When we began work on our new production, Descent, we decided we wanted to create a piece of theatre that would use a nonconventional, non-theatre space.
The play is about four characters who go on a journey, a “descent” into a kind of underworld. And we wanted the audience to feel that they are going on the journey, too – following the action, rather than simply watching a play. We wanted them to respond to the environment, making this as much part of the event as the story, the script, the actors, and so on.
We searched hard for a suitable venue - and found one in the Lampworks, Birmingham, a former factory building.
Set designer John Bell and artist Lilith Piper are working together to create the different spaces for the play - each of which has their own distinct atmosphere. … The “abandoned shrine” …. The “labyrinth” … The “inner sanctum” or “cave”…
For more on the way we are using and transforming the Lampworks venue, go to:
https://www.midlandactorstheatre.com/descent-site-specific-theatre
TRAUMA AND HEALING: THE "PERSEPHONE" EXPERIENCE
On one level, our new play, Descent, is a story of trauma and healing. The four characters have been traumatised by war – by the things they have done, the things they have gone through, the things they have seen. The journey they go on through the “underworld” can be seen as a journey of healing.
This is evident, for example, in the character of Inanna. In her review of the play, Gwenyth Hood writes:
“In scene 5, ‘The Confessional,’ Inanna says that she wished to die, and prayed to die, but did not. Subsequently, after the men and boys in her village are massacred, and she is subjected to rape and sex-slavery … she says that she died, but did not die. Instead, seemingly, she draws within herself, to shield her remaining humanity and by extension, the humanity of the other characters and of the whole human race, from further horrors.”
The character's story recalls the myth of Persephone, who is taken down into the underworld by Hades, and raped by him. This is how James Hillman describes the “Persephone experience”:
“The Persephone experience occurs to us each in sudden depressions, when we feel ourselves caught in hatefulness, cold, numbed, and drawn downward out of life by a force we cannot see, against which we would flee, distractedly thrashing about for naturalistic explanations and comforts for what is happening so darkly.” (from: The Dream and the Underworld)
The play follows Inanna’s journey of healing, to the point where she (and the other characters) are given a vision of hope for the future – and for an Earth reborn…
Click here for more on the characters in Descent
The latest seminar in our “The Psychology of Descent” series is on 30 June at 7pm (UK time). Evans Lansing Smith will discuss the enduring fascination of the myth of the “hero journey” through the “underworld.” The myth continues to inspire the work of writers, filmmakers and artists – taking them, and their readers or viewers, on their own form of psychological and imaginative “journey.”
Evans is the author of numerous books including The Descent to the Underworld in Literature, Painting, and Film and The Hero Journey in Literature. In the 1970s, he travelled with Joseph Campbell on study tours to Europe, Kenya and Egypt
Tickets for this event are free but places are limited. You will be contacted closer to the date with a zoom link for the event.
To book, go to: https://descent-underworld.eventbrite.co.uk
Descent is supported by Arts Council England and the Sir Barry Jackson Trust
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