Preview: WUDS presents ‘Masterpieces’

Having spoken to the cast of Masterpieces it is safe to say I’m a little apprehensive of what to expect. If you don’t know the play, then I would advise you to keep it that way and not ruin any elements of surprise that are key to the plotline of Sarah Daniels’ work.

Masterpieces explores and exposes the cultural attitudes towards sex and pornography in our society today and what better place to do this than the theatre. Despite the challenging, topical nature of the play the cast are taking it in their stride, educating themselves along the way. Courtney Buchner, who is playing Yvonne, explains how ‘every rehearsal we’ve come into we’ve changed our minds on whether we like the play or not.’ She reveals how they are ‘taking the concept of gender and mixing it up,’ a phrase I have definitely heard before, so it will be exciting to see how director Josie Davies take on such a huge current issue. Sophia Pardon, who plays Jennifer, highlighted the relevance of the issues within the play for her, ‘the content of the play is relevant to all of us, its quite fun doing a play where the issues are about things that aren’t that distant from us.’

‘The fact that people are still performing this play years and years after it was written highlights how relevant it is today.’

There is no doubt the issues raised are heavy handed and serious in nature, but the cast are positive in their approach and its obvious they’ve had a lot of fun in rehearsals, whilst following the clear directorial visions of Josie Davies. Sophia spoke about how ‘Josie has a clear idea of what she wants. We can give feedback and work with her, there is collaboration as well as direction.’ Whereas Max Kennedy, playing the character of Clive, compared her directing style to Michael Angelo, saying ‘he would have his sculpture 90% complete and then he would invite the rest of his workshops to say how can I make this sculpture better? We as the cast add the finishing touches.’ Rosie Shufflebotham, who plays Rowena, echoed this saying ‘there is a lot more freedom to explore character yourself.’ She spoke to me about getting to grips with the complexity of her role, ‘the second act of the paly for my character is very intense. I can deal with the intensity but it’s finding the contrast in my character I’ve found the most difficult.’

Josie Davies visions feel current and relevant, despite the play being written over 30 years ago. She speaks to me about the ideas behind choosing to direct Masterpieces, ‘Sarah Daniels has created this technically ambitious script, so for directing it in 2015 it creates a lot of really exciting opportunities… the content of the play extends a lot further to the sexism with our society’ and ‘the fact that people are still performing this play years and years after it was written highlights how relevant it is today.

Actors Sophia Pardon and Courtney Buchner in rehearsal. Image: Oscar Owen

It seems, unlike me, they have had time to digest the material of the play which allows them to become creative with it. In same way audience members will need time to process what they have seen, as Max Kennedy explains ‘The audience will come out of the play feeling cheated first of all, then maybe an hour later, a day later, a week late they will be able to look back on it all and then be able to say that was a good play.’ The difficulty here seems to come from differentiating between enjoyment and appreciation, as Craig Nannestad, who plays Ron, revealed ‘I don’t particularly like the play as a piece of work, but I think that’s a really interesting thing to go into to. I disagree with a lot of what she is saying, it’s a really interesting argument which makes me want to argue back.’ So whether you like, dislike or at least appreciate the work that’s gone into the production, be prepared to be educated, shocked and have your emotions twisted over the opinions you take on this provocative play.

The team will be holding a fundraiser on May 20 at Kelsey’s Bar in Leamington Spa in which they will be ‘dispelling urban myths about sex’ along with a quiz, so make sure you go along! The performances take place May 27 till May 30 in the Warwick Arts Centre Studio. Get your tickets from the Box Office or online at www.warwickartscentre.co.uk/whats-on/2015/wuds-masterpieces-by-sarah-daniels/ to avoid missing this contentious masterpiece, which people will be discussing for weeks.