‘Poor Boy’ by playwright Matt Cameron and Music by Tim Finn opened at the Maidement Theatre in Auckland, on March 17th 2011. It is performed by the Auckland Theatre Company (ATC) under the watchful eye of director, Raymond Hawthorne. The play revolves around the wondrous songs of iconic New Zealand musician, Tim Finn and incorporates many of his greatest hits, for example 'I Hope I Never,' ‘Persuasion,’ 'Into the Water,’ Out of This World' and the show’s namesake its self; 'Poor Boy.’ The play focuses on two families; the Glasses and the Priors. In the Glass household it is the youngest member Jem’s 7th birthday, however Jem had fainted on a zebra crossing earlier that day and when he wakes to blow out his candles, he tells his family that they are in fact strangers. On the other side of town the Prior family reconciles their memories for their eldest son Danny, who was killed seven years to the day crossing the road. Soon Jem Glass arrives at their house and tells the Priors that he is Danny Prior and he has returned home. What follows is the rapid breakdown of two families as Jem continues to insist that he is Danny turning his parents and Danny’s parents’ worlds upside down. Meanwhile his older sister Sadie finds affection in Miles, Danny’s older brother and widow’s new fiancé! Ultimately the Glasses and the Priors learn the truth about what really happened on the night of Jem’s birth and Danny’s death, explaining the link between the two families and forming a bond tighter than they ever thought possible. Themes of the play include grief and death; as the Prior family deals with the loss of Danny, reincarnation; the idea that a person’s soul can come back to life, and family; a concept uniting all of the characters in this play. ‘Poor Boy’ was very humorous in parts; designed to make the audience react with laughter, and very saddening at times; designed for audience reflection and upset. The director made important choices regarding set and costume design, lighting and sound as well as choosing the correct actors for the roles of the play. These actors, in particular Finn McLaughlan, showcased some very important moments of acting and helped to illustrate to the audience, the intention of the play.
The set design for ‘Poor Boy’ was created by Tracy Grant Lord. The set was a mixture of interior (centre stage) and exterior (the sides of stage left and right.) Centre stage was a staircase, surrounded by an armchair and lamp, piano with an antique radio upon it and a dining table with chairs. Far stage left we can see the trunks of trees showing the audience that they are “outside of the house” and a swing and tricycle in the backyard. Stage right is another forest of trees with a deck chair and a tombstone – Danny’s tombstone. Upon the wall sits a model of the Glass family boat. On the top floor of the staircase are three white seagulls mid-flight upon a backdrop of a starry city sky. The director wanted to create a symbolically important house for both families, one that with each glace, noted an object that provoked an emotion, or a spot where happy memories were shared. The set was very symbolic, for example the seagulls represented the members of the Prior family waiting to leave the house full of memories – when Claire left and ‘flew the nest’ her bird was removed. The swing and the tricycle also showed symbolic reference to times of youth, especially relevant to the character of Sadie who spends the play wishing she were young again, the only child, desperately seeking attention. The model of the trawler above the dining room table was representative of the failures of the Glass family. Despite his best efforts, Sol could not keep it above sea, just as he desperately tried to keep his family from falling apart. The effect created by the very stylised and symbolic set is that of mystery. It appeared that every item held a secret to the families’ troubles, waiting to be unlocked.
The costume designer for ‘Poor Boy’ was Judith Crozier. The director wanted the costumes not to be too abrasive and take away emphasis from the very symbolic set. Raymond Hawthorne also wanted them to show the personality of each character clearly to the audience. Judith incorporated the themes of grief and death by having every character in dark colours in the final scene, with the occasional shades of white used to show heavenliness. She focussed on making Danny and Jem stand out from their family members to show that they were not directly living alongside them. Judith also used costumes that were relevant to the type of lifestyle that each character was living, and separated the families by use of different colours. Common costume colours included browns, mauve, white, black and grey which corresponded nicely to the colours used on the set. The zebra mask was a very important costume element, for which there were two, made out of lightweight material and black and white felt stripes. The zebra mask was symbolic of the zebra crossing which was the site of Jem’s fainting and Danny’s death. This showed the audience the tone of the play; dark and mysterious, whilst very childlike. Masks are designed to hide the true identity of someone and this mask represented the hidden truths within the play and how when the mask was lifted, everyone was able to see clearly.
