English Interlude: A Weekend off the West End

Despite having come to Europe primarily for an education in the arts, I have had blessed little exposure to live performance since my arrival. This is largely because summer is tour season in Europe, and the local venues (i.e. the places where cheap student tickets are available) have mostly been closed. This dramatic dry spell is one reason among many I was so happy to be able to travel to London this past weekend. I was given a wonderful inside tour of two of London's theater hot spots, and all free of charge.

My lovely hostess for the weekend brought me to tech and dress rehearsals of the two shows with whom she is currently employed. The first show, which opens this weekend at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, is titled "Wireless," and is written by Josie Long, a promising young writer who, despite having obvious talent, also works on the hit British television show Skins.* As near as I can tell, Skins is some twisted amalgam of the Disney Channel, "St. Elmo's Fire," the sillier portions of RENT, and bad internet fan fiction about all of the above. But I digress.

Ignoring the at-first-glance-seemingly-pretentious-post-modern-title, I found the play very intelligent, from what scenes I was able to view during tech rehearsal. The plot follows Richard, a young Irishman as he heads to London to move in with this girlfriend, leaves after he discovers she is cheating on him, and eventually becomes involved with Vix, a deaf woman who lives in a massive pile of collected oddities she keeps in her house. This framework developed out of what I am told was originally a somewhat political piece about the horrors of human trafficking.

The end result felt intelligent, and made good use of being a stage script, rather than a screenplay. The play hops from scene to scene in a way that should be jarring, but maintains a sense of connectivity, in no small part thanks to my hostess' wonderful set, a rotating platform which blends one scene into the next as Richard goes about his journey. I had the good fortune to be allowed to contribute a small part to this set, as we spent Saturday morning affixing a few last minute knickknacks to Vix's pile.

Even more exciting was the dress rehearsal I attended Saturday evening at the Battersea Art Centre's Old Town Hall. Punch Drunk Theatricals has come up with one of the most innovative productions I have ever had the pleasure to experience. The company's modus operandi is the transformation of entire buildings into interactive performances, where the audience actually dons costumes and walks about the building as the play is performed all throughout. Their current show, "The Masque of the Red Death," blends the plots of ten short stories by Edgar Allen Poe, with "The Fall of the House of Usher" as the somewhat counter-intuitive hub around which the evening's events turn.

Experiencing this show cannot be adequately described. Though some small portions of the building remained contemporary in appearance (e.g. fire exits), most of it had been reverted to a theatrically convincing nineteenth century manor. Moody lighting and foreboding music haunted every corner, and the actors were absolutely terrific. Half the cast are trained dancers, whose performances, rather than spoken, are acted out through furious duets in their chambers. All the characters travel the building, and you can wait in one room for more to arrive, or pick your favorite and follow. I had special fun following about Inspector Dupin of "The Purloined Letter" as he attempted to solve one of the evening's grislier murders. The plot, I am told, is not altogether important, though I still found myself roped into a couple of its lines. Rather, the point is to experience the show as it happens and allow oneself to get caught up in it. Every element of the performance is pointed towards this goal, including the costumes the audience wore. Each guest wears standard masquerade attire of cloak and mask, which, while giving the whole evening an "Eyes Wide Shut" feel, also helps preserve the illusion since the faces of the other spectators are never seen. Finally, the evening closes with a masquerade party for the audience and cast, where a special last performance is given. I loved this last touch, and I won't ruin it here, in case you get a chance to experience this incredible show.

Though there is no discussion yet of "Masque" touring, its predecessor, an adaptation of "Faust," is coming to New York in the spring. Keep an ear out. If it's half as fun as "Masque," it will be worth every penny.

Though I wouldn't bring anyone under fifteen or so. Let's just say certain performances throughout the evening, particularly some of the, um... choreography... takes a page out of Skins' playbook. I had heard the phrase before, but I didn't know you could actually rip a bodice.

Bussi bussi.

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*I hesitate to even link this trash since I know my siblings occasionally peruse my blog. Molly, go do your homework.