to be alright’ which was set outdoors where a lonely figure of Eva Scott as Denny at and quickly produced a can of beer. She took us round the drugs world of the time but not really from the point of view of being any criminal until her sister was arrested during a rave of hundreds of people. As she spoke we went along with her through revelations and effects on her personal character and the character of the life she has found to live. But even after everything she finds that indeed don’t you know it’s going to be alright: As she makes a step in the right direction.
In the second to last performance Akiel Dowe as Jamie in Stan Owens ‘Pie in the bus stop’ set indeed at a bus stop in the city. We saw the very capable act of what turned out to be an exercise in discovering responsibility. Family and friendship was explored at every turn of these short plays. And in this one the phone rang and rang as his mother doted over him.
He wanted to start life as something, finding it hard to do when listening to different perspectives. He came up with the idea of music but his mother’s needs were great and too important for him to do anything but lovingly look after her. He became enflamed when given the choice between music or mother and left us with the line or rather the thought that maybe a bus stop is no place for decision making which was actually profound.
And now at the height of it but not for the fun of it we had Cassie Layton play the damaged Layla. The final decade was to be the 2010s in a short play by Kamal Kaan’s ‘And after we sail a thousand skies’ a work that earned this great title. We were at this height of finality when we saw her sitting at a cafe as we zoomed in she was perplexed by news she was listening to. She becomes upset and we were about to find out why.
As a stranger sits with her she smiles and engages in talk. But it soon followed that she has been through the worst possible thing of running from her home to find somewhere she can she put her freedom and safety in her great love of music. Her parent gave her this function when she was young but the same person had her tongue cut out during terrifying times abroad.
The control of emotion was as hard a thing as we are likely to see and so was of the best production. There were no barriers here no censorship at least not within because once you’ve come through such that the seemingly broken song will stand the test of time. The play came as honestly as it could, as Layla broke down and looked on in horror and wonder.
And in time, after certain directions, she stood tall with a guitar in hand to say yes but I can sing my song. And in her last words she sang; “England take me in your soil”, I flood with gushing sadness”, “Is this the place where we belong?”, “your lost words echo in my head” , We’ll meet again someday” , “This is the place we all belong”.
So the images, the differing sets, the six different actors, directors and performances built up with graceful direction from creative team to lighting made a great procession of life to life and world to world. Bonded together whirling up and up through some pain and suffering, through all these things and still to come up with music, experience or musing there was room for all of this in short 25 – 30 minute plays. An accomplished event that makes you grow perhaps from grass roots.
Reviewer: Daniel Donnelly
Touching The Void
Bristol Old Vic
26-29 May, 2021
Welcome to the dawn of a new age. The pent-up passions of Theatre have broken forth onto a 21st century stage fully surrounded by socially-distanced theatregoers, hidden cameras & computers beaming out live streams to the planet. It begins, for me, at the famous Bristol Old Vic, where in 1831 Paganini played his violin, & in 2021, David Grieg’s Touching The Void was returning to its home, having premiered there in 2018. the play itself is based on the 1988 book of the same name by Joe Simpson, which was adapted into a docudrama film in 2003.
I must say I enjoy’d the experience – the quality & clarity of the picture was so sharp. I was led down on a bed, feet up also, very comfy – no scrunch’d up seatsitting & squirming at the coughers; but then again no special sense of excitement at getting dressed up & driving to the theatre. However, there’s nothing wrong with attending your local stages while watching shows across the world & thus Theatreland – & its audience – will be renrichen’d for it.
Touching the Void is a ‘West End Smash’ & it does have a certain populist appeal. The production offers extremely simple storytelling, tho’ done professionally well, & with wonderful effects. It fundamentally tells the story of the unattempted beforehand climb of the 6,344-metre west face of the Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes by two English climbers. The play opens at a pub wake for one of the climbers, Joe Simpson, whose sister Sarah – played by the actorial the star of the show, Fiona Hampton- is searching for answers & truths about her brother, who doesn’t feel dead to her.
Indeed, Joe soon turns up as a living memory as the story of his & co-climber SimonYates’ South American adventure unfolds throughout the rest of the play. As the tale progressess, we are given glimpses of the cool spartan elitism that climbers have crown’d their days & egos with. Having watch’d The Dawn Wall film I now have a basic familiarity with the passion & drive of these feral intrepids, & while that film was exhilarating & often terrifying, attempting to recreate the drama of such a purely natural phenomena as ‘ape-climbs-rock’ is ultimately, for me, dissatisfying as theatrical spectacle. It look’d amazing, for sure, & there were some lovely dialogues & vignettes; but as an old skool kinda guy the Dionysian stage is meant for a different kind of drama than dangling on a rope.
The second half carried in much the same vein as the first, with no sub-plots to speak of apart from the presence of Sarah as a verbal foil for the thoughts of a severely wounded Joe. The fact that we know he must have survived the ordeal, else the book would never have been written which inspired the film & then the play; renders the whole experience of the play as like reading an extremely well-made & particularly pretty wikipedia page. But I was watching this struggle for survival from a very different posture as normal. ‘The New Normal.’ Perhaps If I had been within meters of the stage, nerves bristling to the swells of action & the yells of actors, I may have been more moved to the desperation & the dangers. I will have to watch the play live one day to reason a sounder judgement.
In the overall scheme of streaming things it is very early days of course, even Wagner was thought vulgar at the start of his career, but I think the choosing of which plays to stream is going to be vital. It is rather like transcreating poetry in a foreign language & TV theatre must naturally rarely retain the magic of the original. From now on all the Theatre World can do is Refine! Refine! Refine!
Damian Beeson Bullen
Rocky! The Return of the Loser
It was a strange feeling to take my review notes along to, well, my laptop, & plug in to Zoo TV’s online Fringe festival. No Edinburgh crowds to hack through; no daft-o-clock hangovers to attack with three litres of orange juice – just me on my settee with a nice cup of tea. Yet as the warm, opening preamble of ROCKY! THE RETURN OF THE LOSER began flowing onto the screen, there was a reassuring sense of culturality, dipping as I was into the quicksilver that is Fix&Foxy’s quirky recapturing/reimagining of the Rocky universe.
