FLOOD WARNINGS AT DRUM THEATRE, PLYMOUTH
From 23rd November to the 27th November, The Drum theatre is looking to transport its younger audience to the city of New Orleans at the time of Hurricane Katrina. With performances at different times during the day and evening, Lisa Evans’ play seeks to show how young lives were affected on The Day the Waters Came.
247 spoke with Lisa about her choice of subject matter and target audience and she explained why she feels the story is one that needs to be told:
I was aware when I began that the two fundamental things to keep in mind when writing for a younger audience is that you must neither patronise them nor bore them. My main character is a fourteen year old girl called Maya and I try to really convey what’s happening to the people of New Orleans by seeing it through her eyes. The character can really show the audience how the devastation has affected her because the story is told by her, in the form of flashbacks, a year onwards. I don’t think it would be going too far to say that Maya is suffering from some form of post traumatic disorder and this becomes clear to the audience.
So it’s a very personal play? Presented in terms of one person?
It is and yet at the same time Maya’s journey gives me with the opportunity, as a writer, to say something about the New Orleans and indeed the United States as a whole. The story is concerned with what happens to a group of people when you loose faith in your country and, perhaps more importantly, in your country’s desire to come and help you at a time when you really need them to the most.
Do you thing the problem was perhaps even worse than we realised whilst watching the events on our televisions in the UK?
Definitely, the images of the city underwater where accurate but what we couldn’t perceive from those what it meant to the population – both at the time and in the aftermath. I took a great deal of my inspiration from the Spike Lee film ‘When the Levees Broke’. The government didn’t just abandon the people of New Orleans in their hour of need; but instead went in, guns in hand, to combat the problem of ‘looting’. Many of these areas in danger of being ‘looted’ were in fact underwater and what minor foraging went on was basically people trying to eat something to survive. There are many people still living in the devastation of the hurricane.
So, as a playwright, you felt a connection to this story then?
I wanted to write a “Big Moment in History’ play which was relatively contemporary and dealt with important subject matter. Also, my background is in American writing and I feel the American language and its associated dialects have a real individual style to them. The speed and rhythms can take on a really poetic resonance that I feel adds to the ebb and flow of the piece.
So, one girl’s personal journey becomes quite a big story about a nation then?
I think so. There are three actors, including Maya, and they take on a multitude of characters for her to encounter whilst trying to make sense of what’s happening to her and her city. It’s a rollercoaster ride for her and I can promise the Drum audience that they won’t be bored for a second.
The Day the Waters Came is running at the Drum Theatre from 23rd November 27th November.
Words: Alan Butler
