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'20 incubation #1
salvaging the slate begins...
In 2019, @stories about humans did 2 development workshops to assess which play would suit the company's ability to produce in 2020 with a high degree of artistic integrity and logistical assurity.
During 2020 there has been re-figuring what was to be the 2020 production slate: a 'Bare Bones' theatre production of either Bertolt Brecht's The Life of Galileo, or, Shakespeare's Richard II (aka R2).
Spring-boarding off 2019 development workshops, an incubation began during CV19 lockdown to salvage the 2019 work.
Visit the 2019 page to give you a 'grass roots' insight to the work done during that year.
R2
Act 5 Sc.5
In the dungeon of Pontefract Castle, West Yorkshire, Richard (actor Terry Karabelas) no longer King, has been incarcerated awaiting his fate - a 'Dead Man Walking'. The scene opens with arguably the most spectacular soliloquy in the Bard's cannon, revealing the inner world of a King usurped, now a man utterly alone: for an anointed monarch, there is no steeper fall from grace on this mortal coil than this.
As the soliquery unfolds, Richard's inner world unravels, and the gravity of his situation becomes apparent. His 'Kingly' guise dissolves and his psyche revealed....
"Sometimes am I king; Then treasons make me wish myself a beggar, And so I am. Then crushing penury Persuades me I was better when a king; Then I am kinged again, and by and by Think that I am unkinged by Bolingbroke, And straight am nothing."
It's a dark place to be, and a terrible reality for this proud and vain Monarch, who meant well, but failed to heed the rising and constant rancour from the ruling class, the needs of his people, or temper the sycophancy of his Courtly inner circle.
Until the entry of the Groom and The Keeper, there has been no one in the scene but Richard. With the entry of these characters the mood and energy quickly changes. This screen shot, with actor Richard Mason as The Keeper, is exactly the moment that signals the beginning of the end for Richard. Henceforward, the scene transforms into a bloody and violent struggle as Richard senses his demise is nigh when The Keeper mentions "Sir Piers of Exton, who lately came from the King..."
Hearing cries of "Help" from The Keeper, Exton, actor Roger Adam Smith, and his servants, actors Lawrence Toye and Penny Day, rush in and the scene becomes a murderous bloodbath as Richard fiercely defends himself from the first attack by a servant who he kills, and as he turns to kill The Keeper, Exton finds his moment to deliver the fatal blow. The scene ends in a crescendo of violence and multiple deaths - it's fast and it's furious. It is the ultimate juxtaposition to the beginning of the scene and propels the play forward into the final scene at Windsor Castle.
Galileo
English version by Charles Laughton
Development workshop video clip: final 3 mins of scene 7
Scene 7
Galileo, feeling grim,
A young man came to visit him.
The monk was born of common folk.
It was of science that they spoke.
Garden of the Florentine Ambassador in Rome.
Distant hum of a great city.
GALILEO and the LITTLE MONK of Sc.5 are talking.
A young monk (actor Lawrence Toye) , who has studied psychics and has a natural inquiring scientific mind, comes to visit Galileo (actor Peter Talmacs). What unfolds is a heady two-hander debate about science, religion, politics and society. These were major concerns of Brecht's intellectual, artistic and dramatic trajectory even from his very early days of writing agitprop plays such as BAAL and Drums in the Night.
The young monk's fascination for science and astronomy has been squashed by the Church's decree that 'the moons of Jupiter' are a heretical belief, and the Earth remains the epicentre of the known Universe, not the Sun, as new science (Galileo) has claimed. Truth, it seems, is the first casualty in the psychological and ideological war against scientific, mathematical and astronomical proof that debunks core beliefs of the time, and which the Church of Rome was predicated on. The little monk chooses the Church (power and politics) over Science (truth), setting up a verbal sparring match with the greatest mathematician and scientist of the age.
