Whilst struggling to finalise an idea for a through-line to run throughout the full production, it was a cast member that suggested taking another look at the previously researched images of a couple, who, in the midst of every change in season, photographed themselves poised in the same positions for several consecutive years (see image 1). As you scroll down the pages of the slowly aging couple, the viewer can’t help but begin to wonder about everything the couple has experienced together. Hints of story, character and mood are all suggested through the still images, sometimes purely by the couple’s surroundings, with weather and distance being of particular importance when considering these factors. As a company this opened our eyes to the power of still image, none more so than the shock of the final image; the man, standing all alone. The uniformity and consistency of the images made the loss of the man’s wife even more poignant, simply because we had grown comfortable with seeing her and were therefore expecting her.
The inspiration behind Billy and Dolly (Thedmo, 2014)
It was decided that the concept of a constant symmetrical image was what our currently promising, but widely fragmented show needed, and thus, Billy and Dolly were born.
In keeping with the regularity of the recurring image within Billy and Dolly’s unfurling relationship, I took the directorial judgement of deciding that Billy and Dolly should also be consistent between ensemble segments in the way that they move together. Working together with the actors, we devised three set movements that would be reoccurring through; an extended leg elevation, a slight skip when travelling greater distances across stage and a spine roll upwards to pre-empt new movement.
When thinking about the specific movement of Billy and Dolly, much of it was inspired by the theatre company Theatre Ad Infinitum, a company that claim to “create performances that harness the universal language of the body” (Theatre Ad Infinitum, 2015), often using physical theatre in order to present their story. Translunar Paradise is a production that works with mask and movement and tells the story of an elderly couple (see video 1), as the recently deceased “Rose revisits her widowed companion to perform one last act love: to help him let go” (Theatre Ad Infinitum, 2015). With no speech at all throughout the show, and the only sound being the live accompaniment of an accordion, the show effectively portrays and tackles complex areas around “life, death and enduring love” (Theatre Ad Infinitum, 2015).
Video 1, Translunar Paradise.
When viewing the production at Hull Truck Theatre back in 2011, it was a show that moved me in a way that theatre never had before. It was simple. It was quiet. And it was real.
This is exactly what Billy and Dolly need to become. Near participants, constant observers, of the events unfolding around them.
Works Cited
Thedmo (2014) An Elderly Couple Took the Same Photo Every Season. [blog entry] Available from http://imgur.com/gallery/XyA2s [Accessed 25th February 2015].
Theatre Ad Infinitum, (2015) Theatre Ad Infinitum. [online] Available from http://www.theatreadinfinitum.co.uk/ [Accessed 1 March 2015].