An introduction to this Education Pack · 2017-11-09 · ACCIDENTAL DEATH OF AN ANARCHIST An...

ACCIDENTAL DEATH OF AN ANARCHIST

An Introduction to the Education Pack

This Education Pack is Designed to accompany “ Accidental Death Of An Anarchist” produced by Northern Broadsides. It is divided into two sections:

Behind the Scenes

Background & Research

Behind the Scenes consists of interviews (in both written and video form), images and photographs

designed to give you an insight into how Northern Broadside’s have approached this production. All the interviews, drawings and photographs were taken during the 3 week rehearsal period at the rehearsal space in Halifax and the Viaduct Theatre in Halifax.

Behind the Scenes contains:

an interview with Richard G Jones, Lighting Designer

actors’ question Time

a gallery of photographs from rehearsals

Photo diary of a Get In

illustrations of costume designs for the play

illustrations of set designs for the play

Background and Research contains articles, background information on the playwright, styles of

theatre, different practitioners and the people on whom the play is based.

It is designed to provide:

discussion topics for seminars and essays

learners with an opportunity to explore aspects of the play in more detail.

These have been put together for students studying Drama, Theatre Studies and Politics at both A level and Degree Level.

Background and Research consists of:

Dario Fo—a brief history

Guiseppe Pinelli—the man whose death inspired this play

Jean Charles De Menezes and The Anarchist Salsa

‘The Task of Anarchy’ —an article by Deborah McAndrew

Bertolt Brecht—a brief history

Commedia dell’Arte—a brief history

A breakdown of the characters in the play

definitions of anarchism

interesting links

We hope that you enjoy this pack.

Any feedback would be gratefully appreciated. Feedback can be sent to sue@northern- broadsides.co.uk


The Task of Anarchy

Deborah McAndrew reflects on bringing Dario Fo to the English stage.

Translation, transposition, transformation… it’s all about words. For Percy Shelley, writing in response to the Peterloo Massacre of 1819, Anarchy was a very dirty word.

Dario Fo’s Anarchist is an innocent idealist, who inexplicably ‘falls’ from a 4th floor window whilst in police custody. Both writers were responding with righteous anger and keen political intent to acts of extreme brutality by government forces.

Shelley’s lines And many more Destructions played in this ghastly masquerade, all disguised, even to the eyes, like Bishops, lawyers, peers and spies… could be a litany of the many guises of the Maniac in Fo’s

iconic play. Just as Shelley regards the various spheres of power in England and the corruption beneath, so Fo brilliantly lampoons each sector of Italian governance with vicious precision, as in increasingly outra- geous costumes the Maniac presents grotesques of the Judiciary, the Military and the Church.

Striking similarities, and yet they each define anarchy in such opposite terms. It’s a knotty problem, para- doxical even, that words we rely upon for certainty can be so slippery. Bringing Dario Fo’s Accidental Death

of an Anarchist to a 21st Century English audience, for whom Shelley’s definition is more apposite, is no small task. Neither is it only the word ‘anarchy’ that trembles with uncertainty in translation.

There is only one true version of Accidental Death of an Anarchist and that is Fo’s original Italian text. It is possible to present it faithfully, in its original time and place but, notwithstanding the fact that literal translation has something of the flavour of a Eurovision song lyric, to do so surely betrays the very essence of the work. It doesn’t feel enough to cut and paste contemporary political comment into those speeches where the playwright makes his direct attack on the Italian government, the US and the world at large. No, the context has to shift across the whole play for it to matter to us, now; for us to feel like this play is about us, speaking to us about our time.

Britain today is very different to Italy in the 1960s, nevertheless our government agencies are difficult to call to account; foreign policy is duplicitous, at best; and our police are more than capable of presiding over an almighty and monumental cock-up - the kind of cock-up that costs an innocent man his life.

It’s presumptuous to attempt to transpose the politics of the original play into modern Britain, but it must be done. Often I’ve heard players of Fo in this country complain that the performance lacked focus because they didn’t know whether they were in ‘Middlesbrough or Milan’. The language, location and the social context have to be transposed, but Fo’s politics are unequivocal; it’s hard to argue with the sublime observa- tion, lo scandalo e il concime della socialdemocrazia, (scandal is the fertiliser of social democracy), and contemporary parallels will always be there.

When Accidental Death of an Anarchist was first staged in December

1970, it ran in tandem with an associated libel trial. Luigi Calabresi, the chief interrogating officer present at the death of the real Anarchist, Guiseppe Pinelli, was suing the editor of Lotta Continua, in which a series

of cartoons had accused him of Pinelli’s murder.

