Studio Theatre's AKA Black Boxes and why I love them.

I have been incredibly lucky in my Theatre career so far in that I have performed at some very interesting venues with a variety of different stages; The Northbrook Theatre at STAC, The Assembly Hall in Worthing, The Nightingale Theatre in Brighton and many different alternative spaces in the West Sussex area. From your normal proscenium arch setup to Promenade pieces if it can be done with a stage I have generally done it. Now many people who know me and my tastes in the Theatre, which despite rumours to the contrary they have changed over the years, would probably believe that my preference would go hand in hand with the traditional staging that you can see in nearly all the major theatres the good old fashioned Proscenium arch. Sorry to dissapoint those people but after my first experience of the West End, the moment that showed me that I wanted to be an Actor, Starlight Express wasn't just a show it was a spectacle. The staging snaked around the entire auditorium with the rollerskaters racing on it and a huge bridge that descended from what seemed to be the heavens, to a ten year old whose only experience of the theatre was the panto at the good old Connaught Theatre this was mind blowing. It was there that I realised a raised platform with an arch isn't the only way to present theatre. Then when I started learning the ropes of the theatre with the Pilgrims Drama Group in Worthing we had to create our own theatre 'area' in a church hall with no in built staging. Generally this comprised of two folding tables each side of the acting area for the 'wings' with a sheet over each table with a basic backdrop painted on. It was only when the childrens group, of which I was a member, would work with the adults group to produce the yearly pantomime. Then we would borrow a mobile stage from my Middle School as well as their lights, and using members of the church's skills we would build our own set. It was a community and those small blocks of staging were my first taste of 'treading the boards'. Then my whole outlook changed when in 1998 we got the chance to do 'Ernies Incredible Illucinations' by Ayckbourne and Mavis, who ran the drama group, taught us about Alan Ayckbourne and his theatre in the round. I was instantly fascinated by the complexity and discipline required from being seen from all angles by the audience and having to act with every part of your body. I was hooked on this new idea and over the next few years through High School drama classes and productions, Blood Wedding by Lorca in particular, due to us only really having a drama studio I got to do lots of work in that style. What I didn't know was that I was participating in what is known widely as 'Studio Theatre' and how important this would become to my future development.

In 2002 I joined the Northbrook Theatre thinking I would get to be acting in the main theatre which was a classic proscenium arch style theatre which could be turned into a huge black box. Instead I found myself rehearsing and performing in rehearsal studios before getting my first chance at working in a real black box theatre in the play 'The Last Resort' by Chris Owen. The room was tiny and cramped, it seated approx 20 people once any sparce set was placed within it. It was amazing we had to sit to one side, everytime we went onstage the audience could see, everything was stripped back and showing. The lights and speakers were very obvious and you couldn't hide them but what struck me was the versatility of the space. You could do anything in there, as it was just completely black and it opened my imaginative mind. The exploration of the space when we performed 'The Last Resort' was minimal but being on top of the audience for a first year drama student was daunting enough. Working in there cut a lot of my bad habits out quickly, fiddling hands being the crime I was chastised for the most, and by the time our second show in there was put on I was ready. 'Taking Breath' by Sarah Daniels was our piece and for it we had a pretty audacious design considering the size of the space. The stage which was approximately 12 feet across and 8ft deep was split in two with one half being the first part of the story and the second was that of the final part of the story, we had to have a piece of set representing a tree home for enviromental activists and a hospital bed. The tree home was a pallet left in the top corner of the space on which the actors playing the activists had to sit and the bed was for the lead character who falls from the tree. This of course taught me all about the importance of the luxury of space and how constraining the amount of space an actor can use is a positive thing. The last time I performed in the black box space at Northbrook was for our production of 'The Crucible' by Arthur Miller. Now in this production I was very lucky in that I played two characters and in one scene I had to change costumes quickly and re-enter, now this was not just a challenge for me as an actor artistically but also logistically. There needed to be a place I could quickly change my clothes within a packed tiny little space, where the audience would not see me. They constructed next to the actors bench a tiny cubicle I could change in. A challenge met and it really inspired me to find solutions to spacial issues. The other thing that the Crucible taught me was that good design can sometimes alter percieved ideas of space. I remember when we first heard that we would all be in this tiny space doing a show we thought it couldn't work, and then when we were told it would be in the round I wasn't sure it could look clean and tidy, all those bodies in such a small space. However we ended up getting a stage which comprised of rostrum and had a good rectuangular space to play with. What happened was the claustrophobia of the space helped feed into the plays feelings of oppression and the trap that had been thrown up in the community. This was another revelation, if the play called for a small space or for a tight situation if used effectively a black box or small studio theatre can be a real boon.

