Storm after the Storm (Nothing to to with Good Thunder)

This play was performed as part of a fundraising quiz night involving other Stafford community groups.

Thanks to All those who helped:


Joint fundraising Group - including - Stafford and District Voluntary Services; Wolverhamption & Stafford RSPCA; Child of mine
Chris Dickins (Gurusoul) cool music and sound production.
Haling Dene Centre - Venue (apologies re: the carpet)
Universal Social Club, Doxey - for the extremely reasonably priced rehearsal space
Rising Brook Fire Station - for the use of the community room and friendly wardens
Sara's mum and dad - the fantastic Black Box, helping with Sara's many lines and fabulous colourful costume.
Actors - Billie, Damon, Gabi, Georgina, Jamie, Merv, Raven & Sara - not just a great first performance of this play, but coming to loads of extra rehearsals, learning brave new skills, pushing the boundaries, testing yourselves, experimenting, helping with costumes, makeup, transport and bringing people along to the show.
Audience - For coming, clapping, answering the seemingly endless list of questions, laughing, having a good time and giving us your money.  Thank you very much!


Now a word on my favourite topic - emotions:

After a performance can be a very fragile time, emotionally.  Even if a performance goes well, which, I am pleased to say the Badger Kettle did.  I'm not sure how people who actually work creatively in theatre on a full time basis do it.  Maybe it becomes just like a job, and a bit boring after a while.


For me who bumbles along with my group of intrepid friends through ideas and improvisations with nothing but a whisp of an idea about what I am doing, and who creates without knowing that the object of my creation will be enjoyable to others, who takes huge risks, and then asks others to do the same (by engaging in creative activity, or by coming along to witness the results of months of creative work), the time after a performance can be tumultuous.  Emotions take unexpected twists and turns, I feel exposed and vulnerable.  Not that these emotions are not there at other times - they certainly are, they are not created through a performance, and the life events that become twisted with sometimes confused, confusing, perplexing tortured, feelings, are already happening and will continue to happen.


This might be a time of assimilation, or resolution of emotion, or it might be a stirring, an agitation and an explosion of emotion.  But emotion it is.  And raw.


Emotion is the stuff of life - it is where we get our energy from.  The whole spectrum.  I don't do negative emotion.  All emotion is positive, the love, the anger, the joy, the hope, the fear.  I'm not sure about guilt, but yes, maybe that is positive to.  I try to be guided by my emotions, when life allows.  I feed on them.  At times in my life the confused, clashing times when multiple emotions race around grinding and stopping me in my tracks, these are the times when I feel I may be experiencing mental illness.  I may call sadness gripped by a dark and angry guilt, depression, I may call fear strangled by entangled love and rage, anxiety.  Then I have to stop.  Let things settle.  Experience the intensity of what I call pain.  Immerse myself with gratitude in whatever moments of comfort I can get from friends and family.  And remind myself that it will pass.  And try to avoid catastrophising.  And try not to lash out at people close to me like a wounded dog with my back to the wall.  And try to carry on doing the things that I need to do to keep life going on a practical, day to day basis.


So, the blog is a week overdue.

Here are some pics

The narrator, harlequin, jester, storyteller, separate and yet fully involved with the story.  Her job is to magnify the action, seduce the audience, to know and love all of the characters, and to set the scene for the play.

The three novices show three different ways that we may respond to prejudice and fear.  We may want to capture or kill the objec of fear.  Or we may wish to sanitise - this can include rationalisation, 'cleaning' or 'curing'.  Alternatively, we may become overwhelmed by our fear and hide away, refusing to look at or make contact with the feared object.

Stylised movements, simultaneously slow and fast, some sudden and unexpected, different tensions, worlds collide in this story that broke all of the rules we made when we devised our method.

Relationships, motivations actions, interactions and reactions are all of utmost importance.  Every movement is choreographed according to the personality of the character, with each of these aspects in mind

The chase scene is fast and dangerous (literally, the cast have to be careful not to injure themselves, and part of the training is in how to do things such as fall, convincingly, at speed, and without hurting themselves).

 

The mysterious market seller.  Where did the wonderful kettle badger come from?  Where did the market seller come from?  Did the market seller know about the badger?  So many questions, we can never know all of the answers. 

Living beings of this physical world are of no concern to the priest, who lives in very satisfactory comfort, with three students (novices), who as well as learning the scripture, help out around the house.  Demons are much more terrifying.  They cannot be controlled, imprisoned, manipulated, bribed.  They are out of control, unpredictable and unknown.

The three novices learn fear and manipulation from their master, living also in fear of him, their fear enables them to be manipulated - but they also manage to rebel, though in an underhand way  that will ultimately fail to release them from the chains of their externally imposed morality - The priest is an authoritarian, pious man, who it seems teaches ignorance, greed, superstition and fear, along with the 'holy scripture'

Through mirroring the actions of the characters, the narrator becomes intimately involved with them.  She shows empathy and absorption in the story, encouraging the audience to respond in the same way.

The tinker teaches us to take life as it comes, to recieve each new experience with openness, if in doubt to offer trust and friendship, to listen to the stories of strangers, and, according to the story, loving companionship and good fortune may follow.

In this dreamlike dance sequence, the badger and the tinker become acquainted with each other.  Their mutual trust and openness leads to opportunity and good fortune

We managed a proper bow at the end of this play, having learned from the last rather chaotic ending in which the cast didn't have a clue what to do and kind of wandered off stage in a confused manner when the audience started applauding.