Unprotected Theatre Review

Velvet Ensemble were in the WMC’s Weston Studio earlier this week with their first full production: Unprotected written by Bethan Marlow.

The play opens with our introduction to Violet (Rhian Blythe) the central character; her first monologue is a separate moment to the content of the play, as if she is asking permission and even forgiveness for what we are about to see. We see her moving into a new flat, alone and away from her ‘suffocating’ apparently religious parents and she embarks on a journey of understanding that transforms her innocence and naivety into an understanding of who she is. She moves between moments of innocence and complete manic, irrational behaviour which confuses Tom the second character as he is drawn towards her and at the same time pushed away. Whilst Tom is something of a plot device for Violet’s journey he is given motivation and we empathise with his position. For instance, in a moment of irrationality near the end, Violet threatens to jump out of a window and Tom freaks out – we are given to understand that his own torment, his initial reluctance towards Violet, comes from his past where someone else had jumped from a window.

In trying to understand who she is, Violet takes on the persona’s of stereotypes and other characters, dressing up as a sexy girl, working as a charity street vendor and the housewife baking quiche: she picks the completely wrong moment to turn up at one of Tom’s haunt’s to give him the quiche. The play deals with the issues of normality: how we as individuals see it, are afraid of what it means and also how we interpret it in others. Violet plays this game where she imagines what it is like to be other people and plays out the imaginings – “ [she wants to be everything and not her, but not knowing how] ”. There are also questions of love and how we fear that – Tom recognises that he is drawn to Violet but denies his feelings and refuses her cravings of a stable relationship by running off and appearing embarrassed around her.

It was a very bold move of Bethan’s to only include two visible characters, as the fewer characters there are the harder it is to create dramatic flow, but the content of the character’s actions provides plenty of tension and dramatic progression keeping the audience engrossed. It is a tense and very physical play with both actors running around, falling, jumping in and out of the bed and there are moments of comic genius in the dialogue that keep us intrigued. There are instances where Tom and Violet ‘speak’ to other people in the street although they are never seen and including those extra people would take away from the impact of Tom and Violet’s interaction. The exclusion of Violet’s possessive parents is explained away in her description of her parents and the “God is a bastard” line, although this is something of a stereotype and the only major one used in the play – the denouncing of a child for religious blasphemy. Yet without the stereotype it would have been more difficult to explain away their absence, thus taking away from the impact of Violet’s journey: her parents job is not to be there.

The set was a simple and effective raised square with the bare essentials of a bedroom and all of Violet’s possessions stored in cardboard boxes and it was mentioned that the bed was a ¾ bed rather than a standard double; whether this was a space issue or to force the characters to come closer together in the bed scenes I am unsure. The white of Violet’s internal space and world contrasts with the black corridor around it that represents ‘outside’ with leaves, crisp packets and empty cans litter the edges to reinforce the opposing worlds and there were specific points on the square the actors used to represent a door and a window. The opposing colours could also be seen to subtly clarify Violet’s opposing behaviour. An effective stage direction were the 'sex' scenes where the lights would black out as the characters started to undress or had moved onto the bed and were in position as if to get on with it, a clean yet brilliant way of handling a moment that is often difficult to carry through.

It is impressive that Rhian Blythe and Gareth Milton were only in rehearsals with director Sarah Bickerton for just over three weeks and the fact that they only had the locked in script for a week is even more notable, really proving that these are two brilliant performers. Although as Bethan mentioned after, Rhian played Violet in the original Never Fear Love production for the 2009 incubator project so she would have already had some insight into this very complex character. What added to the characterisation, and probably purely accidental were the bruises on Rhian's legs, I wouldnt be suprised she had collected them from the rehearsing of the rough and tumble parts of the play.

There certainly were no location issues – they could have been two individuals in any corner of any city across the country, only Rhian’s accent placed it in Wales against Gareth’s far more neutral accent. Any person watching the play, anywhere in the country would be encouraged to recognise that normal isn’t real – there are eccentricities, strange habits and unusual behaviours in everyone of us but we all must be careful that the intricate weavings we play out in life do not start to play us like a game and turn everything against us as Violet’s behaviour turns against her in Tom walking out of her life after admitting that he had loved her. If there was a decision to take it further or even on tour I would greatly encourage that decision and wish it every success.

