The Danger Of Monsters Part 1

The text for the Galapagos Man is steadily growing to over 37 pages and now the devising process can begin. I am finding myself constantly redrafting and reconfiguring the material and several sections are becoming increasingly complex (in sub-textual meaning rather than action). I expect this process of re-drafting to continue and develop as the practical work begins. I had a meeting with Joe (who will play the 2nd Inspector) yesterday which confirmed my thinking that the work has become densely packed and it will now be the task of directing this theatre to unpack the text and transform it into a physical action that can engage and immerse an audience. Joe and I talked about how we might approach the acting. This is a critical consideration for how the play might work. We spoke about how through our pervious productions we had developed techniques to bridge the difficulties in being ‘honest’ about the actions and lines we were performing even if they made no motivational sense, while simultaneously performing them ‘in character’. I suggested we re-visit these techniques, a form of ‘non-acting’ and I reminded Joe of what Tim Etchells wrote about writing personas not characters – and how this might inform our approach. With this in mind it is perhaps also useful to consider Tadeusz Kantor’s attitude to acting, as he stated:

wish for a situation
in which one could discard so-called acting
(supposedly the only way for an actor to behave ‘on stage’)
which is nothing more than
naïve pretence,
exulted mannerism,
irresponsible illusion!


Here is the current object inventory for the play (that takes the place of a traditional character list)

Object Inventory:

A Bird Cage
An Old Blue Kettle
2 Blood Pumps
2 Body Bags
2 Tiny Body Bags
1 Bottle of Stage Blood (1 litre)
5 Onions
2 Box Office Attendants/Sanitising Nurses
2 Long Tree Cutters 100 Blue Labels
1ST Inspector
2ND Inspector
1ST Inspector Miniature Double (Puppet)
2ND Inspector Miniature Double (Puppet)
The Galapagos Man
The Violinist
The Mother’s Body and Legs
The Mother’s Face (Strained)
The Mother’s Face (Screaming)
The Mother’s Chest
The Mother’s Arms
The Mother’s Voice (Taped)
I Small Camp Stove
2 Cans of Camping Gas
Small Frying Pan
1 Box of Matches
16 Bandages
2 Pairs of Pyjamas
Marv (Puppet)
Darwin the Finch (Puppet)
Dog Dog (Puppet)
Shift Board
MacBook
Printer
Vivisectionist’s equipment (to be defined)
1 Box of Latex Gloves (100)
Alcohol gel (Two Bottles)
Drum Kit
Bass Guitar
Bass amplifier
3 Chairs
2 Tables
A Microphone
Amplifier
2 Tape Records

To be expanded and reduced indefinitely.

Now the process of turning these things into a performance begins.