There was a crowd – clearly filmed in a precovid climate – which added atmosphere as the production was zoomed out to the world via Zoo TVs online festival. The onstage camera work & lighting translated really well to celluloid, by the way, a very cinematic production for a classic piece of cinema. The latter of course is Rocky, & what we get for the first third of this feature-length production is an oral overview of the film with all its gritty nuances & menial monochrome & masterminded by director Tue Biering & delivered by the extremely talented Morten Burien. Danish boys, tho’ the universality of the piece & Morten’s excuisite English knitted my watching consciousness neatly & easily into their artistic tapestry.
Like every person who stares into infinity he’s reminded of his own cosmic insignificance. Rocky is yelling into the darkness ‘yes I am loser, but no one ever picked me up, no one ever gave me a chance.’
Burien’s command of the art of monologue is infectiously addictive – he never dwells on a thought for too long, sending the thread bouncing off at all angles like a ninja with a yoyo. About one third through we arrive at the dechrysalisation – a malformed butterfly bursts from the confines of the Rocky films into something very rich & strange. Like the leading protagonist of Egil’s Saga (by Snori Sturluson: 12th century), Rocky becomes a warrior-poet with, ‘words packing more punch than the hardest fist.’ Along the ride our Frankensteinean caricature finds himself bounding majestically through all sorts of zeitgeist-scraping hijinx in a racially divided world. I mean, the concept of Rocky reading, & understanding, Mein Kampf lies somewhere far beyond the spectrum of ordianry human thought.
The performance is very much about myself and how I find myself feeling frustrated, shameful and paralysed by witnessing the right-wing movement in Europe. And I wanted to challenge myself and all my good left-wing, humanistic intensions and my own lack of tolerance. Its very much me and people like me who get knocked out in this show; and that’s more interesting than just pointing my finger at the others, I think
Tue Biering (read the full interview)
As Rocky continues to be superimposed onto the modern political battlefield – still punching – its all quite fascinating stuff, all the while being dramatically interspersed with exceptionally good pieces of quite-scary-actually physical theatre. Realistic one-man fights & midmorph lycanthropic rages offer deamonical interludes & counterpoints to Burian’s light-emitting soliloquies. Beside all this, of course, the menacing & visceral presence of a mutilated pig hangs on a hook, Hellraiser style. A gripping production all round.
An Interview with Tue Biering
The Spirit of the Fringe is alive! Zoo TV have assembled a brilliant array of talent online – The Mumble caught up with a member of the Danish contingent
————————————————–
Hello Tue – where are you from & where do you currently live?
I am from Denmark and I live in in Copenhagen.
What got you into theatre in the first place & can you tell us a little about your training?
I fell into theatre by accident. In high school I helped a friend who went to a casting for a role in the school play. I was queuing behind him line and ended up auditioning – and it was me who got the role. I am absolutely not an actor, but it was the beginning for me, and in the following years I directed shows at the school. After that I always worked in theatre. I studied four years directing at the Danish National School of performing arts- but that’s long ago in another century.
Can you tell us about the theatrical scene in Denmark?
It’s very varied. I think its very dynamic and ambitious and there’s so much talent in all genres of stage art. We are very curious and inspired by all kinds of foreign theatre.
Last year you brought your ‘Land Without Dreams’ to the Gate Theatre – can you tell us about the experience?
It was thrilling to hear the text in a new and very beautiful language and the collaboration with Gate Theatre was exceptionally good – incredibly inspiring.
So Covid19 has affected just about everyone across the world – what did you learn about yourself from the lockdown?
I found out that I must be an introvert in some degree, because isolation with my family basically suited me very well. After a period of trying to understand and adapt to the situation, and after coming close to divorce with my wife two or three times, I eventually found it very nice to take a break, where I couldn’t take action and just had to wait.
In 2017 ‘ROCKY! RETURN OF THE LOSER’ was a smash-hit in Denmark – why do you think this was?
The performance is very much about myself and how I find myself feeling frustrated, shameful and paralysed by witnessing the right-wing movement in Europe. And I wanted to challenge myself and all my good left-wing, humanistic intensions and my own lack of tolerance. Its very much me and people like me who get knocked out in this show; and that’s more interesting than just pointing my finger at the others, I think.
There is a political aspect to the piece – can you tell us about this?
I’d rather not explain that too much. But I hope it creates a complex experience that leaves the audience with some challenging questions and memories of the show.
How much of the original film is layered into the piece?
It’s very important to say that this is not the motion picture Rocky. It’s about an artist talking about his relation to the movie and how his own idealisation of the lowlife protagonist, is based on arrogance and superiority. It starts with his love for Rocky but then it develops in a direction far from the movie. The protagonist ends beaten up, because Rocky won’t tolerate any more, being at the bottom of the pile, where I actually want to keep him.
You’re about to get involved in Zoo’s online festival – how did you get the call & can you tell us about the project?
We were going to present Rocky live at the Edinburgh festival, and now this is another way to still present the show for an audience. I am very curious how people will react and hope it also works in a digital media.
How has ROCKY evolved since 2017?
We went on tour in Denmark the year after and now we are preparing for international touring. Rocky has also been produced by other theatres in Sweden and Iceland and will soon be produced in Helsinki and Austria. I really hope it will be possible to get the show out soon.
How have you found directing a show in an age of social distancing?
I am still adjusting. It’s a completely new challenge but I am used to bringing am audience into new and unexpected situations, and also creating pieces where the audience are physically distanced from each other. But I am looking for the right material and reason to do it in this new frame, under these circumstances.
What emotive responses do you hope to get from an online audience?
All response is interesting. Most frustrating would be not getting any response.
What else from the #DANISH – MEET THE DANES should we be on the look-out for?
I would say all of it. I think it’s a very brought and interesting curating of Danish stage art.
Thanks Tue & one last question, what are your future artistic plans?
We are planning our next show My Deer Hunter, which was closed down three weeks from premiere in March. Now we are opening in October. And we are planning a new huge performance called “WE THE 1%” in January next year.
