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Sundance Apple at Incoming Festival


From the little I understood about being a Fisherman, apart from the need for a strong beard, I always gathered that at the heart of the trade an even stronger work ethic and resolute drive were paramount to success. After spending a week with the Smoking Apples, learning and polishing In Our Hands, my suspicions were confirmed and found themselves reflected in the work.

My brief entering this project was simple, to take over a company member’s track (their roles, duties on stage) for the project’s premiere at the Incoming Festival. The result, however, was far from simple. Smoking Apples had been creating an intricate, whirlwind of a piece that dealt with many props, dozens of objects having to have life breathed into them and three simple pieces of set that were constantly transformed into offices, tube trains, boats and fish markets. As well as living and breathing the show in terms of story and structure all these objects, items that become the show, were borne of the company, it had been their hands, their bodies creating the tools for their trade. If something broke, they would fix it, if something could be made better, they would take it away and make it better. I quickly saw the parallel with the trawler crew’s duties of having to repair the nets and gut the fish on the ship outside of the primary job of catching the quota. There is always something to do and it requires everyone pulling their weight to do it or the boat (metaphorically!) sinks.

When a tight working community has been formed like this a question immediately springs into the mind of the newcomer, how do I fit in? The dynamic between everyone has been established and replacing someone means a process of recalibration and learning to trust someone. You want that process to be as brief and as painless as possible so listening became massively important, not just to stage directions and actions but to how the company respond to each other, listening with your ears and body. As 'actory' and floaty as that sounds it boils down to very simple things such as body language and how they move on stage. A tight group like Smoking Apples develop a shorthand between each other that transmits into a style on stage, in this case slick and simple. If you can tap into that style then hopefully you can fit in (whilst retaining the beautiful, wonderful uniqueness of you *wipes tear from cheek*).

Not being present for many of the decisions earlier on in the process mean that you have to work hard to understand why they were made in the first place so you're not just an actor standing on a stage going through the motions. This is, of course, something that you'd need to go through as performer in any piece, turning objects into symbols and giving intention to actions that can be followed through to root your performance in something personal. With so much to do and so little time to ask questions some things did seem a little odd though, case in point; the copy of Dog magazine that the crew have in several scenes. I valiantly sat there reading it for three days of rehearsal before finding out hours before the show that it was a leftover gag from a previous version of the show, no-one had changed the prop so it just became a very odd choice for the crew to read! Not that it mattered in the wider picture of the show. I always think of shows as building labyrinths, if you're there through the construction you see each twist and turn develop and finally when you're ready you can guide someone through from start to finish with success. Coming in at a later stage of construction can mean you can get lost, so in this case I got prepared with research on trawler fishing, a subject that surprised me much as did the Apples. Instead of finding a noble trade of wistful adventure and idyllic seaside towns I found baffling EU quota statistics, long hours and punishing conditions. Then my first rehearsal I just got to observe and do all the lovely listening I mentioned earlier. Finally when we were in rehearsal I began the process of getting the show 'into my body', learning the directions for the transitions (a blur of props and set like a quick change act made of wood and puppets) and using muscle memory to do it with conviction and energy. Not that this was smooth sailing (FISHING JOKE!), the show was still in flux, daily changes and additions meant that the labyrinth became more complex and trickier to navigate so forgetting one thing puts one person behind which impacts another and so on. But why do something you can already do?

With In Our Hands Smoking Apples have taken many brave decisions, from a subject that may not seem sexy or chic to making the show, like its subject, very physically intricate and (for the performer) exhausting. It was a hugely rewarding and enjoyable process which taught me a lot about ensemble, the fishing trade and why to spay your dog (thank you Dog magazine).

Chris

Sundance Apple

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