First off some thoughts on ‘Suicide Notes’ a project that has been on the cards for a year. It was always going to be a double bill on the subject of suicide but with another play in place of ‘Funny Ha Ha!’. Becky and I read Steven Berkoff’s brilliant ‘The Secret Love Life of Ophelia’ an original look at one of literature’s most famous suicides. The play takes the form of love letters between Hamlet and Ophelia that ends with Ophelia’s famous drowning, all written in Shakespearean blank verse. However, as the year went on it became obvious that the play was also very close to ‘4:48 Psychosis’ and perhaps needed a bit of variation and even Black Comedy to give the audience a diversity of emotions.
The idea for ‘Funny Ha Ha!’ came from an image of two clowns joined at the end of a rope, both contemplating suicide. It is really down to the creativity of Becky and Darren that brought this one to life as only nine pages had been written and lots of those pages were filled with stage directions like ‘The Clowns do a routine’! Rehearsals were ripe with laughter and invention and in the end the audience feedback was amazing as they took to this hilarious yet sad tale of the two clowns. As mentioned in former blogs, ‘4:48 Psychosis’ was always a play that left me cold. So, having to direct it was a real challenge. Once again, it was the actor who made me start to see the real challenges of playing this type of material. One audience member described Kane’s work as a ‘21st century Sylvia Plath’. Becky’s emotional truth and courage to have held the stage alone for 35 minutes was amazing. I know I speak for her when I say it was the most terrifying thing she’s ever had to do in acting terms. Her big question was always ‘won’t the audience tire of watching just me’? Those fears were put to rest as every single audience member praised her extraordinary
performance.
‘Suicide Notes’ was actually the first production Whole Hog has staged independently from any theatre festival. Any public performances we have
done were always previews for the actual festival dates. But having said that,
it has become obvious that ‘Funny Ha Ha!’ has 'legs' and will now go on to be
part of our annual entries into festivals from April-June.Another new play will also make up our festival entries, Darren Little’s savage Black Comedy ‘Wetwork’. Think a mixture of Pinter, Pulp Fiction and plenty of laughs! I’m really looking forward to directing this one as it’s a chance to have a go at a new play that isn’t my own or Becky's, which can be a real challenge, especially as the author is also in the cast!
Whole Hog will also return to the Isle of Man for the Manx Easter Festival of plays. It will be the fourth year we will have entered this prestigious festival and this time we are having a go at my favourite modern author, Joe Orton. We plan to stage his final masterpiece ‘What the Butler Saw’written in the style of a farcical comedy but underneath it is brimming with satire, dark humour and brilliant observations on human behavior. We have a cracking cast lined up
including the wonderful Fenella Harrop who last worked with us on ‘Jane Eyre’, the ‘award winning ‘ Steve Sprosson, and a return of a Whole Hog founding member, Phil Regan who has been off-stage for far too long!
Rehearsals will begin for all these projects in earnest at the end of the year, with the first public performance coming in February. Keep an eye out on the website for full details.