IMMERSIVE POE – THE BLACK HEART
I nspired by the iconic 1960s American Broadway hit How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, Year 9 students from Dulwich and JAGS presented their satirical vision of the corporate snakes and ladders business world of 1960s Manhattan. In this opportunistic bear pit of ex- treme corporate one-upmanship, succeeding by any kind of meritocratic model of superior executive ability or work ethic is a profound rarity. Rather, the successful capitalists claw their way up by back-stabbing, deceit and foul play. With satire permeating every inch of this production, the adaptation was a hoot with sharp-witted dialogue in an abundance. As with all biting satires, a splendid spoof on the surface covers a scathing indictment of capitalist cul- ture, and we were provided with a sharp social commentary as timely now as it was in 1967. With just two school days to put the performance together, the young company came together to create a sardonic and splashy ‘Mad Men’-style adventure about an ambitious individual with a step-by-step plan to rise through the ranks of a large corporation with a self-help pamphlet entitled, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. The company showcased their collaborative inventive skills, including multi-roling, heightened caricature, slick ensemble playing and even live drumming. Special men-tion has to be made for Sebastian Hitchcock-Spencer’s wonderful portrayal of big-shot CEO J.B. Biggley, Dorian Todd- Miller’s three-dimensional Mr Gatch, Ernesto Chiappini’s heroic Wally Wamper, and the extreme talents of the JAGS ensemble, who committed entirely to the rap dash nature of the production, with Imogen Poiten’s Jessica Finch and Katy Sandford’s Ms Twimble certainly among the stand outs. The play was adapted and directed by Practitioner in Residence Eddie Loodmer-Elliott, with assisted support from professional actor Sam Henderson. ◎ A PLAY IN TWO DAYS Year 9 students impressed with their performance of this spoof on capitalist culture, says Practitioner in Residence Eddie Loodmer-Elliott
Mark Wignall was impressed by the exceptional and brave performance work in this ‘dare to be disturbed’ immersive adapation of Edgar Allan Poe’s Fall of the House of Usher
M idnight Poe; the Black Heart was a brilliantly subversive and thrilling adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe’s Fall of the House of Usher, devised and performed by our Year 12 A-level Drama and Theatre cohort of Will Barter-Sheppard and Nat Rowney, and inspired by Punchdrunk’s The Burnt City . We were invited to roam the Edward Alleyn Theatre as voyeurs witnessing the unravelling not just of the siblings’ sanity but of the very fabric of the theatre itself, which seemed to crumble before our eyes with the sudden release of a gauze veiling the sins of the characters, and dust and snow falling from the gantry to shroud the catatonic Madeline. The duo must be commended for performance work of the highest dramatic order. The pair created a stunning immersive promenade per- formance piece that disrupted theatrical norms by putting the spectators at the heart of the action. Audience members wandered through a dark, macabre Gothic world devised through the lens of Poe’s story. The Edward Alleyn Theatre was transformed. Four metal frames led the audience into a descended chaos of disintegrating sanity through each individual room of the house, all carefully constructed with granular detail: a typewriter with un-inked letters stamped onto blank paper evidenced Usher’s obsession with writing to ‘his best and only friend’, the atmosphere heightened with frenzied letters eddying though the air and descending upon us. The narrative of a family plagued by a living breathing manifestation of incest, uncontrolled desire and bitter hate was deftly crafted and showcased some great visual set pieces and physical duets as the siblings stalked, hunted and repelled each other.
With satire permeating every inch of this production, the adaptation was a hoot, with sharp-witted dialogue in abundance
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THE ALLEYNIAN 711
DRAMA & DANCE
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