Us as a Company
Twisted Ivy Productions consists of a diverse group of skilled drama students. We are an all female theatre company and believed this was a unique selling point. We had discovered that we all had similar views on feminism and what our role, as women, in todays society is. The majority of the company had previously worked on projects that were based on feminism in a hard-hitting form. Although enjoying the idea of a feminism piece, we preferred to create something more light-hearted and relatable for an audience of our age. We discussed what genre of theatre we would like our debut show to be and we all agreed on comedy. We, as a company, believed we are all fun and energetic individuals therefore as a whole, we wanted to bring these characteristics together and provide an audience with an energetic show that holds farcical and comedy aspects throughout.
Where Our Idea Started
We explored feminism, and what we believe feminism is and how are, we as women, discriminated against at this age in society. We found ourselves looking and naming inspirations of ours from a young age. One major influence that sparked us as a company was ‘Disney’. We looked closely at ‘Cinderella‘ and discovered that the story and the representation of the character gives children a false idea of what to expect in adulthood. Although it is a magical, make-believe story, children helplessly inspire to be like Cinderella and wish for and believe that marrying a Prince will solve everything. In a sense it is showing that a woman’s happiness is in the hands of a man. Believing strongly that this is untrue, we discussed the realities of dark issues that exist today, such as depression and addiction, and how women fight for comfort, happiness and freedom while dealing with such problems without the ‘need’ of ‘Prince Charming’.
This is where the idea of combining fairytales and debauchery together came from. We wanted to create a dark and twisted illustration of the harsh realities that exist in adulthood.
‘Artist José Rodolfo Loaiza Ontiveros’s “Profanity Pop”, in which Disney characters appear drunk, gay, pregnant, and fat, just made me happy. This art does not destroy my childhood, and they don’t scar my moral reflection of society. I feel the same about my beloved Disney princesses as I did as a child, but now i think about them with a smirk: “I know your secrets” (Scheriau, 2105).
(Imgur, 2013)
‘Secrets’ is the word that enlightened us. We wanted to show Cinderella in her fairytale attire yet slowly present her ‘dark secrets’, possibly depression. This being an illness that is common yet kept hidden and unnoticed in many cases, we wanted to use this to create an effective juxtaposition between a fairytale and dark realties today.
While discussing our ideas, we knew that the illnesses such as depression and anxiety are serious and real, therefore there is a extremely thin line between being comedic with elements and possibly offending as audience. This was a huge worry in the company.
The Development
To avoid being trapped in a state of worrying whether we may offend an audience, we looked closely at the dark, twisted story behind the Cinderella itself. By shifting the audiences sympathy onto the step sisters gives a whole new light to the story. It enables us to alter the story’s background as we are focusing on how the step sisters feel in the presence of Cinderella, presented as a beautiful, thin and perfect girl. Understanding that how an individual is brought up will effect the way that individual will act, sometimes in a negative way and sometimes in a positive way. By playing on this idea with the sisters, we discovered that in Cinderella, the step mother is usually called ‘the evil step mother’ granting that not only is she evil to Cinderella, but she is just an evil individual. Being the mother of the two sisters leads us to believe that they have been exposed to such immoral behaviour therefore know this is the only way to live, to despise and disrespect everything, including themselves. It became a story of accepting and understanding others to guide them in the right direction instead of worsening their issues by imitating their actions. The more we discussed this idea the more we believed that Cinderella should almost become similar to the evil step mother. Therefore we had Cinderella provoke the sisters to a point that their actions towards her was a means of defence and not so much evil and spitefulness.