Congratulations to Velvet Ensemble, Sarah Bickerton and Bethan Marlow for such a great production and good luck for the next project and the future ladies, I am eager to see more.

Unprotected is in the Weston Studio (WMC) 8th & 9th December

(Unprotected poster taken from website)

Unprotected

Weston Studio 8th & 9th December

Velvet Ensemble were in the WMC’s Weston Studio earlier this week with their first full production: Unprotected written by Bethan Marlow.

The play opens with our introduction to Violet (Rhian Blythe) the central character; her first monologue is a separate moment to the content of the play, as if she is asking permission and even forgiveness for what we are about to see. We see her moving into a new flat, alone and away from her ‘suffocating’ apparently religious parents and she embarks on a journey of understanding that transforms her innocence and naivety into an understanding of who she is. She moves between moments of innocence and complete manic, irrational behaviour which confuses Tom the second character as he is drawn towards her and at the same time pushed away. Whilst Tom is something of a plot device for Violet’s journey he is given motivation and we empathise with his position. For instance, in a moment of irrationality near the end, Violet threatens to jump out of a window and Tom freaks out – we are given to understand that his own torment, his initial reluctance towards Violet, comes from his past where someone else had jumped from a window.

In trying to understand who she is, Violet takes on the persona’s of stereotypes and other characters, dressing up as a sexy girl, working as a charity street vendor and the housewife baking quiche: she picks the completely wrong moment to turn up at one of Tom’s haunt’s to give him the quiche. The play deals with the issues of normality: how we as individuals see it, are afraid of what it means and also how we interpret it in others. Violet plays this game where she imagines what it is like to be other people and plays out the imaginings – “ [she wants to be everything and not her, but not knowing how] ”. There are also questions of love and how we fear that – Tom recognises that he is drawn to Violet but denies his feelings and refuses her cravings of a stable relationship by running off and appearing embarrassed around her.

It was a very bold move of Bethan’s to only include two visible characters, as the fewer characters there are the harder it is to create dramatic flow, but the content of the character’s actions provides plenty of tension and dramatic progression keeping the audience engrossed. It is a tense and very physical play with both actors running around, falling, jumping in and out of the bed and there are moments of comic genius in the dialogue that keep us intrigued. There are instances where Tom and Violet ‘speak’ to other people in the street although they are never seen and including those extra people would take away from the impact of Tom and Violet’s interaction. The exclusion of Violet’s possessive parents is explained away in her description of her parents and the “God is a bastard” line, although this is something of a stereotype and the only major one used in the play – the denouncing of a child for religious blasphemy. Yet without the stereotype it would have been more difficult to explain away their absence, thus taking away from the impact of Violet’s journey: her parents job is not to be there.

The set was a simple and effective raised square with the bare essentials of a bedroom and all of Violet’s possessions stored in cardboard boxes and it was mentioned that the bed was a ¾ bed rather than a standard double; whether this was a space issue or to force the characters to come closer together in the bed scenes I am unsure. The white of Violet’s internal space and world contrasts with the black corridor around it that represents ‘outside’ with leaves, crisp packets and empty cans litter the edges to reinforce the opposing worlds and there were specific points on the square the actors used to represent a door and a window. The opposing colours could also be seen to subtly clarify Violet’s opposing behaviour. An effective stage direction were the 'sex' scenes where the lights would black out as the characters started to undress or had moved onto the bed and were in position as if to get on with it, a clean yet brilliant way of handling a moment that is often difficult to carry through.

It is impressive that Rhian Blythe and Gareth Milton were only in rehearsals with director Sarah Bickerton for just over three weeks and the fact that they only had the locked in script for a week is even more notable, really proving that these are two brilliant performers. Although as Bethan mentioned after, Rhian played Violet in the original Never Fear Love production for the 2009 incubator project so she would have already had some insight into this very complex character. What added to the characterisation, and probably purely accidental were the bruises on Rhian's legs, I wouldnt be suprised she had collected them from the rehearsing of the rough and tumble parts of the play.

There certainly were no location issues – they could have been two individuals in any corner of any city across the country, only Rhian’s accent placed it in Wales against Gareth’s far more neutral accent. Any person watching the play, anywhere in the country would be encouraged to recognise that normal isn’t real – there are eccentricities, strange habits and unusual behaviours in everyone of us but we all must be careful that the intricate weavings we play out in life do not start to play us like a game and turn everything against us as Violet’s behaviour turns against her in Tom walking out of her life after admitting that he had loved her. If there was a decision to take it further or even on tour I would greatly encourage that decision and wish it every success.

