The Blog

WEEK THREE - what happened...

 So, we have one further week in the rehearsal room for The New Electric Ballroom.  Both Assistant Directors have contributed on last week’s progress – Jacobie Gray writes the words and Katharine Cullen has provided some special photographs from the rehearsal room.

 

The tides lapping the edges of our increasingly existential script spilled over into the rehearsal space this week when an excessive down pour and a severely blocked storm water drain caused flooding in our rehearsal room. Thankfully all props remained dry, apart from a few water-logged shoes and a drowned 1960’s style microphone… but that could be giving too much away…

 

Four flights of stairs later and fending off a passer by with a passion for retro furniture attempting to solicit our set, Michael (stage manager) and I safely deliver The New Electric Ballroom to it’s new home. A light, airy, hot drama room in the Old Teachers College on the Sydney uni campus. Kate tweaks the space, whacks on a fan and we’re away again, continuing to nutout the complexities of Enda Walsh’s brain.

 

Thursday saw our first stumble through of the play from beginning to end. I sat on book noting any hiccups in the script and if the actors lacked at all in word perfectness they certainly made up for it in commitment. With repetition being a key theme of the play there’s a lot of similar phrasing, enough to drive you crazy really if you were learning the lines, my hat’s off to the brilliant job the actors are doing so far! Drilling, drilling, drilling...

 

Odile LeClezio and Genevieve Mooy in a clamer moment....

 

 

Odile LeClezio and Jane Phegan - things hotting up!

 

 

Justin Smith, Genevieve Mooy, Odile LeClezio - drama....

 

 

Jane Phegan

 

WEEK THREE - Monday 20th February, 2012

As promised we continue our week of Creative investigation into the lives and loves of the team behind The New Electric Ballroom. Tom Bannerman (Set Design) and Daryl Wallis (Composer/Sound Design) are both great examples of designer-makers.  That is, they not only design their contributions to a production but - in this case - are also doing the "building".  Today we hear from Tom Bannerman – he’s an interesting guy who always has a smile and a great suggestion.

 

Tom, could describe what your specific challenges are with The New Electric Ballroom?

 

THE FIRST CHALLENGE IS DEVELOPING A WORKING RELATIONSHIP WITH THE DIRECTOR, KATE GAUL.  I NEED TO MOVE-UP A FEW GEARS FOR THIS.  UNDERSTANDING HER POSITION WITH THE TEXT IS CRUCIAL, AND AS THIS IS THE FIRST TIME WE'VE WORKED TOGETHER, GREATER TIME THAN USUAL IS BEING SPENT HERE.  SOMETIMES, I AM SURPRISED WITH THE PROCESS SO FAR.  'THE NEW ELECTRIC BALLROOM' IS A CURIOUS PLAY AND IS A NEW TERRITORY FOR ME, I BELIEVE.  ON A SEPARATE MATTER, THE RESOLUTION OF THE SET DESIGN REQUIRES ATTENTION NOT TO ONLY IMAGINATION AND AESTHETICS BUT TIME, CONSTRUCTION FACILITIES AND BUDGET.  EACH PRODUCTION IS UNIQUE.

 

You have a large bodiy of work and have travelled extensively. What are your specific artistic influences?  

IF I WAS TO IDENTIFY A FEW FROM SO MANY, HERE GOES.  THEY ARE IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER: POSTMODERNIST ART, MODERNIST SCULPTURE AND ARCHITECTURE, TEXTS ON SCENOGRAPHY, THE TWO PRAGUE QUADRENNIALS I GOT TO SEE (PQ'07 AND PQ'11), AND WHAT I SEE AROUND ME, WHEREVER I AM.  APART FROM SCENOGRAPHY, I THINK I AM CLOSER TO SCULPTURE THAN ANY OTHER ART PRACTICE, SO I LOVE PLAYING WITH MATERIALS.  ONE DAY, I WANT TO CREATE A HUGE SET WITH JUST ONE SHEET OF PLYWOOD.

How does The New Electric Ballroom fit into your trajectory?  

 I HAVE HOPED TO WORK WITH KATE GAUL FOR SEVERAL YEARS AS I'M ATTRACTED TO HER APPROACH TO PERFORMANCE, WHICH IS FRESH AND STIMULATING.  I APPRECIATE BEING GIVEN THE OPPORTUNITY TO WORK IN THE SBW STABLES THEATRE ..... SCENE OF SO MANY SIGNIFICANT AUSTRALIAN PRODUCTIONS.

 

What are the top three shows you have seen in the last 12 months?

