Changingoftheguardprogramme.Pdf

IN DISCUSSION WITH IQBAL KHAN, SHOMIT DUTTA & FIONA MACINTOSH Where did this project start for you? IK: It probably began with a conversation after a game of cricket. Shomit and I both play for Gaieties (Harold Pinter’s old team) and he promised me a copy of the play once he’d completed it. Reassuringly I found it as insightful, wicked, and as full of a love of words as Shomit and after a second reading of a new draft, we were both keen to explore the physical and musical language of the piece. SD: It was therefore natural to try to test the text further, as something close to a full performance, which led to my approaching Fiona with the idea of per- forming the play on just a week’s rehearsal with Oxford students. FM: Shomit and Iqbal approached the Archive of Performances of Greek and Roman Drama (APGRD) because of our longstanding commitment to sup- porting new work inspired by ancient Greek and Roman drama. We are de- lighted to support this new play, which refigures aspects of Homer, Aeschy- lus, Sophocles and Euripides. IK: Fiona was critical here. Her response to the play and interest in the classical rituals in performance gave birth to the idea that a collaboration with Oxford University Drama Society (OUDS) might be a way to test and realise the physical world of the piece. How has it grown from those early stages to our first rehearsals? IK: The first thing to say is Shomit has edited the text ruthlessly. We both decided that, rather than sharing an extended ‘teaser’ for the play, it was important to explore the whole thing. This allowed the surprising and tragic shifts of tone to register for an audience, as well as provide our actors with the fullest challenge in presenting the rich trajectories of these characters. SD: I think the ambitious objective of putting on a proper performance of a full-length play with a sizeable cast in six days has forced people to throw themselves unflinchingly into the project. From the day we auditioned I no- ticed the real enthusiasm and excitement felt by everyone involved. IK: The auditions were a joyous surprise as we were confronted with a com- munity of actors here that is rich indeed. Apart from age, it feels there will be no compromise in our work. We’ve cast a company I am incredibly excited about; intelligent, ferociously curious and brave. This applies to the produc- ing and creative team as well. Their energy, enthusiasm, detail and insight are enormously inspiring. FM: Being keen to work with students, we were all very pleased to have been able to interest both OUDS and Oxford University Classical Drama Society (OUCDS) in the project. I think it is really important to join together all the separate strengths of Oxford’s vibrant performance culture. Shomit, what made you want to tell this story? SD: Helen of Troy, a figure of fascination ever since she first graced western literature, is too often seen as an object of vilification: obsessively self-critical in the Iliad, icy and vain in most appearances in Greek tragedy. I wanted to present Helen positively as the primary subject of the play, rather than ob- jectifying her, which is why I (try to) subordinate her appearance and beauty to her sound (both words and voice) and her love of language. Odysseus is the protean hero par excellence. He is, besides, the archetype for so many other elusive characters of literature, drama and film. For me, the fleeting revelation of an intriguing encounter between Odysseus and Helen, two such charismatic characters who otherwise do not meet in Homer, was too inviting to ignore. What do you think it has to say? SD: It is, of course, set during a war fought on a dubious basis with dispro- portionate suffering; the need to spell out contemporary resonance is super- fluous. Having said that, it is not a statement. There is no agenda. What happens happens, and it is up to a reader or an audience to make what they will of the words, events or characters. The play asks more than it says – mainly about the moral, psychological and physiological aspects of our behaviour, individually and collectively. IK: As in the best plays one is not aware of a ‘message’. Stuff happens. The small rituals that fill our moments; playful and erotic intrigues above in Helen’s scented realms, against the prosaic stuff of guards watching the clock on the last day of the Trojan War. A chain of events begins that will end in rupture for all. Is it all decided by the turn of a coin, or a skilful sleight of hand..? The joy of the piece, for me, is that it is a rich ensemble piece. A company of actors are given the chance to present complicated and surprising characters. The play is heavily rooted in the classical world and traditions - what can Classics give to a contemporary