JEPPE Dogtooth
MADELEINE Dogtooth
IT W AS VERY EXHAUSTING W ITH ALL THESE DILEM M AS, BUT IT W AS ALSO A COM PLIM ENT THAT EVERYONE W AS GENUINELY INTERESTED.
DOGTOOTH TALKS ABOUT THINGS THAT W E DO NOT GENERALLY DISCUSS AND I W ANTED TO SHOW THAT AS A DIRECTOR.
I watched the film last year and I thought it was one of the most aspiring things that I’ve ever seen. I had to do something with it and when theatre season began, I decided to write the script. I showed it to Madeleine from the initial stage and once the play was chosen, I ran to her and we’ve been working together ever since.
There were also some humors and that might have been quite challenging for the actors as they had to keep the intensity all the time. Also, if you see the plot, I find it very relevant to MUWCI because the story shows our concern to live in a small community.
Translating from a film into a play can easily get fragmented and it became one of our biggest issues. Furthermore, I don’t think Dogtooth is scandalous. I think it’s very valid, but I guess this whole theme of psychological brainwash and portraying how the family (mal)functions become such an intense experience for everyone. During and after the production, we experienced many confrontations, but “integrity” is the right word to defend ourselves. My actual problem with the whole thing was the constant changing of the organization. It was very insulting, but do you want to get into the politics of MUWCI?
Dogtooth is a very physical play and we spent so much time to choose people in our group because they had to be comfortable with each other. We looked not only at actors as individuals, but actors who were capable to work as a group - It was such a big deal. I remember the time when the last show ended. We had this feeling of extreme freedom all of a sudden. So we started playing some loud disco music and just danced like crazy.
SAM 12 Angry Men
JASON 12 Angry Men
NONE OF US W ERE ABOVE EACH OTHER IN DECISION M AKING.
HAVING THREE M USKETEERS W ERE M UCH M ORE BENEFICIAL THAN OTHERS.
We’ve known each other before ‘12 Angry Men’ was created. That became the basic ground to maintain consistency in how we wanted the play to look like. It was quite a difficult task to have such a common view considering the size of our crew, but I enjoyed it.
It helps more because if your work by yourself, there’s always this possibility to fall behind. We sharpen each other and were able to criticize one another. For example, as three directors, we made agreed to make two different endings to imply two different meanings.
I guess the theme of the play itself was pretty much relevant to how things work in any forum especially in MUWCI. It was a view point that we wanted the audience to see. Reaching unanimity has its own difficulties but at the same time, if attained, everyone is happy.
Of all the characters, I recognized that number three, Lungelo, and number eight, Tudor, were so much alike. This shows the conflict between the characters of the bad guy and the good guy.So if I could be honest, I would like to think the kid was not guilty because having a twisted end was nice.
CHRISTOPH 12 Angry Men WE HAD M ANY FIGHTS W HICH CONTRIBUTED TO THE ATM OSPHERE OF THE PLAY. But you have to understand that the direction in 12 angry men works in different roles and they constantly changed throughout time among us. First, there’s one person in charge of acting, especially in terms of the artsy stuff and the eloquence side of the play. Then there was this organizer, who was the facilitators. He made the play works especially in terms of logistics and had a particular picture of the play. There was also the co-ordinator who’s in charge in coordinating actors and producers roles because
Zia 9 Parts of Desires
Amrita 9 Parts of Desires
W AR IS AN INTERNAL STRUGGLE W HICH BECOM ES SOM ETHING EXTERNAL. IT’S ABOUT EGO AND FRUSTRATIONS THAT RESULT IN THE BATTLEFIELD.
YOU M AY ASSUM E THAT ZIA CAN BE QUITE A SCARY PERSON, BUT SHE W AS REALLY NICE TO W ORK W ITH.