 IN JUNE LAST YEAR I WAS IN PRAGUE FOR THE QUADRENNIAL, PQ'11, WHERE I GOT TO SEE NOT ONE BUT TWO ROBERT WILSON PRODUCTIONS: JANACEK'S OPERA, 'KATA KABANOVA', PERFORMED IN ITS BEAUTIFUL NATIVE CZECH AT THE STUNNING NARODNI DIVALDO, AND A NEWLY-SCORED VERSION OF CAPEK'S 'VEC MAKROPULOS' AT THE STAVOVSKE DIVADLO.  THE FORMER PRODUCTION WAS SUPERB WHEREAS THE LATTER LOOKED SOMEWHAT WORN, HOWEVER, IT WAS AN EDUCATION FOR ME GETTING TO SEE THESE EXAMPLES OF WILSON'S GENIUS.  LESS THAN A WEEK LATER, IN BERLIN, I SAW THE KOMISCHE OPER'S PRODUCTION OF SCHOSTAKOWITSCH'S 'LADY MACBETH VON MZENSK'.  IT HAD BEEN A WHILE SINCE I'D SEEN OPERA, AND HERE I WAS WITNESSING IMPRESSIVE LARGE-SCALE PRODUCTIONS ON EUROPEAN STAGES. 

 

3. Tell us what excites you about this project.

WORKING WITH A NEW DIRECTOR, WHOSE WORK I ADMIRE AND WHOSE INTELLECT WILL CHALLENGE ME.  PRESENTING MY WORK AGAIN ON A SIGNIFICANT AUSTRALIAN THEATRE.

 

4. What kind of preparation do you like to do before staring on the creative part of your work for a show?

 READ THE TEXT SEVERAL TIMES.  RESEARCH RELEVANT MATERIAL PERTAINING TO THE CONTEXT OF THE TEXT.  RE-FAMILIARIZE MYSELF WITH THE THEATRE, ESPECIALLY THE AUDITORIUM AND ITS RELATIONSHIP TO THE PERFORMANCE-SPACE.

 

5. Today, where are you at with the progress for the production and what's the next hurdle you face?

 I'VE PRACTICALLY COMPLETED THE MAJOR ASSEMBLY OF THE SET, USING MOSTLY RECYCLED MATERIALS, AND HAVE BEGUN APPLYING THE SCENIC FINISHING SUCH AS SCULPTING THE BRICK WALLS AND SOFTENING THIS WITH PLASTER.  THE NEXT HURDLE, WHICH I INTEND TO LEAP RATHER THAN FACE, WILL BE THE BUMP-IN.

 

 

 

Tom adds:

 IN A LITTLE UNDER TWO YEARS, I WILL RETIRE FROM ART TEACHING, SO WILL BE ABLE TO SPEND FULL-TIME ON MY PASSION: DESIGNING FOR THE THEATRE.  I HOPE THERE WILL BE THEATRE DIRECTORS OUT THERE INTERESTED IN WORKING WITH ME.  ALL OF MY WORK IN THE THEATRE HAS HAD TO COME SECOND TO MY CAREER IN TEACHING, BUT DESPITE THIS I HAVE MANAGED TO CREATE A HUGE BODY OF WORK AS A SET DESIGNER.  AS WELL, I HAVE BUILT MANY MORE SETS THAN I HAVE DESIGNED - I GUESS, IF THESE PRODUCTIONS ARE COMBINED, THEIR SUM TOTAL HAS TO REACH 500 .... IMPOSSIBLE THOUGH THAT FIGURE APPEARS!  FOR A FEW YEARS NOW I BEGIN TO FEEL CONFIDENT ABOUT MY WORK AND AM SATISFIED THAT, THOUGH I AM STILL LEARNING, I AM IN COMMAND OF A FINE HAND, HAVE AN INTELLIGENT, IMAGINATIVE AND INVENTIVE MIND AND POSSESS A GARGANTUAN EXPERIENCE OF THE STAGE AS A PLACE OF ARTISTIC EXPRESSION.

Stay tuned - next up Daryl Wallis (Composer/Sound Designer).....  Check back in a couple of days.....

 

WEEK THREE - Sunday  19th February, 2012

 This is the first of two entries this week as you get to meet some of the creatives behind the scenes.  First up, Michael Cutrupi our stage manager and later this week Tom Bannerman (Set Design) and Daryl Wallis (Composer/Sound Design) share their approaches, thoughts and insights with us.  happy reading!

Hello all, I'm Michael Cutrupi the Stage Manager for this wonderful production of The New Electric Ballroom and it is my time to shine – blog wise. So I thought Id tell you a bit about myself and my connection to the play and the creatives. 

