the shattering man physical theatre review
September's turning out to be as busy a month as I already knew October would be.
Last night I was in Huddersfield for an ensemble physical theatre performance The Shattering Man. This is a piece based on Macbeth and also drawing heavily from the Anglo-Saxon poem The Wanderer*. I've separated out the review from the preamble to make it easy to scroll down to the review and cut out the background.
Preamble
A brief explanation of what ensemble physical theatre looks and sounds like is probably required. Please be aware these are slightly crude generalisations from relatively limited experience. The emphasis is not on naturalistic or illusionistic theatre. Instead the performers bodies and voices are used in individual, small group and collective ways. When I say individual and small group this usually means within a collective setting. So one person or a small group might be speaking or performing actions that you are focussed on but the rest of the ensemble will also be performing. Perhaps sounds, perhaps actions, usually both.
The narrative or actions of the performance if it's not narratively based is driven through physical actions and sound. The physical actions may be naturalistic or representational and will often resemble dance. They can often be used to generate some of the sound. The sound can come from voices singing, speaking or making non-verbal sounds from breathing through to crying, screaming or laughing. Sometimes single voices but often a large number of voices frequently in groups doing different things. Bodies, the stage, and instruments are also used to create noise.
The staging in the productions I have seen has been minimal. I always get the impression that the performances require a large amount of co-ordination, control, concentration and physical exertion. Done well it's incredibly powerful. Last night it was done very well and there were moment when I was almost crying spontaneously with the emotion.
But it's not as deadly serious or alienating as I've just made it sound. It's very absorbing, and the script and a number of the actions within the drama were very funny, the audience laughed.
Sidebar, it occurs to me that it's regarded as more normal to laugh at a play or film than to cry. I'm not sure why but it may be that crying requires you to give yourself over to the fiction much more than laughing. I think the last time I cried in a film was during Up which is a long time ago if we're to regard crying at art to be a valid response**.
I have a competing interest in this production in that my sister Hannah was in it having spent the summer in workshops and development of the piece. It's the third ensemble physical theatre production involving my sister that I've seen in Huddersfield. The previous two were in the Lawrence Batley theatre which is a wonderful building. This was in a space in Huddersfield University's Milton Building that I feel was far better suited to this kind of performance.
By now I'm sure you're pulling out your fingernails for me to get to the fucking point and tell you what the fucking performance was like.
Review
After you've waited outside the theatre space for a while you're told the performance has already begun and led in. The space is quite dark and you find a seat before beginning to concentrate on the performance. At first you just appear to be looking at relatively meaningless dance-like movements by a group of people also making low sounds. Gradually this begins to resolve into distinct actions and sounds.
Eventually you're introduced to a character, a nameless porter formerly Macbeth's man but now an outcast living by the sea. The other performers may be adults, children, seagulls or some other seashore creatures, or perhaps the porter's imaginings. Whatever they are the entities the performers play take on roles within the drama the porter narrates. Two of them play aspects of Macbeth, others take on the roles of Lady Macbeth and Banquo. And more fleetingly Duncan, Malcolm, Fleance, the porter himself and the murderers make an appearance. But all these are only roles and at other times the entities played by the performers take on other roles or act as a group or smaller groups.
Whether intentionally or not this fluidity of identity made me think of an aspect of Macbeth I hadn't considered previously. That an eleventh century Scottish (or English or other European) King would be brutal by contemporary standards, but unlikely to be markedly more so than anyone he succeeded or who succeeded him. And outside the court one would assume that most people's lives wouldn't change much.
The story of Macbeth is probably broadly familiar to most of you and if it isn't you can follow the links I've provided. It's recounted in episodic format with the porter's interpretation of the personalities and motivations of the characters, sometimes with apparent interventions of the characters themselves.
On reflection this might mean that you could interpret the performers as playing ghosts of the past albeit with frayed and shifting identities.
This shifting of identities and roles, of time and location extends to the staging. Since it is simple and functional rather than representational the parts of the space shift in time, shift in space, and shift in purpose according to how they're used. Shoreline becomes different parts of a castle, becomes part of woodland. Sea becomes woodland, becomes some other unidentified space. And within that the performer's bodies at one point become part of the castle.
