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SIMON Quinn,
Director of The Really Fired Up Theatre Company, helped by his
associate director, local poet and film maker, Mal Dewhirst, has
embarked on producing a stage version of Pink Floyd's
The Wall which
will play at Tamworth Assembly Rooms in early June. Behind the Arras's Gary Longden managed to catch
up with him to talk about bringing this epic show to the Tamworth stage
and details about the production Q. What attracted you to “The Wall” in the first
place? Total self indulgence to be honest, or at least
years ago that was the main reason, since then a recognition of how The
Wall can resonate individual and group social issues has become more
important . I used to deliver drama sessions for disabled learners at
The Mac in Birmingham and we would get a half hour coffee break, so I
used that time to go wandering around the foyer looking at the publicity
flyers dotted around. I was a bit shocked to spot a programme for The
Wall which had been, I think, a production encompassing all youth
theatre's across the city. This was about 2004/5, but the production was
either early 90's or late 80's. I vowed that one day I was going to
somehow produce a version of the show, what I didn't know at the time
was how to go about it. I started to experiment with other youth theatre
shows that I had written and deliberately slotted in Another Brick In
The Wall Part 2 as part of that particular narrative within the
performance. Q. “The Wall” was released as an
album in 1979. Three decades later how well do you think it has worn? I think it is more relevant now then back in '79.
There are some simple clues as to why. I think the Floyd reunion for
Live 8 captured a new audience and therefore created a clamour for their
recorded work, in addition the fact that Roger Waters is still touring
it , albeit a more political version and has been since 2010, has
identified that new and older audiences still demand Floyd/Waters live
performance.
The crucial aspect however is that the album,
film, live performance can so easily be reconstructed to something that
can be recognised within each and everyone of us-where back in '79 it
was about the break up of The Floyd, Syd's break down, the division
between band and audience, loss of a loved one and greed- because that
is what it was. Without sounding too pompous, it's exactly the same
remit as Shakespeare being designed in a contemporary vein for new
audiences. Q. Is there any new material in the production?
How rigid were the demands of the Rights Holders? This is the interesting one. The script is brand
new-it is designed to be more localised ,in other words to fit the
identity of the people of Tamworth. That is not mean't in a derogatory
way, it merely means this is a show by the people of Tamworth for
Tamworth. It is very dance orientated and contains a lot of symbolism
and metaphor's, but crucially it also pays respect and testimony to
Roger Waters work, so it is a bit of a balancing act. Strangely enough
the demands regarding copyright have not been too rigid. I went through
all the correct channels. Since last July I have been e-mailing 'Matt' at
the fanzine web site Brain Damage asking questions of how , why and
what, and he has been very helpful and courteous in passing on my
requests to Mark Fenwick who is Roger's manager, and eventually I
received a very short e-mail granting permission-it was all a bit
surreal. Brain Damage have also publicised the event which was terrific
of them to do. The one thing I had to do was send a synopsis of 'our'
creation so that we had a original slant on the existing work. Q. What influence did the film version of
1982 have on this production? To begin with it probably had more influence on
certain cast members than myself. We used it as a template-certainly on
the launch day, but to be honest I wanted to move away from the
film-because we have our original script and we were more than keen in
creating new practical and textual works-within the work-if that sounds
ok. Q. Who is performing the music and what
challenges did recreating Pink Floyd's sound create? The music is being provided by Floydian Slip-a
Pink Floyd tribute band from Chesterfield. They are the oldest or second
oldest Floyd tribute act-so creating the Floyd sound is their 'bag'.
That was crucial to the project. If I am going to be honest, in an ideal
world we would have wanted a group of musicians that we could have put
together ourselves, but time and funding prohibited this course of
action and in any case Floydian Slip are pretty accurate to the Floyd
sound. Q. Pink Floyd have a fan base dawn from
their heyday in the 1970's, how did the younger members of the cast
respond to the material? This was very curious. We had primary
schoolchildren belting out We don't need no educshun!!! like second
nature, and their parents would then play the album or the film to them
at home. The cast is very mixed-our actor who plays Pink has morphed
into Pink.....I mean worryingly so!.. but he is fab....other cast
members had no idea about The Wall but rock n' roll and performance drew
them in. The real cool aspect is the mixture of ages taking part, or who
have contributed in some other way to the project. I could get into
grumpy old git mode and say can't imagine this happening with artists
today, but it is the longevity and kudos of certain works that draws 'em
in! Q. What does “The Wall” have to say to a 21st
Century audience? The Wall , I think resonates more as a political
and social vehicle today. We have added the themes of ageism, religion,
anti-social behaviour, disability, domestic violence, contemporary war
fare, greed, lack of respect , intergenerational apathy to the tried and
tested formula. They are kind of little photographic snippets pocketed
throughout the show-blink and you'll miss them. This was the appeal to
our backers, they could see that a work over 30 odd years old could be
adapted to and involve people and groups into a piece of musical
theatre that had contemporary ideologies running throughout. Q.“The Wall” is one of the great popular
music shows, what were the challenges of producing it for theatre rather
than rock arena/amphitheatre? It's not just about the show. We are trying to
use The Wall to encourage arts development for minority groups who can
interact with Tamworth Arts development in order to improve the well
being of all participants; so the show is only one aspect of The Wall.