 

I am an actor, producer and theatre maker and love being apart of the process of creating an exciting experience for an audience and The New Electric Ballroom is no exception. I first became aware of the play when I was in New York studying, I saw a production of it at St Anne's Warehouse and I remember being blown away by the theatricality, the language and the story. It really pushed me to learn more about Enda Walsh's work as a writer, I watched the film Hunger, saw the Walworth Farce at Sydney Theatre (in 2012), read Disco Pigs and was totally in awe of the power and simplicity of the language, the wealth of the images, and the excellent observation of character.

 

So when our director Kate Gaul, mentioned her passion for the script I was all ears. I really wanted to jump on board and help in anyway I could to make this production a reality and I have not been disappointed especially being able to work around such talented creatives not only Kate, but also the fantastic actors who I have admired seeing on stage. 

 

I will attempt to keep you up to date from the rehearsal room right through to production. Stay tuned and see you at the SBW Stables.

 

Rehearsal Photos by Katharine Cullen:

 

 

 

 

 

WEEK TWO - Sunday 12th February, 2012

Our second Blog entry is by Jacobie Gray - one of the Assistant Directors.  This is her take on last week's action and you can find out more about Jacobie at the end of the blog entry.

In a quiet room nestled next to the Rex Cramphorn Studio at Sydney Uni, an excited group of actors gather to immerse themselves in Enda Walsh’s beautifully complex play The New Electric Ballroom. There’s a happy reunion between Genevieve Mooy and Odile LeClezio, who are delighted to be cast as sisters Clara and Breda, not having worked together since their NIDA days. Jane Phegan, playing the part of Ada, is the gorgeous woman you’ll see featured in our upcoming promotional video and materials. And the quartet wouldn’t be complete without the multi-talented Justin Smith, who’ll bring Patsy the fishmonger (a character who is fortunately or unfortunately blessed with an acute sense of smell) to the stage.

 

Complete with tea and biscuits, the first read kicks off in full lyrical swing as the actors dust off their Irish accents. Listening intently to the script’s poetic ebb and flow out loud for the first time is dialect coach Natasha McNamara, assistant director Katherine Cullen, performance studies observer Jacinta John and our fiercely intelligent leader Kate Gaul. First impressions tumble forth as the final page is turned. The table chats irreverently, touching on subjects ranging from the film ‘The Guard’, to the invention of electricity and it’s impact on rock ‘n’ roll. The ‘New Electric’ being an Irish turn of phrase referring to the first discos powered by the revolutionary current.

 

Flip forward a day and we’re unpacking the microcosm of the play. Whilst the characters in The New Electric Ballroom fixate on the ritualistic devouring of home-baked coffee cake, the story itself comprises many rich layers of meaning, more like a gourmet European gateau. On the surface it appears to be a meditation on the age old story: young women, hopefully anxious with the promise of love, waiting for men to show up and change their world, only to be broken-hearted when events don’t transpire. Clara’s desire to be ‘properly kissed’ as opposed to properly ‘mauled’ by the local fisherman depicts her need for tenderness against the harsh Irish landscape. It is something Ada can only hope to experience for herself one day: ‘Leave behind the safety of my home and our little town and step into the real world with love as my only guide.’

 

However, the need to return to a place of safety once reality pervades, the desperate holding on to security through meticulous repetition, and the underlying anxiety crippling the urge to strive for more, are the deeper kernel of the text. In an interview with Christopher Wallenberg (American Theatre Affiliated Writer), Walsh expresses his experience with obsessive compulsive disorder and how it has influenced his plays, ‘If I’d fallen out of that pattern, I would have fallen off the edge of the world, it seemed – like everything would just be fucking chaos. That’s had a big influence on The Walworth Farce and The New Electric Ballroom and probably all my plays since then. They’re all about routine and pattern and trying to recreate worlds or break free of these worlds’. When Ada experiences an alien emotion causing her to question Breda and Clara’s co-constructed patterns, she invokes a sense of personal power that threatens the very foundation of the house on the edge of the cliff.

 

There are surprising moments of violence in the play as characters battle to hold onto their stories, so it’s no wonder Kate enlists the help of intuitive fight choreographer Olivia Stambouliah to physically define them. Jane and Gen are up first with Odile not far behind. They slap and nap and scream and drop. The unconventional nature of the Griffin’s stage, with audience sightlines coming from two directions, mean the choreography needs to be convincing from all angles. Kate moves around the marked up space watching the physical contact occur from different spots and it’s thrilling to see the actors beginning to inhabit the emotion behind the hits.

