Download George Mann discusses Translunar Paradise

George Mann discusses Translunar Paradise
George Mann wrote, co-devised (with Kim Heron and Deborah Pugh),
directed and performs in Theatre Ad Infinitum’s new work Translunar
Paradise, which premiered at Edinburgh Fringe in 2011.
In Translunar Paradise Theatre Ad Infinitum uses mask and a gestural
language to present a poignant play celebrating the joy and beauty of love
and companionship.
What is Translunar Paradise all about?
The play’s about many things: love, shared memory and loss and a
relationship spanning 60 years told through the memories of an old widower,
William. He has recently lost his wife and instead of moving on he gets lost
in past memories. His wife Rose, seeing he is unable to let go, stays with him
as a ghost and helps him come to terms with his loss. The story follows
William and Rose as they share wonderful memories together - from their
courting days in the 40s right through to their last days together. A real rich
tapestry of a life shared.
What is new and different about it?
We break the traditional ‘mould’ of using mask - by combining it with puppetry:
our masks are handheld. It’s also one of a very few plays that attempts to
communicate a story of complex themes and emotional content without text.
It’s told instead using action.
How can such a subject as loss and bereavement be made into such
unforgettable and astonishing theatre?
This piece is about moving on. And to move on we have to come to terms
with and be truly happy with the past. For us the magic of this piece is that it
manages to convey the richness of a lifetime in 75mins – and the audience
feels, experiences and lives every moment with us. It’s a shared journey
made possible by our extraordinary, intricate and very life-like masks, created
incidentally by none other than Victoria Beaton from Madame Tussauds.
Why did you choose this subject matter?
My experiences with death and grief over the last 15 years taught me that
death is very much a part of life, and aside from being sad and extremely
difficult to deal with, it is also a wonderful gift. I wanted to create a piece about
this. My father was diagnosed with cancer five years ago and died in January last
year. Following his diagnosis with lung cancer and his treatment I found
myself in and out of something like premature grief. But paradoxically,
alongside this feeling, I also realized that each of day of that five year period
was another day in which my father was still living; it was an opportunity to
appreciate our relationship, sort out our differences, and to say goodbye – I
consider myself lucky in that respect.
And what really spurred you on to write this play?
It was reading WB Yeats’ The Tower that hardened my resolve to actually go
ahead and write this play. ‘That being dead, we rise, dream and so create,
Translunar Paradise’. Yeats’ character, an old man embittered by loss, and
old age was effectively the man I wanted to put on stage. I wanted to take this
character (and in a way, myself) on a journey that would help him to look
more positively at life after death, and ‘William’ was born out of this
inspiration, which later became Translunar Paradise.
So how does the play without words actually work?
It works by using action to communicate –the body in fact. There’s so much
the body can and does say, but we seldom realise this, which is probably why
most theatre nowadays is centered around text and what we literally say. Our
actions and bodies tell this story via hand-held masks, which allow a
performer to be older, and using a gestural language employed by removing
the masks revealing our younger selves and transporting us back in time.
Time travel! This found style is perfect for our story about an old couple
sharing memories of their youth.
Reasons why you should see Translunar Paradise
The masks really are incredible. And the handheld mask style is new/original. They
are made by Victoria Beaton who also works for Madame Tussauds. She managed to
create two masks that are both so real and full of the joys and pain of life, whilst
simultaneously being so theatrical and ‘alive’. They are very sensitive and respond to
the movements of the body extremely well, creating the illusion that they are
moving and expressing themselves .
The music is original, apart from two songs that we reference, and Kim Heron’s voice
is gorgeous, husky and beautiful to listen to.
Helen Lindley, Artistic Director of the Richard Whiteley Theatre adds:
Translunar Paradise was recommended to me at the Edinburgh Festival 2011 as ‘the
most beautiful show’ the theatre connoisseur had ever seen. I had to wait three
days to secure tickets for their month sell out run at The Pleasance Venue, and after
being utterly enchanted I am delighted that we will be welcoming them to the
Richard Whiteley Theatre. Translunar Paradise has so much heart, and I do suggest
perhaps a pack of Kleenex on hand. The British Theatre Guide gave the production
5*, declaring it ‘a thing of perfection’.