|
Interview by Lauren Gauge with New Public.
Combining music, physical theatre and mined experiences around the dream-like state of the subconscious, New Public rediscover and perform their acclaimed production, Lucid, at Tristan Bates Theatre. Opening tonight it runs from the 9th to 14th April.
With a fast growing thirst for the experiential and experimentation of form in British theatre making, it comes as little surprise that one of the highest regarded British institutes of actor training, RADA, is now training performers in a much more typically European method of devising and creating highly physical, ensemble-based theatre, as well as the classical style. New Public are the latest theatre company to be formed from RADA’s Theatre Lab programme graduates. Lucid is their inaugural production which shares much of its root and spirit with the ethos of collaborative, multi-faceted theatre making, exploring the manifestation of emotion in our inner-self and taking the audience on a powerful sensory journey of enlightenment.
How would you describe New Public’s style of creating theatre and what interests you as creatives?
We are an ensemble and our style comes from embracing our varied approaches to theatre making. Like making a really tasty stew you need a few good and varied ingredients. We’re a very physical company, as well as having strong dramaturges and writers, its a healthy clash of styles. We’re all interested in combining theatrical forms in an exciting and accessible way. The company is socially conscious and our work in the future is likely to reflect that more and more. We wish to pose questions and stir the imaginations, intellects and emotions of our audiences.
Who is the company made up of and how did you all come to form New Public and why?
The company is made up of Stefanie Bruckner, Dean Elliott, Tom Kelsey, Katariina Tamm and Jo Moss. We are all recent graduates of RADA’s MA Theatre Lab programme, which is where we first met. So we all trained together with a particular focus on devised, physical, ensemble-based theatre. Whilst training we had a devised project for which the five of us worked in a group together, we discovered that our different backgrounds and performance disciplines complimented one another. We also found that we loved working together; the differences between us as individual performers very much combined to become our strength when working as a group. During the project we produced the first 15 minutes of material that would go on to form the basis for Lucid.
Can you tell us more about RADA’s Theatre Lab programme and any key principles you have taken through into New Public’s ethos?
There are three key elements of the Theatre Lab programme that we have carried into Lucid. Firstly, our approach to the work: our devising process is heavily influenced by our experiences on the Lab. We create by doing, through improvisation and making proposals to one another. Discussion of the merit of ideas comes after they have been tried out and explored. Secondly, the physical aspect of our work, we consider the body an expressive tool,
which ensures we are always physically engaged when performing. Finally, the variety of influences and references we draw from. The Lab has given us a wealth of experience in many different theatrical forms, classical and experimental, meaning we can pick and choose from a wide stylistic palette to decide what forms best serve the content of our work. This also ensures a varied and unpredictable experience for the audience.
Lucid is your first production as a company billed as a ‘surprising and imaginative mix of sound, physical theatre and surreal humour to explore the hidden depths of our subconscious’; what is it about the subconscious that you are particularly interested in exploring?
The sub-conscience is a treasure trove for creative inspiration, allowing us to explore what goes on beneath the frontal lobe. It is the place beyond time and logic, full of striking and visceral images, where we can begin to examine ourselves in a deeper way.
Exploring dreams has also been enjoyable for us as theatre makers as they allow us total freedom to stage scenarios far beyond the realms of naturalism.
Dreams are typically non-narrative and very otherworldly in their ability to transcend place and time, can you tell our readers without too many spoilers how the narrative of Lucid develops?
The narrative is of course unconventional, however there are multiple arcs that follow traditional story beats. The show alternates between ‘reality’, where characters are established, and ‘dream’ which is the dramatic manifestation of each character’s inner, emotional life. We see their journey through the subconscious from which they awaken somehow changed. Just like in life, some dreams follow a clear story, some are more abstract and require a deeper level of interpretation. We’ve spent a lot of time thinking about the structure and what order of events will provide greatest satisfaction to the audience.
What inspired the making of piece and what source material did you use as a springboard?
We started making this piece at RADA last year, the feedback was great and we all felt that the idea had legs so we agreed to keep working on it to turn it in to a full show. As for inspiration, we took it from Carl Jung; an interview with a 4 year old cousin; a meeting with the Dream Institute of London; collecting accounts of other people’s dreams and nightmares, as well as our own. We discovered many common archetypal dream scenarios and are particularly interested in the seemingly universal images and figures, which are often filtered through cinematic and artistic iconography that populate our dreams. There were so many common themes and strong currents running through them, it was like tapping in to a shared human experience existing underneath our conscious reality. Things can be expressed in dreams that could never be expressed in our waking lives. But we’re attempting to do so.
You had rave reviews from the first showing of the piece from press. What was the audience reaction from when you performed Lucid at Bloomsbury Festival?
Really positive! We were taken aback by how many people were coming up to us after the show, wide-eyed and full of enthusiasm for what they had just seen. It was almost as though everyone in the room had experienced some kind of catharsis (including us!) Even more interesting and exciting was how many people were itching to describe to us their most recent and memorable dreams and relate them to what they had just seen. The show really seemed to strike a chord.
If you had to describe what audiences who come to see Lucid at Tristan Bates Theatre should expect in a sentence what would it be?
It’s bizarre, frightening and hilarious, sometimes all at once.
Lucid runs at Tristan Bates Theatre from Monday 9th – Saturday 14th April 2018 at 9:15pm
More info at www.newpublic.uk
Watch the show trailer here .
|