‘ROCKY! RETURN OF THE LOSER
#ZOOTV – ZOO VENUE’S ONLINE EDINBURGH FRINGE
18th August
Live Stream from 2PM approx
No Riots Here
Uncle Tom Deconstructed
DAY SEVEN
9/8/11
A city forms the folk conceived there
& we see the Edinburghers pass
Alan Bold
Shows So Far – 21
Hangovers – 2
While south of the border England’s cities are one-by-one descending into mayhem, bloodshed & looting, north of the border, Scotland’s capital is carrying on its annual festivities serenely. I mean, I’ve lived in Scotland seven years now, for the simple fact there’s a lot less nob-heads up here. Admittedly, the percantage of nobheads is roughly the same, but there’s only 5 million souls up here, scattered over a vast area. Indeed, Edinburgh is a joy to live in, very cosmpolitan with more of a village vibe than modern European capital. But for one month it becomes a veritable Mumbai of the muses, swarming with ballet dancers & graphic artists, comics, singers & novelists. A big shout out should go to the guys & girls who work at the 300 plus venues, an untriumphed army of youngsters that steer HMS Fringe through the endless oceans of August.
A Night’s Tale
Some of these are the friendly female staff down at Venue 13 on LOCHEND CLOSE- where I caught BROKEN WING a couple of days back. It was there, as everyone was getting changed practically in the street, that I met the producers of the show, who very kindly gave me a comp to see A NIGHT’S TALE (5-12 / 10.30). The company is called UNKNOWN THEATRE & are based in Cardiff, & their story is refreshing. Voluntary ran & fund-raising mental, on a shoe-string budget they charge only a couple of quid to the kids for room hire & get proffessional thespians in who teach the kids there for a cup of tea & a wagon wheel. This is evident from the great harmonies, eloquent speech & graceful acting of this bunch of teenagers singing & dancing through a perfectly pleasant children’s story. It tells the story of Billy Morgan, who follows the Bwca (pronounced Booker) into a magical land which on the edge of destruction fileld with trolls, Faerie Queen’s, wizards & music. The latter was played by four guys to the right of the stage, of which the musical’s writer, James Williams, was plonking the keys. A thoroughly entertaining affair, I loved the leibmotif of the Troll Dance & the bubbling enthusiam of the cast. They must love musicals, as they were, coincidentally, sat next to me at the Showstoppers performance as me on Thursday! Keep it up guys!
The centre-piece of today’s tryptych of showmanship was the rather delightul FITZROVIA RADIO HOUR (10-29 / 16.00). The stage is like a car-boot sale, full of bric-a-brac which is used to make the clever sound effects for the radio plays performed in front of ‘studio audience.’ It takes one back to the bygone days of the 1940’s when the family would huddle round the wireless to hear tales of crime & derring-do. For the live punter the five elegantly dressed cast members – three men & two women – don different head-pieces to bring the plays to life. Its a real slice of middle England Im not used to this far north, & a real hoot to boot. A nice touch is the yellow scripts which the actors carry round wuith them – sometimes reading, sometimes remembering the lines – very realistic. We even get boards held up from time to time telling us to applaud, laugh or do a Nazi hub-hub! Throughout the show we had sporadic advertisements & name-dropping for Clipstone’s brand of tea which were proper funny. Of the four plays presented through the hour, my favorite was TIN. Set in Cornwall, it tells the story of an evil London syndicate wanting to flood a mine in order to raise the price of Tin. Cue drowning men gurgling in bowls of water & a playing card placed in an electric fan to simulate drilling. A real good-time riot of fun & frolics, being both a tribute to the inventiveness of the radio age & the company that has rekindled it for the 21st century.
Uncle Tom: Deconstructed
My final show of the day was UNCLE TOM: DECONSTRUCTED at THE SPACE @ JEFFREYS STREET (Aug 9th, 13th 5:20PM / Aug 10th 3:20PM / Aug 11th 9:20AM), & I was joined at the performance by my erstwhile reviewer, Paul Fletcher, who will now be taking up the words…
I would like to round up all the rioters in London, get them on tour busses and bring them up to Edinburgh. I would then point them in the direction of the Edinburgh Castle and the military tattoo! Do your worse boys and girls! Set me free from this relentless night after night of military pompous and fanfare right outside my window! Grrrrr!
UNCLE TOM: DECONTRUCTED (Aug 9-13, Various times @ Venue 45) by the Conciliation Project is a musical play which puts the 1852 novel ‘Uncle Toms Cabin’ by Harriet Beecher Stowe on trial. It is a show that challenges our preconceptions of who we think black Americans are. And it seems that most of our conceptions come from the above-mentioned book. The characters in the play are split into two groups. On the one side, the southern slave owners, who with faces painted completely white, give a very sinister demon like appearance. On the other side are the black Americans, who do a wonderful job of playing up to their stereotypes at one moment, and then quickly slipping into a more true portrayal of the human condition under slavery the next. The singing and dancing is great, and at some points very moving. ‘Swing low sweet chariot’, and ‘Go down Moses’ are two highlights.
The performances are exaggerated but to a pitch that works very well, which captures the suffering of slavery, as well as the hypocrisy of the so-called Christian-loving slave owners. I especially enjoyed the scene where a slave auction turns into a satire of a catwalk show, the actors strutting their stuff like models, moving their hips and chains in time to the cheesy music. The slavery of human flesh still exists today! Great Stuff! Another scene that also impressed me was when 19th Century slavery was compared to the modern world of sports, and a young black athlete is checked out for his potential to join the college football team! “Don’t worry about getting an education”, the white coach mockingly laughs, “ We will sort out all that! You’re just here to play football! Make us win!”
However being quite cynical I began to think towards the end of the play that this was a classic situation of preaching to the converted. I was sure the middle class audience had already thought about all the issues raised and come to the same conclusions. But thankfully ‘Conciliation Projects’ had a surprise up its sleeve for me! Once the play had finished and the actors addressed the audience to try and get us to share our emotions about the play (I squirmed in my chair having a deep-seated fear for public speaking!), and I ended up speaking to the guy next to me who was over from Oakland, California. He told me that the issues dealt with in the play are issues he has to deal with everyday in America. He was very moved by the play and he made me realise its not just about preaching to the converted! How foolish I am! It’s about having the opportunity to express frustrations and emotions about what is happening in the world right now! And as the actors read off a list of racial atrocities from around the world, from Rwanda to New Orleans, I realised that all this is very important, and just because in my cosy little world I am free from racism it doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be screamed about and expressed! It can only be therapeutic! It can maybe even change things! Which is what art and expression is all about! Isn’t it?