A painting of the Peterloo Massacre published by Richard Carlile


The Task of Anarchy

Today, in 2008, our production opens in the same week as the inquest into the death of Jean Charles de Menezes reopens. It’s a comparison too poignant to miss. However, just as Fo never refers directly to Pinelli, you won’t hear de Menezes named in the Broadsides production. Inference is enough and I take my lead from Fo. It’s far more powerful to not say what is in everyone’s minds. Like Chekhov and Pinter, Fo knows that what remains unspoken is as powerful, if not more so, than what is actually said.

So much of Fo’s theatre responded to contemporary current affairs and was created for a politically literate audience that it has been described as teatro da bruciare, (throw- away theatre). Not so. Dario Fo’s political integ- rity scores a direct hit at the human condition

for all time; just as he knows that a pompous bloke slipping on a glass eye will be funny forever. It is my adaptation of his play that must be thrown away, like every other version, in every other language. Only Fo’s text should be preserved, to be revisited by each generation and, like the rare jewel it is, polished and buffed to a rejuvenated glister.

So what of that troublesome word – anarchy? It is anachronistic,

no doubt, and carries secondary meaning for the English speaker; but that for me is its greatest asset. It allows the piece, despite the ‘update’ to work as a kind of parable.

In a play examining a society reeling from a series of bomb attacks, the word ‘terrorist’ comes to mind more readily than ‘anarchist’. However, I have assiduously avoided the ‘T-word’ precisely because that is not what this play is about. I don’t want to get sidetracked into the thorny undergrowth of anti-terrorist ideology, race and religion. This play is about what a terror threat does to us; how we respond, and how our values are stretched to breaking point and beyond. It cannot be accepted that extraordinary rendition, Guantanamo Bay, the shooting of an innocent young man on the London Un- derground and all the other abuses, political, military and economic that have characterised the last seven years are in any way justified by the ‘current climate of terror’. Fo’s brilliant satire provides us with a frame- work for that painful self scrutiny which any truly civilised society must continually undergo.

However they individually define Anarchy, Dario Fo’s task and Shelley’s too is to ask the difficult questions and provoke a sense of moral outrage in those who receive their art. As Percy Bysshe puts it, ‘Science, Poetry and Thought are thy lamps…’


A Breakdown of the Characters in The Play

Debbie McAndrew prepared these character breakdowns for the actors before the first read-through

Who they are and where do they come from?

The Maniac: the role Fo created for himself. He is the licensed fool, the clown – the truth telling idiot. The madman who escapes the circumscription of authority because he is mad. He has no past life, other than invention and disguise; no name; no real identity. He carries centuries of theatrical tradition and consequently has a quality which is eternal, almost immortal.

Commissario Sportivo

Pisani: a satirical representation of Commissario Luigi Calabresi, the chief interrogating officer

present at the death of Guiseppe Pinelli. Italian audiences would have been familiar with a photo of him wearing a polo-neck sweater and a sports jacket. Fo describes his attire in detail in the original, and makes references to the region of Calabria – an obvious pun on his name. He was known by the nickname ‘Commissario definestra’ and the letter quoted in the play by Feletti is based on one printed in an anarchist weekly. In the original play Fo nicknames Pisani ‘Finestra-cavalcioni’ – literally, window-straddler.

II Questore

The DCI: Actually Il Capo Questore, Chief of Police in Milan (so a bit higher than a DCI, and

usually translated as Superintendent). At the time of Pinelli’s death this was Marcello Guida.

Maria Feletti

Maria Feletti:based on Camilla Cederna, a journalist of the left-wing weekly, L’Espresso, who wrote the book ‘Pinelli, una finestra sulla strage’ – Pinelli, a window on the massacre. De- scribed by one senior police officer as ‘La rompiscatole’ – the pain.

D.I. Bertozzo. Of no particular origin. Just another corrupt copper.

Constables: pawn, punch-bag and general dogsbody.

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Il Matto

Commissario Bertozzo

Agentes (1 and 2)


Dario Fo — A brief history

Born 1926, one year after Mussolini’s assumption of power, in the village of San Giano, near Lake Maggiore, Northern Italy. The nearest city is Milan.

His father was a man of the Resistance and young Dario had experience of helping his father assist escaped political prisoners flee Italy.

Fo studied architecture in Milan, and storytelling from the fishermen of Lake Maggiore, whose distinctive dialect was a huge influence on him.

