Theatre

Those of us who fly the flag for theatre are apt to bang on about its liveness, in contrast to the fact that George Clooney will always deliver the same performance on celluloid indifferent to whether the cinema is empty or full. But equally we know that many theatre productions might as well be dead, as the actors plod through the same script, night after night, giving the same performances. As a result, many theatremakers have become interested in taking up the challenge to exploit the difference between theatre and film, and to heighten the live connection between actors and audience to create shows that really do change every night. Improbable has been keeping itself and its fans on their toes for years. Feature continues

Over at the Lyric Studio, Cartoon de Salvo in ‘Hard Hearted Hannah’ is currently improvising a different story at every performance, inspired by a title suggested by someone in the audience. And, in the same spirit, theatrical form-buster, Chris Goode, in collaboration with Headlong and the Gate Theatre, is about to present a semi-improvised version of Chekhov’s ‘Three Sisters’, based on Goode’s adaptation, with just six actors, only one of whom is a man, and any of whom can play a sister whenever they feel moved to do so. Theoretically, they could all be playing Masha simultaneously, a chorus of women hysterical at the thought of Vershinin’s departure. Theoretically, the sisters could finally make it to Moscow. This is dangerous territory given that Chekhov’s fans are both legion and proprietorial, as shown by the outrage when Katie Mitchell made radical changes to ‘The Seagull’ at the National Theatre. At least, Goode’s title ‘…Sisters’ is fair warning to the purists.

Goode’s previous productions include the inventive and quirky ‘Longwave’ and ‘Hippo World Guest Book’, which traced the rise and fall of an online chatroom for hippopotamus enthusiasts. His eclectic, perceptive blog has won him almost as many fans as his theatre work. He has always thrived as an outsider, but in spite of the radical concept, this is a move towards the mainstream in that he is collaborating with Headlong, a company more used to producing straight plays. Furthermore, Goode sees the show as a reaction to the antagonism that’s arisen between those who work with plays and those who devise collaboratively in the rehearsal room. ‘The idea,’ he says, ‘that those two things are opposed seems to me delusional. In this instance, I am interested in how some of the techniques that I’ve used in my devised pieces in the past can be applied to a classic text, in order to release within the play some kind of liveness, responsiveness, and freshness. Chekhov appealed as someone who relates to my interest in text as texture rather than moving information around.’ As he explores the story of the three sisters who aspire to leave their provincial town and escape to the stimulation and glamour of Moscow, Goode hopes to be faithful to the aura of the play, which he describes as ‘this impulse to move, absolutely constrained by the fear of moving’.

Some decisions are talked about openly before the performance begins; some will be made by drawing names out of a hat; and some will happen in front of the audience, possibly as a result of a quick game of Rock, Paper, Scissors. ‘There’s a blackboard on the set and a pigeon hole for each of the actors,’ he explains, ‘so there are different ways of communicating with each other. I’m always very attracted to watching people think on stage, to watching real decisions being made, and real risk calculated as well as taken. A lot of the wiring is going to be visible so that when everything breaks down or goes wonky, it will be very much easier to let the ball drop, to take a breath and start over.’

That is the point. If inspiration is free to soar, it must be possible for it to sink as well. Goode believes that the audience has a role to play too: ‘The actors are reading the audience as much as the audience are reading the actors.’ And what if they read total bewilderment and panic? With a big grin, Goode replies playfully, ‘I can see the actors replicating that very assiduously. I am hoping that there is something rather touching in the candour of sharing bewilderment. But we’ll see.’

‘…Sisters’ is playing at the Gate Theatre until July 5.