Millie Talks: Drama

The Rocky Horror Picture Show by Richard O’Brien (2016) Directed by Christopher Luscombe {The New Theatre, Cardiff. 21-23 November]

1972: The Future of Sex by The Wardrobe Ensemble (2016) Directed by The Wardrobe Ensemble [ATRiuM Theatre, Cardiff. 2 November]

The Far Side of the Moon by Robert Lepage (2017) Directed by Robert Lepage [Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff. 24 March]

Rocky Horror (2016) Available at: http://rockyhorror.co.uk/ (Accessed: 19 March 2017)

The Wardrobe Ensemble (2015) 1972: The Future of Sex by The Wardrobe Ensemble. Available at: http://www.thewardrobeensemble.com/1972-the-future-of-sex (Accessed 19 March 2017)

Ofcom (2015) Children and Parents: Media Use and Attitudes Report. Available at: https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0024/78513/childrens_parents_nov2015.pdf (Accessed 31 March 2017)

Ravenhill, Mark. Shopping and Fucking. Ed. Dan Rebellato. London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2005.

Wedekind, Frank. Spring Awakening. Trans. Edward Bond. London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2012.

Sierz, A (2000) ‘Mark Ravenhill – Shopping and Fucking’, in In-Yer-Face Theatre: British Drama Today. London: Faber and Faber Limited, pp. 125-134.

Schuler, D. (2011) 'Dr. Faustus in the 21st Century' Public Sphere Project [PDF] Accessible: publicsphereproject.org/sites/default/files/Dr._Faust_in_the_21st_Century.pdf [Accessed 31 March 2017]

(SPOILER ALERT!)

Mark Ravenhill’s Shopping and Fucking takes a look at a world where everything can be bought but one that is also disposable. The play is often humorous but also shocking, which is part of its nature as an ‘in-yer-face’ theatre piece. ‘In-yer face theatre’ is an experimental theatrical movement that was first developed in the 90’s which involves shocking audiences with extreme language and images in order to unsettle them. The purpose of this is to try and get audiences to question themselves and the world around them by showing them graphic and normally taboo content on stage in order to provoke a reaction. Ravenhill was central to this movement, and Shopping and Fucking is a perfect example of an ‘in-yer-face” piece. The play follows the four central characters; Robbie, Mark, Lulu and Gary whom Ravenhill named after the members of the popular 90’s boyband Take That and the singer songwriter Lulu who collaborated on the single ‘Relight my Fire’. In the play we see the characters face their own desperate struggles in a consumerist world full of sex, drugs and violence. The characters’ lives have been reduced to transactions, especially Mark the recovering drug addict who’s looking for a physical connection and willing to pay any price.

When the play first opened to mixed reviews in the Royal Court Theatre In London 1996, the title itself was heavily censored, with the promotional material edited to change the name of the play to “Shopping and F******” But despite the quite grotesque and graphic content within the play itself (e.g. the rape of Gary at the end of the play), it didn’t deter audiences from coming to the theatre and if anything it helped it build a cult following. The theatre was filled with young 20-somethings and boasted a strong gay presence, which meant that more people were starting to talk about more taboo topics such as pornography, prostitution, drugs and sexuality.

In November 2016 as a class we were offered the opportunity to go and watch one of The Wardrobe Ensemble’s newest pieces of work – 1972: The Future of Sex. When I entered the theatre in the ATRiuM there was a row of seats centre stage all made of different materials, (pretty sure I recognised a few from my grandmother’s house) some brown carpet and some very 70’s wallpaper as a backdrop and four microphones, one on each corner of the carpet. The moment the ensemble came onto the stage in their costumes, I felt like I’d be taken back to the 70’s I’d seen and read about in magazines and in films. The men were wearing loud colourful shirts with symmetrical shapes, sweater vests and baggy polyester trousers, and the women were in colourful skirts, flowery tops and knitted cardigans. The costumes helped present the six different characters on stage as we watched their first awkward sexual encounters and saw how the topics that effected them (feminism, sex education and same-sex relationships) still continue to affect us in modern Britain (although thankfully fashion has come a long way since then!)

The play takes place after the sexual revolution, where Britain was slowly becoming more liberated in terms of sexuality and expression which could partly be due to highly influential figures in popular culture such as David Bowie. It’s therefore not surprising that he’s referenced heavily throughout the play, not only by the characters but also through the use of live music underscoring the entire production. Through the use of the microphones and a live guitarist down-stage, music was used as a tool in order to tell the story of these couples experiencing sex for the first time, while the story of one couple was being told centre stage, the rest of the ensemble would narrate from the microphones in a humorous and effective way. In the year that Bowie died, it was all the more poignant that his work was included, emphasising his influence on the world not only in the 70’s but also now in 2016.