Initially attracted to the theatre as a designer, Fo began performing in radio sketches at the age of 26, where he created the character of a sympathetic simpleton who bungled the telling of well known stories from established culture – eg: in the bible story of Cain and Abel, Cain is presented as sympathetic because Abel was such an insufferable goodie-goodie.

1953 – Created a review Il ditto nell’occhio, which presented at the Piccolo Teatro in Milan. Influ- enced by Lecoq.

1954 – Met Franca Rame, and their long marriage and creative collaboration began in the same year. After breaking onto TV in a song and sketch show, Fo and Rame formed their first Theatre Co in 1959 which, until 1968, worked the commercial theatre circuit.

The political climate of 1968 made Fo’s position in the commercial theatre untenable and he fell foul of the censor more than once – particularly in his criticism of capitalism and America.

Fo moved out of the commercial theatre and formed a new company to perform in factories, workers clubs and Communist Party centres.

Fo worked under the auspices of the Communist party and in 1969 Mistero Buffo was first perfomed. However, he was never a member of the Communist Party and in 1970 his political differences forced him to break away to form another company – La Comune. Such was the popularity of Fo and Rame that

even without the guaranteed bums-on-seats provided by the Communist Party, they very quickly established a whole new audience.

Dec 1970 – First performance of ‘Accidental Death of an Anarchist’ in an abandoned workshop in Milan. Marks the beginning of Fo’s most distinctive period of work.

Throughout the period 1970-81 Fo was highly politicized, drawing from documentary evidence relating to political issues and current affairs. The influence of Brecht is very strong. Plays include: Can’t Pay, Won’t Pay; Trumpets and Raspberries. Also during this time Fo and Rame created an organization to support Italian political prisoners, which set the authorities even more firmly against them.

1997 – Dario Fo is awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature

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Commedia dell’Arte—A brief history

Dario Fo’s writing is said to have been heavilyinfluenced by Commedia dell’Arte

Commedia dell’Arte literally translates as

art of comedy’

It began in Italy during the 16th century and consisted of 10 stock recognizable characters.

Performances were always improvised with lotsof classic well known gags and slapstick.

The troupe of players would perform outside in the piazzas on stages that they would build themselves.

Its improvisational style leant itself to local politics and plenty of satire. This is maybe where this theatre style heavily influences Fo. His plays are open for clever and up to date satirical additions.

A troupe of 10 actors would play stock characters that were easily recognizable to the audience by their costumes and masks.

Basic plots could be traced back to those of the Romans and the

Greeks and most ended happily ever after.

The actors were multi-talented in that they could sing, play instruments, do acrobatics and most importantly were very quick witted.

Harlequin the clown and Punch and Judy are characters that derived from Commedia dell’arte and that people still recognize today.


Bertolt Brecht—A brief history

A lot of Dario Fo’s writing and performance is said to have been heavily influenced by Brecht.

Bertolt Brecht was born in Germany in1898. He studied philosophy and medicine at the University of Munich. He was a medical orderly in a military hospital during the first world war. After the war Brecht re- turned to university but his interest in literature soon overtook that of medicine. He produced many plays often with socialist and marxist messages.

Brecht wanted to create a new approach to the theatre. He wanted audiences to be constantly reminded that they were in the theatre and move away from the stage’s traditions of make believe. For him the theatre was a forum for political ideas, a place to be educated to be made to think and feel.

He developed the alienation effect (Verfremdungseffekt). This was designed to constantly remind the audience that they were watching a play and to encourage them to reflect on what they were watching. The following techniques tend to be used to create the alienation effect:

playing with locations and times in plays,.

unnaturalistic speech,

using a chorus or narrator to either sing or tell the story.

the use of masks,

actors sitting amongst the audience when not in a scene.

visible staging equipment.

use of large signs to summarise scenes.

acting in the third person

no elaborate props,

use of placards with instructions written on them.

musicians on stage and often announced before playing.

use of non-naturalistic techniques such as montage {series of still images}.

Brecht fled Nazi Germany during Hitler’s reign and wrote many anti Nazi plays. After leaving Germany in 1933, Brecht lived in Denmark, Sweden, the Soviet Union and America.

In 1949 Brecht founded the Berliner Ensemble and over the next few years it became the country's most famous theatre company. Bertolt Brecht died on 14th August, 1956.

Brecht was one of the most influential theatre practitioners of the 20th Century.