In 2006 I got my first real chance at directing at the Nightingale Theatre in Brighton. Under the watchful eye of Prodigal Theatre's representative Thor and in conjunction with Lisa Perry my tutor at Northbrook I directed 'Don Juan Comes Back From the War' by Horvath. I won't go into too much detail as to what happened during this period as I have already documented it several times, however I was quite far out of my depth. The luxury however of having a beautiful space, in a luscious building within Brighton was not lost on me. I learnt more in that space about myself and directing/acting than I had done the previous 3 years of college. We used every little aspect of that space, from the bay windows to the fireplace. Every actor was on stage at all times, there were no breaks for them. We had them playing background characters to enhance the main scenes. The work produced was effective and the open to public performance went down well. It was an experience.

From then on I pretty much worked in a way that took the studio and in the round style as my main focus. It holds so many more opportunities to the performer and director who doesn't have or need an expensive set or intricate design. The final year of my BA Hons Course I was given many opportunities to direct and act and I found the studio and black box system simpler for my theatrical eye. I get it, I understood the way the mind works, how the fourth wall not being in place can truly lift a piece and allow the actors to bring the audience on a journey. When audience members can see each other across the acting space, keeping them focused on the performance is imperative and therefore everyone has to work much harder. However another thing I love about studio and black box theatres is the ability to focus on an image. My piece 'Love' which I wrote and directed in 2006 was a very simple idea and I believe verges on the line between installation art and theatre, I therefore dubbed it a piece of installation theatre (I know this is not the greatest phrase due to the lack of logic in the claim but I thought it sounded smart and good at the time) and had strict instructions regarding length of the piece and audience size. The black box and main theatre were not an option so we got a rehearsal studio and I blacked out the windows so there was no light in the room. Then we got our actress, Juline Pethig, to sit on a stepladder, which was covered by the white dress she was wearing and she held a heart shaped chocolate box. In the background there was a sinister heart beat pounding away very loudly and the bass on that track turned up. 10 audience members were brought in at a time, the lights were turned on and they were guided round the ladder and had only 30 seconds to see the piece before the light went off. When the light went off the heart sound stopped also. With no words and no action some people questioned my motives and justifications but if Samuel Beckett, and his avant garde theatre, could put on 'Breath' then my piece which was partly an homage to his artform was perfectly justifiable. It surprised my peers and tutors also who didn't believe I had that type of work in me.

My final performance at Northbrook, and a personal dream come true, was the adaptation of the Tempest that Jenna Stannard and I came up with from the original Shakespearian text and a Restoration version by Dryden. Faced with the opportunity to perform it in the traditional manor in the Northbrook Theatre, our set designer Scott Nimmo decided to put the piece in the round and create an island within the theatre space. We created an island in the Northbrook Theatre using two tonnes of sand... which blew most of our budget but I think it really helped the piece be effective. Judge for yourself.

Pictures courtesy of Kirsty Jeffery. Thanks Kirsty.

The other aspect of this was the great lack of space we had, the piece restricted where certain characters could or would go. My character Prospero would only move in his small corner of the island and it really gave us a bigger challenge. A normal set would have nullified a lot of the action in this piece and being in the round allowed us to really show off our talents.

Since leaving University and forging on with my own career I have been testing and trying my work in the round. Simply put I believe it is the most versatile work place for an actor. If you have never tried to perform in a town square in the round then you haven't had one heck of a funny experience. Last years fptheatreproductions living history piece 'The Worthing Tales' was performed in South Street in Worthing on a busy August Saturday morning. We were heckled, we were ignored, our space was walked through, we had the public come up to us during the performance and we had hundreds of spectators looking at us. It wasn't a typical piece of theatre for the town centre or even for the town but it was amazing having that public forum and was a true throwback to the days of the Medieval mystery play being done on carts in the Market place.

From left to right: Me, LibraryGirl, Charlotte Dunn, Richard Ford

However as much as I loved outside I crave a black box of my own to use and to cherish. After all with a black box you get a blank canvas, and all the basics you need to start painting the eventual masterpiece you want your work to be. That is why I love Studio/Black Box theatres, and it would take a lot to change my mind.

