Week #19 : 'Tame' by Declan Greene

2012 and 2013 saw the Education department at the Malthouse Theatre create The Suitcase Series for Year Nine and Ten Victorian students with the script Tame.  
Students from all around Victoria have the opportunity in Term 3 to workshop a play commissioned specifically for the Malthouse Prompt series and then attend the theatre and perform sections of the script to other school students; as well as seeing a performance of the same script by the resident actors of the company.

'Tame' - Matlhouse Theatre Actors Production

The script was written by Declan Greene, who also wrote Pompeii, L.A and Moth.  He is the creator of “gay D.I.Y drag-theatre” group ‘Sisters Grimm who won a place in MTC’s inaugural Neon Season (2013) with the group devised project – The Sovereign Wife.

His work Tame is an episodic piece of non-naturalism theatre that explores one family’s predicament and behavioural response to climate change - ‘a slow motion catastrophe’ as described by David Suzuki.

Tame is described on the Malthouse Theatre website –

‘It all starts around the kitchen table.  A visitor from the wild visits and eats more than KFC.  An ungrateful young upstart fights nature with nurture.  And finally, apathy and disorganisation brew discord and then disaster.

Tame presents vignettes of an everyday modern family who seem to be ‘happy camping’ whilst the world changes catastrophically outside.’

And described by Declan Greene himself:

‘Now its eaten the family dog…. Will apathy, disorganisation or their new visitor (a bear?) ever allow this family to leave the house again?’

2013 was the last time that this will be performed at the Malthouse Theatre, as they have commissioned a different script, however still centered around the theme of climate change and in a non-naturalistic style, for 2014 (and possibly 2015).
I have taken a personal interest into this script as I am going to be attending the 2014 Suitcase Series with my own students and I am interested in the way that this process works.  I will be trialing out the Tame script with my first semester students and then work-shopping the new script for performance in Term 3 next year..... 
Wish me luck!!!  It's certainly going to be a bumpy ride!!

Week #4 : 'Die Hamletmaschine' by Heiner Muller

For a 9 page script, Die HamletMaschine (or in English - Hamletmachine) certainly packs a massive punch.  A visual feast as well as a thought provoking experience.

Written by German Heiner Muller in 1977, Die Hamletmaschine is a short 5 scene play script that is loosely based on the lengthy text  - Shakespeare's Hamlet, but more on the bare components that make up the tragic tale.  The images are striking and are a great hook for the audience.  For instance:

"Grief gave way to joy, joy into munching, on the empty coffin the murder mounted the widow SHOULD I HELP YOU UP UNCLE OPEN THE LEGS OF MAMA."

"One should sew the wenches shut, a world without mothers."

It is a post-modern script that is open to varying different interpretations.  Some versions focus on the consumerism and the references to such (Coca Cola, "I go though the street malls faces, with the scars of the shopping blitz").  Some performances have focuses entirely on the images and neglected the script.  Some the entire focus is the references to East Germany Communism and and the influential role of intellectuals during that time.  In 1992 a university recreated the text set in meat factory setting with Ophelia hanging on meat hooks...  
There is no right or wrong way to perform this script.  You devise your performance from how the script speaks to you and your actors.  
It has been performed as a radio drama which included a soundtrack by Einstürzende Neubauten.  
Listen to it!  And listen to it LOUD!! I dare you!!!!!


From the opening scene (FAMILY ALBUM) we are introduced to the character Hamlet and are instantly aware of his internal monologue and the links and allusions to the original Shakespearean text.
However, the audience are also immediately aware that the actor playing Hamlet is looking onto himself as a character.  The very first line - "I was Hamlet"  to where he describes himself as an actor "Horatio Polonius.  I knew that you're an actor.  I'm one too, I play Hamlet."

In Scene 4 - PEST IN BUDA BATTLE OF GREENLAND, again we see Hamlet refer to himself as an actor playing a role "I am not Hamlet.  I play no role anymore.  My words have nothing more to say to me.... My drama is cancelled.  Behind me the scenery is being taken down."

In opposition is Ophelia's first line in the second scene (THE EUROPE OF THE WOMAN)- "I am Ophelia".  Muller describes her as having a clock as a heart.  Immediately the audience connects with Ophelia and knows that her time is coming to an end.  The contrast is that 'Hamlet' can look from the inside out and in again, whereas 'Ophelia' looks from the outside in.  She describes her end "I dig the clock which was my heart out of my breast."