9 parts of desires was formally made for 2 hours, but we cut it down to 90 minutes. So we fixed the maximum time according to the rule. We had rearranged a lot in the script with the entire casts where we would be exchanging our ideas. It became some sort of dialogue rather than a monologue. We desperately wanted the length to be less, but no matter what kind of feedback we got, we were given the answer that it was not really a problem. I chose Amrita because she knows a lot about comprehending story lines so I had a good a working relationship with her. I didn’t feel awkward and I think we managed to balance our roles, especially if you notice our advertisement, I wrote directors instead of director and co-director. During the production, we always had exhausted crew members because the rules had changed all of a sudden, so it’s quite a bummer.
We both had expectations that we wanted to fulfill so we had an equal share of translating our visions. She might have chosen me because I’m quite a pusher, but I don’t know. I think what matters in the end was that it worked out well. We were also experimenting a lot with the props and the actors were just amazing. The play is not entirely about the war in Iraq. We should take in mind about conflicts in a larger scale and how terrible it can be to people’s lives regardless of where they are. I feel that 9 parts of desires has been such a nice experience. This kind of setting is perfect for me to shape what direction I always want to take in the future.
Check in. See the clock. Have a minor panic attack. Finish having panic attack. Happen to glance at the clock again. Now have a major panic attack. Run to Space. Realize Space is booked. Run to MPH. Halfway there comprehend that you haven’t carried your script. Have another panic attack because you are faced with the difficult choice of being late v/s being stupid. Decide that being stupid is easier. So continue to run to the MPH. Reach when the play is halfway through. Get yelled at by the producers, who themselves are having panic attacks. Stumble onto stage. Get blinded by the spotlight. Forget your dialogues. Have the directors yell at you. Break a prop. Watch as everyone has a panic attack because you broke a prop. Stress out because your producers look like they want to kill you. Apologize profusely and leave. Go home and fall asleep. (Repeat procedure next day, every weekday after check in and after brunch till dinner on weekends for a month.)
Check in. See the clock. Go to the MPH, which you have booked in a bloodbath twenty days in advance. Sit there, looking at your notes. See the clock. Want to breakdown because none of your actors are here. Argue with your producer for ten minutes about where to seat the audience. Reach no conclusion. Frustrated, begin the play with the actors that have arrived. Watch as the actors forget their lines. Tell them (very nicely) to remember said lines. Give them your script. Try to calm them down after they step on the vase you’re supposed to be decorating the dining table with. Tell your producers (with utmost civility) to get a new vase. Assure your actors (graciously) that things will be okay. Stay back and read and re-read your notes on direction, wondering what went wrong in the communication process. Get sick of your script. Tear it slightly, and then feel guilty. Pack up and go work on Extended Essay. (Repeat procedure next day, every weekday after check in and after brunch till dinner on weekends for a month.)
THE TWO SIDES OF THE CURTAIN By Jiya
Watch from behind the curtains as the audience filters in. See unfamiliar faces in the crowd. Stress out. Try breathing exercises. Try not to get in the producers’ way. Get in their way. Apologize. Stand quietly in the corner, listening for your cue and practicing your lines in your head. Walk onto stage, stare into the spotlight, and begin. Return backstage. Finally feel good about yourself. Exhale. It’s over. Almost. You still need to look good for the curtain call. Check sixty times to see that the pamphlets are on the seats. Make your actors do breathing exercises. Conspire with the TCG members to make sure some people sit ONLY in the back. Check and re-check with Lights and Sounds that the spotlight is exactly 85 inches away from the table. Welcome your audience in. Sit back and watch. Pride wells up in you. Exhale as you hear the applause. It’s over. Almost. You still need to look good for the curtain call. Open the first box of pizzas. Finish. Repeat till all pizzas are over. Drink Sprite in a wine glass. Laugh. Feel so good. Talk about the play. Realize there is no need to talk about the play. Talk about everything but the play. Realize that it is 4 am and all of you have first block. Congratulate each other. Go home and sleep. Smiling.