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Different definitions of Anarchism

‘A political theory favouring the abolition of governments.’ wordreference.com

‘Anarchism is a political philosophy encompassing theories and attitudes which support the

elimination of all compulsory government, i.e. the state. There are many types and traditions of anarchism, not all of which are mutually exclusive. Anarchism is usually considered to be a radical left-wing ideology and as such much of anarchist economics and legal philosophy reflect anti-authoritarian interpretations of communism, collectivism, syndicalsim or participatory economics; however, anarchism has always included an individualist strain, including those who support capitalism (e.g. market anarchists: anarcho-capitalism, agorism, etc.) and other market- orientated economic structures (e.g. mutualists)’ Wikipedia

‘While the popular understanding of anarchism is of a violent, anti-State movement, anarchism

is a much more subtle and nuanced tradition then a simple opposition to government power. Anarchists oppose the idea that power and domination are necessary for society, and instead advocate more co-operative, anti-hierarchical forms of social, political and economic organisation..’

The Politics of Individualism, p. 106 Susan Brown

‘Anarchism is a "political tradition that has consistently grappled with the tension between the

individual and society."

...as described by the 21st century anarchist Cindy Milstein

‘There is no single defining position that all anarchists hold, beyond their rejection of compulsory government, and those considered anarchists at best share a certain family resemblance.’ The Oxford Companion to Philosophy

‘The view that society can and should be organized without a coercive state.

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Politics

‘He was inclined to anarchism; he hated system and organization and uniformity.’ Bertrand Russell.

‘The theory or doctrine that all forms of government are oppressive and undesirable and should be abolished.’

‘Rejection of all forms of coercive control and authority.’

‘Active resistance and terrorism against the state, as used by some anarchists.’ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language


GIUSEPPE PINELLI

The Anarchist whose death inspired this play.

On Dec 12th 1969 a bomb exploded in the Piazza Fontana, Milan, killing 16 people and wounding around 100 others.

This particular bomb attack followed a day after the signing of the Labour Charter between Trade Unions and the Government. This charter had been hard won by workers through a series of strikes culminating in the Autunno Caldo (hot autumn) of 1969.

These strikes had been imaginative and effective, involving a coalition of students and workers with both practical and ideological objectives. The Labour Charter consolidated the gains made by workers during their protest.

Post fascist Italy, dominated by the Christian Democrat Party, was strongly allied to the Roman Catholic Church and to the United States. Throughout the 1960s the changing world was impacting on Italy. The US had revealed its darker side in the Vietnam war; those disillusioned with Soviet Communism were looking to the Cultural Revolution in China for a new communist model; in 1968 Che Guevara was executed and the student movement grew across Europe.

For many reasons the powers in Italy believed that their country was as close to Socialist Revolution as it had ever been. It became important to the government to attribute any social disturbance to the far left and anarchist groups whose thinking lay behind the strikes.

What was not generally known at the time, but subsequently uncovered, was that the work of destabilisa- tion was the work of extreme right wing groups, sanctioned by the government – a point which Fo makes clearly in his play. The Piazza Fontana bomb was later thought to be the work of GLADIO, a secret inter- governmental organisation, itself under the auspices of NATO.

Whatever the reasons… soon after the explosion in Piazza Fontana, one Judge Amati telephoned Police HQ in Milan and told them to look for perpetrators amongst the anarchist groups.

Later that same day Giuseppe Pinelli was arrested, along with two others, on suspicion of being involved

in this terrible attack; the largest in a series of bombings which had peppered civic life in Italy throughout 1969.

Pinelli was 41 years old; a family man with a wife and two daughters. He was a worker on the railway and a member of an anarchist group. His father had been a socialist and Pinelli first became interested in anarchism in his mid teens.

He met his wife at Esperanto classes in 1952. Esperanto being the means, so they believed, by which peace and unity might be brought to Europe. Through their early life together Pinelli and his wife were too busy to be overtly political; but after the birth of the children he reconnected with some old acquaintances and began attending anarchist meetings.

A few days before his arrest Pinelli had sent a favourite book to a friend with a note saying, ‘L’anarchismo non e violenza…’ Pinelli was not a man of violence.


GUISEPPE PINELLI

What exactly happened in the Central Police Station in Milan be-

tween Dec12th and the early hours of the 16th is known only to those who were there. Fo’s play is a dramatic reworking of the findings of investigative journalists – the events and subsequent cover-up. Fo was by no means the only person who believed Pinelli was innocent, and that he did not commit suicide.

opened it and jumped out.

The initial story was that Pinelli had thrown himself from the window at 11.30… Commissario Luigi Calabresi, the senior interrogating officer,

had told him it was pointless denying his guilt and that his friend had already confessed. Pinelli is supposed to have cried ‘Allora e la fine dell’anarchia!’ and immediately rushed to the window,

Subsequent details emerged. Pinelli suffered no breaks to his hands and arms, and his body lay on the ground in a position inconsistent with such a fall. There was mysterious bruising to the back of his neck and, as might be expected, there was no bleeding from nose or ears.

