SIERRA NEVADA ARTS ALLIANCE
The UC Davis Department of Theatre & Dance presents Hinterland by Granada Artist-in-Residence Lucy Gough. Hinterland is a journey to the wild edge, the place where things change. Two poetic radio dramas take the listener into a dark surreal landscape sculpted in sound and voice. The two new plays concern imagination and transformation and are a fusion of savage earthiness and magic realism. Both dramas explore the search for the soul. The titles are Hinterland, which is pure radio drama, and Mapping the Soul, a hybrid between radio and theatre. Director Lucy Gough is an acclaimed British playwright. Her works are frequently broadcast on BBC World Service and BBC Radio. Hinterland opens on Wednesday, December 1, and continues through Saturday, December 4, at Main Theatre, Wright Hall, UC Davis. There will be a talkback with the audience after each performance. Tickets and more information: http://theatredance.ucdavis.edu.
What: Hinterland
Where: Main Theatre, Wright Hall, UC Davis
When: Weds– Sat, Dec. 1 – 4 8pm; Sat, Dec 4, 2pm
Tickets: General: $17/19 Students/Children/Seniors: $12/14
Purchase tickets: (530) 754-2787, or toll-free (866) 754-2787 or http://www.mondaviarts.org/
Special Youth Group Tickets: School and youth groups of 10 or more receive a special rate of $5 per ticket at the teacher or group leader’s request. Call the UC Davis Department of Theatre & Dance at (530) 752 -5863 to make arrangements for this discount.
More information: http://theatredance.ucdavis.edu
Monday, December 6, 2010
Tonight the Soviet Union Collapsed amid a coup by the UC Davis Theatre Department
Show description for Thursday 12/2/2010 @ 8:00 PM - 10:00 PM
The UC Davis Department of Theatre & Dance presents Hinterland by Granada Artist-in-Residence Lucy Gough. Hinterland is a journey to the wild edge, the place where things change. Two poetic radio dramas take the listener into a dark surreal landscape sculpted in sound and voice. The two new plays concern imagination and transformation and are a fusion of savage earthiness and magic realism. Both dramas explore the search for the soul. The titles are Hinterland, which is pure radio drama, and Mapping the Soul, a hybrid between radio and theatre. Director Lucy Gough is an acclaimed British playwright. Her works are frequently broadcast on BBC World Service and BBC Radio. Hinterland opens on Wednesday, December 1, and continues through Saturday, December 4, at Main Theatre, Wright Hall, UC Davis. There will be a talkback with the audience after each performance. Tickets and more information: http://theatredance.ucdavis.edu/.
http://www.kdvs.org/show-info/1405?date=2010-12-02
The UC Davis Department of Theatre & Dance presents Hinterland by Granada Artist-in-Residence Lucy Gough. Hinterland is a journey to the wild edge, the place where things change. Two poetic radio dramas take the listener into a dark surreal landscape sculpted in sound and voice. The two new plays concern imagination and transformation and are a fusion of savage earthiness and magic realism. Both dramas explore the search for the soul. The titles are Hinterland, which is pure radio drama, and Mapping the Soul, a hybrid between radio and theatre. Director Lucy Gough is an acclaimed British playwright. Her works are frequently broadcast on BBC World Service and BBC Radio. Hinterland opens on Wednesday, December 1, and continues through Saturday, December 4, at Main Theatre, Wright Hall, UC Davis. There will be a talkback with the audience after each performance. Tickets and more information: http://theatredance.ucdavis.edu/.
http://www.kdvs.org/show-info/1405?date=2010-12-02
ON STAGE: Hinterland, Gallathea and Body of Knowledge
DATELINE
November 19, 2010
Artist-in-Residence Lucy Gough is bringing British radio drama to the UC Davis stage, in her new work Hinterland, a two-part play about the search for the soul, premiering Dec. 1-4 in Main Theatre.
Gough wrote Hinterland for stage and radio — and the campus’s KDVS 90.3 FM will take advantage of the latter format, by presenting a live audio cast of Hinterland as it is performed the night of Dec. 2. Talkback sessions are planned after every performance.
Hinterland comprises two poetic dramas, one titled Mapping the Soul, pure radio drama, and the other taking the same name as the overall title, Hinterland, a hybrid of radio and theatre. Each piece charts the same story — “a journey to the edge, the place where things change,” according to a news release from the Department of Theatre and Dance.
The news release describes the play as a fusion of wild, savage earthiness and magic realism, imagination and transformation — all revolving around one core question: What is the soul?
Employing familiar biblical figures and myths, Hinterland weaves a story in which the soul is explored from many different perspectives and with many different results.
Hinterland dances from an 18th-century brain dissection to conversations between a 21st-century scientist and his red stiletto-shoed soul.
“An anatomist literally tries to find the tangible soul within the human body, sin-eaters and other creatures search hungrily for the soul, and a man believes there is no soul,” the news release states.
Gough wrote the dramas separately, then reworked the material before devising this production.
“Having written the stage play, I was then asked to do a radio play, and it became necessary to go back to the drawing board,” she said. “Radio has the potential to be very much inside the head, so the radio play was a good opportunity to take the play into (a) new realm, explore the philosophy of it all a bit more.”