ODE TO DOGTOOTH Exploring Barbie’s anatomy in a non-conformist family barking to a confused spectator a screaming overdose suppressed urges, incestuous interactions in the farest questhouse which is quite far. mama’s dog foetus my intimate relationship with Sanni’s shoulder amazement at the sight of a radiant cunt cunt, cunt, cunt, cunt and of course a hint of phone to spice up my beetroot platter. Oh, papa, how discomforting is your stern voice the fixation in your permanent facial expression how imposing is your body language the determination in your movement teaching us the fine art of resembling a dog you disturbed our audience in style. Two girls, fascinated by phosphorescence synchronizing their awkwardness to the music silent pauses oh, the awkwardness… BRUCE!
By Juliet By
PRODUCTION 1 m onth to Theatre Season: Shopping around Pune for props with the play budget doesn’t sound too bad! This month should be quite good. I get to choose what dresses they’ll use and what type of cups they’ll drink out of. Mental Note: get ticket to Pune to figure out how everything will look, pretty nice. I’d do this all over again. I won’t be able to get a table cloth so I’ll probably have to end up sowing them myself. Oh, I don’t know if the fake blood will come out of the dress, maybe I should get one for each day. It’s fine, all the actors will bring their own props too. Shouldn’t be too complicated. 2 weeks to Theatre Season: Actors are not bringing their costumes for rehearsals, then I’m the one that looks bad. Note: send them an email. Talked to the school to rearrange the MPH and turn it into a courtroom and tried to book Space in the intranet (again). I should be done soon because I took the bed to the library lawn already, now I only have to do the pamphlets. Oh, and the poster. And the trailer. And send the final list of props. OKL a couple of things left but it’s fine, we have two weeks. 1 week to Theatre Season: Curtains, a vest, a table, a clock that ticks loudly and small bite size cookies, check, check, check, check and check. Ask for permission to move the black boards to the library lawn, done. Take the yoga mats to the three house and ask Salsa to practice somewhere else, oops. We have only one week, the cast and directors are getting anxious, I’m getting anxious but at the end of the day it was the oops that was remembered, not the rest. I’ll talk to them later, now we need … a sugar bowl?
3 Days to Theatre Season: Ok today’s an easy day. The Triveni Board said quick run-through right after check in, should be done by 11:30pm. Gives me enough time to go
By Maria Victoria Oh, and they didn’t cast a husband? Ok, I’ll jump in and say those two lines, should be fun. 3 Days to Theatre Season: Ok today’s an easy day. The Triveni Board said quick run-through right after check in, should be done by 11:30pm. Gives me enough time to go ask someone to do make up for the cast. Mental note: Get Arvin to dress up as a guard! THEY ATE THE COOKIES? Note: get more cookies for the cookie scene. Well, if it starts at 9:30 I should probably go set up after dinner, should be quick….Picking up shouldn’t take long either. I estimate that today I can go to bed before midnight, for once. Left DB2 2 minutes before movement curfew and we didn’t go through the whole play. 1 Day to Theatre Season After underestimating out dependency on light, we had our first rehearsal with proper black outs: not so good. Now we need to rearrange everything. Change scene settings that have been set for weeks. OK, its fine. We can give a couple of these chairs back to Pablo then. Also underestimated the demands of those two husband lines in addition to bringing in everything else. It’ll all be over tomorrow; now all I can say is that I’d double think doing it again although, tomorrow should feel great. 1 W eek after Theatre Season What did I use to do after check in before Theatre Season?
