A La Ville de Quebec avec Ex Machina Theatre – Suzie Miller
Suzie Miller, one of Griffin’s Resident Writers for 2012, is currently working alongside Robert Lepage’s Ex Machina and the development of their new production in Quebec.
She has written us an account of her first week and I’m going to bang it down here, word for word, because it is a truly incredible insight into the freedom that mass resources can give you.
Week One
My friend Tim Roseman, AD of London’s Theatre 503, told me he had heard Ex Machina described as ‘Willie Wonka’s Chocolate Factory’, and as soon as I lay eyes on the images projected on the side of the amazing building and watched the digital flame flicker from its tower, it was clear that this space was a magical, playful and creative space. A gift to Robert Lepage and his company by the Ville De Quebec, it is a magnificent old and enormous building, once an old fire station, now home to a company as rich in resources as it is in soul.
After being met by Veronique and Marie-Pierre the production managers of the 25 production staff, I was lead through a series of brightly painted iron stair cases, complete with pockets of intriguing areas and the machinations of a company in full flight, through to the two studio areas, coat and shoe changing area (it is knee high snow outside) and green rooms. Introduced to Monsieur Lepage, the most delightful and charming man one could meet, who oscillates between moods of intense creative concentration and a definite joie de la vie, his leadership is able to focus on a team of 22 techies, and a creative team of: 6 cast members (who play over 40 characters in all), designers, costume designers, lighting designers, music, sound effects, props, production team and more. At the first meeting we were all lined up at a long long table where he sat at the head like Jesus of the last supper. The room operates in 3 languages - French, English and Spanish; and while at first the switching between was somewhat confusing as the first week progressed it became quite astonishingly seamless. The cast consist of: 2 actors from Madrid, 1 from Columbia, 1 Quebecois, 1 German and 1 from London, and so there are many languages in the room on top of the 3 that are used. Some of these actors I have seen in previous Ex Machina productions, others are actors that have never acted before – Robert has a habit of plucking people in a magical way from the tech team and placing them on stage, after which they tour the world as actors! Other members of the creative team and those who are involved are: locals from Quebec, Pedre from Sweden who is the dramaturg and works closely with Robert - Pedre also works at the National Theatre of Sweden as one of their main directors and playwrights/dramaturges (the title seems interchangeable at times in French, as there is not a particular translation of playwright), Phillipe from France is the musical director, while the sound designer is from Montreal – the list goes on. Of course the predominant language is French however Quebecois French is not quite as speedy as Parisian French so it is quite accessible to someone who doesn’t speak it at 100 miles an hour (C’est moi!), and of course the wonderful way that the French seem to emphasise much of what they are saying with hand gestures always helps.
The working days were at first something I found astonishing in their timetable – the first shift of the day which includes all creatives and technical teams begins at 9.30 am and runs until 1.00 sharp. The next session begins at 7.30pm and runs until 10.30 pm – strangely like having 2 days in one as everyone retires in the middle of the day and rests, learn scenes or rewrite parts, then upon the return it is like the day begins again – and because we are in the studio there is a timeless quality to the days. I might add the enormous respect I have for the tech teams who also have the a daily shift on top of these two from 2pm to 6pm where often they transform the set so that upon arrival of the creatives at 7 there is something new to play with. In general the technical team are true artists, quietly and cooperatively working and making such beauty possible, I have nothing but completely admiration for them all.
The first day one we sat at this long table on one side of the studio just beside the set, and discussed the themes and the ideas behind this first work of ‘Jeux Cartes’ – translation ‘Playing Cards’ (or a more precise translation – ‘Playing Card Games’). This is the first of a 4 part series that Robert and the company have been commissioned to write as a co-commission by some of the major theatres in the round across Europe. An extraordinary budget it is much anticipated by the host theatres, although they have no knowledge of its content as yet – after the initial season, it will also travel to other major centres that have a large theatre in the round to accommodate it. The premier season is in Madrid this May, followed closely by London’s Roundhouse and then to other venues in Europe and North America. Sadly not yet to Australia. The first in the series focuses on the House of Spades (and yes of course, the other 3 will each focus on the other suits - hearts, clubs and diamonds). We talked at length about the development conducted early in the year with almost the same cast, where after a trip to Los Vegas they had all brought in stories and characters and an improvisation was undertaken to develop characters and to narrow down storylines etc.. Some of this was outlined on a white board in a unique way by Felix the assistant director for Robert (Felix is an amazing dynamo known also for his wonderful calling out to the company prior to any scene being rehearsed SILENCE S’IL VOUS PLAIT – and then instantly there is complete silence!).