Professor Bella Merlin said she “met” the British playwright through her radio dramas, and found herself instantly compelled to listen to and read as much of her work as she could.
“She miraculously combines urban, gritty almost urbane prose with metaphorical, metaphysical strands which haunt the writing. Her imagination is truly original.
“Lucy’s dramatization of Wuthering Heights for BBC Radio, featured the actual house — Wuthering Heights — speaking as the narrator of the piece. This unusual choice caused national debate.”
Merlin said British radio dramas are among the most popular and revered genres. “The BBC prides itself on being one of the main outlets for new writing,” Merlin said. “Until recent years, there was a new radio play every afternoon of the week. It's not uncommon to hear voices such as Patrick Stewart, Judi Dench, Derek Jacobi, and indeed American actors such as F. Murray Abrahams on BBC radio dramas and serials.”
Gough said she is excited to bring the power and prestige of this format to UC Davis.
She said she hopes to move audiences, “to make them think, to take them to another place for a short time, to realize how powerful their own imaginations are, for them to realize they went to that place in their own head.”
Read the news release.
Reporting by Janice Bisgaard, publicity manager for the Department of Theatre and Dance.
AT A GLANCE
WHAT: Hinterland, two poetic dramas that take the audience into a dark surreal landscape sculpted in sound and voice, each presenting the same story — "the search for the soul on a journey to the edge, the place where things change"
WHEN:
•Wednesday-Saturday, Dec. 1-4 — 8 p.m.
•Saturday, Dec 4 — 2 p.m.
WHERE: Main Theatre
TICKETS: $17-19 general, $12-14 students, children and seniors. Available through the Mondavi Center box office: (530) 754-2787 or (866) 754-2787, or mondaviarts.org.
DISCOUNT: $5 tickets are available for school and youth groups of 10 or more, at the teacher or group leader’s request. To make arrangements, call the Department of Theatre and Dance, (530) 752 -5863.
November 19, 2010
Artist-in-Residence Lucy Gough is bringing British radio drama to the UC Davis stage, in her new work Hinterland, a two-part play about the search for the soul, premiering Dec. 1-4 in Main Theatre.
Gough wrote Hinterland for stage and radio — and the campus’s KDVS 90.3 FM will take advantage of the latter format, by presenting a live audio cast of Hinterland as it is performed the night of Dec. 2. Talkback sessions are planned after every performance.
Hinterland comprises two poetic dramas, one titled Mapping the Soul, pure radio drama, and the other taking the same name as the overall title, Hinterland, a hybrid of radio and theatre. Each piece charts the same story — “a journey to the edge, the place where things change,” according to a news release from the Department of Theatre and Dance.
The news release describes the play as a fusion of wild, savage earthiness and magic realism, imagination and transformation — all revolving around one core question: What is the soul?
Employing familiar biblical figures and myths, Hinterland weaves a story in which the soul is explored from many different perspectives and with many different results.
Hinterland dances from an 18th-century brain dissection to conversations between a 21st-century scientist and his red stiletto-shoed soul.
“An anatomist literally tries to find the tangible soul within the human body, sin-eaters and other creatures search hungrily for the soul, and a man believes there is no soul,” the news release states.
Gough wrote the dramas separately, then reworked the material before devising this production.
“Having written the stage play, I was then asked to do a radio play, and it became necessary to go back to the drawing board,” she said. “Radio has the potential to be very much inside the head, so the radio play was a good opportunity to take the play into (a) new realm, explore the philosophy of it all a bit more.”
Professor Bella Merlin said she “met” the British playwright through her radio dramas, and found herself instantly compelled to listen to and read as much of her work as she could.
“She miraculously combines urban, gritty almost urbane prose with metaphorical, metaphysical strands which haunt the writing. Her imagination is truly original.
“Lucy’s dramatization of Wuthering Heights for BBC Radio, featured the actual house — Wuthering Heights — speaking as the narrator of the piece. This unusual choice caused national debate.”
Merlin said British radio dramas are among the most popular and revered genres. “The BBC prides itself on being one of the main outlets for new writing,” Merlin said. “Until recent years, there was a new radio play every afternoon of the week. It's not uncommon to hear voices such as Patrick Stewart, Judi Dench, Derek Jacobi, and indeed American actors such as F. Murray Abrahams on BBC radio dramas and serials.”
Gough said she is excited to bring the power and prestige of this format to UC Davis.
She said she hopes to move audiences, “to make them think, to take them to another place for a short time, to realize how powerful their own imaginations are, for them to realize they went to that place in their own head.”
Read the news release.
Reporting by Janice Bisgaard, publicity manager for the Department of Theatre and Dance.
AT A GLANCE
WHAT: Hinterland, two poetic dramas that take the audience into a dark surreal landscape sculpted in sound and voice, each presenting the same story — "the search for the soul on a journey to the edge, the place where things change"
WHEN:
•Wednesday-Saturday, Dec. 1-4 — 8 p.m.
•Saturday, Dec 4 — 2 p.m.
WHERE: Main Theatre
TICKETS: $17-19 general, $12-14 students, children and seniors. Available through the Mondavi Center box office: (530) 754-2787 or (866) 754-2787, or mondaviarts.org.
