American couple Nancy and Charlie are awaiting retirement. They are also having various problems in their relationship. One day, they are talking on the beach when another very unusual couple called Sarah and Leslie appears.
This is the basic premise of three-times Pulitzer Prize winner Edward Albee's Seascape - a play that is very hard to categorise, encompassing the genres of comedy, fantasy, satire and absurdism.
The play is being presented by FM Theatre Productions and the cast members - Edward Mercieca, Denise Mulholland, Pia Zammit and Paul Portelli - and director Chris Gatt are loathe to give away too many details about the play and its characters. Suffice to say that Sarah and Leslie are not quite your conventional, run-of-the-mill couple.
Mr Mercieca was last seen as Dame Kalafrana in this year's panto. In Seascape he goes back to a more cerebral form of comedy. He has coined a new word to describe Albee's oeuvre: "funnysadreal".
"The play goes through an emotional rollercoaster, which I think audiences love. And it's funny; there's great comedy, but it really makes you think. Oh and it's quite unusual too. The audience will be eavesdropping into this couple's life for 90 minutes - in real time. It's nothing and yet it's everything at the same time... a beautifully written piece. I think Mr Gatt used the word 'gossamer' - he's right!" he says enthusiastically.
Ms Mulholland says that on first reading, the plot is very simple: a married couple enjoying a sunny afternoon with gentle bickering, some reminiscing and recriminations, followed by a startling encounter with unexpected guests which throw up some surprising issues.
"The more one gets to know the play the more one realises it is multi-layered and actually extremely complex. It is a beautiful piece of work - challenging and difficult to grasp. Albee is a real craftsman. He is such a wordsmith ‒ every word has been chosen for a reason, every italic is specific, everything has a significance. This has been at times wonderful and at times infuriating when you simply can't work out why he has put a certain word in bold. Thankfully we have been aided by Mr Gatt who will not let us paraphrase at all, but insists we find out why these words have been chosen in the first place! Much of the rehearsal is spent reading and listening. All the clues to the characters and their stories are in the language. The exciting part has been trying to find the rhythm of the piece while remaining precise with the language and characters," she states.
Ms Mulholland plays Nancy, whom she describes as a "real butterfly-brain".
"Nancy skips from subject to subject and from emotion to emotion constantly, which is a challenge to an actor. The connections have to be there beneath the surface, but seemingly invisible to the audience. Most of the time she utters a sort of stream of consciousness which can be very difficult to get to grips with. She is also middle-aged and this has been quite tough for me to latch on to. I too am middle-aged; but somehow I hadn't realised that fact until I started to play this character! Somehow it has crept up on me. In my mind I am perennially 16, so playing a character who is acutely aware of her own mortality and increasing age - a grandmother no less - has been rather difficult," she smiles.
According to Mr Gatt, unlike Mr Albee's other works, including Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf and The Goat, or who is Sylvia, in Seascape, Mr Albee does not dissect the middle class... in fact, Mr Gatt says, in many ways the play is a celebration of what keeps us together
"This is a romantic comedy. It is about being middle aged. It is a play about evolution. It is about the sea and our primeval attachment to it," he explains.
When Pia Zammit first read the script, she says she cried with laughter. And then cried a little bit for real too.
"Albee always writes wonderful plays which are incredibly human. He always manages to bring out the 'fringe' of humanity though, the bizarre aspects that every individual has but sometimes keeps hidden. I defy anyone to not identify with one of the four characters in this play. I especially love the fact that the females are the adventurous ones while the men are more 'traditional' and cautious. It's very, very funny and sweet and true, despite the absurdity. It's a lesson and wonderful story. And I can guarantee that the cast will all be giving their all," she declares.
Ms Zammit and Mr Portelli's roles in this play are very physical... and Ms Zammit says that she is feeling the strain:
"The worst part of being involved in this production is definitely the bruises. The many, many bruises. and the swollen wrists. The physical aspect is tiring and very challenging, which is great but painful! My knees look like the setting sun, that's how many colours they have. Paul calls me a wimp, but he's a rockclimber and is super fit, and while I am reasonably fit, I've never done a push-up in my life so my arms are giving me what-for!
"As for the best part... so far cast and director are working really well together and we can play, which is fun.
Chris allows us to try different things which in my opinion is the best way to find your character and what she 'wants'. It's always fun and an honour to try on someone else's shoes and inhabit someone else for a short while, find out what makes them tick, why they say what they do. It's great - finding a new 'friend' and taking them in to stay with you for a while. it's always tough saying goodbye," she concludes.
• Tickets may be obtained from St James Cavalier by phone on 2122 3200 or by e-mail: bookings@sjcav.org.
