And so Kalopsia comes to an end. A production I’m incredibly proud to have written, directed and be part of. I was supported by an amazing Stage Manager, a fantastic Producer and a great cast that helped along the way. When we first began making Kalopsia we knew we wanted to step away from the conventions of contemporary theatre but we also knew we didn’t want to tell a naturalistic play either.

That put us in quite a tricky position and made it hard to get a show on it’s feet, we aimed to create contemporary episodic theatre through a structured naturalistic narrative. We didn’t know who we were as a company and it was difficult to pin down an exact idea. Once we realised our aim, the show quickly came together. The idea of Delusions gave us freedom to do anything we pleased, but always having a reason to back it up.

We continued to adjust our show until the very end, after our final dress run as a group we were a little disheartened. Our show didn’t perhaps seem as good as it had been, everyone seemed fatigued, worried and with the combination of having, tech, dress, props and set all in a new space all at once became too much for the cast, giving weak performances. Not that it was there fault, they were concentrating on so much at once.

We were given notes by Michael Pinchbeck and Karen Savage, and implanted them immediately. Their wasn’t many, but after seeing how these few notes helped fix so many scenes, everyone in the cast seemed in a much better mood and really took everything in their stride, giving them a boost of confidence for the performance itself.  They did themselves proud and put on amazing production that they should all be proud of.

On reflection, if I were to do it all again. I’d make sure we had a clear hierarchy from the start, with constructed, planned rehearsals. Find out who we are as a company and what we wanted to create as a performance from the get go, rather than attempting to make scenes without an idea of where they were going.

And finally, not to be afraid to ask for help. We are an ensemble and we can all help each other out without fear of judgement.

Beth’s delusion consists of her giving a ‘speech’ once she receives the promotion at head office, originally we thought of the idea of her been an American President and giving her inauguration and Tom would be her bodyguard and Joanna would try and assassinate her.  However this didn’t feel quite right and didn’t feet directly into the play and certainly didn’t fit Beth as a character.

We thought of the idea of her been a Queen, we searched for queen speeches and found her speech to the Troops of Tilbury. It spoke of a strong powerful woman, reflected on war, semi mirroring Joanne’s delusion.  This speech allowed us to use yet another form, classical speech. Not quite Shakespearian, but it certainly fits the time and reads in a very similar fashion.

Beth getting the promotion causes Simon to get incredibly frustrated, making him take out his anger on Michael. They have an argument and finally Michael stands up to Simon, causing him to get incredibly angry. He slams his head onto the desk, breaking his nose and making blood squirt everywhere, time quickly reverses and it is revealed all to be in his head. The idea of keeping this delusion short was to try and make the audience believe that perhaps this is real, especially as Simon has been so cruel throughout the play and pictured as a real villain.

The final delusion, is that of Louisa’s. She’s a strong, hard working woman that focuses highly on her career. Unfortunately for many working women, especially in the business sector have to often give up having children and a family. We wanted to reflect this within the piece, without making it a major statement. Simon earlier in the play talks of her past relationship and how things didn’t quite work out, due to her work. She doesn’t get the position at head office, which she drastically wants and needs. Her whole life is devoted to her career and when she falls short she begins to wonder if she had made the right choices in life.

She begins to look at what she would have had, if she’d of stayed in a relationship. Perhaps not the right choice, but it’s a choice none the less. We took inspiration from the American sitcom ‘Scrubs’  where the lead watches a projection of what his future may be like. We decided to do something very similar and use media production as another form in the production. We decided to give it a hand held feel, so it appeared to be a homemade film yet the angles were that of a cinematic production making it feel less like they had filmed it themselves and that it was a ‘delusion’.  Once the film ends, her ex walks on stage. This moment may or may not be part of the delusion, we wanted to leave the audiences questioning that fact.

PrimMichael JA (2009) Scrubs Series 8 – My Finale – JD Montage/Vision Of His Future. Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=War9m52LrV4 [accessed

The third delusion, is of ‘Thomas Clark’ a humble Handyman who has big dreams, he has goals of been an engineer. He is quite sweet and innocent, often taken advantage of by others in the office, especially the character Simon who’s cruel and unkind and pushes him down for been ‘just’ a handyman. Sam is full of self-doubt and hopes that he can eventually be an engineer, though it’s a difficult task for him and he sees it as though he is reaching for the stars, which constantly are out of his grasp.

We began to look at Frantic Assembly Learning to Fly techniques and how to make him Tom Fly in space.