DISCOUNT: $5 tickets are available for school and youth groups of 10 or more, at the teacher or group leader’s request. To make arrangements, call the Department of Theatre and Dance, (530) 752 -5863.
Hinterland Combines Theater and Radio Play to Explore “What is the soul?”
UCDAVIS HUMANITIES INSTITUTE
UC Davis Department of Theatre and Dance presents Hinterland, a two-part radio play, written and directed by Granada Artist-in-Residence Lucy Gough. Gough wrote Hinterland for stage and radio — and the campus’s KDVS 90.3 FM will take advantage of the latter format, by presenting a live audio cast of the play as it is performed the night of Dec. 2. Talkback sessions are planned after every performance. Two poetic dramas take the audience into a dark surreal landscape sculpted in sound and voice. Both explore the search for the soul on a journey to the edge, the place where things change. The subtitles are Mapping the Soul, which is pure radio drama, and (again) Hinterland, a hybrid between radio and theatre. Hinterland opens on Wednesday, Dec. 1, and continues through Saturday, Dec. 4, at Main Theatre, Wright Hall, UC Davis.
Hinterland is a fusion of wild savage earthiness and magic realism. It concerns imagination and transformation revolving around one core question: What is the soul? Employing familiar biblical figures and myths, Hinterland weaves a story in which the soul is explored from many different perspectives and with many different results. Hinterland dances from an 18th century brain dissection to conversations between a 21st century scientist and his red stiletto-shoed soul. An anatomist literally tries to find the tangible soul within the human body, sin-eaters and other creatures search hungrily for the soul, and a man believes there is no soul. The two-part play suggests and investigates very complex and diverging possibilities for the soul. It also poses interesting questions that are left unanswered.
Gough was commissioned to write each drama separately. Fascinated by the concept of the soul, she reworked the material before devising the current two-part production where each half charts the same story with important creative differences. “Having written the stage play, I was then asked to do a radio play and it became necessary to go back to the drawing board. Radio has the potential to be very much inside the head so the radio play was a good opportunity to take the play into [a] new realm, explore the philosophy of it all a bit more.”
Audiences will have an opportunity to experience Hinterland as both radio drama and theatrical production. Gough has devised the two-part play to be performed on the stage and simultaneously broadcast over the radio waves. UC Davis campus radio station KDVS 90.3FM will broadcast Hinterland on Thursday, Dec. 2, during the live performance.
Department of Theatre and Dance Professor Bella Merlin was instrumental in bringing Gough to UC Davis from the UK as Granada Artist-in-Residence. Merlin recounts that she “met [Gough] through the radio dramas and was instantly compelled to listen to and read as much of her work as I could. She miraculously combines urban, gritty almost urbane prose with metaphorical, metaphysical strands which haunt the writing… Her imagination is truly original. Lucy’s dramatization of Wuthering Heights for BBC Radio, featured the actual house – Wuthering Heights – speaking as the narrator of the piece. This unusual choice caused national debate.”
Merlin explains that in the UK radio dramas are among the most popular and revered genres. “The BBC prides itself on being one of the main outlets for new writing. Until recent years, there was a new radio play every afternoon of the week… It’s not uncommon to hear voices such as Patrick Stewart, Judi Dench, Derek Jacobi, and indeed American actors such as F. Murray Abrahams on BBC radio dramas and serials.” Gough is excited to bring the power and prestige of this format to UC Davis. She hopes to move audiences, “to make them think, to take them to another place for a short time, to realize how powerful their own imaginations are, for them to realize they went to that place in their own head.”
Audiences are guided towards those wild edges within their minds by the performances of both undergraduate and graduate student actors. Radio drama initially presented an obstacle, stripping the actors of the usual tools they rely on while crafting a performance. Undergraduate Michael Lutheran states it is a great challenge to leave an actor “with only their voice.” Playing the Anatomist in Mapping the Soul, he is compelled to make the audience see his dissections through sheer vocal performance. In Hinterland Lutheran plays the two characters of God and Skullcoat and notes that he “did not want to play the typical thunderous voice that comes from the clouds as God, but rather through the name of Skullcoat… give him a voice with a lot of texture that can give the audience a lot to play with.”
Such well-crafted cast performances combine with the bold sharpness of the script to create a wild, lyrical, and often humorous journey. Undergraduate Sarah Birdsall, who plays the role of Eve, ensures fun for the audience given that “my Eve’s a bit of a tramp, but she’s not stupid.” Subverting the traditional expectations of these biblical and religious icons and myths is only part of the passage through Hinterland. Ultimately the audience may search for the soul alongside the characters and reach their own conclusions, magical or otherwise.
Gough is aided in the production by UC Davis graduate students: Ph.D. Performance Studies candidate Jorge Morejon (actor), MFA candidates Brian Livingston (assistant director/actor), Barry Hubbard (actor), Maggie Chan (costume designer), Kourtney Lampedecchio (scenic designer), and Glenn Fox (lighting designer). Undergraduate Jenna Seid serves as stage manager.
There will be a talkback with the audience after every performance.