Once suggested scenes were on the board there was a morning’s talk about the themes. I was fascinated by the French use of Catholic mythology in all of the story lines, of course for a convent girl like myself this crossed the language divide completely, and delving into the divine and the devil, and using imagery that was grounded in this mythology was a familiar and theatrically inspiring. The Faustian story reigns large in this first Jeux Cartes. As the House of Spades this first story revolves around War, the spade was initially the spear of war. Later the hearts – love, the diamonds – money etc.. Of course there is so much more than war in this story, but it is politically interesting in its exploration of the motivations of the US war on Iraq. The characters of Los Vegas loom large and small, the nuanced relationships and the tempting of evil are intertwined with so much of Ex Machina’s examination of the vulnerability of the human condition.
As much as I would write forever about the plot and the characters that have been developed in this first week, I am also aware as an artist that the company do not want the details to be public until there is more security in the text, and as the element of surprise and magic are so important in this production, to arrive knowing what would occur would spoil the show for audiences. Having said this in 2 weeks there will be a public rehearsal after which perhaps I can gain permission to disclose some of the exciting details. Suffice to say the following: the set is a magical world of trap doors and an ingenuous use of a purpose built round structure to be placed in said theatres, this structure is in itself a most extraordinary creation, housed beneath it are the 4 techies for the entirety of this 3 hour show, 2 dressers and all the costumes for 40 characters, props and sets for each transition, a hydraulic centre piece that raises up and down, a fan system for effects, and more. Having wandered beneath the stage out of curiosity it makes for something quite spectacular, almost as spectacular as what is ON the stage. The lighting rig is also in the round, and will be transported with the set on tour, a 12 sided centre piece with fans and a series of lighting pieces as I have never seen in one place before, it makes for the most astonishing use of light on stage, allowing true transformation to many of the Los Vegas and desert locations that are drawn from the script.
The process of watching these scenes change, sometimes completely, is transfixing, the ingenuity of using wigs and costumes to entirely transform an actor illustrates the fact that yes one can have only 6 actors for 40 characters – an investment that Robert considers a freedom in having as many characters as he needs/wants, as well as the magic nature of transformation of an actors identity. This theme of transformation permeates the philosophy of Ex Machina. Indeed while the resources are mind blowing, the most interesting resource is the creative capacity in the company to MAKE THINGS HAPPEN INSTANTLY. After installing a seemingly expensive series of props in a scene, it occurred to Robert that the scene was no longer what was required for the character, and as such despite the huge cost he declared it not serving the needs of the character, instead he had the idea that the character could be in an elevator and ‘ascend to heaven’ (catholique aussi!), instantly the crew made this happen, and as the actor in character was travelling up in this instantly constructed lift, the sound guy made the sound of it stopping at a floor, doors opening and another character entered so that the scene could begin. This happened on the initiative of all involved almost within a 5-minute window!!
The use of costumes, wigs, lights and music/sound throughout all rehearsals and improvisations is something I haven’t seen before, Robert wants the entire rehearsal to be as if it is real and happening right now, it seems easy for the actors to be fully in character this way – it is an interesting element of his theatre practice and parallels the film set in many ways, indeed the entire improvisation/rehearsal is filmed so that at any time an actor or creative can return to watch the version that they prefer. So perhaps with this filmic set up – in this amazing studio, upon this massive purposely-built set, it is completely appropriate for Felix to call out his French command “Silence S’il Vous Plait!!!!”.