These lifts became a main part of the delusion, they were all very pretty but ultimately lead to nothing. We just kept putting them in so they looked nice. We looked at pieces of contemporary dance such as Christopher Bruce’s ‘Swansong’ We soon realised even though there was movement there was a narrative been told. That was something we were missing. We focused on building a narrative within the scene and made sure that each section told a story.  This brought more substance to the delusion.

We also stopped focusing on lifts and started working on ground work, where we created the delusion of anti-gravity techniques, by having him held down or in place allowing him to shift his weight more easily and fall through the air with people to catch him.

We never intended on truly hiding those who were lifting, we’d have them in plain sight but in black attire. It never really seemed necessary and we’d simply allow the audience to use their imaginations and focus purely on Tom.

However we began to look at Black Light Theatre and their work with UV lights, which allows them to totally hide everyone moving the set and the actors around. The UV lights added yet another layer to an already beautiful scene. It became an integral part of the design of the scene, we then added UV paint to our hands to create stars that Tom would search for and they would come together to create a beautiful galaxy that Tom would dance with, but never be able to touch.

National Theatre Discover (2015) Frantic Assembly Masterclass: Learning to Fly. Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4mXhW7TXQ8 [accessed 29 April 2017].

Philip Chambon (2011) Swansong Choregraphed by Christopher Bruce. Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=038BdfaaVVs [accessed 29 April 2017].

BlackLightTheatre (2009) The Best of Black Light Theatre. Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6L7-cLP9AOc [accessed 29 April 2017].

The second delusion was one of the most difficult ones for me to craft as a writer, I knew I wanted both Joanne and Beth to come against each other for the promotion in the office. I wanted to make it clear that they were both strong women who were fighting over this job promotion. Using a war like setting helped reflect the ‘real life’ as military strategy and soldiers are often spoken as ‘units’ and the sales in the office were also referred to as ‘units’.

I depicted Beth as a Nazi who only spoke GCSE level German, as the delusion itself was Joanna’s and of course she doesn’t speak German show only the small amount of German she learnt at school. This delusion was filled with frantic speech, that mocked old BBC broadcasts with over the top diction adding some comic relief to the frantic war text.

When the delusion finally finishes, Joanna is struggling in the war. Losing many of her units and the bunker she was hiding in, had been hit with a missile. The delusion again reflects the real world, Joanna in the office is doing well but is quickly trumped by Beth. When the delusion comes to an end, it is brought back into reality with a phone call from back home. Joanna’s farther calls, who is himself ill and is slowing down her sales.

The concept for the scene itself was not the difficult part for me to create, it was the dialogue itself. I have little to no experience in war jargon, however luckily for me our Set Designer, Sam Coggin has seen many war films and was able to come to my aid, taking the lead in writing the dialogue for this scene. I was worried at first about letting up the reigns of writing, but he knew more on the topic and was really able to help me craft some strong dialogue.

We a new show, comes a fresh start. However we couldn’t just throw away everything we’d already done. The opening scene was originally set in an office during the 1950’s and was a physical theatre scene, this first start was our inspiration for our silent film opening. In the original scene, a tyrant of a boss made sure his office worked like clockwork, a lightbulb was broken and a handyman came in to fix it. There he fell in love with the assistant and we’d rush through their life as a couple.

Set in an office in the 1920’s ‘The Boss’ falls in love with his assistant, same as before the light is broken and a handy man comes to fox it. The assistant finds him attractive and is whisked away. We took inspiration from Mack Sennett’s ‘Barney Oldfield’s Race for A Life’ the classic well known silent film where the ‘Damsel in Distress’ is tied to a set of train tracks. We also looked at Charlie Chaplin’s films and took inspiration of the slapstick comedy and the physical attributes these characters encompasses.  This delusion ends with the Handyman turning out to be a villain and placing The Assistant on a set of ladders, that make a train track. This delusion brings the story back into reality, into the office.

Here is such an important moment, it sets the tone for how every other delusion will end. This one snaps back into reality with bright white lights meant to be the lights of the train and a projection of a train headed towards the audience. The projection then turns into spreadsheets, printers and phones can be heard and they are transported back into the everyday office.

The reality then is effected by the delusion itself or in a sense mirrors it. Within the real state office Michael (The Boss) is in love with Beth (The Assistant) who is aided by Tom (The Handyman) and seems to enjoy his affections.

Change Before Going Productions (2012) Barney Oldfield’s Race for a Life

. Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdn2UYaeSV8 [accessed 12 April 2017].

James Evans (2016) Charlie Chaplin: The Adventurer

. Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jf25OYtBhFM [accessed 12 April 2017].