Unspoken Speaking

It is not often that I get the chance to see a World Premiere of a new piece of writing, so I approached this production with a great sense of anticipation.  Bringing an original production to the stage is an arduous process, and I know that this production was not without it's difficulties.  I hope the production team would agree that the first public performances are, in reality, a 'work in progress' and that the experiences and reaction of cast and audience alike will generate changes and improvements which will ultimately lead to the piece becoming as good as it deserves to be.  My comments and feedback here are designed to be as constructive as possible in order to aid this process.

The play started with the 'Sounds Original' choir, standing upstage in their red and black uniforms, singing the first of the many original songs created for the piece, a catchy number entitled 'I'm stuck on the outside'.  Towards the end of the number a gauze descended in front of the choir and this gauze remained in place until the end of the show.  The stage in this theatre is not very deep and this meant that there was light spillage from the down stage playing area, enabling us to see the choir at times when the action of the play was happening in front of them.  Although they managed to remain very still for long periods (which was not an easy feat, I'm sure), there was inevitably some degree of small movement (particularly of the white scripts they were holding) which was a little distracting at times.  It is worth considering whether the choir could perform without their music scores, or if not, perhaps the use of music stands would help.  Nevertheless, the singing seemed well rehearsed with some good solos and nice harmonies and was most enjoyable.

Whilst the light spillage allowed us to see the choir at times when we did not need to, conversely, at times when a solo was being sung, we could not always see the soloist, and this tends to have the effect of causing the audience to actively seek the origin of the voice they are hearing, instead of fully engaging with the action on the stage.  Possibly it is worth experimenting with bringing the soloists onto the stage for some scenes, integrating them into the action, or spotlighting them.

This action of this play was episodic, with the episodes spanning (at a guess) around 20 years.  The early scenes took place in Rhys' childhood bedroom, with later scenes taking us through college years and into adulthood.  In the childhood scene, the Rhys listened to his music on a 'ghetto blaster', and in all subsequent scenes modern equipment (ipods, mobile phones) were used.  The 'street speak' used by Rhys and James as children seemed a little too modern for 20 years ago.  I also felt that the costumes did not indicate the passing of the years, although they did reflect the boys ageing into adults.  It may be that the intention was to try and make this play 'timeless', but if not, I would suggest researching the habits and fashions and aiming to be very specific about the time frame of each scene.

The device of having Rhys and James change their clothes on the forestage between scenes was a very good idea, particularly with the incidental music and the involvement of other cast members.  However, they were left in their underwear for long periods which some of the audience may have found uncomfortable.  I'm sure that these scenes could be enhanced with the addition of more choreography.  I was also puzzled as to why the women dressing them were wearing Victorian costumes.

The set consisted of black wooden blocks which were rearranged and dressed to form the various scenes and furniture.  This meant that scenes could be changed swiftly and efficiently by cast members.  Sometimes this was performed in semi darkness, and sometimes in full light, but there was always accompanying music and this was very effective.

The directors had employed a range of techniques to bring variety to the story-telling.  Some of these techniques were very successful; for example, I loved Rhys' shopping trip where the rails of clothes were represented by actors holding out clothes at the sides of the stage.  Occasionally I felt that the techniques used detracted from the story, rather than helping to move it along; for example, the device of having an actor speak lines in turn after they were sung made these pieces of dialogue slow and disjointed and did not aid the pace.  However, the idea was good and is worth more exploration in order to find the best way of employing it.  Miming was used a great deal, particularly when songs were being sung by the choir, but it was not always clear what was happening at these times.  It is important that mimes are detailed and realistic, with attention paid to the weight of items, resistance to movement etc.  The opening of Act 2, with Rhys and James in a confrontational freeze, whilst the party guests discussed the fight, was visually interesting and worked well.

At times there were issues with pace, and whilst I am aware that there were some last minute cast changes that obviously would not have helped, there were nonetheless times when cues were not picked up very quickly, and when a faster line delivery could have occurred.  The scene involving James progression through 3 relationships had excellent pace though, and this was aided by the very upbeat song in this scene, which was sung by the actors themselves.  The email scene was visually interesting, and the choral speaking of Rhys' diary entry added variety to the dialogue at this point.  The shadowy figure of the grandmother watching the action added a good sense of family history and contributed greatly to the very moving ending.  I liked the contrasting characters of Rhys' and James' mothers; they could not have been more different (how I would have loved to see a scene between the two of them.....?)

This was undoubtedly an ensemble piece, with many actors playing several different parts, as well as taking part in scene changes.   The involvement of the choir added an extra dimension.  All contributed to a very successful and thought-provoking production.  To stage a premiere like this is a remarkable achievement of which all the participants should be very proud.  I look forward to hearing about the next stage in the evolution of this piece of original drama.

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