Xtofer

Eastenders LIVE: The Murderer of Archie Mitchell is Revealed A REVIEW

As everyone living in the UK knows Archie Mitchell, who died on Christmas Day in the Queen Vic, was a cad who deserved everything that happened to him. He finally got his comeuppence and that led to two months of speculation as to who killed him. Early indication was that it was his daughter Ronnie, whose child he hid from her and who was sexually assualted by her father as a child, who in true Lady Macbeth style went slightly mad over the past two months. Other suspects included Phil Mitchell, Ian Beale, Peggy Mitchell, Jack Branning and Bradley Branning. However as with all great Soap storylines, things are never so simple and last night things got very complicated as for the first time ever Eastenders had a live broadcast.

Now a live Television broadcast of a drama is huge news, and a huge ask nowadays. Its been nearly 50 years since live tv performance was the rule instead of the exception and so there was a huge chance that things could go drastically wrong.

As LibraryGirl and myself sat down to watch this new experience we already felt really tense. As a performer myself I can appreciate the nerves these guys must have been feeling at going live, then factor in the fact that this is the blowoff to one of the biggest storylines ever to grace the square and then the idea that there could be nearly 12 million viewers watching you and waiting for you to screw up. I would say that under that pressure I would be really feeling anxious. LibraryGirl was geared up for the story and wanted to see how good the actors were in a live setting.

As we started watching we were incredibly surprised at the seemingly breakneck speed that everything seemed to be going and then we saw our first mistake. Scott Maslen the heart throb Jack Branning had what he later described as a 'Matrix Moment' as he fluffed his lines and had that thing all actors dread where their brain goes 'where am I in the script... um whats the next line' but it sort of helped build my suspicions that Jack was the murderer. Did Maslen screw up the show? No not at all because he carried on and the acting by Charlie Clements who plays Bradley, Jake Wood as Max and Lacey Turner as Stacey kept that scene going along and the quick angle change on Stacey's face helped build the tension up.

We then moved onto other suspects as Bradley and Stacey started their doomed escape. Janine Butcher, played by Charlie Brooks, was still rushing around trying to make sure she didn't get arrested again and looking for the person who planted the missing engagement ring in her flat. Brooks was brilliant as Janine, it looked as if her parts had been pre taped in that she herself was flawless, her character came through perfectly and she didn't fluff any lines, her only problem was she tripped over her step on the way into her doorway. This was not a big deal, after all it just added to the frantic panic the character was feeling.

Other performers who fluffed up included Barbara Windsor who ran a couple of words together, a very easy thing to do when you only have a very short amount of time to shoot and its one take, she didn't react to it she just kept on going in her scene with Charlie Brooks. Samantha Womack apparently entered the corner shop in Albert Square to get paint thinner, picked it up and during her argument with Rita Simons who plays her sister Roxi left without paying for it, despite walking straight past the shop staff. There were a few snafus with the camera angles including under the arches between Stacey and Bradley. However the Sun Newspaper decided that the one they should mention in their coverage of the live show was that Jake Wood, who is brilliant as Max, was seen putting his fingers down his throat to make himself retch. Now I have to call the Sun on that one mainly due to the fact that it is barely noticeable because when it happens Jake makes the sound of retching and covers his mouth in a way that his fingers went in his mouth, he just wanted it to be more realistic and its not his fault that the camera caught him. Plus I am pretty sure not more than 2 seconds later, as people are leaving the Queen Vic there is a crew member in shot who looks round then touches what looks to be headphones, hidden under a hat of course, before we carry on with the show. Not to mention the awful pause before the stuntman leapt off of the Pub. It just seemed unfair to me for them to criticise Jake Wood.

Now onto what I thought of the episode. The show was fantastic it just was a tense laden show with some phenomenal acting. As such I am going to declare my top 5 MVPs (Most valuable Performers) from last nights live episode.

5. Steve McFadden

Phils story was he was paranoid his girlfriend, Shirley, was going to rat him out and that Ian had evidence that could be used to frame him for Archies Murder. This led to him tracking down Ian and attacking him and trashing his home looking for what he thought Ian had. McFadden much like Brooks was brilliant in that he was totally natural when it came to being angry Phil, thats what you get for really knowing your character.

