The Monthly interviews designer, director and artist, Alistair Livingstone – Part 6 – Playing Moliere and Theatre Forms

What were the key moments in your career?

Of the big pieces, I would say ‘La Bayadère’ would have to be one; it was definitely the most work, and not easy with a newly born child in the house and away from all my normal London support systems.

I’m probably proudest of ‘Playing Moliere’, which I designed for the Stage Company in Adelaide. It was performed in The Space in the Adelaide Festival Centre, essentially a black box theatre. I designed an environment, I don’t think you could call it a set. We enclosed the performing space with timber fencing and barbed wire and we replicated the gates of Auschwitz. I used rough wood planks throughout and the seats for the audience were just wooden benches on three sides of a thrust stage. It wasn’t theatre in the round but it did have the feel of the audience being somehow part of the action, especially when the gates were closed and the harsh overhead lighting came on.

Model of ‘Playing Moliere’ for the Stage Company at The Space, Adelaide Festival Theatre

I had a wonderful Production Manager at The Stage Company. Without Bill Guest that environment for ‘Playing Moliere’ would never have been built, nor could we have pulled off other projects that I designed for The Stage Company. The play is a wonderful piece by Gary Langford with the five women in the camp, all from different backgrounds, who put on a production of Moliere’s ‘La Malade Imaginaire’ as a way to sustain themselves. Of course no one remembers the play properly – not even Claudette the French woman – and slowly they show their real personalities, and the friction between them gets revealed to the audience. I would love to replicate that work again. I think it has a lot of important things to say, particularly now.

And what is it about Theatre in the Round which enthuses you?

It is the most democratic, inclusive form of theatre; the audience is connected to the performers and can see what is happening all around the performance. It breaks down the barriers between the performer and the audience. It is one of the oldest forms of theatre – Oh! and it just happens to be probably the cheapest to build and produce theatre in!

Sam Walters, the founding director of The Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond (the first professional London Theatre in the Round) memorably once said, “Theatre in the round empowers the audience and is a full communal shared experience.” He then went on to say that, “there is no play that cannot be performed in the round and every play is better for being done in the round.” (at the SJC – ABTT seminar; ‘Theatre Then and Now’)

Stephen Joseph – Drawing in his book – Theatre in the Round

When Steven Joseph first started promoting this as a form of theatre in the 1950’s, he was vilified by the profession, but the crucial thing was the performer and their engagement with the audience. Now theatres are being built with a central performance space or with the flexibility to house theatre in the round. Stephen would have been amazed to learn that now even major ballet companies perform ‘in the round’.

I’ve been trying to find a suitable venue around here in Rostrevor to stage Light Theatre Company (LTC) productions ‘in the round’, but that is proving to be difficult. I’ve been advocating for a transportable Buckminster Fuller type structure, for many years. One that could be used by many local groups. Maybe – one day……….!!

Stephen Joseph – Drawing in his book – Theatre in the Round

If you want to see more of Alistair Livingstone’s work go to the following links

www.alistairlivingstone.com

www.lighttheatrecompany.org

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