Added to these malleabilities conscious anachronisms of language and references ensure the story is lifted out of the sixth century when The Wanderer may have been written, the tenth century from which the earliest manuscript dates, the eleventh century when Macbeth lived, or the seventeenth century when Macbeth was written. It doesn't give the play a contemporary setting but allows a focus on the human aspects of the story without fancy dress or archaism getting in the way.
We effectively start on the seashore with the exiled porter beginning to tell a story that suggests that he might be the shattering man of the title. We end on the seashore with the porter clear that Macbeth is the shattering man and that the porter has survived and thrived in some ways despite appearances. Perhaps by concentrating on small things rather than overwhelming ambitious goals.
Winding up
For me this is the most successful of these productions I've seen. Partly the smaller space helps with the performers closer to the audience and on the same level rather than raised on a stage. This helps both the physical presence of the actors and their acoustic presence allowing a greater subtlety. It is also due to the structure of the piece being tighter and the script stronger. The script quotes both The Wanderer and Shakespeare in places and is generally kept quite simple. By which I mean unadorned and clear. It is also intelligent and thoughtful. The interaction of speech, action and song/music/sound is about right.
One thing I enjoy about ensemble physical theatre is that it's clear that from different parts of the theatre the experience is very different since there are usually several different focal points at any moment. Again bringing the audience closer to that action makes the experience more enveloping.
A couple of hours ago I think there were a few tickets left for the final two performances today and Saturday at 8pm. Tickets are £10 and are bought via the Lawrence Batley Theatre. In case it wasn't clear from the review I really love this production and I think if you can get there then you absolutely should.
If you want more information on the production, especially if you can't get to it and want to know more about the process of making it and about the people involved, or want a better clue as to what ensemble physical theatre actually is there are some useful links provided with the programme:
YouTube footage of the development of the piece.
A blog tracking the creative process.
The previous productions I've seen I think grew from the university MA in ensemble physical theatre. While this took place in a university building and several of the performers have done the MA and performed previously this was a DUENDE production. DUENDE is a new company started by John Britton of the university who established the ensemble physical theatre course. Details of DUENDE and of forthcoming workshops and productions are available at the DUENDE website.
*Texts are available online for both The Wanderer and Macbeth.
**I'm aware I've got a couple of gifts for Pseuds Corner in Private Eye in this post but I really don't give a fuck.
Last night I was in Huddersfield for an ensemble physical theatre performance The Shattering Man. This is a piece based on Macbeth and also drawing heavily from the Anglo-Saxon poem The Wanderer*. I've separated out the review from the preamble to make it easy to scroll down to the review and cut out the background.
Preamble
A brief explanation of what ensemble physical theatre looks and sounds like is probably required. Please be aware these are slightly crude generalisations from relatively limited experience. The emphasis is not on naturalistic or illusionistic theatre. Instead the performers bodies and voices are used in individual, small group and collective ways. When I say individual and small group this usually means within a collective setting. So one person or a small group might be speaking or performing actions that you are focussed on but the rest of the ensemble will also be performing. Perhaps sounds, perhaps actions, usually both.
The narrative or actions of the performance if it's not narratively based is driven through physical actions and sound. The physical actions may be naturalistic or representational and will often resemble dance. They can often be used to generate some of the sound. The sound can come from voices singing, speaking or making non-verbal sounds from breathing through to crying, screaming or laughing. Sometimes single voices but often a large number of voices frequently in groups doing different things. Bodies, the stage, and instruments are also used to create noise.
The staging in the productions I have seen has been minimal. I always get the impression that the performances require a large amount of co-ordination, control, concentration and physical exertion. Done well it's incredibly powerful. Last night it was done very well and there were moment when I was almost crying spontaneously with the emotion.
But it's not as deadly serious or alienating as I've just made it sound. It's very absorbing, and the script and a number of the actions within the drama were very funny, the audience laughed.
Sidebar, it occurs to me that it's regarded as more normal to laugh at a play or film than to cry. I'm not sure why but it may be that crying requires you to give yourself over to the fiction much more than laughing. I think the last time I cried in a film was during Up which is a long time ago if we're to regard crying at art to be a valid response**.
I have a competing interest in this production in that my sister Hannah was in it having spent the summer in workshops and development of the piece. It's the third ensemble physical theatre production involving my sister that I've seen in Huddersfield. The previous two were in the Lawrence Batley theatre which is a wonderful building. This was in a space in Huddersfield University's Milton Building that I feel was far better suited to this kind of performance.