The lighting design for ‘Poor Boy’ was done by Phillip Dexter. An important moment of lighting design was when at the beginning of the play a cold blue wash filled the dark stage and only the tricycle circling the tree far stage left was visible. The tricycle was illuminated by a defined spotlight and it created a moody and whimsical atmosphere. This also emphasised the symbolism of the tricycle which had no rider, for he was living in another world, not as Jem but as Danny. It also illustrated the idea that Sadie was forced to grow up with the arrival of Jem but really, acted like a child to gain the love and attention that she desired from her parents. The sound designer for ‘Poor Boy’ was John Gibson. John had the tough job of incorporating music and sound effects into a play, without turning it into a musical. An important moment of sound was when the whole cast stood on stage singing the song, ‘Poor Boy’ in the final scene of the show. The chorus of voices and the darkness behind the words really shone through the music and it provided an eerie and yet enjoyable ending to the play. This song seemed to sum up the performance with a strong ensemble singing from deep down in their stomachs. This sound, doubled with the ultraviolet light that flooded the audience made the piece very dream-like, an idea desired by the director. The effect created by having such a dark song sung in quite a low pitch and very powerfully, was providing the audience with a clear summation of the darker themes and ideas of the play.
Throughout the play the acting of Finn McLaughlan who played Jem was very impressive as he had to stay in neutral for long periods of time. He spoke in a slow monotone voice, with low pitch and pace. He used his body softly yet slowly and had no expression on his face, giving the effect of a person who was day-dreaming or sleep- walking. As Jem descended the stairs when returning from his bedroom, Finn matched his movements to those of Roy Snow’s who played Danny. Jem was one with Danny - his shadow - and their movements were perfectly in time. This meant that the focus was on the speaking character in the scene and because Jem stood so still the audience often forgot he was even there. His presence onstage also created tension, very eerily, haunting every scene. Because Jem was only a young child he played a role very similar to that of his own age however his character had to appear constantly ‘zoned out’ whilst Finn himself, still stayed focussed on what was happening onstage. Another highlight of Finn’s acting was when Jem was seated in the bath, his chin tilted up, his eyes glassed over staring out into the audience, his body very, very still. His weak frame slumped in the bath, shoulders rounded and arms loose. As other characters like Ruth and Danny’s fussed over him, Jem just sat as if only his body was there, his mind far off in another world. This gave the effect that he was not really living, only being.
I believe that the intention of ‘Poor Boy’ was to showcase darker ideas in a slightly fantasy-like state. ‘Poor Boy’ did not aim to be a musical; it was designed to be a play which featured some of the stunning songs by musician Tim Finn. The fact that ‘Poor Boy’ made use of songs caused a lot of grief for the writers who were constantly dealt criticism about the fact that it was a ‘musical that failed.’ What critics did not understand was that this piece was not designed to be compared to shows such as Mamma Mia and Grease; it was simply an inclusion of songs that seemed relevant, both in the literal and metaphorical sense, to the scenes. I believe that this play was very entertaining however because of the fictional storyline it did not act as a means to educate an audience. It attempted to inform them about how people cope with the loss of a loved one, but again, the concepts within the play made it hard to identify with any of the characters on a deeper level. For example the character of Ruth could be used as a model for mothers who have lost their sons however the fact that Danny comes back to life is a hard concept for an audience to identify with. The performance did prove very worthy entertainment and posed some interesting questions to the audience, for example what happens once we die; will we come back to life?
In conclusion, ‘Poor Boy’ written by Matt Cameron, music by Tim Finn and directed by Raymond Hawthorne focussed on two families; the Glasses and the Priors and how they reacted to their sons’ ‘deaths,’ in very different ways. Themes of the play included grief and death; as the Prior family deals with the loss of Danny, reincarnation; the idea that a person’s soul can come back to life, and family; a concept uniting all of the characters in the play. ‘Poor Boy’ proved to be very amusing and witty in parts; designed to make the audience react with laughter, and very saddening at times; designed for audience reflection and upset. It also prompted audiences to question their own beliefs on life, death and what comes after. The director made important choices regarding set and costume design, lighting and sound, as well as choosing actors specifically suited for roles in the play. These actors showcased some very important moments of acting and helped to illustrate to the audience the themes of the play. This piece of theatre was very symbolic, mysterious and moving and overall it was performed well. Raymond Hawthorne, the director, described his show as, “a story ‘about grief – how we deal with it, how we carry it about with us and how we get over it,” and ‘Poor Boy’ certainly was just that.
No comments:
Post a Comment