Mutabilitie Productions

We’ll be posting more soon – keep checking back. Meanwhile, take a look at the website for ‘Clockwork’ – our latest play – www.clockworkadc.co.uk

Well, we finished Clockwork on the 16th, to packed houses and largely rave reviews. As always, there’s things I would have changed: some parts of the script that had been written in a rush were terribly difficult for the actors to learn; and the space, while intimate, was hard to move around in.

Nevertheless, it was a great experience. We had aimed to preview the show to see whether it had potential, and I think it does. It sold out a week before the show began, and all but one of our reviews was fantastic. To give you a taste:

The Hunts Post: “Everyone of the cast brought energy, panache and verve to one of the most delightful plays I have seen anywhere. A good theatrical production is not just entertaining, it is refreshing, uplifting, fulfilling even, for the audience, a complete experience that leaves you smiling. This is one of those.”

Cambridge News: “Enchanting and unsettling in equal measure, Clockwork is a Gothic triumph that deserves a big tick.”

Whats on Stage: “Moral messages that permeate Pullman’s text resonate well in a university setting. Do not cheat. Do not leave things until the last minute. Certainly do not miss this playful concoction. Follow Mutabilitie to their next surprise offering – this courageous company are “all wound up”.” ****

We were also reviewed by three student newspapers, which always gives me pangs of anxiety, because in my experience students don’t generally like plays staged by non-university residents (a phenomenon I’ve observed in several university towns over the past few years). However, only one review was downright nasty; the others were good, helpful and seemed to enjoy the show.

Now might also be the time for me to point you to some photos of the production. Hugo Vincent, a Cambridge photographer and one of Alex’s friends, very kindly came along to our dress rehearsal at the last minute. His shots are here. Then Alex couldn’t resist doing some clever composite photo, which you can see here.

So what’s next? Well, Philip Pullman has, in theory, agreed that we could take the show to the Edinburgh Fringe. Now we need to talk details, and I need to work out how we go about raising money for this August adventure. Ideas on a postcard!

We’ve only got a few days to go before the performance starts. We’ve sold out three times (we’ve released extra seats twice, and they’ve all gone within hours, but we can’t possibly squeeze any more people in). I thought I’d devote this post to talking about ’stakes’.

For those of you not in the know when it comes to theatrical jargon, ’stakes’ are what makes the audience care about what’s happening. They give the story energy and purpose. The higher the stakes, the better: the reason Doctor Who is always running is because the stakes are so high that someone (or maybe a whole planet!) will be destroyed if he does not. One particular example that springs to mind is in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. Theoden and his men, joined by Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli, are defending Helm’s Deep against tens of thousands of orcs. Peter Jackson raises the stakes by making the odds of the ‘good guys’ winning extremely low. Theoden and Aragorn become the underdogs, and everyone wants like an underdog to win. But Jackson goes further than Tolkien does with the book: he adds several human elements to the story which make us want Theoden’s victory even more:

1. The elves come to help in the fight at the last moment. With them comes Haldir – a friend of Aragorn’s – and we don’t want Aragorn to lose his friend because Aragorn’s lovely! When Haldir does die, Jackson raises the stakes for Aragorn.
2. Jackson takes the heroes to their lowest ebb. Helm’s Deep is said to be impenetrable, but when the orcs do breach the wall, all havoc breaks loose as the Riders of Rohan are pushed back and back and back, until eventually there are only a dozen or so men in the last, smallest tower. They are surrounded by thousands of orcs. It seems as if all is lost. The odds have never been so low on our heroes winning.
3. In a beautiful touch, Jackson shows us shots of the women and children of Rohan – those who are hiding in the mountains and who the men are trying to protect. This adds a real level of humanity to the battle: the audience can see a tangible reason why the good guys have to win. Moreover, those children really do look terrified to hear the battle above them. Anyone who has seen the ‘behind-the-scenes’ documentaries will understand me when I say that Jackson is a cruel man, but boy does he get results.
4. Aragorn becomes the ‘centre-piece’ for this battle. It is all about him becoming a king, and proving that he should be a king. He rallies the troops; he fights alongside his men; it is Aragorn who convinces Theoden that all is not lost and reminds him of the people he is protecting. This is a crucial moment in Aragorn’s character journey, as he learns what a good leader he is, and how he should no longer shy away from the throne that he has shunned for decades.

All of these things engage an audience in the story: they keep us rooting for the characters and keep us on the edges of our seats. Of course, what we’re doing with Clockwork is hardly epic: there are no battle sequences, orcs or elves. However, the same rules apply. In our little sequence we are only fighting to save one life, but as with The Lord of the Rings, we are trying to bring that to its lowest possible point: we’ll let you put bets on whether our character will live, but for quite a lot of the film the odds are pretty low…

Most people who have been in a play or, indeed, played with children, will know the game ‘Zip, zap, boing’. Basically, you stand in a circle and pass a ‘zip’ to the person next to you. You can ‘zap’ across the circle or ‘boing’ to send the zip the other way. The aim is to get the group focused and energetic, passing zips and zaps in the blink of an eye.

Once you’ve mastered that, you can add in your own. These are some of ours:

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Well, not exactly, but today was the last rehearsal before Christmas. Clockwork begins in three weeks and we’ve had around six rehearsals so far, with another two scheduled before the get in. Four of those rehearsals have been with the leading lady, and two have been with a full cast. It hasn’t been easy, but I think that it’s going to be okay.

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