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.
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
