After months of planning, drawing, discussing, measuring, cutting and hammering, the big day has arrived when the set for The Crescent’s production of The Vortex starts to take shape on stage.
Pictured are Keith Harris and Judy O’Dowd who – along with a team of helpers – have put in many hours of work to get us to this stage smoothly and with the minimum of hassle. They’re seen here erecting the central wall of the set which will fly in and out to help create three different settings for each of the play’s three acts.
If you want to see the full effect you’ll have to come see the play which opens on Saturday, 5 September!
The very first play produced by The Municipal Players in 1924 was ‘Spreading the News’ by Lady Gregory. We’re marking the group’s 85th anniversary (they later renamed as The Crescent Theatre) by producing the 1924 play The Vortex and today (Tuesday, 18 August) we continued spreading the news of our production by erecting a large advertising banner on the outside of the theatre.
There are some other events to mark the anniversary too (including productions of The Proposal and Juno and the Paycock) – see the main website for full details.
Students and teachers who may be thinking of coming to see our production of Noel Coward’s The Vortex can find a really useful information sheet on Manchester’s Royal Exchange Theatre’s web site: http://www.royalexchangetheatre.org.uk/downloads/education/VORTEX%20Resource%20Extra.pdf
You may also like to know that following the Friday evening performance there will be an after dark discussion with members of the cast and crew. If, however, you’d like to meet members of the team on another evening this can be arranged; please contact our box office on 0121 643 5858 with your request.
The build of the set for The Vortex is now well and truly underway at The Crescent Theatre.
A band of willing helpers got stuck in for another session this evening (Monday, 10 August) and good progress was made. There’s still a very long way to go, and much help is needed over the coming evenings and weekends. However, by opening night we’re on track to have a stunning set.
In Act II of The Vortex, Nicky tells Helen: “I’m gay and witty and handsome.” Of course, gay here is used in its original sense meaning carefree or merry, the sense in which gay means homosexual is much more modern. However, along with the cast, I’ve had to ask the question is Nicky gay in the modern meaning of the word? Is this a very subtle sub text in the play, is this something that Mr Coward could hint at but dared not make too obvious in the prevailing 1924 climate of hostility and illegality? The evidence seems to suggest it is; the author was, after all, gay and authors tend to write about their own experiences or issues that concern them directly.
There is more evidence of Nicky’s homosexuality in the text. In Act III Nicky says, “I’ve grown up all wrong.” And in Act II Bunty, Nicky’s fiancé, tells him, “You’re not in love with me, really – you couldn’t be.” All very subtle and open to interpretation. But then, in Act III, when Nicky confronts his mother we learn that he feels she has subjugated his father and we have the classic, if now largely discredited, equation of dominant mother + weak father = gay son.
Nicky’s sexual orientation has recently been explored on the professional stage in the Manchester Royal Exchange’s production starring Will Young. Of this production, Nicholas de Jongh of The Evening Standard writes: “It has taken more than 80 years and the performance of Will Young, the gay pop idol who has never acted on stage before, to bring out the full truth about Nicky Lancaster, Noël Coward‘s angry young man in The Vortex … The actors who have played Nicky, from Noël Coward himself in 1924 to Dirk Bogarde and Rupert Everett, have disguised or glossed over this crucial gayness. Not so Will Young.”
And what’s the relevance of this today? Well, as I sat down to write these words news was breaking of an attack on a centre for young gay people in Tel Aviv. This is a centre that offers help and advice to young people coming to terms with their sexuality in a safe environment, free of judgement. Well that’s the idea, clearly it is no longer the case. A desperately sad act of terrorism that only serves to remind us that there are thousands of Nicky’s all over the world in 2009 still struggling with their identity in hostile circumstances.
I was asked recently if using “The Shopping and F***ing of the jazz age” as the strap line for The Vortex is just a piece of sensationalism, this is Noel Coward after all! Well, I don’t believe it is at all an unjustified quote and, if you’d like to read it in context, here’s Charles Spencer’s full article from the Daily Telegraph: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/drama/3671468/The-Vortex-Noel-Cowards-hothouse-drama.html
As Mr Spencer explains in his review of last year’s West End revival, Mr Coward could be “daringly experimental” and this is something that I am enjoying exploring together with the cast of The Crescent’s forthcoming production.
Almost every line has several levels of meaning and there is much that is unsaid between the characters as they swirl downwards in their vortex of beastliness. Of course, the trademark frothy comedy is there (in bucket loads), but this really is a beautifully crafted play that keeps on throwing up surprises.
Looking back from our own, very different age where in-yer-face theatre is almost commonplace, it’s hard to imagine how a play could be considered for banning by the Lord Chamberlain. The one thing that still rings true to our own age, though, is the nature of the conflict – the lack of understanding, the addictions, the obsession with youth – and it is this that makes this a play for today just as much as it was a play for the generation seeking to come to terms with life in the years following the Great War.
The inspiration for the set design for The Vortex is the work of Piet Mondrian (1872-1944). Even if you don’t know the name, his works may well be familiar to you – just think vertical and horizontal black lines with the occasional block of primary colour (red, yellow or blue). This movement in the art world became known as neo-plasticism and Mondrian was its chief exponent. In his work he sought to reveal the timeless, spiritual order underlying the endlessly changing appearance of the world.
This, it seems to me, is an ideal setting for the world of Noel Coward’s play: the central characters (Nicky and Florence) have become obsessed with the fashions of the ever changing world and its new thrills, while losing sight of the things that matter. It’s only when they reconnect to each other and throw out the distractions of sex and drugs that they can hope to have a constructive relationship and lead meaningful lives. Home is where the heart is, and this is what Florence and Nicky have lost sight of.
Mondrian, it can be argued, was at his prime in the 1920s and his work was influencing designers and architects (especially those associated with Bauhaus) at this time. It is entirely possible, therefore, that rooms such as I’ve designed for the play might have existed. However, I’ve been more concerned to create an un-naturalistic canvas upon which the action of the play can unfold. As ever, I’m concerned that the audience should focus on the actors and what they have to communicate through words, actions and reactions.
Rehearsals are well under way for September’s season launching production of Noel Coward’s The Vortex (http://www.crescent-theatre.co.uk/Y2009/vortex.html).
For the last couple of rehearsals the cast has been getting to grips with fox trots, quick steps, tangos and even the odd Charlston step as they learn to move themselves about the stage in a truly authentic 1924 fashion. Under the expert eye of Michael Barry, the cast has learnt to swish and swoosh to some wonderful period music.
Today (Sunday, 26 July) we looked at the opening of Act II which Mr Coward describes as: “…exceedingly difficult to produce, but absolutely indispensable.” Well, the good news is that by the end of the rehearsal Michael’s excellent tutelage and the cast’s hard work came together to make it all appear almost effortless.
Recent Comments