The Crypt Project : New Depths Lowry Theatre, Salford 17/1/12

Well, Happystorm Theatre’s production of The Crypt Project turned out to be a fascinating night and one I will not forget in a hurry.

It was billed as a promenade performance, taking place under the Lowry Theatre, exploring elements of addiction and mental health. An email arrived on the day of the performance advising sensible shoes should be worn, adding to the anticipation and I really didn’t know what to expect.

Each performance was limited to an audience of 30. We met in the main foyer of the theatre and were then led back outside, round to the rear of the building and in through a service entrance. Our small group were then issued with hard hats, and further split into four teams who would be guided round the performance separately.

We spent the next hour being led through corridors, into under-stage spaces, into the theatre auditorium, onto and behind the stage. It was completely disorientating and an extremely intense experience. Sometimes we would pause to witness events, such as an exchange between two characters in a corridor, at other times you would catch glimpses of activity as you passed by. You could also hear other things happening that you never saw. From time to time characters would rush past you, or you would glimpse things happening in rooms or corners as you were led by, or sometimes the audience itself would become almost part of the performance. At one point I was sitting in the theatre, watching action on the stage, with an actor sitting next to me, observing and commenting on the events on the stage.

Each of the four groups went round separately but consecutively, occasionally joining with another group to witness elements of the piece, and all experiencing the ‘whole’ in a slightly differing order. It must have been a superhuman feat of logistics to organise, yet it ran like clockwork.

Because the groups were so small it was an incredibly intense experience, and a real privilege to be seeing quality performances at such close quarters.

There were four main characters – Daniel (Matthew Ganley) Frances (Susi Wrenshaw), Jeanette (Denise Kennedy) and William (Ian Curley) - as events unfolded you realised that all of them were dealing with mental health or addiction issues, some more immediately apparent than others, and you got glimpses into their lives, and what might have influenced those issues. But this wasn’t a linear story with a beginning, a middle and an end, and in my opinion it was all the more clever for that.

Daniel’s issues are the most immediately apparent, the kind of person you might avoid in the street, but as events unfold you start to see the complexities of his character and the interactions between him and Frances are extremely touching. The intensity and energy of Matthew Ganley’s performance was amazing to witness. Frances and Jeanette on initial impression are both confident professionals, but as the event progresses you see they are both extremely complex and vulnerable people. Susi Wrenshaw’s portrayal of Frances was extremely moving, especially in the ‘bathroom scene’ as her issues and vulnerabilities become clear. Ian Curley as William shows us a lonely man, struggling with life and past regrets, and of all the characters his left me with the most questions.

But the highlight performance of the night for me was Denise Kennedy’s Jeanette. When we first properly meet her, as part of her project team meeting, it was an extremely humorous performance, and one that I recognise all too well from my day job. However, when we next see her, as silent observers in her hotel room, her dramatic unravelling is shown in a quite breathtaking portrayal that had the audience gripped.

When we eventually emerged back out into the theatre foyer I had the sense of having experienced something very special that had my mind in complete overdrive for long after I had left the building. The cast, crew and creative team should be very proud of themselves, it was an extraordinary night out and I consider myself very lucky to have been part of.

Perspective

I know that this blog is mainly supposed to be about the arts, but in view of the scenes across the country in the last few days, including Manchester last night, I feel like I want to write something so indulge me blog readers (if there is anyone other than me!)

I, like many people, sat horrified looking at pictures of what was going on in 'my city' last night, and the thing that shocked me the most I have to say is the age of a lot of the people involved. Young kids out on a wrecking spree, smashing property, stealing - it was all very upsetting and scary. I don't know what the answers are for these problems, its certainly not simple, and I'm not informed enough to even be able to suggest where we start.

But the one thing that I think is really getting lost in all this, scary as it seems, is that the trouble was caused by the minority and it really is not typical of young people, or of the citizens of Manchester. This is a city I am still proud to call home and it has so much going for it.

Even this year I have seen that first hand so many times. I volunteered for the Manchester Shine nighttime marathon in May, lots of great volunteers, many of them young people, gave up their time to make that happen. And 10K people walked 13 or 26 miles across Manchester at night to raise funds for Cancer Research, many of whom had personal experience of the way cancer touches lives, it was an awe inspiring night.

In June I helped out with the preparations for the Manchester Day Parade, where community groups were working with artists to realise their own ideas for entries in the parade. I had the pleasure of working with three different community groups over the two weekends, many of them young people, who were funny, creative, and taking a real pride in helping to make their ideas become a reality. I even joined in with one group on the parade which was great fun. I was able to talk to them and their leaders about the type of activities they get involved in, and it was brilliant to see the way they were all supporting each other. And witnessing the people of Manchester come out to support the event in their thousands was awe inspiring.

