Behind the Scenes
See who's behind East of the Sun, West of the Moon
About the Playwright
The Story in Performance
This Production
Lights! Sound! Design!
About the Playwright
Scott Alderdice has been knocking around the dark basements of the theatre world for more decades now than memory allows. Sometime back in the eighties he graduated from The Victorian College of the Arts, School of Drama as a director and he has been involved in the industry on many levels pretty much ever since. These have included guest director for the Melbourne Theatre Company, Opera Australia and the Victorian Arts Council; and artistic director of the Riverina Theatre Company. In the latter capacity, and in ensuing freelance engagements, Scott wrote and directed several sell-out touring Theatre-in-Education productions and cabarets. In 1996, Scott took what was to be the first step in an ongoing association with the University of Southern Queensland as guest director of the Performance Centre's production of The Caucasian Chalk Circle. Scott stayed on at USQ, as Lecturer in Acting (now also Head of Theatre), directing numerous highly successful productions, including Richard III (1999), Good Woman of Szechwan (2003) and Hamlet (2004). His current passion is directing the 2005 Children Theatre Week production of East of the Sun, West of the Moon.
The Story in Performance
Without realising, you may have already heard of, or been exposed to the story of East of the Sun, West of the Moon. It is a story that has been told and performed by many cultures throughout the years, each with their own different interpretations, from characters in the play, to the plot of the story. Due to this diversity the play is one which is easily adapted to any culture and therefore making it a much loved piece of children's theatre to put into production. Like other cultures, Scott Alderdice has also interpreted his own working of the play, which has been a success in rehearsals. Below are some further resources to introduce you to the many different types and styles of story featured in this play:
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An annotated script of the original, East of the Sun, West of the Moon can be found at:
http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/eastsunwestmoon/ This also includes modern interpretations of the play from other cultures as mentioned above, as well as illustrations and a history of the play.
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http://www.multistorytheatre.co.uk/ESWM/ESWMmedia.htm is another site that provides production photos of the play which gives great ideas for the use of masks for the animals as this particular past production has done. There are many past productions of East of the Sun, West of the Moon and the opportunities this play presents to a director are endless. Some are performed using actors, some use masks and others use puppets. By visiting some of the following sites you can view these different inventions of the performance of the play which may create new ideas for yourself as a director of a play.
This Production
Our production of East of the Sun, West of the Moon provides students with a brief insight into the conventions used by Brecht in epic theatre. Brecht set out to destroy the illusion of reality on stage by having the actors speak directly to the audience, and thus reminding the audience that they were watching a play, not "reality". Brecht also used a lot of parables and other metaphorical stories in his plays to reveal the enormous journey of the characters over a long period of time. You will see that these techniques are used greatly in our production. Minimum costumes are used and instead the actors will tell the audience who they are, the entire cast will remain onstage for the full duration of the play and lighting changes will be completed in full view of the audience.
Lights! Sound! Design!
Just as the actors will be in full view for the whole show (and changing costumes and props too!), so will the technical aspects of the production. The sound desk and lighting board will be on stage and operated by the cast during the show. This is a very different way of working on stage for most actors who usually rely on stage managers to create effects. This year, we are trying something new that shows the audience how the effects are made.
This year, students performing in the play are involved in designing costumes, lighting, sound and set designs. Theatre is always a collaborative artform which means that all kinds of artists with different specialities combine their talents together to create a production. For example, Michael Smalley (stage management lecturer) assists the students in creating the lighting design and teaching them how to use the equipment. Under the guidance of Mary Sutherland, a professional theatre and puppet designer from Melbourne, the cast of the play have created the set design themselves. Mary is also assisting with the creation of a large dragon and a puppet butterfly.
A graduate acting student, Kylie Morris is assisting with the sound by compiling the music as well as composing original music for this production. The backing music will be recorded, but there is live singing from the actors in the show. USQ's resident wardrobe supervisor, Carolyn Taylor Smith, has acted as the consultant for costumes. Costumes in the play will be a base costume, meaning all the actors will have a similar costume. Then different pieces will be added to the costumes to create the many different characters within the play.
As you can see, there is a wide variety of artistic activity going on outside of what you will see on stage!