Simple but effective staging for the"Fluffy Holy Freak Show"
My first reaction on hearing that 'In Yer Face' theatre company were presenting their current work near to where we were staying was regret that I wouldn't be able to see them: it was the the day we arrived in Manchester, and I had a lot of other things to do, not least a presentation of my own on Sunday. The idea wouldn't go away though: it seemed such a great opportunity to see one of the leading christian companies in the UK, especially as they are known for producing controversial, non-compromising work, and let's face it, I'd said that I wanted to gather as many ideas as possible while in the UK.
Eventually I decided that there were too many more reasons to go, and the fact the piece was called the 'Fluffy Holy Freak Show' was one of them. I allowed a few other 'Important' things to slide and my friend and I duly presented ourselves at the door of the Anglican church where 'Fluffy Holy Freak Show was to be presented. The presentation was based on a series of fast, punchy, mostly larger than life sketches/dramas, grouped into threes: after three pieces someone from IYF would come and explain the ideas behind them more fully for a few minutes, and then the theatre would start again. The approach was more literal than Xpresso uses. Some abstract ideas (sin, for example) being personified by in a similar way to the medieval mystery plays, and the message is very clear, whereas in our work we tend to try and make deeper characters people can identify with. 'Fluffy Holy Freak Show' also had a lot more comedy than serious material -which gave the serious dramas more impact.
IYF is a very different organisation to Xpresso, but at the end of the evening I thought 'We could produce material like this' We couldn't do the same: IYF have more training and experience than we do, and certain pieces would be too much of a challenge for the team, and our local church. On the other hand a bigger team means we can give out roles to people as they are capable of them, and having short pieces would allow more flexibility for people with different time commitments.
In particular we could do with some new ideas for the annual 'big' presentation in October, where we are working during a village festival, and this could give us a fresh style. apart from anything else I've been told we need to make a change because people "Didn't understand the message" of the previous piece. If we go with this approach that won't be a problem.
How much trouble we'd get into for it is another matter.
Eventually I decided that there were too many more reasons to go, and the fact the piece was called the 'Fluffy Holy Freak Show' was one of them. I allowed a few other 'Important' things to slide and my friend and I duly presented ourselves at the door of the Anglican church where 'Fluffy Holy Freak Show was to be presented. The presentation was based on a series of fast, punchy, mostly larger than life sketches/dramas, grouped into threes: after three pieces someone from IYF would come and explain the ideas behind them more fully for a few minutes, and then the theatre would start again. The approach was more literal than Xpresso uses. Some abstract ideas (sin, for example) being personified by in a similar way to the medieval mystery plays, and the message is very clear, whereas in our work we tend to try and make deeper characters people can identify with. 'Fluffy Holy Freak Show' also had a lot more comedy than serious material -which gave the serious dramas more impact.
IYF is a very different organisation to Xpresso, but at the end of the evening I thought 'We could produce material like this' We couldn't do the same: IYF have more training and experience than we do, and certain pieces would be too much of a challenge for the team, and our local church. On the other hand a bigger team means we can give out roles to people as they are capable of them, and having short pieces would allow more flexibility for people with different time commitments.
In particular we could do with some new ideas for the annual 'big' presentation in October, where we are working during a village festival, and this could give us a fresh style. apart from anything else I've been told we need to make a change because people "Didn't understand the message" of the previous piece. If we go with this approach that won't be a problem.
How much trouble we'd get into for it is another matter.
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