Although the set design is minimalistic, the play is one that can be told without the use of many props, which is something that the ensemble does in a really effective way. Through the combined use of the ensemble, the microphones for the narration, the underscore of the music and the colourful lighting, the theatre makers were able to do what they were set out to achieve; using “the lens of the seventies” in order to comment on the nature of sex and relationships today.

> The set at the beginning of the play (Photography by Millie Chambers)

To say I’m obsessed with The Rocky Horror Picture Show is probably a bit of an understatement and I’m lucky enough to be able to say that I saw it three times during the most recent tour in November 2016 in Cardiff’s New Theatre. For you Rocky Horror “virgins”, the rock and roll musical follows the innocent Brad and Janet (a newly engaged couple) who find themselves lost on a dark night and drawn into the sex-fuelled antics of Dr Frank N. Furter and his minions Riff Raff, Magenta and Columbia. The production showcased everything wonderful about the original story shown on stage and screen in the 1970’s, it was bright, colourful and camp and the versatile staging took us into every room of Frank’s bizarre castle. One of the most important parts of any Rocky Horror stage show is the audience interaction with the actors on stage which is something that the shows in Cardiff had in bucket loads. The Narrator brilliantly encouraged the audience to shout back at him which had us all laughing up until the end of the show.

As a huge fan of the original 1975 film starring Tim Curry as the fabulous Frank N. Furter, I wasn’t sure if I would ever accept anyone else taking on the role. My expectations were beyond exceeded and Liam Tamne (star of The Voice in 2013) brought a sense of unpredictability to a character that is over 40 years old. Tamne’s version of Frank was not only hilarious but also sexy and in the play’s final scenes I witnessed the vulnerability in his characterisation of Frank during his final number (‘I’m Going Home’) that didn’t fail to make me cry each time. Every member of the cast suited their role perfectly, and after seeing the 40th anniversary screening of Rocky in the cinema in 2015, it was nice to see some familiar faces on stage in Cardiff. Formally playing the dual role of Eddie/Dr Scott, Richard Meek took on the role of Brad Majors, and through his interpretation of the character I felt like the audience was able to warm to Brad and feel more sympathetic towards him which is something that I personally don’t feel when I’m watching the original film production.  This production now has a special place in my heart and so does its cast.

I don’t think that this production’s message is any different from the original, which is one of acceptance and encouraging those that don’t fit into society’s norms to be themselves but without being didactic at all. Every night I was there the theatre was packed with dozens of people dressed up as their favourite fish-nets and corset wearing antihero, showing that this cult phenomenon will not be losing its audience anytime soon.

> Richard Meek (Brad Majors)  (Photography by Millie Chambers)

> Haley Flahery (Janet Weiss) (Photography by Millie Chambers)

> Liam Tamne (Frank N Furter) (Photography by Millie Chambers)

(SPOILER ALERT!)

Spring Awakening was written by Frank Wedekind in the early 1890’s, but was first performed in 1906. The play criticises the sexually oppressive culture and attitudes in Germany during the 19th century. Wedekind does this through exploring the lives and relationships of the children in the play; Wendla, Melchior, Moritz, Hanschen and Ernst. The play discusses the difficulty of growing up which is present in the themes found within the three act play; sexuality, death, religion, relationships and violence. The majority of the play itself feels quite dark and it’s hard to find any lighter happier moments within it, the concept of death is foreshadowed early on in the playtext with Wendla saying in Act 1, Scene 1; “Who knows – perhaps I won’t be anything anymore.” The play goes on to include more dark and quite taboo topics such as rape and suicide which caused controversy when it was first staged. This controversy means that the play has often been censored or banned completely, and during its first English staging in New York in 1917, the production was threatened with closure.

In the play we see how clueless the children really are about sex and their own personal sexuality due to their upbringing and the attitudes of the previous generation who are repressed in their outlook on sexuality, choosing to hide the truth from their children instead of discussing the things they need to know about sex. We see today in our society that the opposite is now the problem when it comes to children/teenagers learning about sex. Due to the increasing use of technology and the fact that children are able to access the internet at a younger age - with 7/10 twelve to fifteen year olds having a social media profile according to Ofcom (2015) - they are often seeing things that could be considered inappropriate for them such as pornography. It is these unrealistic portrayals of sex and relationships that can have a negative impact on them and the way they view themselves and also potential sexual relationships. The play is able to bring about conversations about sex that otherwise might not have happened despite the fact it was written over a hundred years ago.