As you listen to the actors workshopping this final part of scene 7, ask yourself this: how relevant to issues currently gripping the world is this particular debate about 'truth' ?- especially between a young conservative religious man born in the provinces, and a brilliant man of science, a man of the flesh (as this version proffers), a disrupter, a dangerous intellectual rebel in the eyes of the power structures of the day.
Director's Note:
Galileo is a very wordy script, peppered with long monologues and two-hander scenes that unpack a lot of intellectual discourse underpinning the play - conflicting religious opinions, Machiavellian political maneuverings, deliberate suppression of truth and the war against Science and fact-based 'heretical new thinking'.
Such topics of concern are expressed in 'slabs' of text which are notoriously prone to becoming bogged down by worthy attempts at pedagogy or propagandising as we work to go from page to stage. Yet such an approach would be doing Brecht and the play a great disservice.
So, herein lies a challenge with this play: elucidating the intelligence of the discourse whilst remaining active, truthful, spontaneous and disciplined in the shaping of it for stage. And, resisting the temptation of 'telling' or 'manipulating' how an audience should feel or think about such weighty concerns.
The interplay of socio/political/cultural concerns was a preoccupation of Brecht's work and is intertwined with his approach to theatre-making methodologies as they evolved through trial and error into what was to become known as 'Brechtian theatre', and more specifically, Epic Theatre. This version of Galileo has a number of 'Brechtian theatrical devices' (@pink arrow: see examples) interwoven into the text, the stage directions and the scene content and text itself. The challenge for this director and the actors is to remain respectful to these devices without becoming preoccupied with making a 'Brechtian' version of the play. But rather: to remain authentic to the guts of the play, the text, the robust characters, the time and place explicitly extolled via stage directions, and the historical context of the subject matter. By doing so, we will be paying homage to Brecht as a playwright of great distinction, wit, intelligence and dramatic excellence.
Observe the rhyming verse and writer's scene notes which I've included here: vital production and directorial devices that permeate the whole text, supplying clear and specific insight into time and place. And dramatically important in transporting us into the world of Galileo and 17th C Italy.
The Galileo ensemble at work.
With script-in-hand, working with an array of
props and basic costume items the actors went
to work on scene-building from scratch.
Seen here are actors Richard Mason, Roger Adam-Smith, Terry Karabelas, Penny Day, Peter Talmacs, Lawrence Toye, Christine Greenough and Rachael Mae Cook.
The R2 ensemble at work.
R2 is redolent with scenes that have many characters in them representing various echelons of the nobility. This informs how the actors will place themselves (blocking) in such scenes. So knowing 'who' you are, 'what' your place is in the Courtly pecking order, and 'why' you're in the scene are essential to the actors when developing a physical sense of the scene work.
Particularly in the scenes that are
located in Castles and Palaces, and
held in front of the Monarch.
Seen here are actors Phillipe Klaus, Penny Day, Christine Greenough, Richard Mason, Terry Karabelas, Mary Haire, Theon Ajax, Roger Adam-Smith and Lawrence Toye.
more about Galileo...
Seen here are actors Garreth Cruikshank, Peter Talmacs, Terry Karabelas, Lawrence Toye, Roger Adam Smith, Penny Day, Richard Mason, Rachael Mae, Christine Greenough, Phillipe Klaus
scene work...
Brecht populated Galileo with characters from all levels of society, highlighting the vast disparities between the working class, the wealthy merchant class and Aristocracy. And from the Aristocracy came the highest ranking members of the Church.
Many scenes teem with activity and characters going about their duties, and daily lives. Some scenes have multi-foci, are set in the same setting and scene, all happening at the same time on stage. A very 'modern' theatrical concept for post-WW2 sensibilities and one that Brecht had been developing and honing for years. And which eventually became an essential plank in his theatrical methodologies. (see 2019 page for notes about the Laughton edition I'm using, to clarify this observation more fully
props...
Being essentially a history play, Galileo poses a few issues when it comes to props. Sourcing, locating, creating and achieving historical accuracy is a big challenge. This is where research and development come into their own, especially in relation to obtaining the 'astronomical instrument' props for example. And where creative and imaginative prop-making comes into its own. Along with careful sourcing and collection of props that are as close to 'historical' as possible.
