A lovely big space in Elephant and Castle for what will be the last Julius Caesar of the year. Playing these two shows I am absolutely compelled to say that we have much depth to plumb as yet. This thorny interpersonal shitshow of ambition and betrayal. The language is just extraordinary, the thoughts it evokes are so wide and so dense. This is a huge piece of writing, much bigger than the few of us who have come to play, and we have our rocks at the top but we also have really interesting bubbling young players at entry level and there are many small parts with associated obstructions and games for many players. This is a really fun project and a proving ground. Established players can get stuck into small parts or big parts and we can create a language that shifts from match to match but that can be followed through. Two nights in a week. Two very different squads. Two very different spaces. And we absolutely carried it both times.
This evening was harder. The dice fell on a very tricky space for act one, and there were multiple line drops at a time where it is crucial to build audience confidence. I started to worry we would lose track of it, despite an overly generous audience. We pulled together and we served each other and we won.
These Factory shows, they are a celebration of craft and an shared ritual in the NOW. They’re about what it means to be genuinely LIVE, and the complicity with the audience when the telling is shared. Stories are for community. We built the idea of society on stories. All we have of the ancients is their tales – the cuneiform carved into stone in Sumeria that gave us Gilgamesh… Just one tale among many but taking in the flood event, talking about mortality, pride, grief, sex, rage… Stories make sense of the vastness. There’s something in Caesar for everyone, and it comes out different every time, and I think and hope that, should we have access to the spaces, we can continue to play this tale and grow as we do it.
I’m home now, with a small cat lying next to me, tired and happy, ready for another day of random tomorrow. I let myself believe that I’d have time to stop but it’s all kicking off again and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I was on the phone to Lou earlier when I realised I had overstretched myself tomorrow, but I think I’ve made it work. ish.
Got to go to bed now though. I pulled out of the post show pub after just one pint despite a huge showing from the Othello company. I had driven in to force myself to stay sober. It’s a clever trick but I usually get pissed off with myself for it post show. I was cursing all the way to the car.
Made a quick prawn cocktail before bed. Easy eighties nom. Now just gonna collapse. Just have to remember to pack my iPad tomorrow as I’ll need it in the studio. zz
AlBarclay 