audience? FM: Ancient theatre has always offered modern playwrights distance to explore the big questions and also the difficult issues. It also permits, with its divine machinery, its choruses and its varied registers, formal innovations for modern playwrights who wish to break out of the straightjacket of theatrical naturalism. SD: Recently the influence of Homer and Greek myth and tragedy are no- where more visible than in theatre and so many of western literature’s pivotal works owe a debt to Homer and the Trojan War; Odyssean themes and patterns are even found throughout the Star Wars trilogy! Above this, the classical world gives us pressing contemporary resonance with contentious war in the near east, clashing ideologies, treatment of pris- oners of war, exiles sailing across the Mediterranean, to name but a few ex- amples. There is no need to argue for the urgent importance and relevance of the classical world to us today, it may be taken as a given. What does it mean to work on this play in this way, with students? FM: Although the APGRD works with undergraduates in Classics, it doesn’t have many opportunities to work with students across the wider University. For this reason alone, I think this project is especially important for us and one, I hope, that we can build on, with OUDS and OUCDS, in future. IK: We have a short rehearsal period with a company of students with an abundance of talent. They’ve already impressed me with their relish of language and physical imagination. It seems to me students are at a time in their lives where, generally, they are iconoclastic in temperament, asking the most profound and systematic questions about identity and our relationship to others. This is pure joy for me as a director. SD: Students who are doing what they really want to be doing have an energy and enthusiasm and commitment that is arguably hard match in profes- sionals or older practitioners. To echo Iqbal, I’ve been really impressed with all the students involved, whether as actors, or on the production team. I am hopeful that the end result will bear this confidence out. IK: Most importantly, the two questions that dominate for both me and Shomit are: what is the experience of the actors in realising this piece, and that of the audience in experiencing it? I am grateful to be given such an extraordinary opportunity to explore it in this way. COMPANY Cast (In Order of Appearance) Sergeant Fibbs Jonny Wiles Sergeant Gobb Yash Saraf Captain Sharp Josh Dolphin Carya Gráinne O’Mahony Kyniska Isobel Jesper Jones Cassandra/Athena Georgia Bruce Helen Mary Higgins Odysseus Dominic Applewhite Paris Pete Sayer Corporal Limb Ieuan Perkins Priam Jack Clover Captain Lumm Calam Lynch Creative Team Director Iqbal Khan Producer Emily Lunnon Assistant Director Livi Dunlop Set Designer Abby Clarke Technical Director Alex Bucknell Costume Designer Christina Hill Graphic Designer Thomas Barnett Musical Director Leo Munby Production Manager Helen Morris Stage Manager Verity Hill Video Hendrik Ehlers University Drama Officer Ellie Keel Director of APGRD Fiona Macintosh Musicians Piano Leo Munby Violin Matthew Li Cello Eleanor Winter JONNY WILES - SERGEANT FIBBS Jonny trained at Guildford School of Acting and is now in his first year at Oxford studying Italian and Linguistics at Christ Church. His recent appearances on stage include: Dunsinane, Much Ado About Nothing (Mask Theatre, 2014) Twelfth Night, King Lear (Mask Theatre and RSC Open Stages, 2014 and 2015), Doctor Faustus (GSA, 2015), Jeremy Kyle Does Shake- speare (Mask Theatre at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, 2015), and the HighTide Festival’s New Writing Showcase. Since arriving at Oxford, Jonny has co-written and directed The Will of Lady Summers: Christ Church’s entry for the freshers’ drama festival, Drama Cuppers, which won the “Best of Cup- pers” and “Best New Writing” awards. He will be appearing in an adaptation of Italo Calvino’s Fiabe Italiane later this term.. YASH SARAF - SERGEANT GOBB Yash is a 3rd year visiting student reading English Literature at Brasenose College. He is pursuing his BA in Comparative Literature at Stanford University, USA, and is originally from Kolkata, India. where he has performed with various theatre companies including The Red Curtain – Kolkata’s old- est English-language theatre company, as well as Tin Can Theatre – a youth company staging experimental, tri-lin- gual productions. He played Zack in New Market Tales (Kolkata, 2013), Vicky Shah in Taramandal (Kolkata, 2013), and Ramesh in 1800-Dial-India (Kolkata, 2012). He trained with Mr. Andrew Wade (RSC Head of Voice 1990-2003) at the Stella Adler Studio, New York (Summer 2015), and with the late Ms.

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