And of course there was the ambulance call, which was logged at 58 seconds past midnight. Witnesses on the ground put Pinelli’s jump at 3 minutes past – making the ambulance pre-emptive by two minutes and two seconds.

Contradictions emerged and within a month there had been three versions of events, all beginning, ‘when Pinelli had opened the window…’ The last statement claimed that an officer had tried to restrain Pinelli and had been left holding one of his shoes. Those who saw the body after the fall clearly recall that it was wearing both shoes.

There are many hypotheses, but only two categories of possibility – bungling or murder. The first investigation by the Public Prosecutor concluded Pinelli’s death was ‘una morte accidentale’. The second investigation was inconclusive, but opted for suicide.

Cartoons appeared in Lotta Continua, a far Left newspaper of a libertarian group of the same name, accusing Luigi Calabresi of Pinelli’s murder. Calabresi sued for libel and, as there had been no public trial, this was the first public airing of the case. The libel trial was in Dec 1970 – one year after Pinelli’s death and in the same month as the first performance of Dario Fo’s Morte accidentale di un anarchico. Fo was able to incorporate some of the informa-

tion that came out at the trial immediately into his play.


THE DEATH OF JEAN CHARLES DE MENEZES

CHRONOLOGY

Born – 7th Jan 1978, Gonzaga, Brazil

Age 14 goes to live with his uncle in Sao Paulo. Attends high school and qualifies as an electrician.

13/3/02 – arrives UK with 6 month visa. Applied to remain as a stu dent – granted a visa until 30/6/03

It’s unclear as to his legal status at the time of his death. Initially it was asserted that his visa had expired, but this has since been disputed. His passport had a stamp which gave him indefinite resi dency, although the Home Office deny its authenticity. Jack Straw has said that there was no evidence that de Menezes was in the UK illegally.

7/7/05 – Attacks on London transport system kills 52 people.

21/7/05 – Another co-ordinated attack fails when bombs do not detonate properly.

22/7/05 – approx 6am - following intelligence obtained regarding one of the failed bombers, police set up surveillance of 21 Scotia Rd, Tulse Hill; a block of flats with one communal entrance. The suspect is Hussain Osman. An incident room for the co-ordination of the operation is set up at New Scotland Yard – room 1600.

Around 9.30am Jean Charles de Menezes emerges from the flats and is followed to ascertain as to whether he is the suspect.

Surveillance do not positively ID him as Osman, but Room 1600 say they did…

Just after 10am Jean Charles de Menezes boards a tube train at Stokewell Station.

10.06 am – armed police board the train and shoot de Menezes seven times in the head and once in the shoulder.

3.30pm – Sir Ian Blair, head of the Metropolitan Police, tells a press conference, ‘the information I have available is that this shooting is directly linked to the ongoing and expanding anti-terrorist operation’.

23/7/05 – Met tells media the dead man was not connected to the bombings.

25/7/05 – Inquest opens at Southward Coroners Court.

27/7/05 – the Independent Police Complaints Commission begins its investigation into the shooting – called Stockwell One.

29/7/05 – Jean Charles de Menezes is buried in his home town of Gonzaga.

Nov 05 – IPCC investigation, Stockwell Two, announced; into the conduct of Sir Ian Blair.

Jan 06 – IPCC report, Stockwell One, handed over to the Crown Prosecution Service.

July 06 – CPS finds insufficient evidence to prosecute individual officers, but will prosecute the Met under Health and Safety laws.

Sept 06 – Inquest adjourned until after the prosecution of the Met.

May 07 – IPCC announces that none of the 11 frontline firearms and surveillance officers will face a disciplinary tribunal.

Aug 07 – Stockwell Two finds that by 3pm on the day of the shooting senior Met officers had strong suspicions that an innocent Brazilian National had been shot.

The Report questions why Sir Ian Blair was ‘almost totally uninformed’ for at least 24 hours about fears that the police had got the wrong man.

Oct 07 – Opening of the Health and Safety case against the Met.

Nov 07 – Old Bailey Jury finds the Met guilty of failing in its duty of care to Jean Charles de Menezes. The Met is fined £75,000. Sir Ian Blair insists he will not resign.

22/9/08 – Inquest into the death of Jean Charles de Menezes will resume.

24/9/08 – Northern Broadsides’ production of Accidental Death of an Anarchist opens in Halifax.


