Another chance to work with the super talented Hedgepig Theatre team – this time a re-imagining of JM Synge’s Irish classic, rehomed to a fantasy Yorkshire by director and writer Andy Curry.
The main part of my brief was to create a ‘theme’ that encapsulated this strange, removed rural world. The play opens with Peggy the barmaid flicking through news reports of social unrest, rioting and looting before settling on a commercial advertising Gimmerton-on-Tup, the village in which the action takes place. This was an uneasy juxtaposition of a society in chaos, and the quaint, backwards community protecting it’s way of life – however strange it may be.
The music I created for the trailer was used as a refrain in various places, and the rest of my job consisted of creating atmosphere and tension for fight scenes, monologues and a particularly fun night-time transition called ‘Owlpocalypse’.
The surprise ending required me to produce an instrumental version of Phil Collins’ “Against All Odds” for Peggy to tearfully wail along to – an interesting way of spending a few evenings in the studio!
As always it was a pleasure to be directed by Andy, and the finished play was a riotous, physical farce with a great deal of depth.