LETTERS OF ‘91 REVIEW We’re ushered into a warm, enclosed area at the end of the Admin. Lawn, that leads out into a garden. We’re cordoned off from the rest of the space by black wooden benches, some of which are used for seating purposes. We don’t see out into the other garden, blocked from our view by thick black curtains. There’s a soft yellow glow from the halogens, and as more and more people come in, all you see is a large board, which says “ Pakistan occupied Kashmir – 1991”…Then suddenly the seats are full, the halogen turns off, for a moment the only light is from the stars above, and then it starts… You hear angst-riddled shouts, protests in the background, demanding the freedom their ancestors once had, demanding the once serene, stunning, picturesque Kashmir, a Kashmir that for an ancient Emperor meant “Heaven on Earth,” a Kashmir that has its beauty scarred from the result of a quarrel that’s lasted too long, a Kashmir that the modern child now calls, “The Terrorist Land.” We hear the shouts, then gunfire and a light flickers on and off on the words “Pakistan occupied Kashmir – 1991,” it flickers on and off, on and off, on and off, on and off… A self-penned play by students, Letters from ’91 very bravely, and in most ways successfully, attempts to portray the struggle that surrounds Kashmir and the wishes of her people, and definitely generated some amount of interest and curiosity about the issue among the audience. The play is skilfully penned; each scene flowing into another, from the gunfire to Irfan talking of how his first visit to the capitol of his country had been, sadly, his last, his voice echoing in the dark, to when Irfan had just been born, Shabnam’s happiness and joy at for her newborn son, and the grandmother’s concealed fear for her son. Its focus was on Kashmiri independence was especially well brought out through the scene where young Irfan tried to hoist the Indian flag and was told off by his uncle. And later he realises what a waste it was, when he comes to know of how his fellow countrymen treat him, and he
and he assumes that as the entire country’s mentality towards Kashmir. Having an extremely emotional tone, there were times in the play when the atmosphere became much lighter than intended, and I felt that the characterization could have been better nuanced, but the cast managed to hold emotional integrity through other, emotion riddled scenes. I only wish the play had last longer, taking us a little deeper into the lives of the characters, for the play seemed to end all too soon. As for the cast, William gave a wonderful, powerpacked performance as Irfan, a blighted young man visiting the capitol of his country where he is captured by the armed forces and out under torture. An experience that leads him to realise that him, his people, and his state are associated with terror and always will be, and what he thought was his country never accepted him as his own, and that he is an unwelcome guest in his own country. At times when the actual theme and emotions behind the play were in danger of getting lost, he came in with well-nuanced delivery of dialogues that were definitely very emotionally penned and put across a myriad emotion, made all the more effective when rendered in his deep baritone. Avaneesh made quite a convincingly caring uncle, what with his fixed smile and “Do you want to play cricket with the boys, Irfan?,” and “I invite you to my place tomorrow Pushkar, and you will have to come!” turning quite shocking when he tells off Irfan for drawling the Indian flag and attempting to hoist it next to the black flag, reprimanding him for trying to deface the symbol of Kashmir’s independence. Roshni made rather a lovely younger version of Irfan as the innocent and ordinary (though a teeny bit petulant) child growing in Kashmir, not fully comprehending the dangers around him, his interest flitting from a train set one moment and cricket the next, parallel to her characters determination and will to hoist her country’s flag; a role well-balanced! While Katharina, as Shabnam, the rapturous mother of a newly-born was a delight to watch, exclaiming, “Did they say Majeed Ahmed at the end? Was it Majeed Ahmed? Was it Majeed Ahmed?” and was an exceedingly apt choice for the quintessential light skinned, light eyed,
the quintessential light skinned, light eyed, apple-cheeked Kashmiri girl, Avi deftly handled the role of a grandmother whose worry for her son’s safety showed in her face but concealed it the next moment under the happiness of a new-born grandson. Prioty and Konstantin handled dual roles, first as a shopkeeper and a soldier respectively, and later as Irfan’s friends, eliciting a lot of laughs from the audience Matthew and Mathias gave surprising performances representing the brutal face of the Delhi police and the Indian Army. The play ended with a loud explosion, and Mugdha appearing as a news reporter and Pulkit as cameraman Mohandas, once again drawing laughter from the audience. But there was a brutal irony involved, because this time, she was putting the blame on Irfan’s son Junaid, who angered by his father’s untimely death and what he faced, and attempted to avenge his death. I’d like to go back to the beginning a bit again though, for I found it quite a marvellous beginning to a play that attempted to paint the story of an angst and conflict riddled state, and achieved it very well through that first scene. The use of lighting and sound hear was particularly effective here, the flickering lights giving the effect of almost a bomb going off in the foreground or the burst of light from constant gunfire, and the recording of protests and slogans going off showing the angst and desperation of a state for a free land. Congratulations to an excellent cast, and to the writers for such a sad, yet wonderfully, well-written play. Communicating the issue of the turmoil up North through a play and to such a diverse audience isn’t really easy, but the script was written in a way that the situation was very well put across, and I’m sure the play has generated interest in many people about the problem. It reflected a lot of sincerity and hard work on the cast and crew’s part, and I’m sure pulled quite a few heart-strings.