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Anarchist Salsa

Below are the lyrics to the Latin Salsa Samba song that is sung at the End of Act 1. The subject matter of which is the death of Jean Charles De Menezes

Adeus my boyhood home, I must cross the foaming sea Beyond the blue horizon, far away from my family. Ola to the land of strangers, and the man that I must be. I know I can face the dangers for the dream of Anarchy.

Forza! Voce! Forza! Voce!

What’s the chance amigo? One face in a million. Live the dance amigo – feel the beat Like a true Brazilian.

Oh – te adoro Salsa – the cabasas, the congas sound On the streets of Sao Paolo, to the seats of the London Underground. Obrigado Salsa – There’s a tear in this immigrant eye. I will move to your Latin groove till the day that I die.

And the beat goes –

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Ba-bang bang! Blood pounding in my ears. Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Ba-bang bang! Twenty seven years. Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Ba-bang bang! Electricity. Make the connection, shake your bon-bon and dream of Anarchy!

Forza! Voce! Forza! Voce!

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Some Interesting Links

The following links may help a learner to explore aspects of the play in further detail and help to complete possible as- signments for seminars or coursework.

“The Marx Brothers Meet Italian Politics —

http://www.chbucto.ns.ca?~aa051?anarchist.html

“Letter from Anarchist Iannis Dimitrakis, from Koridallos prison, Greece” - http://www.wombles.org.uk/ article2007071129.php

“Anarchist Epistemology” - http://

www.insurgentdesire.org.uk/anarchistepistemology.htm

“An ideology of play termed Anarludichism” - http:// www.play31.co.uk/anideology_explained.htm

“Defining Anarchism – A view “ - http:// www.hardcorecarvers.co.uk/anarchy/definition.html

Famous Anarchists—http://flag.blackened.net/liberty/ libertarians.html

Quotes form Anarchists— http://anarchismtoday.org/

MediaWiki/Famous Anarchists and Anarchist Quotes

Johnny Rotten “God Save the Queen”—http:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2lbNIecq6E&feature=related

Click on the link below to read a BBC report 22/09/08 on the The inquest into how police shot dead a Brazilian electrician on a London Tube train opens, three years after the killing.

http://www.chbucto.ns.ca/?%7Eaa051%3Fanarchist.html

http://www.wombles.org.uk/

http://www.wombles.org.uk/

http://www.insurgentdesire.org.uk/anarchistepistemology.htm

http://www.play31.co.uk/anideology_explained.htm

http://www.hardcorecarvers.co.uk/anarchy/definition.html

http://flag.blackened.net/liberty/

http://flag.blackened.net/liberty/

http://anarchismtoday.org/

http://anarchismtoday.org/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2lbNIecq6E&feature=related

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/1/hi/uk/7628021.stm


Actor’ s Question Time

How did you train to become an actor?

“I did drama G.C.S.E., then a BTEC in Performing Arts before studying acting at drama school at Arden in Manchester.”

“I went to Calderdale College, completed a 1 year access course then studied at the Royal Welsh College.”

“I did a one year foundation at a local college, then went on to study at The Central School of Speech and drama , London for three years.”

“I went to Bretton Hall and studied for a degree in acting. The course covered a wide range of performance skills and the work of various practitioners from classical to post-modern theatre. This has given me a broad skill base and a knowledge of different ways of working.”

When did you start acting?

“I always did school plays and that, but only at college did I begin to l look at the craft of acting as an art rather than an excuse to mess around!” “I was 24

when I first started acting.”

“I didn't set foot on a stage until I was 22.”

“I was fourteen and started having drama lessons at school. I really enjoyed them, did the school productions every year and gradually decided I wanted to make a career out of it.”

What was your first job?

“Cleaning stairs in blocks of flats. First performing job was as a still-life mannequin model”

“ ‘Taking Steps’ By Alan Ayckbourn at The Torch Theatre”

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/1/hi/uk/7628021.stm

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What was your first job?

“I got my Equity Card by doing a season at the Oldham Coliseum theatre, straight after finishing drama college. I was one of the lucky ones; some people had to wait two years to get theirs, which meant that they couldn't begin their careers for that time.”

“I played a hiker in ‘Heartbeat’ for Yorkshire Television. I was really nervous and consequently rubbish! My first job on stage was playing Roger in "Lord of the Flies".

How do you prepare for an audition?

“I don't like auditions so I try not to think about it when I get one - just turn up with

a clearish head and see if I can do what they ask”

“I always make sure that I’ve read the play and looked at the suggested scenes.”

“I turn up at the right place with plenty of time to spare. This gives me extra time to look at the script before I go in. If it's a theatre audition I read the play beforehand.”