• More information may be obtained from www.sjcav.org .
This is the basic premise of three-times Pulitzer Prize winner Edward Albee's Seascape - a play that is very hard to categorise, encompassing the genres of comedy, fantasy, satire and absurdism.
The play is being presented by FM Theatre Productions and the cast members - Edward Mercieca, Denise Mulholland, Pia Zammit and Paul Portelli - and director Chris Gatt are loathe to give away too many details about the play and its characters. Suffice to say that Sarah and Leslie are not quite your conventional, run-of-the-mill couple.
Mr Mercieca was last seen as Dame Kalafrana in this year's panto. In Seascape he goes back to a more cerebral form of comedy. He has coined a new word to describe Albee's oeuvre: "funnysadreal".
"The play goes through an emotional rollercoaster, which I think audiences love. And it's funny; there's great comedy, but it really makes you think. Oh and it's quite unusual too. The audience will be eavesdropping into this couple's life for 90 minutes - in real time. It's nothing and yet it's everything at the same time... a beautifully written piece. I think Mr Gatt used the word 'gossamer' - he's right!" he says enthusiastically.
Ms Mulholland says that on first reading, the plot is very simple: a married couple enjoying a sunny afternoon with gentle bickering, some reminiscing and recriminations, followed by a startling encounter with unexpected guests which throw up some surprising issues.
"The more one gets to know the play the more one realises it is multi-layered and actually extremely complex. It is a beautiful piece of work - challenging and difficult to grasp. Albee is a real craftsman. He is such a wordsmith ‒ every word has been chosen for a reason, every italic is specific, everything has a significance. This has been at times wonderful and at times infuriating when you simply can't work out why he has put a certain word in bold. Thankfully we have been aided by Mr Gatt who will not let us paraphrase at all, but insists we find out why these words have been chosen in the first place! Much of the rehearsal is spent reading and listening. All the clues to the characters and their stories are in the language. The exciting part has been trying to find the rhythm of the piece while remaining precise with the language and characters," she states.
Ms Mulholland plays Nancy, whom she describes as a "real butterfly-brain".
"Nancy skips from subject to subject and from emotion to emotion constantly, which is a challenge to an actor. The connections have to be there beneath the surface, but seemingly invisible to the audience. Most of the time she utters a sort of stream of consciousness which can be very difficult to get to grips with. She is also middle-aged and this has been quite tough for me to latch on to. I too am middle-aged; but somehow I hadn't realised that fact until I started to play this character! Somehow it has crept up on me. In my mind I am perennially 16, so playing a character who is acutely aware of her own mortality and increasing age - a grandmother no less - has been rather difficult," she smiles.
According to Mr Gatt, unlike Mr Albee's other works, including Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf and The Goat, or who is Sylvia, in Seascape, Mr Albee does not dissect the middle class... in fact, Mr Gatt says, in many ways the play is a celebration of what keeps us together
"This is a romantic comedy. It is about being middle aged. It is a play about evolution. It is about the sea and our primeval attachment to it," he explains.
When Pia Zammit first read the script, she says she cried with laughter. And then cried a little bit for real too.
"Albee always writes wonderful plays which are incredibly human. He always manages to bring out the 'fringe' of humanity though, the bizarre aspects that every individual has but sometimes keeps hidden. I defy anyone to not identify with one of the four characters in this play. I especially love the fact that the females are the adventurous ones while the men are more 'traditional' and cautious. It's very, very funny and sweet and true, despite the absurdity. It's a lesson and wonderful story. And I can guarantee that the cast will all be giving their all," she declares.
Ms Zammit and Mr Portelli's roles in this play are very physical... and Ms Zammit says that she is feeling the strain:
"The worst part of being involved in this production is definitely the bruises. The many, many bruises. and the swollen wrists. The physical aspect is tiring and very challenging, which is great but painful! My knees look like the setting sun, that's how many colours they have. Paul calls me a wimp, but he's a rockclimber and is super fit, and while I am reasonably fit, I've never done a push-up in my life so my arms are giving me what-for!
"As for the best part... so far cast and director are working really well together and we can play, which is fun.
Chris allows us to try different things which in my opinion is the best way to find your character and what she 'wants'. It's always fun and an honour to try on someone else's shoes and inhabit someone else for a short while, find out what makes them tick, why they say what they do. It's great - finding a new 'friend' and taking them in to stay with you for a while. it's always tough saying goodbye," she concludes.
• Tickets may be obtained from St James Cavalier by phone on 2122 3200 or by e-mail: bookings@sjcav.org.
• More information may be obtained from www.sjcav.org .