because I trusted him so much. I’m quite excited by the idea of l’aines l’lough. a kind of cutting- edge writer's theatre comhing with frantic Assembly on stage. I think the result will he a kind of hybrid hetwecn the two. which sounds a great coitthittatioiu
The Actors: Scott Graham and Steven Hoggett of Frantic Assembly ()n the face of it. Morgan‘s psycho— logical and naturalistic script shouldn't suit a widely—acclaimcd phy \— ical theatre company. hut founder :nemhcrs Scott (iraham attd Steven lloggett are enthusiastic. ~'l‘here‘s a phy'sicality to any kind of scriptf says lloggett. ‘\\’e‘ve always worked from a text. hut with this one w e‘re far more suhmerged into it. we don‘t explode away from it. as we‘ve done with past work.‘
‘As a physical theatre company. you find movement anywheref (iraham says. There are fewer opportunities to he big and brash here. hut we‘ve been more attentive with this text. The ideas and moments have been less obvious than in our previous work. hut they're still there. The movement we‘ve worked with allows the audience to see it as real and accept it.'
But what of the artistic contrasts hctween lirantic Assemhly' and l’aines l’lough‘.’ "l‘he difference between tis has never been as apparent as you'd think.‘ lloggett says. "l‘herc‘s a great balance. We‘ve all been ahle to go with the moment. we all believe in the possihilities in rehearsal. so no one so far has tried to narrow it down. to one thing or another. It’s a very creative process.‘
Graham and (below) Hoggett
The Director: Vicky Featherstone of Paines Plouga How has lieatherstonc. a great advocate of new writing and defender of the text worked with a company that is known for flourishing depart— ures from conventional narrative'.’ for me. it was about creating an environment that let people work. These people Ishe indicates the actors] are actually very old friends. he seen their work as far hack as when they were at university in Cardiff. and they 've seen everything I‘ve done. l"or me. it was about assemhling people I respected enough to trust immediatelyf
So there was no attempt to impose a directorial point of vicw‘.’ '.\'o. I went into this project. unusually. without a picture of it in my head. We all started on it at pretty much the same time. with AM coming in with hits of script. and going away again to add to it. This has allowed time to let it develop. That’s important. because I‘m in the theatre for the moment where you can really pull an audience. and that's something we all .s‘haref
20 THE LIST FESTIVAL GUIDE .‘ 4 -'«...: .
So the collahoration is productiye‘.’ '()h. ahsolutcly. I look at them. and they look at me. thinking ahout what we can teach each other.
What cart you do to create a moment that‘s hettcr
than us‘.’ We‘re all learning from each otherf
The Creative Team: cles‘igner. Julian Crouch from lmprol‘iahie and composer Nick Powell from Suspect Culture lmprohahlc 'l‘heatrc deals with landscapes of the mind using such elements as puppetry and sell—conscious storytelling. ‘.I\t lmprolmhle. we don‘t start with a script. it‘s all dey ised.‘ says (’rouch. ‘(lftcn foi' its. the design is the first element. so I'm usually the first person who sits down and works on the project. and the design works like writing for other companies. llere. I'm making decisions as we go along: its ahout prohlem solying. he designed something that l
Crouch and (right) Powell
'Usually, we use puppets to deal with the very physical business,‘ says Julian Crouch, ‘but it seems these guys can do ibthemselves.‘
hope can coyer \arious possibilities. llis \L‘l‘} tlll-l-L‘l‘L‘lll l-tll' mc. l'sually. we puppets to deal with the may physical husiness. hut it young guys ll-irantic .’\ssemhly| can do it themselyes.‘
llow \ick l’ow ell found working away from tltc cerchral
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cultural commentaries of (ilasgow's Suspect ('ulture'.’ 'lt‘s heen a \cry quick process compared to what we tisually do at Suspect (‘ulturc. w here we workshop for a long time hel'orc we go to production. It‘s really inyigorating to work in this way. It‘s about creating a musical language that works in people's minds right away. I think it's been different for l'ranlic in this way. since they usually work with found musicf
Tiny Dynamite, Traverse Theatre, 4-25 Aug, times vary.