“The playing element!! It's a daft show surrounding a serious subject.

What are you looking forward to in this production?

Although there are antics galore, the discipline has to be very tight to allow us a focused play. That makes me laugh. Yeah. I'm looking forward to laughing.”

“The challenge and the opportunity to be a part of a great a piece of theatre.”

“My comedy moustache. Also the slapstick humour and seeing how the audience respond to both the comic and more serious elements of the play.”

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When do you know when you are doing your job properly?

“When lines are learnt and no accidents have happened on stage! that's the basics then as far as you want to go you can regulate yourself. Fortunately, most directors I've worked with tell me if they think I'm heading in the

wrong direction otherwise I just keep heading. “

“You just do.... you know when your doing it properly and more importantly when you're

not. Every night is different.”

“It's like the X Factor. You can tell when all the right ingredients have come together but you can't put your finger on any one thing. The audience response will often give a good indication of how well these things have come together.”

How have you approached your character in this play?

“The maniac is a character full of characters all aiming

towards a purpose. I'm still working loads on releasing "the voices in my head" but the

purpose is the drawing force.”

“I read the play as often as possible and try to find out what the character says about himself and what others say about him. I believe that acting is reacting and that your fellow actors play a major part in the creation of your character. You have to trust. Trust the play. Trust the director. Trust your cast and yourself. Have fun and play.”

“For this play I couldn't make any decisions in advance. It's an ensemble piece and I had to wait and see how the other characters were going to turn out so I could fit in with the style of the production. The director had strong ideas about how he wanted the characters to interact so it was important to respond to his guidance.”/

What’s the best and worst part of your job?

“The worst part is not being at home for ages. The best is meeting new people having a good time and if a show goes well that you're in, that's ace. The playing too. New musical skills, new people.....loads.”



What’s the best and worst part of your job?

“The worst is not knowing when you will work again and not being in cont rol. The best is also not being in control!”

“The worst part is being away from home a lot of the time and sometimes having to miss important occasions such as weddings etc. The best part is the variety of work, people and places that you inevitably experience. It's never dull!”

“I think the aspect of the career that I enjoy most, is the variety of jobs that I do. No two employments are the same and I don't know where I will be working in a years time. Paradoxically, this is also the worst part of being an actor.”

Many thanks to Mike Hugo, Craig Rogan, Ruth Alexander Rubin

and Matt Connor for taking time out of their busy rehearsal sched-

ule to answer these questions.


Background

‘I got the theatre bug while in Youth Theatre at the Swan Theatre in Worcester when I was 15. I trained at college in Electrical Engineering which I really enjoyed but knew that theatre was what I wanted to do. So I did everything to work at my local theatre, follow spot, crewing shows, doing fit ups anything to be around. Eventually I got on a youth training scheme run by the theatre and became Technical Assistant. As the theatre was very small and each department had one maybe two people in it I worked in any department that need extra help on a show by show basis. I started in Wardrobe and for six month learnt to sew, make patterns, cut, bone a bodice and dye fabric! After that I worked in all areas construction, stage management, design, sound and lighting. It was an amazing practical theatre education that I was very lucky to get, I could still run you up a shirt or a pair of trousers if I needed to!’

Training

‘I think that I was lucky doing my training on the job at a rep theatre and we did three weekly rep producing a new play or musical every fourth week every week of the year. I think it is important now that if you are interested in going into theatre that you look at drama school training as you learn so many life and people skills that are so relevant and important when you work in theatre.’

The importance of lighting design within a production

‘Lighting is very Important, even though outside the business it is rarely recognised as such. If people can see then they are usually happy, they don't realise how much work goes into the design process and sometimes how totally integral it is to a show, I have sat in many a production meeting when budgets are being cut and people say " we will do that with lighting" what every that means!!!’

The design for ‘Death of An Anarchist’

‘During the first few rehearsals it is fairly early stages for me to produce a design. By the middle of week two of rehearsals I will actually have a paper version to look at and work with. At the moment the key elements are the lighting in the roof and walls. The key role of the window area and looking at time of day, height of the building. I am also looking at what I can do from a lighting point of view to assist with the fact that we have one set and we are in two different offices, however we solve this it will be something that is to do with the walls and the roof. Maybe a colour shift or different look. This will be important as it means that this is touring with the set and will be consistent al all venues.