Lucy Gough is an acclaimed British playwright. Her works are frequently broadcast on BBC World Service and BBC Radio.
She was shortlisted for both the John Whiting Award and BBC Wales Writer of the Year Award (1994) with her play Crossing The Bar. Her Gryhead was shortlisted for best new writing 2004 at Theatre in Wales – the Welsh theatre and performance web site.
Her first BBC broadcast was in 1994 with Our Lady of Shadows (BBC Radio 3). Since then her plays have been featured on the BBC World Service including Prophetess as Play of the Week. She has had five plays on BBC Radio 4: Head, The Red Room, The Mermaids Tail and Judith Beheading Holofernes and The Raft. Her Radio dramatization of Wuthering Heights for BBC Radio 4 was broadcast as the classic serial in Woman’s Hour in July 2003. Mapping the Soul was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 2005. The White Hare was broadcast in 2009 on BBC Radio 7.
Gough is creative research fellow at Aberystwyth University, UK.
What: Hinterland: Two poetic radio dramas explore the search for the soul in a dark surreal landscape sculpted in sound and voice, each charting the same story.
Where: Main Theatre, Wright Hall, UC Davis
When: Wednesday – Saturday, Dec. 1 – 4, 8 p.m.; Saturday, Dec 4, 2 p.m.
Tickets: General: $17/19 Students/Children/Seniors: $12/14
Purchase tickets: (530) 754-2787, or toll-free (866) 754-2787 or www.mondaviarts.org
Special Youth Group Tickets: School and youth groups of 10 or more receive a special rate of $5 per ticket at the teacher or group leader’s request. Call the UC Davis Department of Theatre & Dance at (530) 752 -5863 to make arrangements for this discount.
More information: http://theatredance.ucdavis.edu
Story credit: Janice Bisgaard
Photo credit: UC Davis Department of Theatre and Dance
UC Davis Department of Theatre and Dance presents Hinterland, a two-part radio play, written and directed by Granada Artist-in-Residence Lucy Gough. Gough wrote Hinterland for stage and radio — and the campus’s KDVS 90.3 FM will take advantage of the latter format, by presenting a live audio cast of the play as it is performed the night of Dec. 2. Talkback sessions are planned after every performance. Two poetic dramas take the audience into a dark surreal landscape sculpted in sound and voice. Both explore the search for the soul on a journey to the edge, the place where things change. The subtitles are Mapping the Soul, which is pure radio drama, and (again) Hinterland, a hybrid between radio and theatre. Hinterland opens on Wednesday, Dec. 1, and continues through Saturday, Dec. 4, at Main Theatre, Wright Hall, UC Davis.
Hinterland is a fusion of wild savage earthiness and magic realism. It concerns imagination and transformation revolving around one core question: What is the soul? Employing familiar biblical figures and myths, Hinterland weaves a story in which the soul is explored from many different perspectives and with many different results. Hinterland dances from an 18th century brain dissection to conversations between a 21st century scientist and his red stiletto-shoed soul. An anatomist literally tries to find the tangible soul within the human body, sin-eaters and other creatures search hungrily for the soul, and a man believes there is no soul. The two-part play suggests and investigates very complex and diverging possibilities for the soul. It also poses interesting questions that are left unanswered.
Gough was commissioned to write each drama separately. Fascinated by the concept of the soul, she reworked the material before devising the current two-part production where each half charts the same story with important creative differences. “Having written the stage play, I was then asked to do a radio play and it became necessary to go back to the drawing board. Radio has the potential to be very much inside the head so the radio play was a good opportunity to take the play into [a] new realm, explore the philosophy of it all a bit more.”
Audiences will have an opportunity to experience Hinterland as both radio drama and theatrical production. Gough has devised the two-part play to be performed on the stage and simultaneously broadcast over the radio waves. UC Davis campus radio station KDVS 90.3FM will broadcast Hinterland on Thursday, Dec. 2, during the live performance.
Department of Theatre and Dance Professor Bella Merlin was instrumental in bringing Gough to UC Davis from the UK as Granada Artist-in-Residence. Merlin recounts that she “met [Gough] through the radio dramas and was instantly compelled to listen to and read as much of her work as I could. She miraculously combines urban, gritty almost urbane prose with metaphorical, metaphysical strands which haunt the writing… Her imagination is truly original. Lucy’s dramatization of Wuthering Heights for BBC Radio, featured the actual house – Wuthering Heights – speaking as the narrator of the piece. This unusual choice caused national debate.”
Merlin explains that in the UK radio dramas are among the most popular and revered genres. “The BBC prides itself on being one of the main outlets for new writing. Until recent years, there was a new radio play every afternoon of the week… It’s not uncommon to hear voices such as Patrick Stewart, Judi Dench, Derek Jacobi, and indeed American actors such as F. Murray Abrahams on BBC radio dramas and serials.” Gough is excited to bring the power and prestige of this format to UC Davis. She hopes to move audiences, “to make them think, to take them to another place for a short time, to realize how powerful their own imaginations are, for them to realize they went to that place in their own head.”