However as you asked about the challenges of the live show...how long
have you got.? Rehearsing peripatetically, in other words
visiting different, groups making sure they are on the ball with what
they are doing. Liaising with the band, the real difficulty has been
this. We made a point that we would all rehearse to the live album, Is
There Anybody Out There? and not the studio album so the authenticity of
the live performance could be felt by all parties, throughout. Also the synchronicity and cohesion is a major
problem, because musically, the tracks generally segue from one into
another. Our version is different because at different moments, the
piece is broken up by poetry or acting or both then by dance and
acting-so it is a headache-but that is the originality of the work. I
don't think it matters whether it is a theatre or a amphitheatre-it is
still a performance arena-in fact I think the intimacy of our space
makes the atmosphere a lot closer, alot more intensified, plus in true
Floydian spirit we've maintained the lasers, lights, the back projection
and the dry ice! Q. What audience are you aiming for, is
this a nostalgia show? No it is not a nostalgia show! If it was
intended that way we might just as well delivered it as a tribute act.
This is one of the largest intergenerational community arts events that
Tamworth has ever staged. We are aiming to enhance our arts development
programme for people and places through this project. This is about
increasing arts awareness for groups and individuals who otherwise are
unaware of what is happening in the borough. This is our offering for
the Cultural Olympiad. If on the other hand people just want to come and
enjoy an evening of Pink Floyd-that is fine-but hopefully they will gain
a greater insight into other artistic strategies and techniques also. Q. Are there any other classic concept albums
which you would like to bring to the stage? In my view -and it is only my view-there are only
three classic rock theatre concepts that ever demonstrate originality.
One is The Wall, the other two are both by The Who, namely Tommy and
Quadrophenia. I have actually enquired about performing Quadrophenia
with a spoken narrative-as it did actually tour a couple of years ago
with dialogue-but to date I have heard nothing. Two other concepts that would interest me would
be staging a play by Patrick Jones, which I saw in Cardiff a few years
ago, Everything Must Go, which has various songs by the Manic Street
Preachers running throughout ( Jones is the brother of Nicky Wire), and
on a more localised angle , I would like to do an original musical based
on the life and work of Julian Cope from Tamworth, who of course fronted
Teardrop Explodes.
The demand for tickets for one of the biggest community arts projects ever staged in Tamworth means they are selling quickly. The Wall is a contemporary re-imagining of the Pink Floyd rock opus. It is being staged at Tamworth Assembly
Rooms on June 5, 6, 7 and 8 by Arts Connects and Fired Up Theatre, by
kind permission of Pink Floyd's Roger Waters and Mark Fenwick
Management. Using Pink Floyd's classic music, with a new
narrative brought bang up to date by Simon Quinn, The Wall is set on a
fictitious housing estate somewhere in the West Midlands and explores
contemporary themes including anti-social behaviour, poverty,
unemployment, social deprivation, peer pressure and racism. The project is Tamworth's Cultural Olympiad
offering for 2012 and is already bringing together and involving people
from all ages and communities across Tamworth, including groups of
people who would not normally work together. People from all across Tamworth with skills
including acting, mime, storytelling, dance, poetry, rapping, graffiti
art, puppetry, music, stage fighting, film, projection, costumes, set
design and props are already hard at work putting the production
together. They will be joined by top professional Pink
Floyd tribute band Floydian Slip who will be performing throughout the
production to create a polished performance, not only for Pink Floyd
fans but for anyone with an interest in music and theatre. Tickets for The Wall are available from the
Tourist Information Centre in Corporation Street or by calling the box
office on 01827 709618. A short video
explaining more about The Wall project can be viewed on Tamworth Borough
Council's YouTube channel at
www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YPtPGKcxLU The project is being funded and supported by Fired Up Theatre, Arts Connects, Staffordshire Community Wellbeing Fund, Tamworth Arts Grants Scheme, Tamworth Community Safety Partnership, Staffordshire Local Community Fund and Staffordshire County Council's Arts Grants Scheme. |
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