BOUND AT THE DRUM THEATRE, PLYMOUTH
Men, and their relationship with masculinity, takes centre stage at The Drum Theatre again this week. Bound is the multi award winning play, from Bear Trap theatre, which chronicles the voyage of a six-man crew on the fishing trawler “The Violet”. Amongst its awards are Fringe First, Herald Angel, NSDF and Methuen Drama Emerging Artists Competition and the Holden Street Theatres Award.
247 spoke with writer and director Jesse Briton about his motivation for writing the play and what he hopes to bring to his audience.
Well, it seemed to me that lots of modern theatre doesn’t always give much thought to ordinary blokes and how they operate. So much of it seems to be concerned with all kinds of angst and I think that can put some people off coming to see things. It can certainly put me off at times! Within my social groups, and my experience, there seems to be lots of really ordinary fellas with ordinary concerns and issues and I didn’t feel as if anything like them was being shown on the stage. I felt these blokes could be very interesting and engaging for an audience given the right circumstances.
And you feel the men on stage will have relevance for younger audiences of both men and women?
Oh yes, it’s actually a comparatively young cast. There are six actors and their ages range from twenty two to twenty six. So they are all in position where they’re starting out on their own journey. They’re a really talented group and we’ve found audiences really engage with them. What’s also interesting is that characters cover a real age range so you’ve got some of these younger actors playing far older characters. This creates a real duality that audiences seem to have been enjoying.
So their age actually helps with the performance?
Very much so. It’s a very kinetic play with a lot of physicality. As you can imagine, working on a fishing trawler is a very physical endeavour and we show that in the play. It also provides us with a place to really look at what makes these men tick. There’s humour and politics along with a fair share of banter as these men assert themselves in one way or another on the boat.
Masculinity often seems a much harder thing to negotiate now. Particularly for the young men of today who seem to receive far more contradictory messages about how best to be a man . . .
I think that’s really true. One of the characters, Alan is an old sea dog and quite bitter about his life and the young men coming along to challenge his position. His need to retain his position in the hierarchy puts him in opposition with the younger men – particularly the youngest Graham . . . but there is still one or two surprises from him towards then end.
And one of these younger seamen is a Polish worker?
That’s right, he was born out of a summer break from university when I worked in a factory for Marks and Spencer with an almost entirely Polish work force. I wanted to look at some of the old views of British industry and the working man today to see how those are being challenged and forced to evolve. There’s a real sea change going on there . . . if you’ll excuse the pun!
And you put all these issues together onto a boat crewed by six ordinary guys?
Exactly, in this confined space then there could be no respite or escape from one another. Masculinity in today’s world is very hard to negotiate in time when we’re told to both man up and moisturise and their situation on boat causes them to try and form a hierarchy out of their different interpretations out of what it means to be a man.
So, set sale quickly to the Drum theatre where Bound is running from 21st to 25th June 2011.
Words: Alan Butler