Audiences are guided towards those wild edges within their minds by the performances of both undergraduate and graduate student actors. Radio drama initially presented an obstacle, stripping the actors of the usual tools they rely on while crafting a performance. Undergraduate Michael Lutheran states it is a great challenge to leave an actor “with only their voice.” Playing the Anatomist in Mapping the Soul, he is compelled to make the audience see his dissections through sheer vocal performance. In Hinterland Lutheran plays the two characters of God and Skullcoat and notes that he “did not want to play the typical thunderous voice that comes from the clouds as God, but rather through the name of Skullcoat… give him a voice with a lot of texture that can give the audience a lot to play with.”
Such well-crafted cast performances combine with the bold sharpness of the script to create a wild, lyrical, and often humorous journey. Undergraduate Sarah Birdsall, who plays the role of Eve, ensures fun for the audience given that “my Eve’s a bit of a tramp, but she’s not stupid.” Subverting the traditional expectations of these biblical and religious icons and myths is only part of the passage through Hinterland. Ultimately the audience may search for the soul alongside the characters and reach their own conclusions, magical or otherwise.
Gough is aided in the production by UC Davis graduate students: Ph.D. Performance Studies candidate Jorge Morejon (actor), MFA candidates Brian Livingston (assistant director/actor), Barry Hubbard (actor), Maggie Chan (costume designer), Kourtney Lampedecchio (scenic designer), and Glenn Fox (lighting designer). Undergraduate Jenna Seid serves as stage manager.
There will be a talkback with the audience after every performance.
Lucy Gough is an acclaimed British playwright. Her works are frequently broadcast on BBC World Service and BBC Radio.
She was shortlisted for both the John Whiting Award and BBC Wales Writer of the Year Award (1994) with her play Crossing The Bar. Her Gryhead was shortlisted for best new writing 2004 at Theatre in Wales – the Welsh theatre and performance web site.
Her first BBC broadcast was in 1994 with Our Lady of Shadows (BBC Radio 3). Since then her plays have been featured on the BBC World Service including Prophetess as Play of the Week. She has had five plays on BBC Radio 4: Head, The Red Room, The Mermaids Tail and Judith Beheading Holofernes and The Raft. Her Radio dramatization of Wuthering Heights for BBC Radio 4 was broadcast as the classic serial in Woman’s Hour in July 2003. Mapping the Soul was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 2005. The White Hare was broadcast in 2009 on BBC Radio 7.
Gough is creative research fellow at Aberystwyth University, UK.
What: Hinterland: Two poetic radio dramas explore the search for the soul in a dark surreal landscape sculpted in sound and voice, each charting the same story.
Where: Main Theatre, Wright Hall, UC Davis
When: Wednesday – Saturday, Dec. 1 – 4, 8 p.m.; Saturday, Dec 4, 2 p.m.
Tickets: General: $17/19 Students/Children/Seniors: $12/14
Purchase tickets: (530) 754-2787, or toll-free (866) 754-2787 or www.mondaviarts.org
Special Youth Group Tickets: School and youth groups of 10 or more receive a special rate of $5 per ticket at the teacher or group leader’s request. Call the UC Davis Department of Theatre & Dance at (530) 752 -5863 to make arrangements for this discount.
More information: http://theatredance.ucdavis.edu
Story credit: Janice Bisgaard
Photo credit: UC Davis Department of Theatre and Dance
Hinterland
LINCOLN ARTS & CULTURE FOUNDATION
The UC Davis Department of Theatre & Dance presents Hinterland by Granada Artist-in-Residence Lucy Gough. Hinterland is a journey to the wild edge, the place where things change. Two poetic radio dramas take the listener into a dark surreal landscape sculpted in sound and voice. The two new plays concern imagination and transformation and are a fusion of savage earthiness and magic realism. Both dramas explore the search for the soul. The titles are Hinterland, which is pure radio drama, and Mapping the Soul, a hybrid between radio and theatre. Director Lucy Gough is an acclaimed British playwright. Her works are frequently broadcast on BBC World Service and BBC Radio. Hinterland opens on Wednesday, December 1, and continues through Saturday, December 4, at Main Theatre, Wright Hall, UC Davis. There will be a talkback with the audience after each performance. Tickets and more information: http://theatredance.ucdavis.edu.
What: Hinterland
Where: Main Theatre, Wright Hall, UC Davis
When: Weds– Sat, Dec. 1 – 4 8pm; Sat, Dec 4, 2pm
Tickets: General: $17/19 Students/Children/Seniors: $12/14
Purchase tickets: (530) 754-2787, or toll-free (866) 754-2787 or www.mondaviarts.org
Special Youth Group Tickets: School and youth groups of 10 or more receive a special rate of $5 per ticket at the teacher or group leader’s request. Call the UC Davis Department of Theatre & Dance at (530) 752 -5863 to make arrangements for this discount.
More information: http://theatredance.ucdavis.edu
The UC Davis Department of Theatre & Dance presents Hinterland by Granada Artist-in-Residence Lucy Gough. Hinterland is a journey to the wild edge, the place where things change. Two poetic radio dramas take the listener into a dark surreal landscape sculpted in sound and voice. The two new plays concern imagination and transformation and are a fusion of savage earthiness and magic realism. Both dramas explore the search for the soul. The titles are Hinterland, which is pure radio drama, and Mapping the Soul, a hybrid between radio and theatre. Director Lucy Gough is an acclaimed British playwright. Her works are frequently broadcast on BBC World Service and BBC Radio. Hinterland opens on Wednesday, December 1, and continues through Saturday, December 4, at Main Theatre, Wright Hall, UC Davis. There will be a talkback with the audience after each performance. Tickets and more information: http://theatredance.ucdavis.edu.