To assist our dark and twisted genre even more, we discussed the characteristics of Cinderella and how she feels inside when being treated badly and discriminated against. Words and actions came to mind such as:
- Pain
- Torture
- Loneliness
- Murder
- Vulnerability
- Disownment
Surrealism and Theatre of Cruelty
The idea of what Cinderella fantasized in her head became an something that would open us up to endless possibilities. The world of dreams. A fantasy world. The unconscious. This inspired us to look at Surrealism, ‘A movement founded in the 1920’s which was inspired by Sigmund Freud’s work on the unconscious. Surrealist artists experimented with ways of unleashing their subconscious imagination’ (Moseley, 2016). We therefore decided that our performance presents ‘Cinderella finding creative ways to abuse her step sisters in an act of taking revenge in her mind, this is because in reality she cannot find the strength to cope with the situation’ (Moseley, 2016).
Through researching surrealism further we found that Theatre of Cruelty was a theatrical practice that we wanted to combine with surrealism. Surrealism and Theatre of Cruelty are often linked together as it was Surrealism that influenced the artist Antonin Artaud to create Experimental theatre with Theatre of Cruelty. He quotes,
‘If fundamental theatre is like the plague, this is not because it is contagious, but because like the plague it is revelation, urging forwards the exteriorization of a latent undercurrent of cruelty through which all the perversity of which the mind is capable, whether in a person or a nation. Becomes localized.’ (Artaud 2010, 20)
(Twisted Ivy Productions, leaflets for Every Rose…)
The concept of ‘urging forward the exteriorisation of a latent undercurrent of cruelty’ is presented in Cinderella. Through Cinderella’s dream all of her dark fantasies and obsessions towards her sisters are found, as Artaud suggested, the mind is capable of such cruelty, not only for a performance character but with everyone. Artaud also proposed the production of ‘mythic spectacles that would include verbal incantations, groans and screams [and] pulsating lighting effects’ (CITE PROPERLY http://www.britannica.com/art/Theatre-of-Cruelty).The concept of ‘mythic spectacles’ was attained throughout the whole production, with Cinderella creating torturous obstructions for her sisters by just imagining it was almost like a magical spell. Cinderella’s thoughts were voiced through a voiceover recorded while Cinderella reacted in a surprised and demented way. The scenes changed as Cinderella thought of new ways to take revenge on her sisters, leaving the sisters confused and frustrated.
However, by remaining consistent to Surrealism as a separate style of performance, the setting of the scenes and performance was to be set in a surrealistic world. As my role in this particular production was set designer, I researched into surrealistic paintings as I know that the movements major achievements lay here. I wanted to gain inspiration from the paintings and how words and psychological aspects had been merged and juxtaposed together. Noel Fielding explained what he believed Surrealism is in a nut shell,
‘It’s about things that shouldn’t go together’ (Noel Fielding).
(Salvador Dali, 2011)
(DAAM, 2012)
The Set
I wanted to create an other-worldly set that wasn’t confined to the realm of reality. I wanted to turn the space into a place where an audience will ask themselves whether or not the stage is a specific ‘place’ or a limitless ‘space’.
The idea of a ‘limitless space’, sparked the image of a forest. For when you look through a forest, with tall trees, you see no end. Each gap between the trees holds a new space, a new adventure. It is almost like the trees are doors to the unknown. It suggests mystery, fear and curiosity. I spoke to the director about the idea and she enjoyed it. We spoke about how the aesthetic of her vision suits it. I wanted to create the trees in a sense that they could be mistaken for something else. I wanted them to seem distorted yet allow the audience to know what they are.
I researched and drew ideas of how i could make the forest and how i wish it to look like. I aimed for the stage to look simple yet effective. Simple in the sense that it shall look darker due to the simplicity of the other-worldly space. It is the other aspects of theatre that enhances the atmosphere for the play along with the set. I know through research that the set designer has to stay in close communication with the director and other designers such as costume and lighting. I spoke to Laura, our lighting designer, and we discussed the drawings and ideas i had. We spoke about the idea of a gauze behind the trees to create a large shadow behind. This will give the spectacle of a forest as it produced and shows more layers to the stage. I made a scaled down version of the design i chose so i could play with shadows on a white wall and a white sheet as i wanted to see the effect it would have on a gauze behind.