(L-R)Bethan Marlow Sarah Bickerton and Victoria John

Congratulations to Velvet Ensemble, Sarah Bickerton and Bethan Marlow for such a great production and good luck for the next project and the future ladies, I am eager to see more.

Velvet Ensemble interview with Rachel Williams and Chelsey Gillard: Young Critics

Theatre Company Velvet Ensemble is back in the WMC with their first big production; Unprotected. This time as ‘graduates’ of its annual Incubator Project (2009) and we grabbed the chance to talk to its producer Victoria “V” John and writer Bethan Marlow during rehearsals in Cardiff, in an unexpected rehearsal space; rather than in a WMC studio V walked us to an office building around the corner where we settled into sofas out of the cold.

Velvet Ensemble:

Living in a world dominated by male writers and uninteresting female parts V was encouraged by positive, proud, can do women in American theatre: women who freely admit to being feminists. So V brought Velvet Ensemble to life as a theatre company creating productions for and about women, by women. Although they both stress that the male voice is still important - it is just an attempt to address the gender imbalance and to quote V they are not “angry, man hating, bra burning lesbians” but are certainly not afraid of that label, her attitude is that people should come see the plays and let them speak for themselves before she has to defend anything. 

We asked V to define Velvet Ensemble, was it aiming to be mainstream? Edgy? To her those words mean little: she doesn’t know the ultimate goal for the company, only that there is no ‘house style’ and she would like to produce a different work every time and that is the main reason for the absence of an Artistic Director.

The Incubator Project, Victoria?

V explained that WMC set up this initiative to nurture new talent, starting with Inc’Ling: where any type of artist; from actor to lighting designer can try out any new idea they have. From here it progresses into the Incubator project which requires a larger, more solid brief/work in progress: giving them rehearsal space and a small bursary. The work is then presented in a one night performance along with other ‘Incubator’ companies/ artists where the audience can provide feedback. For Velvet Ensemble the support provided was incredibly important especially now as they are in co-production with the WMC as part of an ‘Incubator 2’ almost, to develop Unprotected into a full production.

Bethan on Unprotected

It isn’t just the name of the show, Unprotected defines the process of evolution that plays can go through – nothing is safe. With the dates for the show around the corner we asked just how much of the original project and brief had survived and what had grown from it. Out of the original four, only one main character has survived so we only see her part of the story:  the best way to concentrate on the central idea. It still carries the same themes: questioning the word “normal” and playing with the word love and peoples fears; our relationship with love, what it is, what it makes you do and how scared we are of it and scared what it can make you do.  

Why should anyone go see Unprotected?

“The people that are involved are phenomenally gifted, are rising stars in Welsh theatre. We are expressing something new and Welsh talent should be supported in Wales”.

Cardiff and being in Wales

V currently lives in London but works between there and Cardiff, the two cities are vastly different, not just in size but in outlook and personality so we asked just what Cardiff’s allure was – away from the bright lights of London’s theatre. London is brilliant but vastly over populated: the spectrum of spectacular theatre to the downright dire is far greater: one is able to go out any night of the week to an array of locations and find a production, whereas in Cardiff’s smaller circle the spectrum is not so wide. Both are hugely passionate about Cardiff and Wales; its theatre scene is burgeoning, the support is far greater and the buzz of a fringe theatre scene has only now begun to stamp its mark outside of the conventional theatre space. They candidly admit it that the environment here is such that if the production was not done here, would not have been done at all.

It’s not a secret

“Theatre is just a job like anything else” and Bethan would be right, people see theatre as an unattainable luxury that only the gifted and privileged have access to but the case is most of us want to share what we learn – Bethan for instance does workshops in the prisons with Academi. Education is important to the VE team too – they work with Channel 4’s ‘4 talent’ and work within  schools, not  just to develop theatre skills but to also give people confidence, build self esteem and to just show that there isn’t a massive gap between the theatre and an audience. Both V and Bethan stressed that they want “real” people to come to their productions, open minded and willing to be as involved in the performance as the actors.  

So what is next? 