Answers on a postcard!
Then I arrive home and switch on BBC news and see the riots are spreading across the country, and the people in charge are predominantly white, while the perpetrators are predominantly non-white! And I have to ask myself! How much has really changed?
Preach on Conciliation Project!
Paul Fletcher
Back in my world (its Damo now), I had to slip away before that talk at the end & sound engineer for VICTOR POPE’S largest, warmest audience yet. Im really enjoying being his lovely assistant, passing out bongos & shaker makers around his audience. This Thursday he’ll be playing with Luke as GINGER & THE TRAMP, down at my Forest Gig. Ive got another artist to play now, Mike ‘DR BLUE MCKEON’, who’s doing his own free show at the same venue, JEKYLL & HYDE (4-12 / 14-18 – 21.30).
So after a pull-out & an addition, here’s the new flyer for Thursday
Damo’s
TINKY DISCO
@
The Forest Cafe – Bristo Place
THURSDAY AUGUST 11TH
10PM – 3AM
With Support from
GINGER & THE TRAMP
TRELISE
MIKE BREEN
PAUL UNDERWOOD
MONKEY SESSIONS
CAMERON
DR BLUE MCKEON
READ
THE EDINIAD
AN EPIC SONNET SEQUENCE SET IN EDINBURGH
Meet Paul Fletcher
The Dick & the Rose
DAY FIVE
7/8/11
Each is indubitably & absolutely Edinburgh
Each is proudly & consciously different from the rest
Moray Maclaren
Shows So Far – 13
Hangovers – 1
With the recent Tory Arts council cuts cutting the trembling throat of regional theatre, suddenly the Fringe has become important again for our beloved, board-treading companies. To the punter on the street this means an increase in quality, & my first show of the day, Leila Ghaznavi’s BROKEN WING (9-14 / 17-20 – 11.45) is easily the best play I’ve seen so far. From the outside, venue 13 – HARRY YOUNGER HALL – looks unspectacular, with a couple of gazebos & two portakabins uncermoniously dumped outside to form the HQ. The actors were getting changed in the toilets at the front of the building for gods sake. However, never judge a book by its cover, for inside one is presented with a wonderful, comfortable theatre & a serene ambience. BROKEN WING’s own stage was an sensous eastern affair, with Persian carpets hanging from the ceiling with sable silks draped over the stage liitered with rose petals. The play itself was a beautifully written piece, played out by Americans, full of realistic fast chat & nail-on-the head Islamic culture. They told us a very engaging, thought provoking story. Essentially a young girl who had been orphaned by an earthquake in Iran had attached herself to this man & shared his bed from the age of 5 (they married at 16). Roll on to the present day & an American photographer has moved into their household – resulting in them falling in love. Subsequently she was stoned to death for adultery – & tho we dont witnness so brutal an act – the poetic description was enough to get me squirming! One of the neatest things about the play was the click of a camera that seperated scenes.
She’s gonna get stoned…
I was joined for my next play – THE DICK & THE ROSE (8-13,15-20,22-27 13:30) – by Victor Pope. This was at the very plush POINT hotel, near Lothian Road, & Im still trying to digest the play. The company, OUTCAST CAFE THEATRIX, are from a small town called South Lee in Massachusis, a tight ship ran by its eccentric director. The show is his baby & he announces each scene with a thespian relish that is almost pantomime. The play is a very visceral, erotic affair, accompanied by a whole host of different instruments, from skiffle washboards to acordians, banjos & a cello. This very avant garde story is about sex & its consequences, & uses a highly unique piece of scenery. You could call it a giant quilt with holes in, from which sesame street puppets, human heads & a giant penis emerge, the latter snaking across the quilt form erection to erection. A warm & visually splendid affair, I’ve never seen anything quite like it in my life, & still feel a little dazed writing about it. While watching I realised how cool Edinburgh is at this time of the year, with flash-fires of creativity bursting out all over the city at any given moment. The muses are definitely in town & are having to clone themsleves just to keep things ticking over.
On the way to my next culture-nugget I found myself in the Grassmarket, the great tourist-friendly square at the foot of the castle. In the bygone days before football 30,000 people would flock there to see an execution, but today, on the very spot of the gallows, I found an ebbulient bandmaster driving forward the euphoric music of Britain’s first Guggenmusik band, GUGGE 200. It was invented in Switerland & means ‘Happy Music’ & indeed, the team of tubas sucked up all of my worldy woes! There were several drum kits on trolleys (& one pram) trumpets, bass drums, tamborines & over fifty smiling band members up from Bournemouth.
Just off the Grassmarket is Paul’s house, who’d joined me for a couple of plays the other day. It was then that he offered to join my ‘staff’ & assist me in my reviewing. He’d already been down to the brass band to tell them to shut the fuck up (to no avail) & was happy to leave the Grassmarket for the short walk to the top of the Royal Mile & the C TOO venue for WHAT IT FEELS LIKE (8-21 – 16.30) from the young, funky, innovative ENCOMPASS PRODUCTIONS. So, with a fanfare of friendhsip & a roll of literary drums, I would like you all to meet your new reviewer, give it up ladies & gentlemen, for MR PAUL FLETCHER;
Paul Fletcher
You would think living in the grass market with an excellent view of Edinburgh castle would be an ideal location to enjoy the festival, but being obliged to listen to the military tattoo every night and having to hustle your way through the crowds of tourists, just to buy a pint of milk, can all become a very frustrating experience indeed. So much so that I want to climb up to my roof and start picking off the tourists with an AK-47! Die! Die! Die! You fuckers! Die! Aaarrggghhhh!
But Wait! Stop me now! Am I really going to turn into another Edinburgher bemoaning how the freaks of the art world disrupt my peaceful city every year?! No! Definitely not! Because underneath this world of zombie like tourism are small cozy venues where fringe productions are lighting up the dark.
