Paul Hunter On … And The Horse You Rode In On
And The Horse You Rode In On is described as ‘a sinister comedy of ineptitude’ and explores extreme acts of violence and the lengths people will go to for their beliefs.
Joanne Hartley interviews Co-Artistic Director Paul Hunter to find out more about the show and how it has been created;
How’s the tour going?
It’s going very well so far. We’ve had great reactions to the show, which is very encouraging and very good audiences so we’re all feeling very positive about it.
The company artistic policy states that the team are committed to creating a genuinely spontaneous experience for the audience. What you mean by genuinely spontaneous?
We mean that there are certain sections of the show which are completely different every night. So, there are elements of the show which are genuinely improvised in front of the audience.
Why do you choose to work like in this way?
We’re very conscious that we want to make theatre that feels absolutely like a live event which isn’t in any way trying to do what TV or film does. Most of our work has been made through improvising, and because of this there are certain shows where it feels absolutely right to keep that element in relation to the finished article. In And The Horse You Rode In On there is one particular narrative which deals with an Anarchist group in London and we wanted the style to reflect what these people are about, so we wanted something which was quite anarchic in the process to remain there.
I’ve read that And The Horse You Rode In On takes a ‘new and unsettling’ direction for Told by an Idiot. What are the new things that you’ve discovered?
I think the thing that is new for us in this show is bringing our style, which is quite anarchic and spontaneous, to bear on material that is quite political and in some ways provocative. There’s new direction in that our style is meeting something different for the first time.
What was it that drew you to political violence as a subject matter?
It wasn’t so much the political violence than the sense that, certainly in this country, when people make political theatre it tends to be presented in the form of naturalism. Our style is completely the opposite of that and I think we were keen to explore what happens if you deal with those political themes and issues in a very anarchic, funny theatrical style. So the work was created in reaction to a lot of the political theatre we were experiencing.
Did you know from the outset that this project would tackle these themes or did you discover this through the process?
Quite early on, as we were researching, it became clear that we were interested in people who had reached the point of no return, where they felt that the only way they could make their voice heard or to make their protest was through violence in some way. Though the piece isn’t really about this it’s more about how we try to deal with this as a society. It’s also about how things never change, they keep being repeated. One of the narratives takes place in 1670, it’s not about today it’s about the fact that these things have always been there and in some ways will always be there. We’re acknowledging the fact that in some ways that we’re powerless to stop these things happening.
What is it that fascinates you about the fine line between comedy and tragedy?
I think that in many ways that’s what life is about. I think to make theatre that doesn’t have an element of humour or comedy in it would be in some ways cutting off a whole human element. We don’t want to reflect life by putting things on that are like real life. Instead we want to capture those dilemmas which are in life; the moments that we swing between something that is funny and then something that can be quite awful or quite upsetting or quite disturbing.
How do you write collaboratively?
There are a group of us in the rehearsal room all with specific roles, including myself as the director or there might be a choreographer or composer. There is also a group of actors. My job would then be to create a set of provocations from which the actors can start to write; to improvise basically. A lot of the improvisation is recorded and a script emerges like that really. Over the years we’ve developed lots of different ways of improvising to create a script. The most important thing for us about working collaboratively is that everybody feels they have a voice in that process. It’s not decided by one individual or by me, I might oversee things or edit things out but it’s about a group of people creating the finished product.
What are you hoping the impact of representing this subject matter or these themes might be?
I’m hoping for is people laugh at the same time being provoked. We’re hoping that people will laugh and then realise that actually it isn’t funny any more. So it’s to unsettle the audience, to provoke the audience in quite an unsettling way but also to make them laugh.
You have various workshop activities taking place around the project. Could you give me a hint about what the ‘audience participation’ after show discussion might be about?
They’ve gone down rather well in Plymouth, Warwick and Liverpool so far. We’ve put these in place because often venues are interested in doing a post show talk where we come on stage and talk about the show. We’re very happy to talk to people but we’ve become a little tired of the conventional format. So what we’ve done is come up something interactive that allows the audience to experience some of what we did in the rehearsal room with the actors, then if people want to chat then we can do that over a glass of wine in the bar. It’s not in any way and so far the audience seem to be quite enjoying it.
Who are your audience?
We always hope for as wide and diverse an audience as possible. A recent audience in Liverpool was very mixed, from a group of young offenders to older audience members and students. Our work appeals to quite a cross section. It’s not a show that demands some knowledge of theatre, quite the opposite, it’s very accessible. Some of the audiences who seem to have got the most out of it so far seem to be the people who have rarely been the theatre. We always get a younger audience because the work is quite visual and physical and comic but on the whole we get a wide mix. When we were at the West Yorkshire Playhouse before with Casanova with Caroline Duffy we had a real range of people. It excites us when the audience is very mixed.
And The Horse You Rode In On will be performed at the West Yorkshire Playhouse’s Courtyard Theatre from 29 March – 2 April. Box office 0113 213 7700.
