Juno, Iris and Ceres - the pastoral interlude

One of the most challenging sections of The Tempest is the pastoral 'play within a play' where Prospero conjures up the spirits of Iris, Ceres and Juno to amuse and amaze Ferdinand and Miranda.

"I must bestow upon the eyes of this young couple some vanity of mine Art"

The sequence is traditionally played as a masque or dumbshow and, in the original stage directions, employed the latest stage technology. Indeed, in the RSC production of The Tempest in the early 1990's the masque section took place in a life-size pop-up theatre within the main stage, complete with scallop footlights that popped up out of the stage, and a costume budget that would fund us for a whole year's worth of productions!

The section is not just difficult in terms of staging; the content itself is archaic and based on ancient folklore that modern audiences do not understand. Many productions cut this section out altogether, or at least trim it right down to a minimum.

We are currently working on an idea of how to stage this section which gives a flavour of what it is about (a gentle warning to the young Ferdinand and Miranda of the duties and demands of married life) but also demonstrates Prospero's magical abilities.


We have spent a couple of rehearsals now using the technique of human puppetry to bring this particular interlude to life. Prospero and Miranda join together in showing Ferdinand their 'party trick' of manipulating the supernatural beings of the island as if they were marionettes.

It has been fun and interesting to see what effects we can achieve, and it has also been a great way to build trust and complicity amongst the company.

Marc Chagall - a visual influence on The Tempest

In creating the world of the play, we rely on a wide range of influences to inspire the process. In terms of how the play will look, our director, Julia, has turned to the paintings of Marc Chagall. (1897 - 1985)

His use of colour and symbolism is providing a rich palette of ideas to draw from. Recurring themes of the bride and groom, spiritual elements, and dream-like states are mirrored in the text. Already we have begun to identify some of the characters from the play with figures in the paintings.

This is not to say that we are relying on Chagall's work for our final visual style, but rather that we are adding his influence to the pool of ideas that draw upon.

It pays to remain open to all kinds of inspirations and influences; they can take us to some surprising places.

A labyrinthine text.

Another rehearsal on the Tempest this week that found us mining even more from the text. We are finding references in the play that are spinning us off on some really interesting tangents.

Prospero's Isle is developing into a game board where he plays the characters like chess pieces. This, in turn, is giving the actors the chance to explore how they move in the space as they are 'brought into play' by Ariel at Prospero's bidding.

As ideas and discussion open up new possibilities, we actors are responding by finding new ways of relating to the text, and to other characters. Having a relatively small cast means that we have to multi-role anyway, so the chance to draw clear distinctions between our roles in terms of movement as well as characteristics is really helpful.

As we know, seldom is anything black and white, and certainly on Prospero's Isle, things are not always what they seem. This merging of truth and fantasy, of nature and the supernatural, gives us much to play with. The course of the story, from tempestuous opening to the calm reconciliation at the end, is Prospero's gameplan enacted. He stands at the centre of the labyrinth into which he draws the other players, and from which they must escape.

Tempestuous Times

Rehearsals are now well underway for our latest production. The cast are being assembled (still a couple of parts to be covered) and scenes are taking shape. The photo below shows Emily, Jeremy and Jamie being directed by Julia.
It is great to be working on a Shakespeare text again; there are so many discoveries to be made in the text about character and meaning. As actors we are given so much to work with.
Finding meaning and relevance for today in words written over 400 years ago is wonderful and humbling - Shakespeare certainly knew about the power of words; we need to tap into that power in these tempestuous times.

On the run...

This is a bit of a trial run for use of a mobile blogging app for the old i-Phone. We might use this for posting entries during rehearsals or out and about.

A proper post will follow soon with some more news about the latest Paper Zoo production; William Shakespeare's "The Tempest"

Meet you back here soon.

Training Actors to Do It Yourself.

There was a very interesting and thought-provoking piece on the Guardian Stage blog today that asked

"Are drama schools training actors for real life?"

The author discussed how actor training at many of the big drama schools has not really changed over the last thirty years whilst the landscape that young actors find themselves in on graduation has moved on, and not always in a positive way. The quality of the training, and the amount of effort that trainees have to put in, is not in question; but rather whether the drama schools are providing the right kind of guidance in how to create your own work. Actors leaving drama school nowadays do not have the opportunity of sharpening their skills in repertory companies up and down the country, TV work is harder to come by despite the proliferation of digital channels, and anyway, many of the jobs are going to so-called celebrities of reality television, and financial pressures are preventing many of the big producers from taking risks.

Young (and not so young) actors need to be given the skills and confidence to get out there and become the producers of the work. This is a piece of advice that my esteemed tutor at Middlesex University, Huw Thomas, used to drill into us:

"Don't wait for the work to come to you - make your own work!"

and many of us have gone on to do just that. A fine example of this attitude is the sterling work being done by Steve Green and Fourth Monkey Theatre Company who are embarking on their first rep season in London, and stormed the Edinburgh Festival in 2010 with their brilliant production of 'A Clockwork Orange'. Also seen at the Fringe and currently out there making some of the most magical theatre are Derby-based Maison Foo, touring the moving and magnificent 'Memoirs of a Biscuit Tin' throughout the autumn.

Paper Zoo came out of the same impulse; the desire to create our own work, to give new talent the opportunity to gain real industry experience. I now drill the same phrases into my students in the hope that they will take up the creative challenge. I am glad to read that other practitioners are saying similar things. We need drama schools to train the next generation of professional performers - they contribute so much to the country's cultural economy - but we also need them to teach some DIY too!

In The Pipeline

We haven't had chance to post anything recently as we have all been busy over the last few weeks. As a small-scale, unfunded company our members have to hold down jobs and other commitments alongside duties with the Zoo. Despite having a couple of weeks off after the show in Settle (North Yorkshire) we still managed to fill our time with company-based activity. We have all been searching and researching for suitable material to work on for our next production. The most recent shows saw us play Burley-in-Wharfedale Festival where we shared the bill with an excellent band, The Stalks. Check out their website here. We then travelled northwards again to Knaresborough to play to a small but appreciative audience who had braved some rather unseasonable rain.

With only four dates left on the Blue Remembered Hills tour, thoughts have turned to what we might tackle next. There are a number of ideas floating around at the moment, as well as invitations to get involved in other projects. We will certainly be present for the Positive Bradford Day on the 28th of September 2011. It isn't often that our city feels confident enough to shout about itself but there is much to be celebrated, not least of which is the vibrant and burgeoning arts scene that grows, seemingly despite the best efforts of the National Govenrment and local naysayers. Paper Zoo Theatre Company have always been proud of our roots, and are positive about the future for the region.

As for the plans for the next productions...? I can't say anything definite yet, but as soon as we have finalised the details we will update you. For details of the last four performances of Blue Remembered Hills please check out our website. We hope to see some of you there.