4. Adam Woodyatt

Ian had gone home with Dot to talk to her about how she felt and he ended up showing her the video tape of all the then young cast members from 25 years ago. Then as mentioned above Phil came thundering in and Woodyatt is brilliant at being a snivelling coward. His work was great to watch as he and McFadden got physical but it was obviously well rehearsed and these two actors have great chemistry as enemies. You could also tell that he was having fun with it, not in a distracting way but you could just tell.

3. Charlie Brooks

Janine as I said before was rushing around trying to find out who framed her. She was just Miss One Take all night and was brilliant at her character work. This storyline has, whilst making us want to all give Janine a slap for being so evil, in many ways shone a slightly sympathetic light on the Janine Butcher character something that perhaps she needed to keep her fresh.

2. Lacey Turner

This was a really hard choice as it is very close between her and Charlie Clements as to who was better but for me she comes second. Stacey Branning was trying to escape the square with her husband Bradley thanks to the betrayal of her best friend Becca. She ran around and revealed all to Bradley who tried to help her get away but in the end she admitted all to Max... she killed Archie. A really strong performance and Lacey Turner has shown herself to be a very powerful young actress who I hope when she leaves Eastenders, eventually, gets some good dramatic roles.

1. Charlie Clements

Yes Bradley passed away last night trying to escape the Police. When he fell from the top of the Queen Vic there couldn't have been many dry eyes in the millions of homes tuned in to the show. Clements work really helped this storyline move along, his slow disintegration since his return was a truly beautiful piece of acting and his abililty to just pick that up last night and truly put the ending to his story with a great piece of performance was great. The last line he uttered was perfectly pitched and a wonderful note to go out on. The show will sadly miss the gravitas and cheekiness the the Bradley character and Charlie Clements brings to it.

So what was having a live soap like? It was excellent, the excitement of the story was amped up to 11 just because of the unpredictable nature of the performance. Would I do it again? Yes I would, but with some modifications. The main modification I would make is to have it only involve a couple of characters and perhaps 2 or 3 sets. It was wonderful seeing the crew and cast pull off this mammoth task with such great results but there was a feeling of chaos at times. Lets take June Browns solo episode, now that could have easily been shown live and as long as the storyline is strong enough viewers will still tune in. Make it a 1 or 2 room show and then do a live, it will be cheaper and easier to pull off. Also there are certain things that need to be edited for future broadcast, I know we will see clips of Bradleys death and the ending of this episode for years to come but they need to do an edit to make it flow better from the last Bradley line to his fall. I would call this a success and think its a brilliant experience for the actors and is something they should be given the chance to do. Eastenders has done a great job in the lead up to this episode and I hope the fallout is just as good.

Live Eastenders was a truly brilliant event that showed that Soap actors aren't just pretty faces for TV and that a lot of them can do the job when needed. Catch it on Catch up if you haven't seen it or look at it on iPlayer because it is well worth the watch.

Now if only more TV shows had this dangerous event like feel.

Xtofer

http://www.bbc.co.uk/eastenders

Not another Article about the Death of Regional Theatre + The Injustice of the Redgrave Theatre Farnham

Every single year it seems without fail there is an outcry from some corner of the theatre industry here in the UK regarding the failure of the Regional Theatres. Now am I really hearing this? Surely the truth is that the theatre industry is currently booming artistically and with the good box office receipts for shows such as Legally Blonde that the commercial side is doing well too. Of course Legally Blonde is a west end show but when there are regional tours of The 39 Steps, a west end favourite, coming this year then surely something right is happening. I can honestly say that in my area our local theatre has its best line up for the Spring Season in years, we have 10 quality plays between February and June visiting all vying for my money and all contain stars such as Kelly McGillis, Leslie Grantham, Gary Wilmot, Kate O’Mara, Damien Williams and Lee Mead. Also there are many respected theatre companies putting on productions, companies such as The Agatha Christie Theatre Company, Ian Dickens Productions, Kenwright Productions, Middle Ground Theatre Company and Black Eyed Theatre who were hailed as one of the most exciting companies currently in the UK by the Stage. Add in that there are several high quality amateur productions also being staged in the local theatres and there is enough to keep even the most ravenous theatre addict happy. Of course I understand that what is true in Worthing may not be true elsewhere but when I read about situations like that of the Redgrave Theatre Farnham I sometimes think that a lot of other places troubles are nothing but tragedies of their own design. Farnham in Waverly has a thriving Rep Company but no permanent home for said company. The Redgrave Theatre built for the original Farnham Rep is currently dark having been shut down by the local council in 1999 due to one disastrous season which saw revenues fall. The current company is doing great business but because the council has already sold the theatre off for development they are relegated to a tent by the side of the current theatre. I believe the saddest part of this tale is that the Redgrave is not an old theatre it was built in 1974 and is in perfect working order. So in Farnham we have a healthy market for decent theatre, we have a venue that is in mint condition but also a council that is disregarding this possible boon to their local economy. It’s just a crying shame that Waverly council cannot support the local Theatre Company by giving them another chance, instead they have sold it off and it will be demolished next year to make way for a new housing development. For more information regarding the Redgrave Theatre and the campaign to save it please go to this website http://www.farnhamtheatre.co.uk/RedgraveTheatre.html