What: Hinterland
Where: Main Theatre, Wright Hall, UC Davis
When: Weds– Sat, Dec. 1 – 4 8pm; Sat, Dec 4, 2pm
Tickets: General: $17/19 Students/Children/Seniors: $12/14
Purchase tickets: (530) 754-2787, or toll-free (866) 754-2787 or www.mondaviarts.org
Special Youth Group Tickets: School and youth groups of 10 or more receive a special rate of $5 per ticket at the teacher or group leader’s request. Call the UC Davis Department of Theatre & Dance at (530) 752 -5863 to make arrangements for this discount.
More information: http://theatredance.ucdavis.edu
'Hinterland' plays with sound and soul'
SACRAMENTO PRESS
by Ian Moore, published on December 3, 2010 at 4:59PM
Tucked away in the University of California, Davis, campus Wednesday night was the first of four days showing the play, “Hinterland.”
“Hinterland” is a two-part, two-hour play written, directed and adapted for the stage by artist-in-residence Lucy Gough.
A British playwright, Gough writes for the BBC drama “Doctors” as well as many other projects. Her artist-in-residence project, “Hinterland,” opened with the seats partly filled, largely with students.
“Hinterland” is a radio-theater drama melded from two separate pieces to explore one concept – the soul. Opening with the piece, “Mapping the Soul,” it ran for 50 minutes until intermission. “Mapping the soul” is a strange blend of surrealism and realism.
In the performance, Gough noted, “There are so many edges being blurred, and I love edges, hence the title ‘Hinterland.’ ”
In “Mapping the soul,” an atypical one-act, you see those lines blurred. She matches radio soundscapes and flamboyant dialogue with the simple stage sets of theater, as well as the song and dance of the soul.
“I thought it would be interesting to find a way to pull this radio play and stage play together and to create a new drama out of them,” Gough said.
“Mapping the soul” follows a 19th-century anatomist in search of the physicality of the soul by dissection of the brain and heart. He finds nothing.
It bounces back and forth with another plotline, juxtaposed, yet strangely perpendicular: The dialogue of a genome scientist lost in time and space, between life and death, declaring there is no soul, but eventually finding that the soul, element-less, exists as a sort of blind faith.
What is unique is not just the conception, but also the soundscape creation. The sound is live, as if on the air, to match the dialogue, creating the imagery that only storytelling radio can deliver.
“When the live audience witnesses the sound of the brain dissection being created by something like a cabbage being sawn up,” Gough said, “what does this do to their imaginations?”
Yes, sawn-up cabbages, water splashing in a bowl, ripped-apart pumpkins and more, the soundtrack is not automated or pre-recorded. It is as much a discourse, a script; as much vulnerable and alive as the actors. It’s very Beckett-esque, a tale exploring the soul and unknown, lacking in the absurd factor but fully delving into the sublime of the individual.
The second half continued with the namesake play, “Hinterland.” Its sound becomes more modern with dialogue sung hip-hop style backed by vocal break beats and an electric guitar. It’s a little more confusing, a little more lost as it plays with a scriptural and magic realism setting with poets, wolves and Adam and Eve.
After the performance, there was a brief discussion of the soul. There were varying perspectives between the cast and spectators speaking of its existence or its shape. In all, the play presented what was attempting to be clarified or understood afterward: The soul may be matter-less, existing in the dark on the edge of the unknown.
http://fwix.com/sac/share/1294e27841/hinterland_plays_with_sound_and_soul
by Ian Moore, published on December 3, 2010 at 4:59PM
Tucked away in the University of California, Davis, campus Wednesday night was the first of four days showing the play, “Hinterland.”
“Hinterland” is a two-part, two-hour play written, directed and adapted for the stage by artist-in-residence Lucy Gough.
A British playwright, Gough writes for the BBC drama “Doctors” as well as many other projects. Her artist-in-residence project, “Hinterland,” opened with the seats partly filled, largely with students.
“Hinterland” is a radio-theater drama melded from two separate pieces to explore one concept – the soul. Opening with the piece, “Mapping the Soul,” it ran for 50 minutes until intermission. “Mapping the soul” is a strange blend of surrealism and realism.
In the performance, Gough noted, “There are so many edges being blurred, and I love edges, hence the title ‘Hinterland.’ ”
In “Mapping the soul,” an atypical one-act, you see those lines blurred. She matches radio soundscapes and flamboyant dialogue with the simple stage sets of theater, as well as the song and dance of the soul.
“I thought it would be interesting to find a way to pull this radio play and stage play together and to create a new drama out of them,” Gough said.
“Mapping the soul” follows a 19th-century anatomist in search of the physicality of the soul by dissection of the brain and heart. He finds nothing.
