Drama Tuesday - Every Brilliant Thing – Black Swan State Theatre Company
/One of my least favourite theatre forms is the one person show. Too often it is the refuge of theatre companies stretching their budgets. And as a Drama Marker I have seen literally hundreds of Original Solo Performances (a required component of Year 12 Drama in Western Australia). It is therefore great to report that I left this production with a sense of up lifting enjoyment and admiration for the skilful performance that engaged the audience.
Staged in the Underground Theatre, in the round (a more successful configuration than end stage), the audience are close to the action. As they enter, Luke Hewitt welcomes them into the space and hands out cards: some have a number and a single word like ice cream; others have longer words or phrases. During the show, when the actor calls a number, the audience member calls out what’s on the card.
The action eases in. We meet a six year old who has to take his old dog, Sherlock Bones, to the Vet to be put down. A member of the audience is invited to be the Vet; the audience member’s coat becomes the dog. A pen is borrowed from another audience member to become the syringe. The empathy from the audience is immediately established. Quickly we move to a little while later in the boy’s life when his mum tries for the first time to commit suicide and his dad picks him up from school to go to the hospital. A different audience member is called on to be dad and they sit on two chairs added to the space. In a quick role reversal the actor tells the audience member to be the boy and to keep asking one question: why? The actor then becomes the dad inarticulately trying to answer the stream of why questions about what has happened.
The boy’s response to his mother’s attempted suicide is to start a list of good things. Cue the call outs from audience members. The list helps his mother when she comes home from hospital. But is then forgotten until a later attempted suicide. Then squirrelled away. Then as a young man at University, he meets a girl and through the list shared, finds a life ordinary and suburban until she too leaves him. She leaves him the growing list and he continues until there are a million brilliant things on the list.
This was a joyous production (joyous is not a word I often use). It creates a sense of community inside the theatrical event as audience members call out contributions to the growing list or are called on to become the Vet or the Dad or the Girlfriend. It fits within the current vision of Artistic Director of Black Swan, Clare Watson’s commitment to “promoting empathy and building community through collaboration”.
As I said, I left the theatre feeling good.
There is such skill in the way that the audience were gently and warmly led into the life of the action and how their responses were shaped and nurtured. Skilled acting (Luke Hewitt) and direction (Adam Mitchell). The audience bonded and collaborated and contributed in an unforced way (so often not the case in collaborative performances). Obviously, each performance will have a unique flavour and I hope that each audience member leaves with a similar sense of the power and satisfaction of theatre played well.
There is much for Year 12 students to keep in mind for their Original Solo Performance. Of course, it is not possible in an exam situation to create that sense of collaborative bonding (it is after all, an exam). But they can pay attention to:
Building an immediate sense of place and space in role and situation with minimal props or setting
Bringing to life moments in time that make an audience (examiner) share emotion and identification – co-creating drama
Creating and managing dramatic tension powerfully and tangibly
Shaping dramatic action (within the time limits) to give a satisfying sense of rising action moving towards satisfying conclusion
Applying skills, knowledge of form and style – the bread and butter of their learning in the course
Above all, stepping over the limits of being one person alone in the space. Most drama we see is not monologue, it is dialogue. It builds on the interactions between people and the dynamic of action created by ideas, circumstances and personalities. What Year 12 students do – and we forget at our peril what a demanding task this is – is to bring to life before our ideas a complete drama in a short span of time. When it happens, it is what theatre always does best – bring to life an enacted experience for an audience’s wonder and delight.
It’s important to remind ourselves what we ask our Year 12 students to do in Drama. It’s a big ask and each year students respond by showing us their capacity to amaze. Every bit as challenging as Year 12 Physics (if I can climb onto that soap box for a moment). The power of drama and theatre reminds us, again and again, of why it enriches our lives.
Excellent and supportive resources for teachers and audience members are provided. https://bsstc.com.au/learn/resources
Just a reminder about what our Year 12 Drama students are required to do.
