Matthew McCray
I found On Emotion to be a deceptively difficult idea-play – on the surface a character drama but upon exploration a deep psychological puzzle. I knew if Son of Semele was to produce the U.S premiere of the play, I would be expanding some of the more theatrical aspects of it, taking it in a new direction. During my initial meeting in London with the playwright Mick Gordon, I explained my hope of guiding the play into new territory asking “How do I theatrically realize cognitive dissonance on stage?” I came to discover many theatrical possibilities, all of which required a stellar creative team.
As I have grown more and more interested in visual stimulation by theatrical works, I have searched for ways to achieve marvelous spectacle on a shoestring. Not an easy task. (As I type the word “shoestring” I chuckle knowing I would have once considered the money we spent on the show to be a fortune… but now I see it as a shoestring. Do we ever feel we aren’t working on a shoestring? Someone pinch me when that day comes.) Ah, collaborative projects… they start on such a clear path then veer off course, then come back changed after doing five loop-de-loops and then finally, in the end, they land precisely where you never knew they were supposed to be in the first place! Trusting this would happen with On Emotion was difficult and very much a necessity.
Michael Nehring, Melina Bielefelt, Sami Klein, Alex Smith
With a spectacular and unusual design, On Emotion became as much a sensorial installation as it was a play. I never asked myself, “What does the playwright want?” In fact on a phone call with the playwright he specifically told me not to think that way and instead to consider my directorial hand the primary hand in the production. He gave me permission to cut, slice, add, remove and adapt. While I ended up not changing the text much, the freedom he gave me was a wonderful place to work from that enabled the concept.
Many of my designers and cast were artists I had worked with before. This inherent trust and history became helpful in expanding the play beyond what was on the page. What resulted from meetings, rehearsals and dialogues was a wonderful visual language and theatrical world on which to explore the play. Instead of focusing on the text, my design team and I focused on the theatrical space and how it could bring theatrical weight to the play, lifting the images, emotional resonances and hidden tricks off the page. How do we create two playing areas directly on top of the other? How do we stage the moments of emotion that are held inside the characters? What developed was a play saturated in a sensorial world and placed deep within an almost naked audience configuration that allows observers to examine the faces of the audience seated across from them.
Michael Nehring, Sami Klein, Alex Smith and Melina Bielefelt
To realize the aural and visual worlds of On Emotion takes four laptops, six LCD screens, fiber optic cables, two booth operators (doing the work of four) and four actors/ puppeteers. I am proud of what we have accomplished in our 30-seat theater, on a shoestring. I can say for certain the immense amount of time in bringing together so many complex aesthetic choices (puppetry, video, movement, fantastical visual effects, etc.) has been completely worth the frustration it carries with it. Those frustrations are immediately forgotten when I see the wonder on the faces of the audience each night from the booth.
Production photos by Matthew McCray
On Emotion, presented by Son of Semele Ensemble, plays Fri.-Sat., 8 pm; Sun., 2 pm; also Mon., 11/15 at 7 pm; through Dec. 12. Tickets: $17-$26. Son of Semele Theatre, 3301 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles; 213.351.3507 or sonofsemele.org.