It bounces back and forth with another plotline, juxtaposed, yet strangely perpendicular: The dialogue of a genome scientist lost in time and space, between life and death, declaring there is no soul, but eventually finding that the soul, element-less, exists as a sort of blind faith.
What is unique is not just the conception, but also the soundscape creation. The sound is live, as if on the air, to match the dialogue, creating the imagery that only storytelling radio can deliver.
“When the live audience witnesses the sound of the brain dissection being created by something like a cabbage being sawn up,” Gough said, “what does this do to their imaginations?”
Yes, sawn-up cabbages, water splashing in a bowl, ripped-apart pumpkins and more, the soundtrack is not automated or pre-recorded. It is as much a discourse, a script; as much vulnerable and alive as the actors. It’s very Beckett-esque, a tale exploring the soul and unknown, lacking in the absurd factor but fully delving into the sublime of the individual.
The second half continued with the namesake play, “Hinterland.” Its sound becomes more modern with dialogue sung hip-hop style backed by vocal break beats and an electric guitar. It’s a little more confusing, a little more lost as it plays with a scriptural and magic realism setting with poets, wolves and Adam and Eve.
After the performance, there was a brief discussion of the soul. There were varying perspectives between the cast and spectators speaking of its existence or its shape. In all, the play presented what was attempting to be clarified or understood afterward: The soul may be matter-less, existing in the dark on the edge of the unknown.
http://fwix.com/sac/share/1294e27841/hinterland_plays_with_sound_and_soul
Theater/dance department interprets the soul in radio/stage play Hinterland
THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE
Artist-in-residence Lucy Gough directs last production of the quarter
Written by Brittany Pearlman
Arts Writer
Published on Dec 2, 2010
When you hear the term "radio drama," your mind may stray to a 1940s block radio with old character voices streaming out of it. UC Davis has a much more visual and modern interpretation of that concept.
The UC Davis department of theater and dance presents Hinterland, a play in two parts, tonight through Saturday at 8 p.m. and additionally on Saturday at 2 p.m. in Wright Hall's Main Theater.
Artist-in-Residence Lucy Gough, who originally wrote the play in the United Kingdom and later adapted it into a radio drama, is directing the play. Gough will return to her native Wales when the quarter ends.
The plays Hinterland and Mapping the Soul, though separated into two distinct sub-plays, center around one main struggle - the search and definition of the human soul.
As if that were not complicated enough, Gough insisted that the most rewarding way for audiences to experience the play was to not just view it, but to hear it as well.
The play will be broadcast live on KDVS 90.3 FM during the performances. The actors will stand in front of a microphone throughout the whole play, using their voices and very little movement to communicate the story.
"It will be an interesting experience because it's not just a drama taking place but also a radio drama being created, so you see how the sound effects are created, and its not what they would expect," Gough said. "There are constantly two things, watching a drama and also seeing how that drama is created. On top of that, the whole debate of the soul going on as well; quite an exercising evening I hope."
Both plays feature a similar set of characters: Adam, his wife Eve, an 18th century scientist and his assistant, and a soul. Though played by completely different actors in each play, and supplemented by a gang of outrageous characters in the second, this familiarity helps glue the two together.
The characters featured in both plays adhere to essentially the same plot: Adam denies the existence of a soul and finds himself lost and searching for a soul, while the scientist tries to find the exact location of a soul within the brain.
The extensive plot added on top of this basic linear explanation delves into deep metaphysical questions, questions that took a lot of preparation to present in a comprehensive play.
"The long rehearsal process was something I am not used to. I'm used to four weeks or so of rehearsal, in and out," said Elizabeth Tremaine, who plays one of the assistants. "We spent almost the entire quarter putting this together, finding the pieces that worked, excluding the pieces that did not, and forming the final piece."
Because Hinterland was originally done on the stage, and Mapping the Soul was written specifically for radio, Gough and the actors have had to create a fluid hybrid between the two pieces, making them cohesive and effective.
"My plan was to combine them when I came here, but they are so tightly within themselves that it didn't work so I kept them separate, which is better, because it's so complex. It works better to hear it twice," Gough said.
Of course, one can see the potential challenges this mission created.
"The hardest part was the static nature of the blocking for a radio play that is going to be viewed by an audience," Jorge Morejon said, who plays the mysterious soul in Hinterland. "From where I am, I can't see anybody and yet I have to interject my lines without any visual or physical cues."
Beyond working out the performers' cues and the sound effects, the set design was entirely different hurdle to jump over.
Scenic designer Kourtney Lampedecchio, who's a first-year graduate student, said, "It was so important to take into consideration how the scenery sounded. Moving anything was a big deal."
Despite its challenges, the actors and actresses have gotten a lot out of this experience.
"I loved being involved in the artistic process of adapting a work from either a radio or stage play into a hybrid of the two. The rehearsals were an open environment, and I feel that we all contributed to the final product," Tremaine said.
Director Gough also got something unexpected out of the experience.
"Its been hugely rewarding working with the students and staff here, they're really hardworking. And to be able to study my work in such detail with everyone has been really enlightening from a director's point of view," Gough said.
For Gough, the enlightening aspect of the play is the most important feature of it. Through the adaptation process, Gough was able to express the controversial nature that the soul inspires in people.