By Tanushree
DOGTOOTH REVIEW By Brenda “The new words of the day are sea, highway and road trip.’ Sea is the leather chair with wooden armrests like the one in the living room, for example. Don’t keep standing, sit down in the sea to have a chat” Bizarre and eerie, were the thoughts ringing in my head, after watching the drama Dogtooth, written by Eftythimis Filippou and Girogos Lanthimos and adapted by Jeppe Ugelvig and Madeleine Clouteau. The directors adapted the film version of this story, into a play for the MUWCI Theater Season 2012. Its original set in a modern middle class Greek family, was modified to a translated English version set in a guesthouse; DB2. The eccentric tale is of a family that teaches its three children that the outside world is a dangerous place which they must not embark on discovering. Through giving them what can only be described as distorted education, they keep them confined and still childlike in their thoughts and behavior, even though they are grown children, as revealed by the actual playwright. A peculiar addition to this tale is the character Christina, acted by Cecilia Cortes, who is brought periodically to the house, to have sex with the oldest son. This twist, does in fact add ‘sex’ as an uncomfortable and perhaps questionable theme in the production of this story. Seeing as a lot of awkwardness and difficulty must be attributed to the storyline and its general style of acting, an attempt to reproduce and to reproduce it well; which I believe Jeppe and Madeleine succeeded to do, must be highly commended. After watching the movie Dogtooth, it is clear that a lot of characterization was based upon the
characters as shot in the film, with a few
characters as shot in the film, with a few differences in a few characters. In comparison to the film, scene changes were particularly adapted to only the ones that could be done in the house, as it was not possible to shoot scenes outside, given physical limitations to the space used and perhaps time constraints of the play as well. As mentioned above, the play was set in a guest house. Upon entering, one wondered with amazement, as Yaniv (who plays the father) and Cecilia (who plays Christina) sat outside in a car, with Christina blindfolded. The audience had to walk past this scene in order to get into the house, which created the feeling that the play had already started before we had arrived, adding a striking sense of reality to it. Inside, we were squashed at one end of the wall, giving an intrusive feeling to the audience as well as magnifying the moods created as we were all so close together in our seating. The lighting was simple, as were the props, which worked effectively. A problem however arose for me, in the numerous blackouts that were employed. This, although distracting at some point, eventually served as a breathing space, to reflect on whatever emotionally unbalancing scene I had just witnessed. The actors however, could have made use of these black outs to
leave with a certain emotion. For example, there would be an extremely violent scene, then a black out, and because there was still
some lighting left: neutrality, or sometimes, boredom or passivity was clear on the some of the actor’s faces. This reduced the effect that their acting had, as they became ‘themselves’ in that moment, by walking out of a violent or emotional scene calmly. A room was created to the left of the stage, with a bed and a curtain in front of it. In scenes that would involve ‘sexual activity’ the actors would go in this ‘room’, undress, close the curtains and leave the audience guessing. The costumes used were simple, with black and white seemingly the dominant theme, giving more focus to the actors and their dialogues rather than their dressing. The simplicity of the lighting and set worked splendidly, I believe, as it drew me in more into believing that I was looking through a window into a house and enabled concentration on the message, rather than the setting. Nevertheless, in scene changes, there were prop changes which had some fumbles. At a time when one of the prop managers almost fell over when trying to put props, the humor created counteracted the seriousness of the play, making it theater once more and although breaking the catharsis of the moment and releasing tension, I felt it could have been avoided. Also, I felt that there seemed to be a plethora of sexual suggestions even when it the point had been made. Furthermore, although viewer discretion was somehow advised for viewers, it could have been made clearer for those who would have difficulty watching the play. The distinctly different and equally talented actors made it quite difficult not to become emotionally involved in the play. Melisa, who played the mother, with her sudden emotional extremes of motherliness, violence and sometimes questionable madness, gradually made me fear for her children. This combined with Cecilia’s (acting as Christina) inexpressiveness to generally unacceptable acts was extremely disturbing to observe and yet executed wonderfully. Juliet’s (younger daughter) naivety or complete mental blankness or