Lighting the stage

‘I start with conversations with the director and designer. I then get to see a model of the set and that brings up lots of Questions about style etc. I then transfer the plan drawings to a CAD drawing programme so that I can look at Heights angles etc. I will then look at available lantern stock, budget etc and talk to the production manager about practicalities of touring what I would like to do. I then go to rehearsals as much as I can watch what is going on and from that produce a paper plan of what we will do. But at that stage it is impossible to show the director or designer anything as all the images are in my head. It is not until the point that all the equipment is there in the theatre that I can bring those images to life and I use light as my paint and the floor and set as my canvas but have a very short time scale to realise the finished product. Once the show is plotted in the computer and all the paper worked given to the person touring and re-lighting the show my job is done.’

An Interview With Richard G Jones, Lighting Designer

Working with the Director and the Designer

‘We work very closely together. We have had conversation before the rehearsal process began and continue that through out the rehearsal and technical period. It is a collaboration of work and we all have to be working toward the same goal.’

The challenges

‘It is very challenging designing for a company that tour multiple venues! The reality is that all the venues will basically fit into three categories; Traverse ( like the Viaduct), Proscenium Arch or In the Round. So I will produce three generic touring plans based on those three formats and I will talk to Tony Wilcox who will be relighting the show about the feel and spirit of the lighting for each scene so he can re-create that on tour. As a design team we are keen that there are consistent elements that tour with the show so for example there is a roof piece, and wall pieces that have light boxes built into them so this will always be consistent even if the walls are in different places venue to venue.

Productions with lighting designed by Richard Jones

The Broadway Production of Sweeney Todd at the Eugene O Neill Theatre, nominated for an Outer Circle Crit- ics Award and won a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lighting Design. Re-lighting Sweeney Todd in San

Francisco for the north American tour

Spongebob Live, The Sponge That Could Fly for Broadway Asia Entertainment

· ch war noch niemals in New York at the Operettanhaus in Hamburg, Germany

Flower Girls for Graeae Theatre Company, at the Hampstead Theatre

Mack and Mabel, Martin Guerre,Hot Mikado and Sunset Boulevard for The Watermill Theatre Newbury,

Indian Ink f or the Salisbury Playhouse

Mary Barton and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf for the Manchester Royal Exchange

The UK premiere of Sideshow at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre Guildford

The UK premiere of Steptoe and Son and Sinbad the Sailor for the York Theatre Royal

Horrid Henry Live and Horrid! for the Lyceum Theatre Sheffield and Watershed Productions.


Costume designs for the play

Constables 1 and 2

Maria Feletti

DCI Pisani

Bertozzo Maniac playing Piccinni

2 | P a g e


Photo diary of rehearsals

Matt and Craig listen to Con’s wise words

Cast and crew meet for the read-through1

Debbie McAndrew listens intently to the read-through

Our DSM Ruth on the book2

Mike gets used to his first entrance

Foot notes 1Read-through—the first time that the cast and crew get to hear the play read aloud in its entirety 2 On the book—in the rehearsal process the Deputy Stage Manager (DSM) would follow the script (book) 3 Blocking—Where and when an actor moves on stage is extensively planned to avoid confusion.

Conrad blocks the opening scene

3 | P a g e



Matt during the blocking for the explosion

Tony and Craig during the blocking1 for the explosion

Music rehearsals with Conrad

Matt, Neil and Craig concentrating

Tony on his trumpet

Posing during music rehearsals

4 | P a g e



Ruth on her saxophone

Matt, Craig and Neil working on choreography1

Beverley Edmunds helps choreograph the dances

Amy and Conrad in rehearsals

Tony and Mike rehearsing slapstick2

Conrad watches rehearsals intently

Foot notes 1 Choreograph— to design or plan the movements of a dance 2 Slapstick—A boisterous form of comedy marked by chases, collisions, and crude practical jokes.

5 | P a g e



Tiny details for every gag are mapped out

Again, comedy requires lots of preparation

Lights are focused1 around the rehearsals

Foot notes 1 Focused—Literally the lights are focused to make the correct shape and colour quality on stage 2 On the book—in the rehearsal process the Deputy Stage Manager (DSM) would follow the script (book) 3 Blocking—Where and when an actor moves on stage is extensively planned to avoid confusion.

DSM on the book2 for prompts

Blocking 3 questions from the cast

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Photo diary of the get in

An early floor plan

The Viaduct Theatre, venue no.1 empty

Set arriving and being fitted

Finishing touches before the cast arrive

First rehearsal on the set

Get In—The process of moving set, props and other hardware into a theatre prior to the fit-up. (aka Load in, put in, or Bump in)

7 | P a g e

1


Set design for the play

An introduction to this Education Pack · 2017-11-09 · ACCIDENTAL DEATH OF AN ANARCHIST An...

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