…in a bookshop? Never! Well, yes, actually. As Worthing Borough Council has managed to turn all three of Worthing’s ‘theatrical’ venues into sub-standard cinemas/ wrestling venues, it seemed that theatre lovers would have to continue travelling to Brighton and London to see something of interest to them.
The answer presented itself on being approached by ThinkTankTheatre who had the stunning idea of presenting a Harold Pinter play within the bookshop. I don’t think I ever stopped to really consider the logistics of ‘how’ but trusted Jane and Saul, who on further asking around, were highly commended as professionals. If I knew how much work it took to put on a dramatic performance I might have reconsidered but that’s precisely why such decisions at such moments in life are best taken without too much consideration.
The play that Jane and Saul wished to stage was ‘Ashes to Ashes’, a one-act play requiring just two actors. Sounds simple, doesn’t it? Harold Pinter is perhaps most famous (among non-regular theatre lovers, at least) for his dramatic pauses but there is much more than this: minimal stage directions require imaginative interpretation that must nonetheless stay true to the characters and the story being told. There is also a subtle change of lighting over the whole 40 minutes of the play and special ‘hallucinatory’ sound-effects at the end of the play. Remember that this was to be staged in a bookshop which had to continue trading during the daylight hours. There was no ‘wings’ on the stage which was itself a temporary structure crafted by yours truly and the light and sound equipment had to be taken apart and put back together – around temporary seating – all of which had to be laid down within an hour of closing the shop ready for the arrival of the first visitors.
The performance of ‘Ashes to Ashes’ was followed on each night by a Q&A session where members of the audience got the chance to discover more about the technicalities of performance, the skill of the actors and director Katherine Mustafa and indeed, in Pinter’s writing which contains many ambiguities.
The first performances on 21st and 22nd February proved so successful – and in fact were sold out within two weeks of announcement such is the local demand for quality theatre – that the ‘Methvens Studio’ staged repeat performances on 18th an 19th April. The feedback was amazing.
Saul and Jane aka ThinkTankTheatre will be back in the autumn with another performance with a number of ideas for the next performance being courted including performances of a Samuel Beckett, a dramatic interpretation of a very famous poem which remains Top Secret, another Pinter – possibly even a revival of ‘The Lovers’ which Jane and Saul staged to such acclaim in Guildford or… Who knows? Watch this space or our shop windows or the local press but be quick, the tickets sell out very quickly!
Wow. We were so good that Waterstone’s have ‘borrowed’ the theatre-in-a-bookshop idea. Imitation is, of course, the greatest form of flattery but then unlike Pinter, Mamet has no connection to Worthing.