Today I saw WHAT IT FEELS LIKE by “Encompass productions”, a play which explores the dream states of near death experiences. It tells the story of Nicholas Harper, who while lying on an operating table after a car crash, has a near death experience. The story takes place in his subconscious, a dark “in-between” reality where we find “Lester and Simpson”, two characters who are apparently there to assist him in his unresolved issues with his long term girlfriend Sarah. From here the play goes on to be a study in human relationships as the audience are treated to different scenes extracted from Nicholas’s memories with Sarah. The play explores the themes of betrayal, jealousy, and how we not only lie to our partners but also lie to ourselves. With the help of “the Aspects”, eerie actors dressed in black, we are further treated to some stunning physical theatre (the lovemaking scene was a thrilling piece of choreography). The play builds to a harrowing finale where Nicholas’s unconscious reveals its very sinister depths. But this is not all doom and gloom, as the well-written characters of Lester and Simpson spatter the play with humour, which serve to pull us further in to this well constructed dream world. Supported by an excellent original score, which had the woman sitting next to me in tears by the final scene, I cannot not recommend this play enough. A feeling shared by my fellow audience members whose very gracious applause said it all!
So what does it feel like to be living in Edinburgh at this time of year? Well who gives a shit about the military exploits on the castle and the annoying badly dressed tourists (buy some decent rain gear you look stupid!) when Encompass Productions are in town with their electrifying play!
After the play (moving as hell by the way) I bid Paul adieu & a happy reviewing & toddled down to the JEKYLL & HYDE to sound engineer for Victor Pope, after which we began a drinking session that didint finish until 4AM. We beganin the SPIEGELTENT, where Edinburgh’s best live band, THE BLACK DIAMOND EXPRESS were playing. Unfortunately, they were late getting on & I had a show to catch, but in the name of supporting your local artists, here’s a you tube link & their myspace. They’re a passionate group of bohemians & aplaying round about town through the festival, including next saturday again at the Spiegeltent & 25th August at the Book Festival in Charlotte Square. Apparently the gig was wicked, spreading love thgrough a large, plush tent bustling with eager music lovers & I was told the stage slowly filled up with hot, dancing chicks playing shaker makers!!
My final show of the day was the famous, SHOWSTOPPERS: THE IMPROVISED MUSICAL (5-16/18-28 – 22.50). It was performed at the GILDED BALLOON in the main hall of the Student Union – & massive space (in fringe terms) that was packed to the rafters. Its easy to see why as what occirs on that stage is pure genius. The idea of teh show is that every night, from suggestions by the audience, a completey new, once-in-a-lifetime musical is summoned up from the psyches of the cast & performed with a flourish. Stage left is the director of operations, who deals with the audience & rises from his chair from time to time giving the cast its plot, often hilariously. Stage right are two musicians, a keyboard player who is the mainstay of the music, & a saxplayer/percussionist as his right hand man. The singers are three women & three men who not only make up songs on the spot, but improvise comedy inbetween. Absolutely brilliant. Tonights unique show – DANGEROUS RE-ENTRY – was set on an International Space Station, set in 2050, wih Barack Obama & Vladamir Putin cyrogenically frozen awaiting the discovery of a new planet. The themes of teh songs were Gansta Rap, Sondheim, Abba & Gerswhin, with a romantic sub-plot to boot. The best part was the creation of an alien, with one of the girls standing behind another simulating weird alien tentacles, & the tentative threesome suggested by our recently unfrozen world leaders!
After the performance I rejoined VICTOR POPE, meeting up with Bonnie from Linkey Lea (& all her cute mates), plus THE BLACK DIAMOND EXPRESS for a drink at Cvenues bar. At first glance its something of a school disco, but we turned it into at least a sixth form bash & the place was proper jumping. On getting home in the wee hours I realised I’d been in the field all day, for the atmosphere during Festival time grabs you by the goolies & swirls you about toon, refusing to let go until finally, & exhaustingly, you make it to bed… good night!
READ
THE EDINIAD
AN EPIC SONNET SEQUENCE SET IN EDINBURGH
First Friday of the Fringe
DAY THREE
5/8/11
Edinburgh is a real classy city
Beyonce
Shows So Far – 6
MUMBLING (Multi-media blogging) is the opera of literary art. Where Wagner used stage design, lighting, music, poetry & costume, the modern-day blogger has, in addition to his/her text :- photography, film, footage, flyers & probably many, many other f’s. With this in mind I thought I’d take mi camera for a spin, inspired by the visit of RICHIE LEWIS FEENIE. He’s a pal of mine from this festival I used to put on down my ex-lassie’s farm (Jock Stock), & a real sweet fella. As we were building up the festival he used to make us signs for the various zones & stages we scattered round the field. These days he’s a full on professional graphic designer & after exhibiting work all round Scotland, this morning he drove over from his home in Fife to set up some pieces in HAS BEANS COFFEE SHOP on the Royal Mile (Canongate). The proprieter there, Graham Kenny, is one of Richie’s clients & a few weeks back at a pub across the road they mutually agreed to hang up Richie’s work. The paintings were nudged into finalty by Richie seeing one of his old rave-buddies, Alison McWhirter’s work down in Dumfries. That they used to jump about the house to the Stone Roses seeps out from every speckled pore of his Pollock/Squires inspired pieces.
Richie
While waiting for Richie to arrive I thought I’d take out my primitive camera & potter up to the Princes Street Gardens, with the sun all glorious & everyone in a happy mood. Taking the first photo led me down to see the group in the corner of the first picture below, who were putting on a free performance in the park. I got chatting to the director, Andy Paris, who filled me in on their interesting journey to Auld Reekie. The company is formed from two seperate unis on both coasts of the US – from Seattle, Washington & Lewisburg, Pensylvania. They are exponents of a new form of thetare, called Moment Work, which has plenty of physical motion integrated within the story, where evry piece of furniture has a sub-plot! The play itself is called THE AMERICAN FAMILY (5-6 8-12 – 22.15 / the space @ north bridge) & consists of every young member of this large cast telling emotive stories from thier lives – ie this one guy watched his dad get beaten up by drug-dealers in his car at the age of 5!
