Time
of My Life
Volcano
has been making theatre in Wales for the last ten years. Many of these
productions have toured abroad, often with the help of the British Council.
We have produced distinctive and very different kinds of shows: adaptations
of Shakespeare's Sonnets; The Communist Manifesto; the works
of Henrik Ibsen; our own Vagina Dentata; and poems and plays
written by Tony Harrison.
This
process of adapting and performing very diverse material is necessarily
risky - it requires that funders, critics, audiences and actors see
theatre as an open, expansive and challenging art form.
How
far theatre can retain these vital characteristics in an age when technology
appears to be offering so much more in the way of choice, entertainment
and excitement is a matter of some debate. In other words, the future
of theatre - radical or orthodox - seems far from certain. Of course,
more funding would help but in addition to this it is surprise, even
conflict, that must lie at the heart of any real dramatic or cultural
engagement.
After
more than ten years of making work that is now called "physical
theatre", it seemed appropriate to address the work of one of Britain's
most prolific and poular playwrights. Alan Ayckbourn, so often seen
as Scarborough's and Britain's "King of Comedy", appears in
his later work to have arrived at a much darker view of human relations.
Like Ibsen, the emphasis is on the unspoken horrors of domestic life:
horrors of commission and omission that rob us of vitality, joy and
honesty.
Time
of My Life is a modern bourgeois tragedy, insofar as it explores
the restrictive and claustrophobic nature of the Strattons' lifestyle.
However, like all good tragedies, there is always the possibility that
perhaps one or two of the characters might escape. Maureen or Stephanie
or even Adam might yet live a life free from the pressures, the conflicts
and the lies of Gerry and Laura. These kind of hopes and possibilities
may be small beer for drama at the end of the Millennium. However, if
there is one thing that the last ten years or so making theatre in Wales
and further afield has demonstrated, it is the enduring appeal and significance
of human stories and human tragedies. Simultaneous with this development,
we have witnessed the erosion of the once widespread conviction that
radical political change would promote economic and even cultural emancipation.
Whether
in this new context we in Wales will be able to avoid generating a new
class of Gerry and Laura Strattons is surely one of the central issues
that must concern anyone interested in politics and theatre today.
Paul
Davies, 1998
For another essay on Time of
My Life, click here
CREDITS
