This Sunday I’m excited to be presenting a short experimental theatre piece at The Space, a converted church in East London.
To me, when I write dialogue, prose or poetry, it feels like writing a musical score, so combining theatre, poetry and music is something I’ve found myself increasingly wanting to experiment with.
Sunday’s scratch performance will enable me to see how my notion of a “theatre poem” approached as a musical score will translate, and help me to explore the boundaries of what is possible in performance across art forms.
The questions I’m looking to answer are: 1) How do the audience respond to this form of arts fusion, and is it successful? 2) How much further could I push the limits of what is possible with these art forms combined in performance?
An alien invasion is used as a metaphor in the piece for the constant flux and instability that human existence is subject to; the fragmented yet rhythmical nature of poetry, and the unpredictable and extreme nuances possible in theatre and music, are, to me, perfect forms to mirror a demanding and dramatic subject matter.
Lines have been loosely distributed between 3 actors of varying gender and age, depending on which lines have been working best with which actor’s voice in rehearsal: each voice is used here to represent a different instrument in an orchestra.
As our rehearsals increase, we’re gaining a growing sense of character, rhythm and scenario from the text, allowing the words to dictate performances that change constantly with each new reading, mirroring the subject matter of life being in constant flux.
It’s been hugely exciting having the flexibility to create characters based solely around how lines have been allocated; in future performances, the allocation could even be random.
I love the idea of playing with freshness and flexibility in performance, and the text allows us to create and set our own rhythm with the pace and tone of our voices – each of us is like the conductor in an orchestra, free to direct those voices in any direction we choose at any time. Each performance will always be different, as, even with the same performers, each has the power to guide and conduct flow, pace and rhythm, and thus consistently change the musicality of the piece.
I’ve long identified strongly with a connection between the written word and the musical score, and I’m loving having the opportunity to explore this further.
Blinded By is on at The Space, this Sunday 12th April, at 7.30pm, in association with Limb2Limb Theatre.
https://space.org.uk/2015/03/30/the-purpose-of-living/
Susan Hodgetts 