Exposure

Exposure is a dramatization of the life of Edouard Muybridge, a photographer and student of movement made famous by his proving that a galloping horse is fully airborne during its stride.  Now, sadly, I’m told that the projection was not working properly on the night I saw the show so the backdrop it supplied to the action was not as the company would have liked.  Nevertheless, without knowing that in advance I was prepared to accept the rather dim images displayed as being a mere indication rather than a full-colour stage set.  It is hard to imagine now what it should have looked like.  Muybridge’s photographs provided a complimentary commentary to the action on stage, and if we couldn’t see them very clearly I for one thought perhaps that was merely an echo of his achievements bringing a realism to the storyline.  I certainly didn’t write, “projection not working”, but the team must have been frustrated.  

Besides a backdrop of projection, various effects were in evidence: camera flashes, areas of activity that had to be highlighted as we experienced the flashbacks in the story – wedding, stagecoach crash, doctor’s office, clients’ offices and, of course, the courtroom itself.  There seemed to be a strong central pool sometimes resulting in the actors at the periphery playing in shadow, perhaps because of the swift changes of ‘environment’.  The soft light upstage for the ghostly apparition of the long gone Muse gave a very pleasing effect.  The film, especially made for the performance, of the playwright in conversation with an ‘expert’ did look somewhat odd, with peculiar shadows I now know to have been caused by the malfunction of the equipment.

There seemed to be a great many props needed for this play - a complex reconstructed tripod camera, judge’s ‘throne’, umpteen legal papers and pictures, and scalping knife!  The cast as court officers did well to time their picking up of the right one to match its projection on the back screen as the dialogue discussed each in turn.

The play demanded that several of the actors had to portray multiple characters with just the addition of an indication towards the new role – a hat, a jacket, a blanket.  These clothes were changed off stage and consequently didn’t distract from the main action.  The robes of the legal representatives on stage were smartly authentic with the Greek Chorus of jurors and witnesses dressed in a variety of monochrome capes, coats, skirts, etc.  The Muse in her occasional appearances was modestly draped in pastel and ghost-like tones, while Flora’s white dress stood up well as both a wedding dress and an evening dancing dress, and Stanford and Larkyns looked very smart in their suits.  The one jarring note in the wardrobe of the players was the very odd hat Muybridge himself adopted – was it supposed to be so unshapely?  The uniforms of the US army officers, though minimally suggested, instantly told us who we were seeing as did the outfit of the native American chief.  

Exposure was a less intimate offering (than its companion being shown in a double bill of one act plays - see Charlie and the Siberian Monkey Goddess) being an ensemble piece, and more testing for the audience with its rapid time shifts depicting glimpses into Muybridge’s eccentric life.  The choral speaking achieved a strong effect initially though subsequent speeches took a moment to get back in sync, and the named characters were all audible.  There was a prompt – I’m sure because it was opening night, and the script had no logical or chronological flow.   This actor also repeatedly broke the fourth wall, unlike anyone else on stage, to make incongruous eye contact with the audience.  Muybridge himself provided a secure constancy throughout while the ‘jurors’ were changing character, costume and voice around him, and of the few and far between American accents that of Blanche was unforced and believable.  The dramatic episodes of stagecoach crash, scalping and murder were created with sudden and shocking brevity to good effect, while the little dance scenes were kept uncomplicated to match the players’ ability.  

The programme told us that Samuel French thought Exposure was ‘too technically demanding for amateurs’ – well, Gweek Players have shown that they can cope very nicely with technically demanding, thank you very much, so I feel there must have been another reason SF turned it down! 

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