(Scaled down sculpture of the final tree design)
The sharp edges on the model and how the tree stood gave it a mythic spectacle. In some aspects the tree took a different shape. When being in a different colour light, for instance red, the tree looked like fire. when being lit with light green, the tree looked like a cactus. This was very effective due to scene genres such as a Western scene and the Horror scene. The trees have potential to transform into another symbolic object depending on the state of light to complement each scene.
I used plywood to make the trees because I knew it was easy to cut and it was light in weight. I had trouble in cutting the plywood at the beginning of the process with the scaled down sculpture because i was cutting it with a Stanley knife. I changed my choice of tool to a jigsaw, which is an electric saw. I found it easier to cut the ply for the final product.
I had cut all the trees out and had glued each separate part together in sections. Before glueing the whole flat cut out together first I made sure the base of each tree fitted together perfectly, so i knew i had the measurements correct and therefore i knew the trees would stand up safely and securely.
(The base to the tree)
When all the trees had been stuck together, I had the cast help me put them together. As we put the trees up, they were not properly sturdy. The top of each tree was flimsy, therefore i knew i had to strengthen them by glueing pieces of wood and extra ply to the flimsy sections. Finding this problem out on our technical rehearsal (12th May 2016), while the cast was rehearsing i had a friend (Cherie) along with our producer (Emma) to help strengthen the trees, ready for performance day (18th May 2016).
(The tree stood up on technical day, the top being balanced, unpainted)
Along with the dark forest, I wanted to place a swing in between the two trees centre stage. For me, a swing is usually seen in pairs or in fours, on a park for children to play on and have an enjoyable time. However, when a swing is placed on its own, in a dark empty space, the meaning and image becomes the opposite. I believed that this image of a lonely swing is a symbolic representation of Cinderella. Mislead, lonely and out of place. Having Cinderella swing slowly on the swing gave a beautiful image that truly exposed the madness and subliminal characteristics of her, a single spotlight of Cinderella, closed the world off and slowed down time to see the insanity she was plotting.
(Photo by Phil Crow, 2016)
Final Performance
On performance day I found that the light didn’t complement the colour of the trees. It seemed that they were not grey and white, there was no distinction of white and grey painted areas as the light created shadows, therefore each side to the trees shadowed the other side. To improve, I would only paint the trees white, and relied on stage lights to project a specific colour onto the trees to create the correct effect i want. I was thrilled with how the performance turned out, we had a lively audience that heightened the atmosphere and transferred energy to the performers creating a truly enjoyable experience for all.
(The set before the performance)
Works cited
Artaud, A. (2010) The Theatre and its Double. London: Oneworld Classics Ltd.
DAAM (2012) The Amazing Surreal Art by Vladimir Kush. London: DAAM. Available from http://drawasamaniac.com/2012/12/the-amazing-surreal-art-by-vladimir-kush.html [Accessed on 21 May 2016].
Images by Phil Crow, Available from https://www.flickr.com/photos/61839232@N02/albums/72157668477406316 [Accessed 18 May 2016].
Imgur (2013) ‘Disasterland’ by José Rodolfo Loaiza Ontiveros. London: Imur. Available from http://imgur.com/gallery/YFb8P [Accessed 19 May 2016].
Moseley, K. (2016) Twisted Ivy Productions: ‘Every Rose…’ Pitch. [Presentation]. Theatre Company DRA3045M-1516, University of Lincoln, 17 February.
Salvador Dali. (2011) Heritage Painting. London: Salvador Dali. Available from http://www.dalipaintings.net/persistence-of-memory.jsp#prettyPhoto [Accessed on 21 May 2016].
Scheriau, L. (2015) Why we need Disney’s dirty princesses. London: The Mantle. Available from http://www.mantlethought.org/arts-and-culture/why-we-need-disney-dirty-princesses [Accessed 10 May 2016].