For the workshop we had 'make do' astronomical instruments which helped the actors get a handle on the physicality of those moments. As you can see, the actors improvised with them which added tremendous dynamics to the overall scene: literally bringing to life the dialogue and references made to the instruments along the way.
Along with specific astronomical instrument props are the personal hand props, lifestyle and character props that are intrinsic to every scene in the play - and there quite a few yet none are extraneous. Brecht writes in props very judiciously, and it was his intention to use them in that way in his productions. Every prop had a reason to be there and needed to be substantiated throughout the rehearsal process, and throughout performance too. This approach was honed over many years and eventually became inculcated into his theatre and performance methodology.
more about R2...
scene work...
Scene work is rich pickings for actors working on a Shakespeare play - it's almost always dynamic and very challenging. R2 fits into this observation in two exemplary ways (but not the only ones) - long complicated scenes where pivotal business happens; enormous comings and goings with all the major antagonists and arguments are laid out for all to see.
For instance in Act 4 Sc 1 - Bolingbroke takes the crown from Richard at Westminster Hall [or as I call it the motherfuckers with the crown] - the entire scene is populated with all the major antagonists, players and their retinue. It's a huge scene acting-wise and in relation to the story evolution and directorial/production mise en scene considerations - of which there are many.
This should give you a good idea about how busy this scene is (not the only one like this). Here are the 'writers notes' at the top of the scene in the text (Arden Shakespeare):
Enter BOLINGBROKE with the lords, Aumerle, Northumberland, Harry percy, Fitzwater, Surry, [Bishop of] Carlisle, Abbot of Westminster, [another] lord Herald [and Attendants] to Parliament.
That's just the beginning of the scene.
To start the scene at line 1 : Enter Officers with BAGOT. Further into the scene at line 107: Enter YORK. At line 163: Enter [King] RICHARD and YORK [with Officers bearing the crown and sceptre]. During the scene, there are exits and re-enters by key players, Officers and Attendants. The final exit is at line 334. A massive and complex scene.
The workshop ensemble did an extraordinary job in responding and improvising around the blocking challenges that this scene presented.
Seen here are actors Richard Mason, Penny Day, Lawrence Toye, Christine Greenough, Terry Karabelas, Roger Adam-Smith, Mary Haire, Philippe Klaus, Garreth Cruikshank.
Director's Note:
In a workshop situation I generally tend not to interfear too much with the actors process when they are scene-building from scratch. Particularly considering the parameters of these two workshops: script-in-hand and minimal rehearsal - this ensemble had the script to read at home before the workshops, one table read at which they all met each other for the first time and then the next day put the selected scenes up on the floor at the HUB Studio with basic props, staging, wardrobe and concept scrolls on offer.
What I'm always interested is seeing how they work things out on the floor, what shape the scene organically takes and how the text sounds under such tensions - this is their job. As an actor myself, I love this process and freedom to create without the pressure of performance.
I do however prepare thoroughly for the work at hand. For instance, for both R2 and Galileo, I provided basic rudimentary props, costume bits'n'pieces, 'make-do' substitutes, and tried out a few ideas of my own along the way by doing so. This acting ensemble were spontaneous, reactive and improvisational in using almost everything I brought in for the workshops - in a workshop situation, it is a good idea to let the actors decide for themselves if they want to use props, wardrobe et al. Observing this process is vital in seeing ideas and concepts in action.
I've been challenged on my casting choice of gender-neutral for R2. I like casting gender-neutral for Shakespeare and intend doing so
should the company move forward with a production in 2021. As an actor I've played Dukes, Kings and Lords, and I loved doing so; and as
a director, I am constantly amazed and thrilled by the 'modernity' of Shakespeare and it's robust ability to morph with the times, to be
pushed and prodded by changing sociological constructs such as gender.
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