New theatre is a magical thing. A play begins with a first draft, and then revisions. It goes through its first readings and continues to improve until it is fit for its first audiences. Then it gains production value and becomes a show. The Space, a theatre that has its roots in producing new works, is sponsoring the growth of The Lighthouse, an enchanting new story by local playwright Rachael Claye.
An original Christmas story, The Lighthouse sees St Nikolas crash his sleigh on an iceberg far out at sea on Christmas Eve. Deprived of his ancient powers, Nikolas is forced to accept rescue from a little girl in a rowing boat, Rose. When she takes him to the lighthouse where she is living alone, he begins to question his life at the frozen edge of the world.
The first phase of our research and development of The Lighthouse by Rachael Claye has now been completed. Rachael was joined by director Alex Crampton and four actors: – Rafe Beckley, Annabel Smith, Sakuntala Ramanee and Rob Witcomb. The team spent two days exploring the world of the play, creating a timeline and working through the script in detail. Gaining an understanding of the geography and chronology of the play was an extremely useful part of the rehearsal process for the actors and Rachael thoroughly enjoyed working with the cast, “It was great to spend the time untangling the bits in the script that weren’t quite working.”
On the third day, an open reading of the play was held at the Space with interested members of the public attending to listen and give their feedback. The reading drew an extremely positive response, here are some of the questions we asked and responses gleaned:-
How did the play make you feel?
‘Moved, excited, glowing’
‘Made me think about the nature of isolation and the importance of family’
‘I did have a tear towards the end’
What characters/moments most excited you in the script?
‘Nikolas reflecting on 1000 years as a postman and his frustration with making things work; his speech about childhood; Rose’s sparkling intelligence and loyalty to her father, her enduring hope’
Hope was a recurring response when asked what the play was about, other responses included magic, redemption, faith, unconditional love, isolation, family, growth, choices, humanity and childhood. We also asked what age range the audience felt the play was suitable for and, although there were differing opinions as to what the youngest age should be, everyone agreed that the play has adult appeal.
A second reading was held with children at George Green’s School, which also drew a favourable response:
‘It made me feel like I was wrapped up nice and warm in a blanket at Christmas time watching a Christmas favourite.’
‘This play was very heartwarming and it had a mixture of emotions inside it.’
‘I wouldn’t change anything apart from making it an action play.’
Listening to a play being read for an hour and twenty minutes is a tough ask for young people more used to the visual stimulation of theatre, television and cinema but the range of responses afterwards showed how well the play had kept their attention.
Phase One was certainly a success in that it did what it was meant to do: it highlighted moments in the show that needed revision and showed what really worked well. Phase one prepared the script for Phase Two, which will be progressing in early December, with a team of designers joining on to think up solutions to the particular technical challenges that come with The Lighthouse. Phase Two will lead into Phase Three, a staged version of a section of the play. This will hopefully show potential producers what the show could be in its entirety!
Director, Alex Crampton, said “by the end of the reading at George Green’s School we had a solid sense of what works well and what needs improving. We’ve definitely achieved what we needed to in phase 1 of the project.” Everyone agreed that the play is ready to be got up on its feet. Now we start the second phase of the project, our technical brainstorming, in order to explore how to stage the more challenging production elements of this magical tale!
If you’d like to be kept up to date with our progress and receive invites to the sharing of the work at the end of phase 3, please e-mail adam@space.org.uk