ENSEMBLE THEATRE

THE SUICIDE

What a fantastic experience. 

Ensemble physical theatre - meaning a group of singers dancers actors who work together to create a performance.

The piece chosen was "The Suicide" a 1982 play written by Nikolai Erdman and directed by John Britton.  The story has a multitude of of different characters and centres around Semyon the lead.

Story -

As stated the play centres around Semyon who is an un-employed man who seeks solace in being able to play the tuba.  Being congested by family and so called friends Semyon decides that the only was to relieve himself of all his problems is to commit suicide.  As the play progresses each character is brought into light they all try to exploit Semyons suicide to their cause.  The play is very comical.

I played the part of Aristark - representer of the Russian Intelligensia.  A very bold individual who liked to think he was the highest of the high and could mould Semyon to his will.

I loved working with all envolved in the piece we all gelled well together and worked well as a unit.  We prepared for this piece with ensemble training provided by the director John.  There were many technical and practical elements we had to consider when working in the group and on our own characters :)

Working hard to create group unity and the ability to consider others was tough for some as we had to open up to being a chain.  By this I mean each link is only as strong as the others and if one breaks the chain is not whole and there is a problem.  Being a chain each member needed to be comfortable and in tune with the other.

The piece was performed in an open stage fashion were we were able to mix among the audience and include them in the world of the play.

Lots of the physicallity was utilised in this piece enhancing the comical effect and creating a great image for the audience.

 There was also live music and sound effects making the play even more comical and fun to watch.  When certain gestures/movements were made a comical sound would be made it worked really well.

 We all worked as an ensemble wearing black suits to seperate the group from individual characters.  We would all be on stage the majority of the time until we had to change costume to bring our individual characters into the mix.

As you can see here I have different costume as I am playing my character Aristark a very bold character who liked to be noticed and to be taken note of.

Feeling at ease and thouroughly in character in the performance will give full effect to the audience.  The play was well recieved.

I remember one night there was a mistake made by some of the cast they forgot their lines stopped and looked at eachother I jumped in and began improvising to which they responded with more improvisation.  The slight pause didn't really effect the performance in fact the puzzlement seemed to be of great use as it made the moment more comical.

All in all the performances went fantastic every minute was full of energy.  I wish all the performers/friends all the best for their future persuits.

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Liam Rooke - Actor