Writing "Bentwater Roads"

A Final Footnote

Tony Ramsay — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 12:14:42 +0000

Everyone says the karma from this show has been good from the outset. Yesterday my brother Peter and his wife Jan insisted on driving down from Yorkshire to see it. On the way back Jan put £2 in a fruit machine while they were getting some petrol . It promptly dropped £400 into their laps. They had to buy a bucket to take it all home.

Closing the Show

Tony Ramsay — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 10:42:31 +0000

Today will see the final performance of Bentwater Roads. I was there yesterday evening in a full house to see it for the last time. It was comfortably the best run of the show I’ve attended. Actors and chorus have settled into their roles and it showed. They played with a sense of freedom and security that had the audience nailed to their seats. At the emotional climax I looked round and there wasn’t a flicker of movement among the 200 people concentrating on the action in front of them. There were tears in front of us and behind us. Charlie and her dad had them riveted.

It’s easy to say these things in the warm afterglow of a good run, but I mean it when I say we’ve been incredibly fortunate with the company we assembled for this show. The cast have done more than just play their roles. Their talent and generosity created an atmosphere where something special could take place. So to everyone: Alex, Caitlin, Dan, Mark, Nadia, Pam, Peter, Richard and Sally I have to say a big thank you. The same must be said for the splendid chorus of Ancient Britons. And as ever the Eastern Angles team led by Ivan have done an astonishing job of keeping everything on an even keel and proving once again that great professionalism and relaxed good humour working together can move mountains.

We finished last night with a barbecue and celebratory chocolate cake sitting under the huge sky outside the Hush House. About midnight in a wonderful echo of the play a classic coach, its empty interior brilliantly lit, sailed out if the night and disappeared into the darkness like a ghost from the 1950s. It was late by the time we said our goodbyes.

Driving home I was left with one extraordinary image from the evening. After the final curtain call and the house lights came up something strange happened. Usually at this point the audience file out chatting about the play and getting ready to go home or head off in search of a drink. But not on Saturday. People seemed unwilling to leave. Instead I watched close on 200 of them flood onto the set and into the tunnel that had been our centrepiece. They wanted to touch to walls, to walk the long dark space where characters had emerged from another time zone. I like to think they were claiming the space as their own. And why not? It was their story after all.

Times Review

Tony Ramsay — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 09:24:01 +0000

A good start to the day. Woke up to find we’d got a 4 Star review in the Times. I could provide a link but there’s not much point as you come up against the Times’ new paywall and have to subscribe to see it.

More photographs from the production on the Eastern Angles site here.

On Top of the Tower

Tony Ramsay — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 18:40:34 +0000

Click on the photo for the full effect of Mike Kwasniak’s splendid image.

Opening Night

Tony Ramsay — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 10:19:30 +0000

The sun shone and as we rolled into Bentwater Parks little knots of Ancient Britons were already making their way across the wide open spaces towards the Hush House. The sight of a procession of ungainly figures in hemp robes against the hard landscaping of the airbase was just the first of the timescale clashes that were going to fill the evening. Outside the venue Charlie’s van was parked facing the doors, the bar was open, people were spread out on the grass with picnics and drinks. At about 7.15 the huge hangar doors did their wonderful trick and offered up the cavernous dark interior of the Hush House and the first brave souls started to venture inside.

Soon with all 200 spectators in their seats the doors were sliding shut again and suddenly Roger’s music was echoing round the walls. A Priestly procession appeared out of the murk of the tunnel, a video occupied the whole of the end wall with Charlie on her way to Suffolk and a smartly dressed estate agent was introducing the new development of Swallow’s Drift… We were on our way. Were we going to keep the audience with us? Were they going to be able to follow four stories at the same time? Could they cope with the range of people – alive and dead – filling the stage in front of them? Would the community chorus blend seamlessly with the primary actors? Would all the technical challenges dissolve as the show unfolded?

I needn’t have worried. By the half time break I was fully engaged in the story and could sense that the audience was too. There were tears by the end at the emotional climax delivered with great effect from the dark recesses of the Hush House tunnel.

And to cap it all when the performance was over the doors opened again to reveal a stunning sunset across the airfield.

