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‘I FEEL I'VE BEEN WORKING
BACK TO FRONT AND
translation
Catherine Grosvenor and Lorne Campbell tell Mark Fisher why Cherry Blossom is a production that's Poles apart
hat does the word ‘collaboration’ make you think of? Director Lorne Campbell thought
he knew until he tried it for himself. ‘You g think of something cosy and cuddly.‘ he says. ‘But this .
has been really hard. We‘re still friends. still happy and excited. but people pull in different directions and there’s lumps and there‘s bumps.’
Catherine Grosvenor says collaboration makes her
she‘s joking. Certainly there’s no animosity between
verbatim interviews and the visual input of the designers. ‘You can feel the presence of more than one imagination.’ says Campbell.
The creative work didn’t stop there. A co-production with Teatr Polski from the town of Bydgoszcz. Cherry Blossom features two Scottish actors (John Kazek and
Sandy Grierson) and two Polish actors (Marta Sitting beside him in the Traverse bar. playwright
Scislowicz and Malgorzata Trotimiuk) all of whom
; have to speak in both languages. Thanks to the think of the Nazis and it‘s hard to know how much
the two of them today as they enthuse about Cherry
Blossom and their partnership with the go-getting design team of Leo Warner and Mark Grimmer. aka 59
Productions. veterans of Black Watch and the youngest
ever associates of the National Theatre in London. ‘Normally no one tells you what to write or how to
write it.’ says Grosvenor. the Edinburgh-born author of ~
computer wizardry of 59 Productions. there'll be
translations projected all over the set. so speakers of
either tongue will be able to keep up. ‘The whole stage is projection surfaces.’ says Grosvenor, who studied German and Polish at Cambridge University. ‘But it's amazing how much you can understand when you
don‘t understand a word.’
2005’s One Day All This Will Come to Nothing. ‘In 4 this one. the subject matter was laid out. we had ideas ' of style and there was an understanding of the direction it was going in. I feel I’ve been working back to front and upside down. I‘ve got to the emotional bit and the storytelling now. but I had a year of reading ;
sociology and chatting to Poles.’
Rather than start off with a script. the four of them came together to discuss an idea — the successive waves of Polish immigration into Scotland — and collaborated on research. interviews and a number of
A response to the post-2004 wave of immigration to
Scotland. the play is an attempt to capture the sense of
dislocation created by moving to a new country. If the
bilingual performance produces a similar feeling of
uncertainty in the audience. the play’s references to the true story of Robert Dziekanski. who died after a l()- hour ordeal of miscommunication in Vancouver airport. will seem all the more poignant. ‘When you
i step into a new culture. for a moment you lose
trips to Poland. Grosvenor wrote the play — the story of I one family of Polish immigrants — in response to this 5 work. but the production will also be enriched by I
84 THE LIST l8 Sap—2 Oct 2008
everything.‘ says Campbell. ‘You lose your name. your language and you‘re incredibly vulnerable. A lot of the moments in the play are about people not understanding each other.’
Cherry Blossom, Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, Sat 27 Sep-Sat 1 1 Oct.
LIST
THE BEST THEATRE & DANCE
* The Brothers Size Tarell Alvin McCraney's play has delighted audiences in New York and London, picking up rave reviews and an Olivier nomination to match. It’s about two Louisiana brothers and their attempts to stay on the straight and narrow. Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, Wed 1—Sat 4 Oct.
* Arches LIVE! Treat yourself to a day pass and sample a range of short shows across the evening as Glasgow‘s favourite subterranean theatre presents another roundup of up-and- coming creative talent. Arches, Glasgow, Thu 18—Sun 28 Sep. 3|: Six Acts of Love World premiere of a bittersweet comedy by loanna Anderson, an Edinburgh-born playwright who's been making her name in Dublin. Una McLean stars in Andy Arnold’s production. See preview, page 85. Tron Theatre, Glasgow, Fri 26 Sap-Sat 1 1 Oct. It Cherry Blossom The Traverse responds to the influx of Polish workers into Scotland with a co-production of a play by Catherine Grosvenor, scripted in close collaboration with director and designers. See preview, left. Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, Wed 24 Sap-Sat 11 Oct.
* A Play, a Pie and a Pint: When Clarence Cells The lunchtime season that kicked off with a new play by lan Rab C Nesbitt Pattison now showcases the work of another TV funnyman, as Ford Kiernan moonlights from Still Game to premiere a play about regular guy, Tony Bailey. Oran Mor, Glasgow, Mon 22—Sat 27 Sep. * Slick Extraordinary half life- size puppets and brilliant performances are the highlights of this Edinburgh Fringe hit by Glasgow’s Vox Motus. it’s a cartoonish comedy about a family who discover oil gushing from their toilet. Tron Theatre, Glasgow, until Sat 20 Sep.