Creative Partnership with Sherbet Lemon Theatre

On April 9th, 2018, the director of Sherbet Lemon Theatre and myself decided that our two companies would work together occasionally to offer advice and feedback on our productions. Devising, writing and directing every day can sometimes prevent you from looking at your work with a subjective eye. Therefore, the partnership with Sherbet Lemon Theatre provided to be extremely crucial for both companies. Emelia and I organised two show-backs for each company and arranged two meetings to transfer notes.

On April 28th, 2018, both companies performed our first show-back to each other. After the show-back, Emelia proposed where in the performance there could be room for development (to name a couple):

• Some characters seem to disappear – particularly, Imogen and the parents.
• Characterisation of some characters seem weak or underdeveloped – particularly, Isobel.
• Timeline seems a little confusing.

After the meeting I, as the writer and director, attempted to rectify their qualms. First, I began with Imogen’s exit.

Draft 1: Imogen’s exit.

Draft 3: Imogen’s exit.

(There was also changes within scenes before this that made Imogen’s exit more justified). Before the show-back, it was unclear to me that Imogen’s exit was more of a disappearance and with a few small changes this provided more context and content. Also, Imogen’s refusal to be a part of Isobel’s schemes adds to her character depth and gives Molly, the actress playing Imogen, additional personality traits to create a dynamic and fluid performance.

Secondly, I began to work closely with Poppy who played Isobel. We began to discuss what her character does when she’s not present on stage to fill the gaps in her characterisation. I left this open for Poppy. I’d usually stop her mid-scene and question her understanding of the context and facilitate a discussion on how her character would act. I describe Isobel as a ‘sniper’, referring to the gun, that you do not know is there until it’s too late. And that’s what Isobel does – she’s in the background going against her siblings and having sneaky meetings with the investor. Emelia pointing this out to me allowed me to really hone in on why my characters do what they do and why they do it.

Thirdly, while I wanted to create a non-naturalistic, contemporary performance, it became apparent that I would have to form together a timeline. Particularly, for the parents’ death, Inka’s creation, sibling’s D.O.Bs, and other events to strengthen the play’s narrative. At first, I was hesitant to do so. Mainly because I did not want this to transfer into other departments. For example, I didn’t want the actor’s performance to be reflective of age because the script does not follow a linear, chronological time-line of events. So, I wanted to keep age fairly neutral. However, it did turn out to benefit the directing and writing, as I suggested to not act of ‘age’, I did suggest that the actors should have an understanding of when the events happened and how that might effect their acting. The timeline follows as:

Timeline of events in Inka

It’s important to mention that not all of these events happen on stage, they might be references to or are purely there for the actor’s understanding of the narrative.

The artistic quality of theatre and performance is under question when applying for ACE funding, particularly for their Grants for the Arts scheme. Under ACE’s ‘Artistic Quality’ assessment, there is a proposal of how your organisation or company have developed in their artistic process. In this application, they recommend that your company should include whether or not they have worked with any established companies. For example:

(Arts Council England, 2016, 43).

So far, Bleeding Edge has worked with the ‘LPAC’ and Sherbet Lemon Theatre. Neither of our theatre companies are yet to be fully established, however, it is good practice for us to work together as a semi-collaborative in the present and future. As it might prove to be handy in the case that we have to do so again in the future with other organisations and companies. I thoroughly enjoyed working with Emelia and the Sherbet Lemons and I wish they every luck for the future. And, I hope that our paths cross again!

-Marcus Regan,
Director and Writer.

Works Cited: 

Arts Council England (2016) ‘Grants for the Arts. How to apply. £15,000 and under’. Arts Council: England.