In July I worked on the Manchester International Festival and many of the volunteers I worked with were young people - who were hard working, articulate, great to be around and talented. I also got the chance to chat with many kids and families who visited the two shows I worked on, who came from all walks of life, and it was a pleasure to meet them and talk with them.

I also know there are countless brilliant things being done for and by young people in our area every day. Some of the ones I know about through my arts connections are work that the Royal Exchange are doing with young people as part of The Truth About Youth programme ; The Norfox young actors company at the Library Theatre Company, who are just about to put on their latest production in Manchester, and The ReClaim project, a leadership and mentoring project based in Manchester, one of whose participants was on the news tonight being asked for her views on the riots and was really impressive. And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

I suppose what I am trying to say is just because we see all this shocking stuff on the TV, we need to keep in mind that these acts were undertaken by a very small minority and we shouldn't write off all the brilliant things that 'my' city and its people have to offer, which far outweigh the depressing minority.

Hard Times - Preview Blogging

Gosh - Well I've got a bit behind again haven't I? I have had a busy old time, and quite a few things to blog about, so expect a few updates over the next week in an attempt to catch up.

Right then, where to start? Well in my last update over a month ago I promised to post my second blog for the Library Theatre here - so here it is......

Hello again! They let me come back and tell you all a bit more about Hard Times.

Monday night saw me attend a preview of the show. The experience starts as you approach the building. Murray Mills is an impressive sight in the evening sunshine, rising up above you. At your allotted time on your ticket you are escorted into the Mill down some steps and are immediately plunged into the sights, sounds and even smells of Coketown. You are free to move around in this area and can observe the townsfolk going about their lives. This brilliantly sets the scene for the play. It’s dark, dusty and oppressive. You see glimpses of poverty, disease, revelry and despair. Bits of machinery left over from Murray Mills’ former life lie abandoned, adding to the atmosphere.

After a while we are taken up to the main performance area. This is a long gallery with a number of ‘sets’ and we do have some time to look around before the performance starts. The detail is amazing, clocks tick in parlours, someone has been practicing their alphabet in the schoolroom, paperwork lies on desks. The set designers and builders, lighting and sound have done an amazing job. It all helps to create this feeling that you are an integral part of the play.

The scenes of the play transfer between various sections of the large performance space and the audience moves freely to surround the action. As an audience member it was a very intimate experience, almost like you are an invisible observer, eavesdropping on developments. I remember there was one scene where the haughty Mrs Sparsit (Lynda Cooke) is peering through some trees to spy on a meeting between two characters, and I felt like I was across the other side of the clearing secretly watching her watching them.

One of the things that struck me, seeing the play in full, was that the sections I saw at rehearsal just gave me a snapshot of the overall journey each of the characters take. For example, the Louisa I saw at rehearsal seemed very cold and unemotional and a bit unlikeable. Across the course of the play I came to understand why she behaved in that way, how she had been shaped by her upbringing, and by the treatment of her loved ones, and then saw the complexities of her character emerge as she fights to understand her conflicting emotions. Alice O’Connell gave a wonderful performance as Louisa, and I was on the verge of tears at one point seeing the level of her pain and confusion.

Similarly, the snapshot of Tom (Gareth Cassidy) I saw in rehearsal, made me think he was a bit of a loveable rogue. But, when seen in the context of the play, in the way he treats his sister and others, he is an unpleasant and extremely selfish character, constantly focussed on his own gain, and not caring who he hurts along the way.

This truly was an unforgettable night at the ‘theatre’ for me and I am so glad I had the chance to experience it, I only wish I could do so again. I noticed on the Library Theatre’s website they had given you their top tips for enjoying your visit to Hard Times, so, in a blatant act of plagiarism, I thought I would round off by giving you Alison’s Top Tips for a Good Time at Hard Times