naivety or complete mental blankness or hysteria in serious or misplaced situations made it almost uncomfortable to watch her and not to watch her at the same time. Sanni, (the elder daughter) with her madness and obvious uncomfortable reactions to things happening to her was horrifyingly convincing and particularly impressing to watch. I was amazed at my genuine relief that she escaped at the end of the play. Yaniv, who employed a Nazimilitary father-like acting style, definitely delivered a hair raising experience each time I watched him. His role, definitive of everybody else’s, was clear as being the one which decided the rules; the psychotic disturbances of the children was therefore understandable when I met ‘their father. As I sat in this now foreign household, I came to fear Yaniv and dread the moment that he would come back and harass ‘his children’. The chemistry between the characters was evident as they really did look like a family. Further investigations showed that the directors found socializing of the actors amongst themselves during play practice imperative, so that the idea of creating a family was more natural. This definitely worked well. With its bouts of sudden shocking imagery and a constant wonder of what will happen next, I could not help but watch with guilty fascination as to the unfolding of events in this play. Although Dogtooth is indeed a difficult play to sit through, it does send forth a deep message about conditioning, education, our own perceptions and understandings of the world
and understandings of the world and how they can be changed and influenced. The story does not seek to explain or even justify the behavior of the characters in the play and is generally quite blunt, open and almost lacking feeling towards what its message is, which I believe, is part of the wonderful packaging of this complex play. I developed a sense of growing compassion for the actors as they each told their story and as they acted. The play did eventually did leave a mark in me, a feat which only a few productions I have ever witnessed in my life have ever achieved. It was one hour that, though uncomfortable, I do not regret experiencing. A fantastic job done by the crew and cast. Â
THEATRE SEASON IN THE CONTEXT OF MUWCI “DOGTOOTH” Conventionally, the institution of family is seen as the benchmark of normality. In “Dogtooth”, we are granted a glimpse inside the daily life of a family that is completely alienated from society: all external influences are banned. A metasociety is formed. A new culture is established, with its own morals, language, values, traditions, hierarchies and norms. Each member of the family influences the character of this culture, but at the same time they are submissive to its dictations. Do these symptoms of isolation seem familiar to you? The children are educated to fit the criteria of the parents. Their use of language depends on the preset system only. When reading my favorite book, I was surprised to catch myself automatically identifying literary devices. I find myself consciously analyzing everything around me. Is it becoming impossible for me to judge on an intuitive level? Even when re-reading what I’ve written up to now, I notice the omnipresence of terms such as “conventionally”, “submissive”, “identifying”, and of course, “omnipresence” itself. I wanted to write an article, but I ended up writing an essay instead. International Brainwashing much?
“TWELVE ANGRY MEN” Twelve men are made to come to a conclusion together. The judges all have very diverse backgrounds and priorities - this causes disagreement, but also has an advantage: a great variation of opinions and ideas are represented. Some of the judges feel preoccupied. Some are actively engaged. Initially the motivation of the group is to get things over with so they can go home. But when doubt is raised, the importance of the matter becomes clear. The judges drop their own agenda and start working towards a solution. In order to move forward we have to cooperate. Productiveness takes more than just forming an opinion: when Number Eight makes his argument, he doesn’t only recognize the fact that he has a responsibility in the decision-making process: he also takes into consideration what others have to say. Reasoning and listening are equally important. In the end any group conclusion is inevitably influenced by rhetoric and the persuasiveness of certain members. An argument should be evaluated based on validity and not on how it is presented. Theatre is a medium that allows for different kinds of messages to be conveyed. The function of Theatre Season is not just one of entertainment- it’s not because the context of the plays presented differs from ours that its content doesn’t connect to this community. A play only becomes relevant when we actively engage in its subject matter- and questioning aspects of your experience here is never irrelevant. By Juliet