By now I'm sure you're pulling out your fingernails for me to get to the fucking point and tell you what the fucking performance was like.
Review
After you've waited outside the theatre space for a while you're told the performance has already begun and led in. The space is quite dark and you find a seat before beginning to concentrate on the performance. At first you just appear to be looking at relatively meaningless dance-like movements by a group of people also making low sounds. Gradually this begins to resolve into distinct actions and sounds.
Eventually you're introduced to a character, a nameless porter formerly Macbeth's man but now an outcast living by the sea. The other performers may be adults, children, seagulls or some other seashore creatures, or perhaps the porter's imaginings. Whatever they are the entities the performers play take on roles within the drama the porter narrates. Two of them play aspects of Macbeth, others take on the roles of Lady Macbeth and Banquo. And more fleetingly Duncan, Malcolm, Fleance, the porter himself and the murderers make an appearance. But all these are only roles and at other times the entities played by the performers take on other roles or act as a group or smaller groups.
Whether intentionally or not this fluidity of identity made me think of an aspect of Macbeth I hadn't considered previously. That an eleventh century Scottish (or English or other European) King would be brutal by contemporary standards, but unlikely to be markedly more so than anyone he succeeded or who succeeded him. And outside the court one would assume that most people's lives wouldn't change much.
The story of Macbeth is probably broadly familiar to most of you and if it isn't you can follow the links I've provided. It's recounted in episodic format with the porter's interpretation of the personalities and motivations of the characters, sometimes with apparent interventions of the characters themselves.
On reflection this might mean that you could interpret the performers as playing ghosts of the past albeit with frayed and shifting identities.
This shifting of identities and roles, of time and location extends to the staging. Since it is simple and functional rather than representational the parts of the space shift in time, shift in space, and shift in purpose according to how they're used. Shoreline becomes different parts of a castle, becomes part of woodland. Sea becomes woodland, becomes some other unidentified space. And within that the performer's bodies at one point become part of the castle.
Added to these malleabilities conscious anachronisms of language and references ensure the story is lifted out of the sixth century when The Wanderer may have been written, the tenth century from which the earliest manuscript dates, the eleventh century when Macbeth lived, or the seventeenth century when Macbeth was written. It doesn't give the play a contemporary setting but allows a focus on the human aspects of the story without fancy dress or archaism getting in the way.
We effectively start on the seashore with the exiled porter beginning to tell a story that suggests that he might be the shattering man of the title. We end on the seashore with the porter clear that Macbeth is the shattering man and that the porter has survived and thrived in some ways despite appearances. Perhaps by concentrating on small things rather than overwhelming ambitious goals.
Winding up
For me this is the most successful of these productions I've seen. Partly the smaller space helps with the performers closer to the audience and on the same level rather than raised on a stage. This helps both the physical presence of the actors and their acoustic presence allowing a greater subtlety. It is also due to the structure of the piece being tighter and the script stronger. The script quotes both The Wanderer and Shakespeare in places and is generally kept quite simple. By which I mean unadorned and clear. It is also intelligent and thoughtful. The interaction of speech, action and song/music/sound is about right.
One thing I enjoy about ensemble physical theatre is that it's clear that from different parts of the theatre the experience is very different since there are usually several different focal points at any moment. Again bringing the audience closer to that action makes the experience more enveloping.
A couple of hours ago I think there were a few tickets left for the final two performances today and Saturday at 8pm. Tickets are £10 and are bought via the Lawrence Batley Theatre. In case it wasn't clear from the review I really love this production and I think if you can get there then you absolutely should.
If you want more information on the production, especially if you can't get to it and want to know more about the process of making it and about the people involved, or want a better clue as to what ensemble physical theatre actually is there are some useful links provided with the programme:
YouTube footage of the development of the piece.
A blog tracking the creative process.
The previous productions I've seen I think grew from the university MA in ensemble physical theatre. While this took place in a university building and several of the performers have done the MA and performed previously this was a DUENDE production. DUENDE is a new company started by John Britton of the university who established the ensemble physical theatre course. Details of DUENDE and of forthcoming workshops and productions are available at the DUENDE website.
*Texts are available online for both The Wanderer and Macbeth.
**I'm aware I've got a couple of gifts for Pseuds Corner in Private Eye in this post but I really don't give a fuck.
Comments