• Make the most of Coketown – some of the people in our intake did the ‘museum walk’ - down to the end of the walkway, glancing at the tableaus, then gathering at the far end near to exit door and just watching what was going on there. You’ll miss a lot doing that. Take your time, revisit some of the areas you have already seen, especially once the mill workers return from their toils. Things change, people move about, there is so much to take in just hang about and absorb it.
• Once you enter the main performance space there will be a little gap before the main action starts. Have a good old nosey round, take in the detail, it’s amazing.
• Flat comfy shoes are good! As are comfortable and practical clothes. You might want to perch on a bench, lean against a pillar, sit on the floor – you want to be able to concentrate on the action, not worry about snagging your best silk!
• Use the space, surround the action. There is plenty of room for everyone to see, you don’t have to watch things from a specified place.
• Don’t be all reserved and dawdle from scene to scene, keep up with the action or you might miss something. But equally keep your eyes open, sometimes there may be characters away from the main point of focus that you might want to keep an eye on!
• And finally, give yourself a massive pat on the back for being lucky enough to secure a ticket for this amazing event, they are like gold dust. If this is the standard of the site specific work the Library Theatre Company have in store for us we are all in for a treat. I hope you all love it as much as I did.

An Opportunity and a half! Rehearsal eavesdropping!

So anyway, the long and the short of it is those lovely people at the Library Theatre either liked what I wrote, or were getting desperate, and I got asked to be one of four Guest Bloggers for them. What this was to involve was attending a rehearsal of Hard Times, and writing about it for publication on their theatre blogsite. And then later attending a dress rehearsal of the full show and blogging again. I was beyond thrilled to be given the opportunity, but nervous too as it was way outside my comfort zone.

The first of these two events was the rehearsal that I attended on 9th May. It was a fascinating experience seeing the process first hand. I've read a lot about the theatre, and even trod the boards in a very small capacity as part of a project at the Royal Exchange last year, but this is the first time I have had the privilege to see behind the scenes of a professional company. There was so much to absorb, I could have stayed there for days. I do wish I could have relaxed a bit more though. Everyone was very welcoming considering I was trespassing on their territory, and I usually manage a good approximation of appearing confident even when I'm not, so I'm not sure why I decided to go for the terrified look every time someone spoke to me!

I stayed for around three hours, and then headed for the station with my head spinning with thoughts and ideas of what I could write. I actually started on the train home, and then as soon as I got home I rushed upstairs to my computer to make a start at trying to put all that 'stuff' into some coherent form. And funnily enough, although I was absolutely exhausted by the time I had finished, I really enjoyed the experience, and was quite pleased with the end result. I'll post the actual blog as a separate entry - but if you head on over to the Library Theatre's Blog you can read mine and my fellow blogger's efforts - I find it interesting that we all picked up on different things even though we were essentially watching the same process.

An Opportunity - blogging about Lear

As I mentioned in my first post, a few people had been encouraging me to start a blog for a while, and I'd done nothing about it. A few weeks back though, an opportunity arose that kicked the thought back into my mind.

I saw a 'tweet' from the Library Theatre asking for guest bloggers for a site specific production of Hard Times that they are to stage at Murray Mills in Manchester. They were asking anyone who was interested to submit a short piece of writing to them about a production that they had recently seen. It seemed like a good challenge, and a chance to see if I really could write about my experience so I decided to have a go. Also, I had missed out on getting tickets for this production as it sold out so quickly, and part of the blogging experience was to see a dress rehearsal, so I thought it was worth a try. A few weeks before I had been to see King Lear at The Lowry in Salford Quays and I decided to use that as my subject. It was a bit of a rush job, but I was quite pleased with the result - this is what I submitted....
" Heading to the Lowry to see the Donmar Warehouse production of King Lear I have the nervousness of going to a Shakespeare I have never seen or studied - will I understand it, will I know who is who, or spend three hours attempting to look intelligent whilst actually somewhat out of my depth?

On arrival there is an air of excitement, this production has been sold out for months, and the cast is led by the legendary Derek Jacobi. No chance of getting near the bar or cafe so I purchase a programme to flick through, and am astonished to discover that it contains the complete play text - what value! Some programmes seem to be £5 for a bunch of adverts. On entering the auditorium I am amazed to discover that my 'third row' seat, due to the layout, is actually in the front row of the stalls, how exciting!

The set itself is startlingly simple, wooden planks to three sides with patches of whitewash and plaster - and yet, during the course of the play, due to the power of the performances, clever lighting and sound, and minimal props, I am transported to palaces, blasted moors, clifftops and more. Every performance was distinct and engaging. Whilst the character Lear is central, I was surprised to discover that he doesn't actually command the most stage time, and despite the star billing of Jacobi's Lear, this was a true ensemble cast.

The pace of the play was breathtaking, swift entrances and exits making full use of the stage, and I was gripped from start to finish. I am not a big fan of American-style standing ovations that seem to be fashionable these days, but this cynical theatre goer was one of the first on her feet when the cast took their bows. A truly memorable performance."