"The play is a challenge for the audience. It's hard work, it demands attention and thought," Gough said. " [We are] trying to explore things that are very hard to discuss, and open those a bit."
The cast rose up to the challenge. Sarah Birdsall, a senior drama major who plays Eve in Mapping the Soul, researched biblical and historical texts in order to prepare for her role.
"The play touches on several subjects, there's religion, science and love, that you can see in my character," Birdsall said.
Because of the universal nature of the play's subject, the soul, Gough has instituted a talk back at the end of every performance, in which the audience as well as the cast will enter into a debate.
Tickets for this highly unusual and thoroughly stimulating performance are on sale now for $12 with student ID card.
BRITTANY PEARLMAN can be reached at arts@theaggie.org.
Artist-in-residence Lucy Gough directs last production of the quarter
Written by Brittany Pearlman
Arts Writer
Published on Dec 2, 2010
When you hear the term "radio drama," your mind may stray to a 1940s block radio with old character voices streaming out of it. UC Davis has a much more visual and modern interpretation of that concept.
The UC Davis department of theater and dance presents Hinterland, a play in two parts, tonight through Saturday at 8 p.m. and additionally on Saturday at 2 p.m. in Wright Hall's Main Theater.
Artist-in-Residence Lucy Gough, who originally wrote the play in the United Kingdom and later adapted it into a radio drama, is directing the play. Gough will return to her native Wales when the quarter ends.
The plays Hinterland and Mapping the Soul, though separated into two distinct sub-plays, center around one main struggle - the search and definition of the human soul.
As if that were not complicated enough, Gough insisted that the most rewarding way for audiences to experience the play was to not just view it, but to hear it as well.
The play will be broadcast live on KDVS 90.3 FM during the performances. The actors will stand in front of a microphone throughout the whole play, using their voices and very little movement to communicate the story.
"It will be an interesting experience because it's not just a drama taking place but also a radio drama being created, so you see how the sound effects are created, and its not what they would expect," Gough said. "There are constantly two things, watching a drama and also seeing how that drama is created. On top of that, the whole debate of the soul going on as well; quite an exercising evening I hope."
Both plays feature a similar set of characters: Adam, his wife Eve, an 18th century scientist and his assistant, and a soul. Though played by completely different actors in each play, and supplemented by a gang of outrageous characters in the second, this familiarity helps glue the two together.
The characters featured in both plays adhere to essentially the same plot: Adam denies the existence of a soul and finds himself lost and searching for a soul, while the scientist tries to find the exact location of a soul within the brain.
The extensive plot added on top of this basic linear explanation delves into deep metaphysical questions, questions that took a lot of preparation to present in a comprehensive play.
"The long rehearsal process was something I am not used to. I'm used to four weeks or so of rehearsal, in and out," said Elizabeth Tremaine, who plays one of the assistants. "We spent almost the entire quarter putting this together, finding the pieces that worked, excluding the pieces that did not, and forming the final piece."
Because Hinterland was originally done on the stage, and Mapping the Soul was written specifically for radio, Gough and the actors have had to create a fluid hybrid between the two pieces, making them cohesive and effective.
"My plan was to combine them when I came here, but they are so tightly within themselves that it didn't work so I kept them separate, which is better, because it's so complex. It works better to hear it twice," Gough said.
Of course, one can see the potential challenges this mission created.
"The hardest part was the static nature of the blocking for a radio play that is going to be viewed by an audience," Jorge Morejon said, who plays the mysterious soul in Hinterland. "From where I am, I can't see anybody and yet I have to interject my lines without any visual or physical cues."
Beyond working out the performers' cues and the sound effects, the set design was entirely different hurdle to jump over.
Scenic designer Kourtney Lampedecchio, who's a first-year graduate student, said, "It was so important to take into consideration how the scenery sounded. Moving anything was a big deal."
Despite its challenges, the actors and actresses have gotten a lot out of this experience.
"I loved being involved in the artistic process of adapting a work from either a radio or stage play into a hybrid of the two. The rehearsals were an open environment, and I feel that we all contributed to the final product," Tremaine said.
Director Gough also got something unexpected out of the experience.
"Its been hugely rewarding working with the students and staff here, they're really hardworking. And to be able to study my work in such detail with everyone has been really enlightening from a director's point of view," Gough said.
For Gough, the enlightening aspect of the play is the most important feature of it. Through the adaptation process, Gough was able to express the controversial nature that the soul inspires in people.
"The play is a challenge for the audience. It's hard work, it demands attention and thought," Gough said. " [We are] trying to explore things that are very hard to discuss, and open those a bit."
The cast rose up to the challenge. Sarah Birdsall, a senior drama major who plays Eve in Mapping the Soul, researched biblical and historical texts in order to prepare for her role.
"The play touches on several subjects, there's religion, science and love, that you can see in my character," Birdsall said.
Because of the universal nature of the play's subject, the soul, Gough has instituted a talk back at the end of every performance, in which the audience as well as the cast will enter into a debate.
Tickets for this highly unusual and thoroughly stimulating performance are on sale now for $12 with student ID card.
BRITTANY PEARLMAN can be reached at arts@theaggie.org.
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