East – WUDS Preview

This week, WUDS will be presenting Steven Berkoff’s East in the Arts Centre Studio. This honest, intrusive and explicit play follows the lives of young people growing up in the deprived East End of London during the 1970s. I caught up with its cast and director, Bruno Banks, to find out how the rehearsal process was coming along and what we can expect from the show.

Bruno decided that he wanted to try his hand at directing last year, having worked with extracts of East at school and loving it, it was the only play he could ever see himself doing. He then met producer Georgie Wedge, who he met whilst acting in WUDS’ School for Scandal in term one last year. He explained how “we put a very rushed, terrible pack in. It was the most unprepared thing ever, for the Humanities Studio.” Determined, they brought in Craig Nannestad for marketing and Sophia Pardon for set and costume, creating a more prepared and diverse team: “It was a bit nerve-racking because we were all freshers apart from Adam who is doing tech, but somehow it managed to get through.”

The team originally wanted the week seven slot for their show, but were given the week four slot. This meant that the process suddenly became very quick in terms of having to get the cast together before the end of term three. They managed to get a talented bunch of actors together who spent the summer learning their lines, which Bruno described as a “blessing”. The cast consists of George Atwell-Gerhards playing Les, who you may remember from the term three show The Trial. Bethany Adams playing Slyv, who is also President at Musical Theatre Warwick. Member of Theatre Company The Human Animal, India Smith is playing Mum. Gareth Roberts is playing Mike, and is known for his role as Macbeth in the term one production last year. Finally History of Art student, Max Kennedy is playing Dad.

East is a play that presents a lot of social as well as political ideas and problems in an uncensored, comic way. Bruno explained to me some of his ideas for the script: “It’s literally just a script and you’ve got to add everything else in. We’re putting in a few things. We have a TV, showing the stagnation of the East End in 1970s. The TV will be a frame, portraying the ‘inescapable’. The actors don’t leave the stage at any point and will just sit at the back throughout the action. Those are the overarching ideas behind it, but it’s a funny play and we want to add as much of Berkoff’s ideas as we can.”

Although it is his directing debut, Bethany spoke of Bruno’s directing fondly: “He’s really passionate, so that really helps. He’s got a really clear idea of what he wants, which is comforting as actor when you’re thinking ‘oh god what do I do with this’, you know Bruno is going to have something up his sleeve.”

Max went on to express his difficulties with the process and how he has overcome this: “It’s been enjoyable, but quite bemusing since I’ve not done Berkoff before, but things have been made very clear and there’s no confusion. Bruno’s very good at making it clear, for something which perhaps coming in to it is quite confusing.”

It seems that it has been a tricky process for all the actors as it is not something they have done before. It has certainly brought them out of their comfort zones: “It’s been a difficult play to rehearse because it doesn’t having a running narrative, so because it’s all broken up, the rehearsal process has been broken up to.” India explained to me. “But now I think we can see it all coming together, it’s working now and we can see it all develop. We can see how it’s going to look and it’s getting exciting.”

For George the difficulty was in the intense physicality that comes with Berkoff’s plays: “For me personally, the physicality of it, it’s a monster. The long monologues are sweaty, it is just intense. Nothing I’ve done at Warwick or before has led me to feel physically exhausted mid-way through a show. It’s tricky but it’s good to do something different.”

One of the most exciting things for all the cast members was the addition of pianist Jonah, as Bruno clarified: “It was quite a late decision as I thought we were going to use recorded music and then I thought, ‘actually let’s get the piano in’. He’s great because he does improvisation, and has come in and brought a lot of life to the scenes.’ Jonah will be playing live alongside all four performances. India went on to say how “The piano is like the glue and really adds something to it.”

The marketing for the show uses the tagline ‘Pure Filth’. Bruno explained the thoughts behind this. “There’s a lot of language in the play which is quite Shakespearian, lines like ‘I’ll s*** down scorpions of pain upon thee’ which is one of my favourite lines. Obviously we can’t get that on a t-shirt.” The cast were even debating whether they wanted their parents to come along and watch the play due its offensive themes and language, but Bruno feels that “the script is good enough, that even if people are a bit disgusted it will be funny anyway. ‘Pure Filth’ sums up the play to an extent really, because it’s pretty filthy.” George on the other hand insists that “You’ve just got to embrace the provocative nature of the play.”

Getting involved in theatre at Warwick can be a time-consuming but rewarding process, the cast gave some advice to anyone hoping to get their foot in the door.

Max’s advice was to “Just go for it” he explained how “Everyone is so friendly, welcoming and inviting. Even if you just have a small part in something. If you’re thinking about doing something, don’t hesitate, just do it.”

India told me about the diversity and range of things on offer “There are so many options, so many different societies. You can do a whole variety of things. Drama is a great community to get involved in, and that’s the same across all the performance societies.”

However if you see yourself more on the production side, Bruno’s top tip for those wanting to submit a pack is to get a group together early on. “You need to be prepared. We kept on vaguely getting there and not really committing. You need the central people to be really in the know about everything in the play. Whoever comes up with the ideas has got to have a really clear vision, the panel was a lot about that, and everything was scrutinized. You can’t be throwing things in there because they sound good, it’s got to have a purpose behind it. Everything, the set, the costume and the marketing, all has to lend itself towards that central theme, concept and written idea of the play.”

It was clear that the cast were becoming excited in the final stages of rehearsal, with a real uplifting atmosphere in the room. From day one, a lot of work and passion has been put in to East, driving the project forward into what will hopefully be a successful performance.

The show will be running from this Wednesday 22^nd until Saturday 25^th October in the Studio at the Warwick Arts Centre. Tickets are available from the Box Office or online from the Arts Centre Website.