RSC Pilot Night

The Pilot Night is an event which happens every year and I believe it is an external programme which uses different companies to host it every year, and also uses different theatre groups to get involved. This year the RSC was hosting it, so the theme was about Shakespeare and different ways of looking at his stories. There were five groups participating, each covering subjects like the theme of un-requited love from twelfth night (and cross-dressing), to Shakespeare's "severn ages of man" speech. There was also a translation of one of his sonnets into movement and vocal exercises, a murder in reverse to rock music and hand held signs with his words on them, and a sketch of door-to-door sales men slowly revealing the tragedies taken from King Lear.

It was very interesting to see the different takes on Shakespeare by these groups. My favourites being the take on 'severn ages of men', called "When I was Old, When I Get Young", by Lucy Ellinson. They had people from different backgrounds and ages walk onto the stage and stand there whilst a voice recoding of them plays over, telling life tales and thoughts. It that simplicity and curiosity element I always have when thinking about what other people are thinking.

Another good sketch was "Come Heavy Sleep" by Kindle Theatre. This was the story of a murder told backwards, and had the most people on stage out of all the groups. They were young actors and it was played out through a rock-song-opera narrator and some poignant words put of boards held up. It was very atmospheric and fun to watch, despite the subject matter! Oh and very 'theatrical'.

The takes, I suppose, weren't trying to be modern. They are modern in the sense that they were put in modern language and looked at in a new way, but all of them could have been done like that from any time. I was trying to spot a reference of translation of Shakespeare that could be relevant to my work, but it was difficult to define something as none of them were done purely to be targeted towards a younger audience. If I had to pick something I would say the Lucy Ellinson piece I mentioned would be the most influential. It effectively showed how just using people with a simple voice over can still provide a captivating narrative that draws in the audience. I will bear this in mind.