BLOOD TIES AT PLYMOUTH’S DRUM THEATRE
The teenage years are a time to learn and explore. To learn about the world and yourself while testing the boundaries and seeing where you fit . . . or don’t fit at all! The Young Company returns to the Drum Theatre this month to present Blood Tie, a specially commissioned play which looks at these boundaries.
Written by David Lane, in conjunction with directors Kevin Johnson, Becky Huggins with input from members of the Young Company themselves, the play is inspired by Euripides’ The Bacchae, but with a very an eye that is very much focused on our world today. 247 spoke to David for an insight into his vision for the play.
Tell us about the story itself . . .
It looks at issues affecting young people today with links to the London riots, rebellion and how we behave when we’re part of a crowd. It is set in a boarding school where rules and order are everything. A new boy arrives whose presence disrupts the status quo. Especially in relation to a brother and sister who attend the school. They are the blood tie. It’s very much a story about what happens when rules are transgressed . . . and if it’s necessary sometimes to cross the line for the greater good.
The Bacchae is a centuries old story. Was it important to you to bring its ideas and messages up to date?
Very much so. We’ve maintained certain traditions in keeping with the original. We have a chorus speaking with heightened language and the school itself is portrayed as an other worldly, almost mythical, kind of place. Although, in conjunction with all this, much of our initially process in finding the issues that effect young people today was carried out through two workshops with the Young Company where they gave us insight into their world and how they perceive what’s going on around them. At their age, boundaries are put into place by culture and social condition and they have to respond to them. We knew the play would only work if young people felt invested in both the process and the end result.
You’re trying to hear the young people’s voice then?
Definitively, the newcomer to the school divides the brother and sister and then manages to turn the institution itself on its head. It’s not as simple as him corrupting the young people or inciting unrest. What he recognises, and then shows the people around him, is that young people don’t actually have a voice. They are told and expected to conform to the adult version of the world but have no ability to affect it. At the same time, they aren’t empowered with a voice of their own to express how they feel about the world they find themselves in.
They are denied some basic freedoms then?
I think they are. Not deliberately but there is an expectation for them to conform and have very little to input into the way things are. This play looks at the balance that exists to maintain control and what would be required to tip the balance.
Blood Tie is running until September 1 2012 at The Drum, Plymouth. More info at www.theatreroyal.com
Words: Alan Butler
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Martin