The redevelopment of theatres on a regional scale still happens frequently; recently the Marlowe Theatre in Canterbury was demolished to make way for a brand new venue under the same name. This will be the third rebuild for the Canterbury venue and surprisingly enough the City council decided that the price of renovating the old venue, whilst cheaper than a new build, would be just throwing money away as it would need more attention in the future and be unable to house the West End quality shows expected of such a prolific theatre.



Then there are the box office receipts for companies such as Birmingham Rep which despite the fact we keep getting it drummed into us every single year that Reperatory Theatre is dead still boasts full houses and true artistic creativity. Their work and that of many Northern Theatre Companies tour extensively throughout the country and many end up on the West End, so if companies such as Birmingham Rep and West Yorkshire Playhouse are creating new work that feeds the stages of the nations capital I would argue that the regional industry is far from dead and in fact we are on the brink of a new era of local theatrical excellence.



The other aspect that these journalists, who report the death of regional theatre every single year without fail, seem to conveniently choose to ignore is the vast amount of experimental theatre companies, dance companies and fringe theatres dotted around the country. In Brighton alone there is a large enough amount of alternative spaces for them to have their own Theatre Festival to rival, like an annoying little brother screaming at an older bigger brother, Edinburgh’s summer festival. There are hundreds of theatre schools around the country feeding the main drama schools in London with performers who are more often than not being trained not just in the tools of the trade to make you a great actor/dancer/singer but also being given the chance to create their own work and develop their own plays, shows and revues. Those that herald regional theatre as dead are just mourning the fact that the industry they knew is dead and gone; instead it has evolved into a more inclusive multi format, arts propelled industry which has more to do now with the cultural identity of the UK than any other time in history. Those of us who may mourn the death of a local rep company should really stop moping and look at what is being offered in our local area before writing it off and just spending that money for theatrical entertainment in London.

Actors attacking Audience Members? Ian Hart is the latest offender! Ban him and the Theatres

"Its official Actors are RUDE, negative and general boors! The actions of a certain actor are obviously that of a madman and my suggestion is we ban theatres. After all when one finds oneself in the theatre we do not have the right to talk to our fellow patrons, our mobile phones must be turned off and we must sit still in perfect silence. Then there is the awful jokes we have to endure, the hammy over-pronunciation of every word in every Shakespeare play and the fact that everyone knows the twist to 'The Mousetrap' but isn't allowed to say. Its all rather fascist really isn't it? Its like a teacher telling you off. I say ban this 'theatre', ban the actors and ban performing arts, its a waste of public money and my bloody time.

Theatre is too dangerous and this latest maniac is living proof. What is the Government going to do about this issue that burns in the heart of our nation? Until they realise actors are more dangerous than hoodies and terrorists nothing in this country is going to improve."

This story is important as people always blow things out of proportion, an actor got angry at the perceived disrespect of this audience and got in someones face. Is that a reason to charge him with assault? I think not but who knows what a judge will say? The fact is this is happening more often, I went to the theatre 3 weeks ago to see The Mousetrap and besides us there were two people talking, behind us a man snoring and nattering everywhere it seemed. People were texting, it is disrespectful to the actors but they need to remember when Shakespeare was around they had to play over the sounds of the crowd, of the street hawkers selling their wares. So do we performers need to lighten up a bit? Or do we need to curb peoples behaviour at the theatre? Make up your own mind, me? Well I would just ignore them in the crowd and carry on acting but thats just me.