From the Gardens I meandered up to the Royal Mile, just as Richie was trundling down it in his wee car, crammed full of paintings. As he unloaded the works I kept an eye out for the predatorial vulturesque parking wardens, then after a brief interview & photo left him to his hanging while I went off to a show. This was LIGHTS, CAMERA, WALKIES at the GILDED BALLOON (3-9 11-16 19-29 / 14.00 – 15.15), another corporate leviathan that this time has taken over the gorgeous Student Union of Edinburgh Universty on Bristo Square. I was directed to the Billiard Room & a spacious theatre, whose stage sported something of a giant kennel. It was a snappy as hell play written by young Tom Glover, a rising star in the comedy spheres – a BBC sitcom finalist no less. The story is set in Hollywood & tells us of two (invisible) dogs competing for the starring role in a movie. There were only three actors playing every part, but the excellent accents conjured the illusion wonderfully. Indeed, my favorite part of the show was their brillaint recreation of a hollywood set, a constant whirl of motion & voices as the actors toed & froed from behind the kennel playing various parts, including an incredible ‘luvey dovey’ Richar E Grant would have been proud of. A thouroughly enjoyable show full of witty one-liners with a driving plot to boot.
Quickly dashing across town I met my good mate PAUL FLETCHER, a local film-maker who’s just come back from a three year stint in Paris making love & money. We soon found ourselves in an elevator at the plush Jury’s Inn, ascending to the eigth floor. Now Paul’s one of my ‘intellectual’ mates – tho of course not averse to a mash-up – & we were absolutely delighted to be presented with the play TO HOLD AN APPLE (6-27 / 15.10) about the artist Paul Cezanne, the author Emil Zola & the German poet Rilke! It has been brought over by a bucnch of highly intellectual New Yorkers led by AS Zelman-Doring, the play’s writer. She was magnificent as the grumpy old Cezanne, mainting the Coleridgian ‘suspension of disbelief’ magnificently. Honestly, despite being a cute woman in her twenties, she pulled off the old man persona with so much aplomb as she shuffled round the stage with her walking stick, especially the facial gestures. Her two lovely assistants wre philosophizing & poeticing all teh way through the show, with the apples being painted, munched & mused over. The writing was great & well researched, mentioning the Dreyfuss Affair & even using one of my favorite texts – Rilke’s ‘letters to a young poet.’ I thought Id recognized it & asked Ms Zelman-Doring at the end if it was so, which impressed Paul no end. Twas a dream to watch & in thaty dream I watched. The play has been recently selected by Christoper Hampton (writer of Dangerous Liasons) to be performed in the Oxford University’s New Writing Festival by the way.
The next show, in an increasingly busy day, was TRICITY VOGUE’S THE BLUE LADY SINGS BACK (6-27 / 18.05) at the SPACE ON NORTH BRDGE. Boy O Boy what a show! The idea is she’s a painting of a blue woman in an art gallery & gets up to musical mischief a la Night in the Museum. Her dulcet voice sang a series of set piece numbers in differing costumes (but always blue), the best of which was her interpreatation of a golden head-dressed Indian Goddess, Saraswathi-stlye. She actually sang in Hindi & placing blue gloves on two female members of the auidence & getting them to stand behind her dancing, produced an electrifying tantric, multi-armed effect. She also look sexy as Geena Davies in thelma & lousise (the epitomy of womanhood) during her cat-tailed rendition of a song called Pussy CAT BOYS, wandering round the audience mewing & purring to their strokes. In fact, there was a lot of audience participation & she even got me up on stage (mildly terrifying), god bless her! At certain points during her show I’m like, this is the best, or at least most entertaining stuff Ive seen so far this Fringe. Unfortunatley I had to leave ten minutes early to rush across town for Victor Pope’s 2nd gig (a vast improvement on yesterday by the way), so if you’re reading this Tricity, thats why I slipped away, & not because I was hitting myself about getting up again!
The painting before becoming flesh
After snatching some food & writing time at mine, I was out again at night for a show at C CHAMBERS STREET- my fifth of the day = sore feet – picking Paul up again on the way. This was THE DEMON BOX (3-25 – 22.20), a quarter part of the Wagner of Psychiatric Prisons, STEV HYNNESSY’s theatrical tribute to Homicidal maniacs. It is part of a quartet of plays that the actors have stored in the minds in a Kempian Queen’s Men fashion. On this occasion it was Richard Dadd, a Victorian artist who was bidded on by Osiris to murder his father, giving us the line, “Alas! Dadd’s dad is dead!”
The same four actors take part in every play, like the four elements formicng a pefect cohesive ecosystem. This particular play was highly entertaining fare, where the intricate foibles of insanity were perfectly performed. There was this sacrily cute, elegant as waterfalls bird floating about stage as a Shakesperian Ariel, whispering madness into the ears of the players, & the show employed of the best endings Ive ever seen on the stage.
Steve Hynessey
After the show me & Paul joined Victor Pope & Luke (the guy who burnt down mi mates tree) & hit the toon, ending up at C Venues outside bar on the Cowgate. Now, the Cowgate’s normally full of puke & vomit, but come festival time its full of posh totty & particularly interesting chat. The beer was a slightly stepp 3.20 a pint – not quite as pricy as Ireland & three beers get you change from a tenner for two bags of space raiders (beef & pickled onion please)! But come the festival no longer does one have to go to the casinos for a drink after 3, for half the town’s open til 5AM – every night! Happy days!
READ
THE EDINIAD
AN EPIC SONNET SEQUENCE SET IN EDINBURGH
Interview: Three Chairs and a Hat
With no Edinburgh Fringe this year, The Space have continued undeterred & are presenting a three-week online festival. The Mumble caught up with one of the companies involved.
Hello Nia, nice to see you & your wonderful company, Three Chairs and a Hat, again. If only by Zoom! So, last year you brought your brilliant Verity to the Fringe, how did you find the experience?
Nia: Hello! Nice to see you too! Last year was our debut at the Edinburgh Fringe, and it was an amazing—and exhausting!— experience. It was so great to be part of that buzzing energy and activity, and to have access to so much original and inspiring theatre; and to perform every day with the wonderful Verity team was an absolute privilege. The build-up to our first Fringe was a bit stressful, and I was probably a tad grumpy and preoccupied at times, but the team were unfailingly patient and positive and enthusiastic from the word go. And we couldn’t have had more help and support from the venue, theSpaceUK, and the Fringe organisers. They were so friendly and always ready to advise. So I’m now looking forward to going back as often as possible, with as much work as I can produce!
Hello Wayne. As the Creative Director of Nia Williams’ musical ‘Melody’, the cancellation probably hit you hard – how did the group take it at first?
