The show must go online
Auckland Theatre Company releases first online play
From Friday 8 May, over four weeks, Auckland Theatre Company (ATC) will deliver its first ever online play – Chekhov’s The Seagull – a new online version by Eleanor Bishop and Eli Kent, directed by Eleanor Bishop.
Like all providers of performance experiences across New Zealand and the globe, in the last two months ATC has been forced to consider how it delivers its art – which of course normally combines a company of actors in close proximity on a stage with hundreds of people in the auditorium – to theatre lovers, subscribers and supporters.
It’s not been easy, says Artistic Director Colin McColl. “It’s a question we’d never thought we’d be asking ourselves – how do you deliver theatre without an audience? Almost more strangely than that; how do we present theatre without actors in a room together? But, like almost every business across every sector, we’ve had to adapt in order to continue to deliver what people want and expect from us – and for us that means we keep going, even if the audiences are at home and our actors are working independently from each other,” he says.
Chekhov’s The Seagull – a new online version kicks off ATC’s new online brand, ATC On Stage / On Screen. Under this brand ATC will deliver bespoke projects created especially for online platforms. The first event out of the “box” is a retelling of Chekhov’s classic The Seagull performed on Zoom, and created by a brilliant artistic team and stellar cast, all from their own bubbles.
Directed and co-adapted by Eleanor Bishop in collaboration with co-adaptor Eli Kent, and performed by 2020 New Zealander of the Year Jennifer Ward-Lealand CNZM, Stephen Lovatt(who performed in ATC’s 1994 stage version of the play), Goretti Chadwick, Fasitua Amosa, Nathalie Morris, Arlo Green, Bruce Phillips, Bronsyn Ensor, Mustaq Missouri andShadon Meredith, The Seagull – a new online version will be presented over four weeks streaming via Facebook and YouTube. The actors will have only one week to rehearse and record it, before it is streamed at the end of the week. One act, at around 30 minutes per ‘episode’, will be performed each Friday at 7pm (8, 15, 22, 29 May). The first episode will screen for free via Facebook Premiere and YouTube Premiere.
Bishop says, “What are most people in New Zealand doing right now? Having conversations and drinking wine online. The only difference from a Chekhov play to now is that the action isn’t taking place at a Russian country estate but on Zoom: Families are gathering. The young are thinking about their dreams and whether they are possible. Older people are reflecting on their lives and their disappointments (or just trying to figure out how to make their computer video and sound work).
“We want to preserve this classic work but present it in a new way, to see how Chekhov’s mastery of subtext plays out in the intimacy of a close-up camera, and to draw out the romantic and artistic conflicts in a digital setting,” she says.
The Seagull – one of theatre’s great masterpieces - is a “comedy of frustrated lives” in four acts. Chekhov himself once described it as, “A comedy, three women’s parts, six men’s, four acts, a landscape (view of a lake), a great deal of conversation about literature, little action, five tons of love."
Eleanor Bishop, who has been referred to as “one of New Zealand’s most daring, intelligent, and political directors”, works across theatre and opera. Her work weaves classical material with documentary forms such as found text and filmed interviews, and it often features video and projection. Usually working between New Zealand and the United States, Bishop’s recent work includesMrs Warren’s Profession and BOYS (adapted from Greg McGee's Foreskins Lament) for ATC, Body Double (Silo Theatre/Auckland Arts Festival) and Yes, Yes, Yes, a play about consent, co-written with Karin McCracken, which toured New Zealand and won Excellence in Production at the Auckland Theatre Awards in 2019.
Eli Kent is a writer, director, and performer. He’s a recipient of multiple accolades, including the Bruce Mason Award for emerging playwrights and the New Zealand Arts Foundation New Generation Award. He wrote and acted in The Playground Collective’s All Your Wants and Needs Fulfilled Forever, which played at London’s Vault Festival following successful runs in Auckland and New York. His most recent work with ATC was Peer Gynt [recycled] and The Cherry Orchard.
McColl says The Seagull is the first event of its kind for ATC and the company is excited about the possibilities that come with creating theatre online.
“It goes without saying that we’ll always be a live performance company and our kaupapa will continue to be creating brilliant live theatre to an in-person audience, but we are having fun recreating theatre magic online.
“Since lockdown, we’ve been playing with online readings and video work and into the future we’re working with our entire season of actors to collaborate on other ideas. It has been ATC’s position that we will continue to pay our people and create theatre – in any format – until we are permitted back into our theatre home. The Seagull has given us all a chance to revisit a landmark piece of theatre in a unique way, with a brilliant full cast and reimagined in an online space. There is of course the added bonus potential to reachan audience who don't usually make it to theatre,” McColl says.
Chekhov's The Seagull - a new online version will be presented in four 30-minute parts. The first episode will screen for free via Facebook Premiere and YouTube Premiere on Friday May 8 at 7pm.
SHOW INFORMATION
Chekhov’s The Seagull - a new online version By Eleanor Bishop and Eli Kent
Directed by Eleanor Bishop
Fridays at 7pm – 8, 15, 22 and 29 May 2020 **Free event**
Watch:
Facebook: Facebook.com/TheATC YouTube: YouTube/AucklandTheatreCo
Cast:
Jennifer Ward-Lealand: Arkadina Arlo Green: Konstantin
Bruce Phillips: Sorin
Nathalie Morris: Nina
Mustaq Missouri: Shamraev
Bronwyn Ensor: Masha
Shadon Meredith: Trigorin
Stephen Lovatt: Dorn
Fasitua Amosa: Medviedenko
Goretti Chadwick: Polina
Creative team:
Director and Co-Adaptor: Eleanor Bishop
Co-Adaptor: Eli Kent
Video Designer/Director of Photography: Owen McCarthy
Sound Designer: Jason Smith
Design Consultant: Dan Williams
While Chekhov’s The Seagull - a new online version is a free event, ATC has continued to pay all staff, crew and artists despite a dark stage and cancelled performances. All donations are welcome to help ATC keep the magic of theatre alive. Please visit here.
For further information, interviews and images, please contact Siobhan Waterhouse at Mr Fahrenheit Publicity, on +64 22 126 4149 or Siobhan@mrfahrenheit.nz.