9 October 2015
- Created and performed by Catherine Bennett and Paul Davies
- Design by Cadi Lane
- Inspired by the novel The Interrogative Mood by Padgett Powell
We inserted the hall, but there was nothing in it. Just a bunch of people in a black-coloured room. We were asked to leave our bags-jackets-coats on the floor and wait for a couple of minutes. Listening to the odd-looking lady made us anxious, as she was speaking something about “involving the audience” and such an intimate piece. My first reactions – “oh, what should I say. Love, yeah, it is a horrible thing which fulfills you with pleasure and energy. Or should I lie? Maybe I shold start crying and explain how difficult it is, or should I try to convince them that “all you need is love”?” His first reactions (telling me) – if you see me just standing up in the middle of a piece and leaving the room, then it was because I hate these kinds of “involve the audience” theatres. I just want to come, sit down, relax and be entertained. This is what theatre is all about, what is has been from the very beginning.”
After a while we are lead into a small room, weird and random items hanging on the wooden walls. I am trying to make sense of these, which I do not manage and I quit hoping that they will take a meaning throughout the play. Well, to say it hastily – they don’t. Opposite to a common play, it is quite difficult to describe what happened, what were they doing, though the plot and the aim of it became pretty clear. Two people, in relationship, trying to reach from the fresh new days to the good old days. Looks like they are somewhere in between. Asking millions of questions about what do you think of red colour in general? How does it make you feel? Would you prefer a red shirt or a pair of red socks? Why is your nose so red? Do you remember when we went out last week, the lady who walked right behind us, laughing and screaming to herself, what do you think, would it be me in the future? What if I never met you? What if I didn’t take the first step? Would you have taken it?
-What are you doing up there?
-What are you doing down there?
-I don’t remember why I started climbing in the first place
-You were supposed to fix the table
-Oh, yeah
All these seemingly pointless and meaningless questions figured into something, which could be explained like this: in relationship every single teeny-tiny thing matters, because you really need and want to understand every decision your loving one has made, is about to make and so on. Although you know you would ever understand other person completely, you want to see into one’s mind and heart as good as you can, as far as the one let’s you to look. It is all about trust and opening yourself. The funny but truthful fact was that often, when one is trying to open up, talk and feel the closeness then the other is not in the mood, not listening, or is expressing their feeling somehow, which doesn’t make any sense to the other one.
As I am so into the plot, I find it hard to think about the different aspects of it.
The stage was on the same level with the audience, which improved the connection between the actors and audience. The involving part concluded some reading (the male actor wrote something in the notepad and asked a volunteer to read it afterwards. Improvising and “being just the way they are” started a conversation after the show between us. Does it make any difference if you have a character or not? The question popped up because these two actors (man and woman) were more likely to be themselves in the situation, yet in a character. Should a play always include characters? Can there be a story without characters or a character without a story? Were they just so believable in the is characters so we just thought that they are playing themselves? Or were they just expressing the emotions of difficult and over-whelming relationship?
Even though, I had a lot of questions and confusions, I liked the play and so did he, because there was funny moments, surprising moments, improvising moments and sad moments, which in general made me discover even deeper, even more about the complexity of humankind.
- Created and performed by Catherine Bennett and Paul Davies
- Design by Cadi Lane
- Inspired by the novel The Interrogative Mood by Padgett Powell
– See more at: http://www.chapter.org/147questions#sthash.Gq2YP4F2.dpuf
- Created and performed by Catherine Bennett and Paul Davies
- Design by Cadi Lane
- Inspired by the novel The Interrogative Mood by Padgett Powell
– See more at: http://www.chapter.org/147questions#sthash.Gq2YP4F2.dpuf
- Created and performed by Catherine Bennett and Paul Davies
- Design by Cadi Lane
- Inspired by the novel The Interrogative Mood by Padgett Powell
– See more at: http://www.chapter.org/147questions#sthash.Gq2YP4F2.dpuf
- Created and performed by Catherine Bennett and Paul Davies
- Design by Cadi Lane
- Inspired by the novel The Interrogative Mood by Padgett Powell
– See more at: http://www.chapter.org/147questions#sthash.Gq2YP4F2.dpuf
- Created and performed by Catherine Bennett and Paul Davies
- Design by Cadi Lane
- Inspired by the novel The Interrogative Mood by Padgett Powell
– See more at: http://www.chapter.org/147questions#sthash.Gq2YP4F2.dpuf
MINDMAP 