Wayne: As a company, we were disappointed not to be able to take Melody to EdFringe, but we’ve all been very pragmatic about the situation; using the opportunity to create something for the online festival. We are determined that Melody will appear in person once the festival is up and running again, and the venue has been wonderfully supportive.
WAYNE T BROWN (director, THE SINGING LESSON)
Hello Jane. What do you miss most about being in a more tactile environment with Three Chairs & a Hat?
Jane: Performing together is such fun, sparking off each other as the show progresses so that every performance is unique. And of course, we all miss the audience with their reactions and laughter (when appropriate!). When recording something, you have to imagine the audience’s response.
So how did the announcement of the three-week online festival inspire you to get busy, Nia?
Nia: Three Chairs and a Hat were booked in to the Space on the Mile for a week’s run of my new musical, Melody in August, and it was hugely disappointing for everyone, of course, when the 2020 Fringe was cancelled. We fully intend to go back in 2021, but in the meantime, theSpaceUK’s three-week video festival Online@theSpaceUK has kept us busy and creative, and given us all real momentum. It’s also been a great chance to involve more people and more new writing, as we’re able to contribute four videos: HAUNTED (available from 8 August); LADY M; THE SINGING LESSON (both from 15 August); and PAMELA DRYSDALE’S LOCKDOWN (from 22 August). Learning about video-making has been a mix of terror, frustration and fun, but it feels really good to be on this steep learning curve, and I’m now starting to think more about the potential of video for future projects and promotion.
NIA WILLIAMS (founder of Three Chairs and a Hat)
Hello Alice, you’re directing one of the videos, Lady M. You’ve got lots of experience directing larger cast shows like Into the Woods and Pinocchio. How have you found directing a one-woman video, and doing it at a distance?
Alice: Directing at a distance is definitely a challenge, but at least with a one-woman video I’m able to focus on the characterisation and detail more easily than I would have with a larger cast using physical theatre! Susanne, who plays Lady M, is very responsive to direction and she has primarily developed ideas in isolation, which we have then discussed and expanded upon to shape the structure of the piece. After reading the script and discussing staging ideas with Nia and Susanne we quickly realised how suited this piece is to a video format. The monologue takes us on a journey through one woman’s experience of living life as an outsider and never truly feeling accepted. Her attempts to coach others, in a virtual world where she never has to face her own reality, lead her to reveal her own vulnerabilities and a past she cannot wash away with sanitiser. Through rehearsals and recordings Susanne has brought to life this troubled and quirky character and we have tried to highlight the contrast between her mask of Lady M, an online self-help guru, versus the unnamed woman who feels devalued and irrelevant.
Wayne again. Can you tell us about the Sergeant Pepper’s project you were involved in?
Wayne: In 2017 I was commissioned by The Oxford Beatles, in conjunction with ElevenOne Theatre, to write a play script to be performed around a live performance of The Beatles’ album ‘Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’. The album was celebrating 50 years since its release, shortly before The Beatles’ manager, Brian Epstein, died from an accidental overdose. The show followed Brian through his final year; from the recording and publicity of the album, through to his feeling that the band were slipping away from his guidance. In order to create the spectacle of the album, the show featured the four Oxford Beatles and their musical director, a 12-piece orchestra, two Indian instrumentalists, and four actors playing six parts.
MARILYN MOORE (‘Melody’ in THE SINGING LESSON)
You’ve done a lot of work with local theatre groups, Marilyn, what is it that appeals to you about that world?
Marilyn: I have always loved live theatre but had to make a choice when I was growing up to either train for a career in the NHS or apply to drama school. Needless to say, my parents encouraged me to take the safer option where employment would be guaranteed. However, I could not let the opportunity to perform pass me by and so I auditioned to join a local group. Amateur theatre has allowed me to play so many wonderful parts that I may never have been able to on the professional stage. I have escaped to the diverse lives of Mrs Anna in the King and I, Miss Adelaide in Guys and Dolls, Ruth in Pirates of Penzance and many more. I have witnessed the joy of many people as they fulfil their dreams of playing certain parts in local theatre and the pride of their families as they watch their loved ones grow in confidence and ambition. Local groups cater for all ages, on stage and behind the scenes, and allow people to explore their talents whilst holding down a day job.
Hello Susanne. How have you found performing and rehearsing LADY M, given that it’s just you and the camera?
Susanne: It’s been a new challenge! I’ve very much missed rehearsals and working collaboratively in real time with Nia and Alice. That said, it’s been a pleasant surprise to experiment with a camera and lighting to try and convey different moods. Its also been a good medium to try and convey nuances of character, though the immediate feedback from watching your own performance takes some getting used to!
JANE HAINSWORTH (writer and performer, PAMELA DRYSDALE’S LOCKDOWN)
A question for anybody now. What have you learnt about yourself & your art during the Lockdown period?
Jane: I have learned that I have had to be resourceful in finding new interests whilst being furloughed from work and how enjoyable this has been for me. I really enjoyed writing PDL (and two subsequent short stories that followed). Without the Lockdown (and encouragement from Nia) I would never have started writing and I’m so glad I did.
Susanne: In this unusual time I, like I’m sure many others, have realised how important music and drama is to me. As a means of social interaction, a way to be creative, and a mechanism to explore new things, art is essential for a colourful life. We must preserve it at all costs.
SUSANNE HODGSON (performer, LADY M)
Alice: Interestingly I started lockdown feeling optimistic about acting more quickly on creative urges and embracing new challenges, believing I’d have so much time to indulge my own projects, but the drain of ongoing uncertainty and hours spent with children needing education and entertainment, have slowly chipped away at my creativity! I’ve learnt that my relationship with theatre is very much a response to a need for human stories in my life. My lockdown narrative has been banal and average and I think myself very lucky to emerge without a ‘story’, but I have been truly moved and inspired by the global humanity shown through this pandemic and that is an outcome in itself. Knowing we can be touched and affected by what others are going through is one of the most incredible gifts of being human and in my opinion argument enough for an arts-based culture to be given validity and worth. It is vital to the re-emergence of society that we can offer a stage for these stories to be shared.
ALICE EVANS (director, LADY M)
Wayne: I have found that the quiet solitude has actually helped me to create, and I’ve been overwhelmed by the support available from other artists who’ve been willing to share their work and offer online mentorship. It really does go to prove that the show must go on!
