Industry Yearbook'16 features: ETC's Orphans

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Experimental Theatre Club’s Orphans

On a sunny weekday evening before the beginning of Trinity term, Industry caught up with the cast of Dennis Kelly’s ORPHANS. the ETC’s latest offering, coming to the intimate Michael Pilch Studio in first week. The play, set entirely in one room, concerns a young couple preparing for the arrival of their second child in their home. It is a space which had been intended to be a peaceful haven from the horrors of the outside world. After this is ruptured at the very start of the play by the arrival of Helen’s (Mary Higgins) brother Liam (Calam Lynch), drenched in blood, the play explores issues of family loyalty and its moral implications, as well as key issues in the world today.

The three tangibly enthused actors (Higgins, Lynch, and Cassian Bilton) bounced off each other with energy that betrayed their excitement, and dedication to the project, speaking to us about the importance of trust between cast members.the ‘perverse luxury’ of the Oxford drama scene, and the

power of Kelly’s script.

interview by Hannah Marshall photography by Charlotte Hyman & Maya Gulieva

INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

“As soon as I read it, I knew I wanted to do this play; I’ve been reading it pretty much every day since.”

- Cassian Bilton

INDUSTRY: How did you get involved with this production?

CALAM LYNCH: I actually gave Cassian the script to read four months ago.

CASSIAN BILTON: As soon as I read it, I knew I wanted to do this play; I’ve been reading it pretty much every day since. That’s one of the great strengths of the drama scene in Oxford – you can put on whatever you want, there’s no financial risk, and whether you’re a director, producer, or actor, it’s possible to take something you’re excited about and make it happen.

I: You three have worked together on many productions before, and are friends off-stage too. How do you think this affects the way you interact in a production?

CL: I very much believe that in order to do your best acting, you have to be generous, and really get a feel of the people you’re working with.

You also have to have a frank and open dialogue with other cast members, so everyone feels at ease.

CB: I totally agree. It’s so important to trust the other actors you’re on stage with, particularly with this play, because it’s being performed in the round, which is very scary. Taking risks is so important in rehearsal, but often plays in Oxford are put on in just a few weeks. That means you don’t have time to build that trust and intimacy, so it does really make sense to work with people we know really well. It’s also about the fact that when you go out there, you will want to change things from night to night, and those curveballs can really enhance the performance.

CB: You have to trust that what the other people on stage are feeling is contrived, and that it makes sense to them at that moment; if someone comes on and their mood doesn’t match that of the scene, you have to decide whether to work with that, or to ignore it.

I: Orphans deals with a lot of difficult and very of-the-moment issues, particularly racism and the idea of the ‘safe space’. How do you do these things justice?

MH: Honestly, I think you have to avoid thinking about the issues too much. It’s not possible to represent a whole group of people with one actor in one play. I think that ultimately, something like racism comes down to fear, and here, that doesn’t feel any more volatile than the fear in any other dramatic situation. It’s about how people push their fear, and in this case, there’s not a huge leap between hate and fear. That said, I think it’s important for the audience to come away thinking about the issues raised.

CL: The script does such a great job of that, though; we don’t want to impose something that isn’t there upon it, and so I think the best thing we can do is to play the truth of the script to the best of our abilities.

CB: A play like Orphans takes an extreme example, and tried to present it on a more domestic and personal level that people might better be able to relate to and understand.

MH: It’s up to us to play a human.

MARY HIGGINS: I think more than just being about trust, it’s actually a listening thing. If people don’t listen, if they can’t be sensitive to what the actors around them are doing, those curveballs won’t get appropriate responses.

INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

I: The Michael Pilch Studio is very intimate, and the set, designed by Grace Linden, is interspersed in part among the audience. Do you think those watching will feel like they’re in the room with the characters?

CB: Intimate has positive connotations; I think claustrophobic is perhaps a more appropriate way to describe the atmosphere in this play. It’s like a pressure cooker. You get a real sense that the danger of the outside world is encroaching on this tiny space from the very beginning, when my character walks in, covered in blood. I think it’s dangerous, though, to expect the audience to feel a certain way, although with the set design in mind, they will literally be in the same room as the characters.

You have to know the script so intimately; you have to be so self-assured about when you’re going to stumble.

MH: The characters also never, ever say what they’re thinking. We’ve fallen into so many unexpected wells, not knowing they were there before we’ve come to them.

CL: Everyone has a character revelation at least once per rehearsal!

CB: It’s true; usually in the week before the performance, you feel like you know your character, but I feel like at this point, I still don’t. There are so many layers that we’re still uncovering and exploring. You never know exactly what’s going to happen, but I like that, the change every night.

CL: That said, there’s still a disconnect. There’s the knowing that you’re not in a house, but in a performance space.

MH: I actually don’t think it’s a case of one or the other, but you definitely feel like you are very involved with the characters. Dennis Kelly writes so well that you really do meet three humans, and as humans, they’re multifaceted and conflicting. Sometimes you will feel sympathetic towards them, and later you will find yourself repulsed by them.

CB: Making you feel like you can relate to them is Kelly’s trick. You feel complicit because you empathise with these characters.

MH: I think that it’s when you feel like you can’t reach a conclusion, that you’ve been backed into a corner, that art has done its best work I: The script is very naturalised. How does that change the way you engage with it?

MH: The dialogue is the worst!

CB: It’s very human and thus difficult. It’s cut together, overlapping, and the characters stumble and spit and trip over ach other.

“I think that it’s w reach a conclusio into a corner, tha

when you feel like you can’t on, that you’ve been backed at art has done its best work.”

- Mary Higgins

“Everyone has a character revelation at least - Calam Lynch once per rehearsal!�

Assistant director Ell Potter during rehearsal with her cast; Cassian and Calam

INDUSTRY MAGAZINE

I: Having all been heavily involved in the With opening night later this week, this producdrama scene in Oxford since you started stud- tion promises to be a gripping and ying here, what can you say about it? thought-provoking piece of theatre.

CB: It’s great. There’s so much opportunity for experimentation, for putting on whatever you want without worrying about the risks involved.

Besides, there are so many opportunities – there are tours to Japan and Edinburgh funded every year… It’s really driven by the people putting together the productions they want to do, so you don’t have to wait for a yearly showcase, that you have little agency upon, as you would do at drama school.

CL: In a sense, Oxford is better than drama school, I think. You don’t get the technical training, but Oxford has such an amazing reputation for acting, and there are so many plays being performed all the time. In drama school you don’t get to perform until third year.

MH: We learn by doing lots, by working with all these amazing directors who have such different styles, and working out what we like, and what we don’t. I think we’re all really happy with doing drama at Oxford, over going to drama school.

I: Any last words?

MH: We love our directors! Georgia (Bruce) and Ell (Potter) have been nigh on faultless.

CL: I think Orphans is essentially a thriller, and it’s rare that you get a good thriller on stage.

CB: I’m hoping that Orphans will be something that the Oxford audience hasn’t seen before. I always want to be challenged when I go to the theatre and wake up the next day still thinking about the show. Hopefully, Orphans will do that.

After our conversation with the cast, we were treated to a sneaky preview of the production.

Without staging or costume, the cast created an atmosphere that was electric.