In the days to come the show will get tighter, faster and more secure as the actors settle into the rhythm of the piece but to Ivan and the company’s great credit Bentwater Roads is up and running and I couldn’t be happier.

One Day to Go

Tony Ramsay — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 08:05:09 +0000

Over to the Hush House yesterday to watch some of the technical rehearsal and a first run of the play in full costume. This is always a heart-stopping time with actors coming to grips with fast costume changes, the sound, video and lighting cues being fed into the mix, winches lowering lights from the ceiling, and of course the community chorus flexing their acting muscles as a group of ancient Britons. Tony’s replacement, Peter, is all but up to speed and starting to inhabit the roles of Mal and the Commander. I saw some of the video footage for the first time and loved the way it was used. And I watched the tunnel produce some moments of real theatrical magic just as we hoped it would. One particularly telling entrance left me watching the next scene through tears before anyone had said a word. We’ll run the show a few times to get things up to speed. And then it’s time to look out the tux for tonight’s Preview. (Not that I’ve got a tux of course.) It’s going to be a full house. So instead of yesterday’s scant audience of the writer, director and lighting designer, and associated tecchies our cast is going to find itself exposed to the glare of 200 people eager for a story. On today’s showing we won’t be sending them home disappointed.

The clock is ticking…

Tony Ramsay — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 15:35:08 +0000

Things have moved up a gear. The seats have gone into the Hush House. You can watch all 200 set up in just over a minute here. There are other blogs running as we get closer. Alex D’Andrea, who plays our American pilot, is writing an account of things from the actors’ perspective. And Jon Tavener, Theater and Outreach Manager is doing the same for the backroom side.

Counselling has also begun for the cast following events in South Africa on Sunday afternoon.

Taking Stock

Tony Ramsay — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 16:03:59 +0000

If you check the archives on the right hand side of the page you’ll see the first entry in this blog was written in November 2007. Way back then the project had already been running – in fits and starts – for five years. Here we are at the end of June in 2010 – having survived artistic crises, financial crises, casting crises and time’s winged chariot -just days away from opening night. Lyn Gardner has flagged us up in The Guardian. The community chorus is fired up and ready to go. The catering, publicity, costumes, transport, set building, lighting plan, video installation, exhibition, are all in the capable hands of those responsible. And the Hush House is almost ready to welcome 200 people to witness the outcome of everyone’s efforts on Thursday evening. Sitting here quietly at my desk writing this, it all feels a little unreal. Or at least it did until I caught my first sight of the scale of lighting rig. Now it just feels – not frightening exactly – but as if we’re about to set off on a great adventure. Exactly the feeling I remember when Ivan and I first discussed the idea of creating a big play to go into the big hushed atmosphere of this extraordinary space.

Thursday’s coming. Can’t wait.

Sad News

Tony Ramsay — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 07:36:56 +0000

We’ve lost Tony Scannell to illness. This is a great shame. Everyone who watched his Mal and Commander in the workshop will find it very difficult to see anyone else in the roles. The unenviable task of filling his shoes falls to Peter Sowerbutts who arrives on set today – exactly one week before we open. Peter’s a fine actor who’s worked for the company before. Everyone is already looking very solid in their characters which should help him as he gets up to speed.

Two more days in our rehearsal space and then at the start of next week we move out to the Hush House. After what feels like a leisurely start first night is now hurtling towards us.

Rehearsals

Tony Ramsay — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 07:55:05 +0000

Ten days to go. And the tempo in the rehearsal room has picked up. I went over after a break of a week or more and the change was immediately evident. Up to now people have been holding back as they find their way into their characters. Not any more. The big emotional scenes are being delivered with a power that raised the hairs on my neck. For the first time I saw the staging of the sacrifice scene. Underscored by Roger’s music and the haunting sound of a ram’s horn it looked terrific. When it’s performed with the addition of the 20 strong chorus it should be even stronger.

The haunting ram’s horn didn’t always work. Alex got his hands on it for the first time yesterday and he spent much of the morning looking as if he was going to burst a blood vessel while producing a range of sounds a flatulent ox would have been proud of. By first night our pagan vuvuzela will be a wonderful echoing wail. Next week we actually get into the Hush House. I’m starting to get excited.