THEATRE-MAKERS
Ferguson in Black Watch: and bottom right. Anderson promoting Snuff
Who: [’)avey Anderson. .97. left. is the outgoing National theatre of Scotland director in residence. His murky and hugely acclaimed tower blockset thriller Snuff won the 2005 Arches Award for Stage Directors. Brian l-erguson, also 27, left, is an actor best known for his central role of Cammy in Black Watch. What: Currently collaborating on a new play, Rupture, which Anderson wrote and directed. at the x traverse. Ferguson is also playing the lead role in I hey Make fhese Noises by James Kelman, at the Arches. l)avey Anderson and Brian Fergtrson are not a double act. although it would be amusing to get them on stage together: Anderson careening excitedly between ideas. talking nine to the dozen; Ferguson the straight man. pausing and deliberating precisely over his choice of words. However. the upcoming Rupture is the third finished production the pair have worked on together — they met when Ferguson auditioned for the role of vicious. paranoid loner Kevin in Anderson‘s 2005 play Snuff— and both have started to see their working relationship as part of a grander scheme. a long-term artistic project. ‘We're good friends. we have good arguments. we‘re excited about the same things ~ and both our dads are socialists.‘ says Ferguson. ‘which has left me. certainly. determined not to slot into some pre-existing mechanism. and I think it influences the work we want to make. too.’ Anderson adds: ‘Ach. no matter how much you try to rebel against your parents. you’re always going to turn into some weird amalgam of them. (Anderson‘s father is Dave Anderson. founder of Wildcat Theatre. and responsible for hard-hitting. large-scale pieces like Border Warfare and John Bmwn '3 Body. which defined
16 THE LIST 6—20 Sep 2007
just now isn‘t new writing
Scottish theatre in the l‘)t<()s.) ‘What matters to my parents. in terms of in society. [are] the stories of a city‘s life and its communities I found that I cared about the same things. It‘s a
brilliant feeling. when you realise that instead of
just watching the same mind~numbing
entertainment. the same old accepted versions of
things. you can be involved in making new stories.‘
With their ensemble of regular collaborators. including designer Will Holt and musician Ross Ramsay. Ferguson and Anderson are poster boys for the generational shift that seems to be happening in Scottish theatre jtrst now.
The sort of work they want to make sprawling. devised and often site-specific pieces that break down the traditional audience experience are influenced as much by international companies like New Yorkers 'l'liAM as older Scottish institutions.
"l'he best work that‘s coming out of New York you‘re not just going in there and handing the actors a finished script ~ it's collaborative: everybody is involved in the creative process.‘ Anderson explains. ‘We‘re trying to replicate that on Rupture and I‘m constantly being surprised in the rehearsal room by the kind of work that the performers and the other artists are generating. It's a kind of risky. experimental. brave way of working. It might fall on its arse. it might lly. I dunno. The main thing is that it's a way of starting a different kind of conversation and getting people excited.
‘lt feels like a really good time to be making theatre in Scotland. Suddenly the National Theatre of Scotland (NTS) has come along. and they‘re working with so many companies; it‘s almost been like a shot in the arm. And people are getting out there. they're getting much more involved all of a sudden.‘
Ferguson adds: ‘Right now. companies like Vanishing Point. l’oorboy and the NTS are making new. challenging work. and it's assured. It‘s not inward—looking; we seem to have got past that horrible Scottish underdog mentality that can sometimes run through all of our art. not just theatre. There’s an exciting vibe happening in this country?
That new confidence is certainly evident in the NTS juggernaut Black Watch. and Ferguson was
loose
‘I WANT TO SHOVE A STICK OF DYNAMITE UNDER THE AUDIENCE'
nominated for Best Actor in the Stage Awards for his w ise—arse narrator ('ammy. Ii’lat'k Harv/i is moying to l.ondon and Broadway during the next year a fantastic opportunity for any actor
but l‘ict'gllsolt has left the cast. He doesn't expressly state it. but he appears to haye been motiyatcd by a desire to make smaller scale work. where he‘s directly involyed in the devising process.
life as a jobbing actor. it sometimes doesn't feel that cr‘eatiy'e.‘ he says. ‘You turn up. you read the lines for somebody else. and you‘re often ctrtting quite a bit of yourself off in order to do that. I love acting. btrt I'm also interested in everything else to do with the plays I'm in; helping create the piece and watching it grow around you.‘
While he might haye less creative input in the Arches' upcoming James Kelman season. he obviously makes an exception for director Andy Arnold.
‘I love going back to the Arches. and. of course. it‘s the premiere of a new James Kelman play. which is really exciting. It's a love story between two people lost in the big city. and it's loy‘cly'.‘
'l'wo hours and two interviews in. though. and I still haven't managed to get a straight answer frorn either of them about what actually happens in Rupture.
‘()h. it’s a surprise.‘ Anderson says. eyes wide. ‘I want to shove a stick of dynamite under the audience. I don‘t want to make the sort of theatre that people just take in. then go to the bar and say. ‘So. what do you think of my shoes‘." Naw. What‘s the point of that'.’ I want them to go away and argue afterwards. about things they didn‘t even realise that they cared about! I want their reactions to be ruptured. shook tip and changed.‘
Ferguson adds: ‘lt‘s going to be brilliant. and that‘s all I’m saying. What links the characters in Rupture is that they‘re all chasing something. looking for that missing element that will make them feel the way they think they’re supposed to. All those things that people start lusting after. when life isn't enough. liverything‘s so quick these days. ('ollaborating with people over a period of years. when the collaboration itself becomes your main focus. is an antidote to that. It‘s like settling. maybe. (‘oming home.’
Rupture, Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, Sat 22 Sep-Sat 6 Oct. These Noises They Make, Arches, Glasgow, Thu 8-Fri 16 Nov.
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