In the 5th and final scene - WILDSTRAINING/IN THE FEARSOME ARMAMENTS/MILLENIA Ophelia is onstage alone in the deep sea strapped into a wheelchair with body parts floating past (again a direct link to the original text), she laments that she is not Elektra with her heart of darkness and under a sun of torture.  In this she speaks about burying the revolution and that all will know the truth soon.


Muller has also used capital letters and spacing that doesn't form to the rules of grammar in order to create these visual images.  For instance Scene 3 is nearly entirely all imagery where 'Hamlet' is dresses up as a woman by 'Ophelia' and voices are heard from the coffin. However Scene 1 and 4 are very aural based where 'Hamlet' is speaking directly to the audience as to the dealings within the script and his interpretation of his life and what he believes to be true - or not.

If you haven't had the chance to read the script, I highly recommend that you do.  You can download it here.  I really have only just scrapped the surface of the text in this post. Remember it's only 9 pages long..... but you will be engrossed with it for hours!

Next Week : 'Crave' by Sarah Kane

When the going gets tough, read a play (or 52)!

The beginning is just a play script away...

Intellectual challenges have been few and far between these last few years. Since completing my Honours of Arts (Theatre and Performance) in 2010 after completing a double degree in Secondary Education and Arts (double majoring in Drama and Literature), I have not had too much of a chance to extend my theatrical repertoire as of late.  

Starting my career in Secondary Teaching has been a tumultuous time (especially in trying to find a secure position at a school), the lack of time and, ok-ok I'll admit it, the drive to read outside the texts I have been teaching has been severely depleted. My decision to return to postgraduate studies part time, specifically Masters of Fine Arts (Theatre), has me jumping for joy! What doesn't have me joyful is my cache of script knowledge. Titles of plays and synopsis - Tick! Actually having read the majority of those plays - oh dear.... 

After being accepted and completing a Masterclass Directing workshop at the Melbourne Theatre Company with Associate Artistic Director Sam Strong and Associate Director Leticia Caceres, hearing what they had to say about their practices and directorial skills had me thinking very long and hard. If I ever want to have the chance to make my way into the world of theatre, then I really need to step up my game and not just will myself in being, but actually set myself a challenge that is a stretch, but one that still can be achievable in my current situation. 

And here comes the reason for this blog...

I challenge myself to read 52 plays in 52 weeks, along with conducting literary research and researching past reviews on each of the scripts.

I have never been good at keeping a blog, diary or any form of diarising events in my life. However, since this is something that I have been working towards ever since I started my journey into theatre, this is one challenge that I am determined to keep. (Plus I made my gorgeous senior Theatre Studies students create a challenge for themselves to work on something in class that they felt they needed to improve on... And I made them write it down and sign it as a contract. So I really need to keep up my end of the bargain too!)

For starters, I am going to read the scripts of playwrights that I know well, but have only read some of their works. For instance, I have never read Shakespeare's 'A Comedy of Errors', but have read many of his other works... I have read Wilde's 'The Importance of Being Earnest', but never 'Lady Windermere's Fan'... And the list continues...

Each Sunday I will write about the play and research here.

As with my fiction choices, I will make a decision based on what I feel like reading next once I have finished the current book, or in this case, play script. At the end of each week I will tell you the next instalment of this challenge.

From you I am seeking suggestions of other lesser known playwrights and scripts that you think I should read. Any and all suggestions will be taken into account. 

I hear you whispering amongst yourselves 'but just reading and researching plays scripts won't get you into theatre' ...  I know, but extending my knowledge, practicing my research capabilities and improving my understanding on the inner workings of the different styles of writing and theatre practice will, somewhat, help. As much as I loved my Drama major at Uni and working on self devised theatre, gaining the knowledge of past practitioners was an aspect that was removed from the course. I don't know if I can say that this was of any detriment or not, because I certainly learnt SO much from my lecturers and use that knowledge every day when teaching my own 'little cherubs'. However, something just clicked inside of me when listening to Sam at MTC.... That one day Masterclass propelled me into overdrive and to finally kick start the career I have only been dreaming about.

Wish me luck!!

Week 1: 'Miss Julie' by August Strindberg