Inside The Seed - Talk Back Report
After its second show on Thursday night, the nine-person cast of Inside The Seed gathered onstage at the Culture Lab to discuss the show's creation. As a new script by playwright Jason Rothery, Inside The Seed is receiving its premiere production as the second show in the Cultch's 40th anniversary season. Led by Artistic Producer Daniel Martin, the audience engaged in a lively discussion about this topical production.
To kick off the discussion, an audience member wanted to know more about the playwright. Though Rothery was not in attendance, Martin explained that the producing company Upintheair Theatre has a long history with this talented playwright. In fact, Upintheair produced one of Rothery's first plays titled Wedgie - which was also a politically themed work. Wedgie was a war between two classrooms - one grade six and one grade seven - that also served as a commen on the American war on Iraq.
The discussion continued by exploring many of the political themes of Inside The Seed. One audience member wondered whether the playwright (who is a UBC graduate) had any links with documentary film maker / professor Joel Bakan (who created The Corporation). Additional comments were made about how the play is essentially a well-structured argument that puts its ideas into the heads of its characters. It offers an intimate portrait of human beings yet stretches to a global perspective about governments, corporations and international food security.
To prepare for this production, the cast of actors and everyone working on the show watched documentary films which addressed issues raised by Inside The Seed. Many of these films were recommended by the playwright himself (who will be attending the play on Saturday night). Several of those involved in the show mentioned that they were struggling with how the legal system puts private ownership ahead of the common good. This question is especially pertinent when considering the common human heritage of plant and animal life on Earth.
The focus of the talk back then shifted from ideas and themes of the play towards this specific production. One member of the audience commented on how interesting it was to have the entire cast onstage throughout the entire show (though they were mostly silent observers). As well, the production was staged in an alley theatre style (with the audience on two sides facing each other) and the cast members were congregated at one end of the alley seated on a grouping of molo chairs. It was explained that the original idea for staging this play was to have it in the round (with the audience on four sides); however, it evolved into the current alley theatre configuration.
Many of the cast members noted that being onstage for the entire show was a challenge. In addition to acting as a sort of Greek chorus witnessing the main character unravel, those actors onstage expressed the idea that they felt like an extension of the audience (almost a "hyper audience"). One mentioned that it was a great luxury during the rehearsal period to work on scenes with a built-in audience in the rehearsal hall! During its three-week rehearsal process, director Richard Wolfe first worked with only the actors who had dialogue in individual scenes (usually two to four actors) and then included the entire cast onstage who needed to react to the events happening onstage. Wrapping up, the discussion focused on the importance of relationships between the characters and how such personal connections brought the ideas behind Inside The Seed to life.
Inside The Seed runs October 2 - 12, 2013 at the Vancity Culture Lab at the Cultch.