Online from 15th August
Hello Guy. In The Singing Lesson, you play flamboyant singing teacher Evangeline Gibson; you also play this and many other roles in Melody, the show that’s the basis for the video. How did you approach both tasks and how do they compare?
Guy: In the full show I play 12 or 13 different characters and have to change quickly between them all. I try and find a different physicality for each one; this informs the way I move, stand, walk and my body position. At one point I play Melody’s mother, I imagine her to be quite short, slightly stooped and worn down by life, I play her in a slightly apologetic way by wringing my hands a lot. Evangeline Gibson is very different! I imagine her to have a large bosom, with a lot of theatrical waving of hands and more than a touch of Hinge and Bracket thrown into the mix. I also like playing with accents as this helps me make sense of the different characters, I play Melody’s boss at one stage and for some reason it seemed to make complete sense to me that he should have a Birmingham accent; again this informed everything about the way the character behaved, he’s a bit pompous and talks out of the side of his mouth, he struts around like a jumped-up peacock!Reducing Evangeline to a Zoom lesson has been tricky because she’s very flamboyant in all her movement. Trying to capture that theatricality on screen meant doing a lot more close camera work and trying to ensure my hands were always on view. Having a swivelled office chair helped give me a range of movement that was different than when we see her standing, but lent itself to some fun theatrical shenanigans.
GUY BRIGG (‘Evangeline’ in THE SINGING LESSON)
Online from 8th August
So, Nia, tell us about HAUNTED.
Nia: HAUNTED is a story about isolation, jealousy and obsession, and the way our minds can go around in circles and play tricks with our sanity, when we’re on our own. It follows the thought processes of a woman who’s helping her brother move in to a new house, and it could be a ghost story, or a story of paranoia and guilt. I decided to make it a dramatised narrative, rather than just tell it straight from the page, so I then had the challenge of finding ways to create the right mood and atmosphere using only what I had to hand in the house. It was also a bit of a first for me, as I’m not an actor, but I really enjoyed it—though by the end, I did start to understand that filming is a very slow, fiddly and tiring business!
Online from 15th August
You’re also the writer of LADY M – what’s it about?
Nia: I started writing LADY M after thinking about the way ambitious women, without any means to power, are so often portrayed as flawed characters or out-and-out villains. That led to imagining what Lady Macbeth would do if she were alive now; and the whole video format lent itself to portraying her as a life coach, giving out advice to herYouTube followers. Susanne and Alice and I are developing this as a stage show, which sees Lady M start to indulge in confessions about her own dodgy past. I’ m hoping this video will inspire people to come and see the rest of her story, when we’re able to get back to rehearsing and staging live theatre.
Hello Marilyn. Can you tell us something about The Singing Lesson, and what it was like creating a video?
Marilyn: The Singing Lesson is a glimpse of the life of Melody Smart, whom I play in Nia’s musical ‘Melody’. Melody is a hotel receptionist with a big secret that gradually unravels during the course of a singing lesson which she won in a raffle. She has always wanted to sing, and her meeting with Evangeline Gibson gives her the opportunity and confidence to analyse her life choices as well as sing. Creating the video was initially daunting and scary but it gradually became great fun. It was a wonderfully different way to portray Melody and her growing relationship with Evangeline. It also taught me how to lip sync. and sing a duet without being in the same room as the other person.
Susanne, how do you manage to balance your work as a doctor and your performing?
Susanne: Obviously it’s been a challenging time for lots of people including those working in hospitals. Having an absorbing project to come home to that is so completely different to my day job has been a welcome release.
Guy, can you tell us about your work with the Music Youth Company Oxford, and about the recent recognition you received for your work in education and the theatre.
Guy: I’ve been working with the Musical Youth Company of Oxford (MYCO) for the last 17 years and became their resident creative director about 10 years ago. We specialise in musical theatre and have staged a huge variety of shows over the years, as well as winning a number of awards. So far my favourite show with MYCO was our 2018 production of Godspell, set in a dystopian wasteland, into which comes a character who changes everyone’s lives. Most recently I was directing and choreographing their new production of Chess the Musical, which sadly had to be postponed 3 weeks before we were due to go up because we went into lockdown. We’ve rescheduled for March next year at the Oxford Playhouse. It was doubly hard as Chess is one of my favourite shows and I felt deep down that this was some of my most innovative work.I was honoured and very humbled to be made an MBE in the 2017 New Year’s Honours List. The citation was for services to education and community in Oxfordshire. My work in children’s, youth and adult theatre was heavily cited as well as voluntary work I do, training teachers and other public sector workers in tackling LGBT bullying. I was especially glad that my dad was able to see me receive this honour at Buckingham Palace: it made him really proud and sadly, just over a year later, he died of pulmonary fibrosis.
Online from 22nd August
Jane, can you tell us about PAMELA DRYSDALE’S LOCKDOWN?
Jane: Pamela Drysdale’s Lockdown is the story of a woman tempted to a titillating weekend away with Kinky Keith from the office. But a weekend becomes weeks in the face of the COVID-19 lockdown. Can her passion be sustained?
So Wayne, how have you found working on The Singing Lesson, and what have been the particular challenges of Lockdown directing?
Wayne: Overall, this has been an uplifting experience of turning a potential negative into a positive. At first the four of us – the two actors, Guy and Marilyn and the writer and musician Nia – just stared at the squares of faces, wondering how this might work. But we all quickly realised that a singing lesson does actually lend itself well to something that could be done online as, I think, a lot of music tutors have discovered. Some aspects of the show require a certain amount of intimacy; for instance when the singing teacher, Evangeline, holds onto Melody to show her where her diaphragm is; and another point where there is an element of implied threat. So, to imply this over-familiarity, I suggested that Marilyn and Guy come very close to the camera at certain points, so that the audience experiences a feeling of invasion of personal space. It also adds comedic value too, as you will see from the trailer when Melody is trying to look into the camera to ‘see’ if anyone is there!
The Mumble: Well good luck everyone—I hope you enjoy this alternative fringe experience, and look forward to seeing you all in Edinburgh soon.
Online@theSpaceUK
AUGUST 8-30
LADY M—running from 15 August
THE SINGING LESSON—running from 15 August
PAMELA DRYSDALE’S LOCKDOWN—running from 22 August
Mumble Theatre 
