Die gehoor word aangemoedig om hul sitplekke in te neem: die vertoning gaan begin. En ja, jy mag jou drankie invat. Binne die ouditorium word mens begroet deur vier akteurs, of te wel, gemaskerde wesens uit ’n sprokieswêreld wat met die gehoor praat en grappies maak. Almal is dadelik op hul gemaak wanneer die ligte verdoof, ‘n opgewonde afwagting in die reeds warm lug.
The Last Resort neem die gehoor na ‘n klein dorpie, omring deur ‘n woud, wat tyd en die mensdom self vergeet het. ‘n Verweerde soldaat strompel op die verhoog: ‘n oorlewende van ‘n naamlose oorlog. Die man verheug homself in die sakke goud wat hy geheimsinniglik bekom het en dit bleik dat die rykdom van sy toekoms blink voor hom lê. Dan skielik verskyn ’n duiwel aan hom en lig hom in dat hy onmiddelik hel toe sal gaan. Hy het selfs ’n keuse in hoe hy graag wil doodgaan. Die soldaat pleit vir sy lewe en die slinkse duiwel gee vir hom ’n ultimatum: binne drie dae moet die soldaat ’n plaasvervanger kry vir sy verdoemde liggaam of sy lewe is verby. En hy mag nie self die onskuldige plaasvervanger vermoor nie, hy moet iemand anders oorreed om dit VIR hom te doen. So stap die gehoor saam met die karakters binne in ’n Faust-verhaal van gierigheid en verraad.
Die surrealistiese stelontwerp en kreatiewe gebruik van rekwisiete en beligting, sorg dat die verhoog van oomblik tot oomblik verander in verskillende milieus binne ’n donker sprokies wêreld. Die karakterisering word oortuigend deur die akteurs se liggaamsgebruik en aksente uitgebeeld, maar dit is veral die maskers self wat tot die gehoor praat.
Daar is slegs vier akteurs, maar ’n hele gemeenskap word deur die menigte maskers uitgebeeld. Elke masker bedui op ’n spesifieke persoonlikheid en emosie, wat jou reg tussen die oë tref sodra die akteur op die verhoog stap.
Sekere van die karakters het sang solo’s gehad, terwyl ander bot stil was. Al het die akteurs hul goed gekwyt van die sang, was die balans tussen die solo’s en die koorwerk nie heeltemal bevredigend nie. Die gemeenskaplike histerie in die dorp word wel in die tweede helfte baie suksesvol oorgedra deur die sang en musiek.
’n Paar vrae is gestel aan Russell Dean, die Artistieke Regisseur van Strangeface:
The masks used in The Last Resort are very expressive. How long does it take to construct such a mask? How did you acquire this amazing skill?
It can take as little as half a day to design and make a mask, though some take a little more time. I have always made masks throughout my career but I started in earnest when I worked with Trestle Theatre Company in the late nineties. I am self taught and draw my inspirations as much from Japanese masks as the Italian Commedia Dell’Arte tradition. The human face is the most complex communication system bar none. A fraction of a millimetre difference can alter the overall effect of a mask. At the root of my fascination with masks is with the way we all choose to communicate and not communicate with each other.
The Last Resort makes use of puppets, masked actors and chorus work. As a dramaturge, how do you decide which characters and situations are better portrayed by the above different theatrical “tools”?
There is a tension between the needs of the story and the practicality of moving four performers through quick changes. Sometimes what happens is defined by having to do a quick change. However the trick is to make an advantage of a challenge.
The chorus works on several levels. They set up the story within a story, which gives an imaginative richness to the tale. They also have a naivety, which suggests that anyone else who sets themselves above them (most notably the town council) has committed hubris. They are also a good way of changing the scene! As a writer I feel that the more you get the audience to collude in the theatricality of the story telling, ie the more you exercise their ‘suspension of disbelief muscle’ by drawing them into and them kicking them out of the narrative, the better time they have. Its a hidden paradox of theatre that the more you make the audience work their imaginations the better they think you are as performers! You don’t need great spectacle, as it will never live up to what the audience can imagine.
Puppetry is something we use more and more of. I love the problem solving of making puppets and Jonny is one of the best puppeteers in the country, working with the likes of Faulty Optic, Green Ginger and Pickled Image. Puppets naturally engage the audience’s imagination, perhaps more than masks because they want this inanimate object to have life (there’s something quite deep in this). I loved the idea of having villagers as puppets because it changed the scale of what the audience was being asked to imagine and somehow gave a more epic feel to the show. This is topped by the little devil puppet where I just wanted to show I could make a puppet where none of the joints were hidden. He also makes our puppetry more dynamic by bringing it in front of the screen into the playing space. Nice to have this surprise for the audience so late in the show.
The Last Resort shows the power of the community in folklore, where they seem to reveal a certain “truth”. Can the word “satire” be used to describe Strangeface’s style of theatre? Is The Last Resort in some way a comment on current events/the state of our world?
Good question. All theatre is a comment on the present world in some way. There is strong parallel between folktale and mask/puppet work in the way they both create alternate worlds. These worlds can be extremely violent and disturbing but also enchanting and uplifting. So in this ‘distancing’ technique we get to look at things from a slightly different point of view, a little like Brecht advocated. Satire in the modern western European sense of the word tends towards instant stinging ridicule - one thinks of Spitting Image. However I’m more influenced by Eastern European animation which in its own way was often a critique of the hypocrisy of Soviet rule masquerading as a critique of Western capitalism. Due to censorship and the often dire consequences of falling foul of the censor artists developed a wonderful use of ambiguity. I love ambiguity. We live in a culture that wants to be spoon fed answers to everything but there is a real joy in discovering something for yourself in a piece of theatre rather than having it handed to you on a plate. So maybe not satire in the most obvious sense. And yes the show is a comment on current events, but that is for the audience to make sense of and take away with them. Sometimes they take away more than they think. For myself I believe we live in a culture which actively stifles real imagination and creativity so that we feel we have to buy our happiness - it’s the logical progression of consumer culture. The mere act of making theatre is my way of waking up and trying to get off the treadmill. My most political gesture would be trying to engage and provoke people’s imaginations. The one thing you learn when working with masks is that ‘reality’ and ‘identity’ are not quite as fixed as you may think.
Have you travelled outside of the UK with your mask productions? If so, does foreign audience’s reaction towards the use of masks in theatre differ from that of British audiences?
No. We haven’t toured abroad yet, though we were chosen to represent the best of the South East of England in a recent showcase for foreign bookers. So something may come of that. We do a lot of rural touring in England and Scotland and would love to do the same elsewhere in the world. There is something very special about performing to a community who might see themselves mirrored on the stage. We like to be a catalyst for an event in a community rather than just a product. I suspect reaction might be different say in Eastern Europe where mask and puppet is the domain of political satire. There is a curious British prejudice that mask and puppet is just for children. It took Spitting Image’s creators a long time to overcome this assumption before the show was finally produced. It would be great to see how we would go down where attitudes were slightly different.
Are you currently working on a new project? What is next on the horizon for Strangeface?
This show will tour for another year and I will be reworking a few scenes to make the whole a bit tighter. There are several ideas in the pipeline. I would like to adapt some Dickens or Shakespeare. I also don’t think we have finished with the folk tale just yet.
The Last Resort het sy hoogte en laagtepunte maar in die geheel sorg dit vir ‘n baie interessante reis deur n donker dog bekende sprokieswêreld.
Hou gerus die webwerf www.strangeface.co.uk dop vir meer oor hierdie kreatiewe teatergroep.
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