 

 

 

It’s been a heady week exploring the sea of words that defines The New Electric Ballroomboth literally and metaphorically. We discuss the stories within a story that illustrate how the tongues of others can influence our psyche. Breda says we are ‘stamped by story, branded, marked and scarred by talk’. There is a moment of pause as we digest our enormous capacity to avoid pain no matter the cost. Kate notes ironically: if the play is a quest towards silence, then true to human nature, the characters in The New Electric Ballroom attempt to get there in full voice.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jacobie Gray 

 

Director: QUT: What it Feels Like. Assistant Director: QUT: A Streetcar Named Desire. ACTT: Dark of the Moon. Performer: Downstairs Belvoir: Sleeping Around. Old Fitzroy Theatre: Cunt Pi, Little Malcolm and His Struggle Against the Eunuchs. Darlinghurst Theatre: Cancelled. Out of Brisbane Festival: Low Level Panic. QUT: Song of the Yellow Bittern, Building the Wall, The Jungle, Merchant of Venice, Rent, Three Sisters, Spurboard. Training: Stella Adler Studio of Acting: Chekhov Intensive. UCLA Extension: Pre and Post Production. QUT: Bachelor of Fine Arts (Acting).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WEEK ONE - Thursday 9th February, 2012

 The New Electric Ballroom – pre production jitters

 

The New Electric Ballroom starts rehearsal next week.  The fabulous team are researching, talking, designing and dreaming and over the rehearsal period we will endeavour to bring you some insights into the process of bringing Enda Walsh’s prodigious imagination to life.

 

Enda Walsh, who now resides in London (and is just about to have a musical – Once – transfer to Broadway), is well known for his recent film (made with visual artist Steve McQueen) Hunger.  You may also know him for his play (and film) Disco Pigs, Small Things, Chatroom and The Walworth Farce – all which have played in Sydney.  The New Electric Ballroom is ideally suited to the tiny Stables stage as three women live, sheltered from the world.  For our stage design we are building on the dominant features and feel of the room.  It’s a unique creative challenge to balance what is required to make the play “work” and to place these elements in the space and to maintain the really stripped back aesthetic that I prefer for this play.

 

In contrast, the costumes are more elaborate and without giving anything away here’s some sneak peaks from the workshop:

 

 

 

Breda and Clara are a generation older than Ada, who is now near the age of forty.  They convince Ada that the world outside is so cruel that it should only be experienced indirectly.

 

Similar to The Walworth Farce, in which a father and his two sons re-enact threads of the family’s history, Breda and Clara slip into high-heels and twirl about in their full circle skirts to recount to Ada their ‘once upon a time’ at the new Electric Ballroom.  At the local dance the sparkly suited lead singer seduced all listening with his velvet voice and looks that offered more.  Adolescent Breda and Clara with wild imaginations and yearnings for experience followed their hearts.  Something happened.  The women at the cannery caught wind.  Then the gossip began, the talk spilling out into the streets.  The words were venomous, forever paralyzing the lives of Breda and Clara – and, in turn, the life of Ada as well.

 

Unlike other Irish plays there are no pints, no apparitions, and no mention of fleeing Ireland for less claustrophobic (but less green) pastures.  But what we do have is a school of large Atlantic fish.  A fourth character, Patsy the fish monger and link to the outside world for the women, arrives with the tides and tubs of fish.  The solution to the fish is to make props and because the audience are so close to the action of the play this requires real skill and attention to detail in creating these animals.  Our talented props maker Heidi Lincoln has risen to the challenge and is making a batch of individualised fish – they look so cheeky I think we’ll have to give them names.

 

 

 

We also use a coffee cake and a mountain of biscuits each night – messy fun at the Stables Theatre!

 

Last night I had terrific session with our voice and dialect coach Natasha McNamara and we were reminded of how much we can learn about a culture, it’s history and stories as well as the more abstract world of the spirit through a text as rich as Enda Walsh’s.  As part of our research we have been watching films set on the west coast of Ireland – The Field (brilliant!), The Quiet Man (starring John Wayne – who says he only ever did Westerns…), and the more recent The Guard. Films provide the chance to hear the voices, observe the landscape and find entry points to Irish cultural pre-occupations.  There are a lot of words in this play. Initially, what sounds like a typical session of hilarious, black storytelling is in actuality a loquacious plea for silence. 

 

Each week a different member of the team will recount their observations, insights and sneak peaks into the rehearsal process so Watch this Space and see you at the show!

 

Kate Gaul