We didn’t get much out of V on this one, “the future is bright and varied” she said cryptically at the end. Although she is very excited about the next piece which will hopefully be a children’s show and she is looking at a stack of plays at the moment, all that is needed is the time and space to develop ideas and then the money to do it.

To find out more go to http://www.velvetensemble.co.uk/

Unprotected is on at the WMC 8^TH and 9^th December,

Unprotected poster taken from website



Velvet Ensemble Theatre Company Interview

Theatre Company Velvet Ensemble is back in the studio with the production Unprotected, having  returned to the Wales Millennium Centre as 2009 ‘graduates’ of its Incubator Project: we grabbed the chance to talk to its producer Victoria John and the writer Bethan Marlow during rehearsals in Cardiff. We joined them in an unexpected rehearsal space; rather than in a Wales Millennium Centre studio Victoria walked us to an office building around the corner where we settled into sofas out of the cold.

The Incubator Project, Victoria?

Victoria explained that it is a WMC initiative set up to nurture new talent, starting with Inc’Ling: where any type of artist, from actor to lighting designer can try out any new idea they have before it progresses onto the Incubator project which requires a larger, more solid brief/work in progress: giving them rehearsal space and a small bursary to then present a work in progress where the audience can provide feedback over a one night performance billed with the other ‘Incubator’ companies/ artists for that year. For her the support provided then is incredibly important and without it they may not be where they are now and is likely to be just as important now as they are in co-production with the WMC as part of an ‘Incubator 2’ almost, to develop Unprotected into a full production.

Bethan on Unprotected

It isn’t just the name of the show, unprotected defines the process of evolution that play’s can go through – nothing is safe and with the dates for the show around the corner we asked just how much of the original project and brief had survived and what had grown from it. Out of the original four, only main character has survived so we only see her part of the story:  the best way to concentrate on the central idea. It still carries the same themes: questioning the word “normal” and playing with the word love and peoples fears; our relationship with love, what it is, what it makes you do and how scared we are of it and scared what it can make you do.  

Why should anyone go see Unprotected?

“The people that are involved are phenomenally gifted, are rising stars in Welsh theatre. We are expressing something new and Welsh talent should be supported in Wales”

Cardiff, and being in Wales. 

V currently lives in London but works between there and Cardiff, the two cities are vastly different, not just in size but in outlook and personality so we asked just what Cardiff’s allure was – away from the bright lights of London’s theatre. London is brilliant but vastly over populated: the spectrum of spectacular theatre to the downright dire is far greater: one is able to go out any night of the week to an array of locations and find a production, whereas in Cardiff’s smaller circle the spectrum is not so wide. Both are hugely passionate about Cardiff and Wales; its theatre scene is burgeoning, the support is far greater and the buzz of a fringe theatre scene has only now begun to stamp its mark outside of the conventional theatre space. They candidly admit it that the environment here is such that if the production was not done here, would not have been done at all.

It’s not a secret

“Theatre is just a job like anything else” and Bethan would be right, people see theatre as an unattainable luxury that only the gifted and privileged have access to but the case is most of us want to share what we learn – Bethan for instance does workshops in the prisons with Academi. Education is important to the VE team to – they work with Channel 4’s ‘4 talent’ and work within  schools, not  just to develop theatre skills but to also give people confidence, build self esteem and to just show that there isn’t a massive gap between the theatre and an audience.

Velvet Ensemble

Living in a world dominated by male writers and uninteresting female parts Victoria was encouraged by positive, proud, can do women in American theatre: women who freely admit to being feminists. So V brought Velvet Ensemble to life as a theatre company creating productions for and about women, by women. Although they both stress that the male voice is still important, it is just an attempt to address the gender imbalance and to quote V they are not “angry, man hating, bra burning lesbians” but are certainly not afraid of that label, her attitude is that people should come see the plays and let them speak for themselves before she has to defend anything. 

                We asked V to define Velvet Ensemble, was it aiming to be mainstream? Edgy? To her those words mean little: she doesn’t know the ultimate goal for the company, only that there is no ‘house style’ and she would like to produce a different work every time and that is the main reason for the absence of an Artistic Director.

So what is next?  We didn’t get much out of V on this one, “the future is bright and varied” she said cryptically at the end. Although she is very excited about the next piece which will hopefully be a children’s show and she is looking at a stack of plays at the moment, all that is needed is the time and space to develop idea’s and then the money to do it.