TRANSLATIONS by Brian Friel

Audrey Morrow discusses her production for Tynemouth Priory Theillre.

In an impoverished Hedge School in County Donegal in the year 1883, the lives of the mature students and their teachers are suddenly disrupted by the arrival nearby of a detachment of British Royal Engineers whose task it is to translate the loca l Gaelic place names into English for the purpose of making the first Ordnance Survey for Britain. Grumbles and irritation at the inconvenience turn into something much more ugly when, unexpectedly, one of the female students and an R.E. officer faJl in love.

The cast of 7 men and 3 women comprise of Sarah, an almost mute young student in love with her tutor Manus, who in turn is in love with Maire, another student, who falls in love with Lt YoUand of the Royal Engineers. His senior officer Captain Lancey has employed Owen, a wealthy, educated young man from Dublin to be his interpreter. Owen turns out to be the prodigal son of Hugh, the headmaster, and brother of Manus. The other students are Doalty and Bridget from neighbouring farms, and Jimmy Jack, the erudite village tramp.

The younger members of our Group were conspicuous by their absence at the auditions for TRANSLATIONS. On the other hand, I had some excellent readings from our older, experienced actors who showed great enthusiasm for the play, so I decided to cast them by "upping" the ages of most of the characters. They repaid me by giving some first-rate performances.

We had 18 rehearsals in aJl over a five week period, which is about the norm for Tynemouth Priory Players.

The first hill to climb was for all the school characters to speak with the Sa me Irish dialect, as they all belonged to a tight village

community. Early rehearsals brought forth accents ranging from Welsh to Hindustani, but eventually everyone settled into a sort of mid-Irish dialect which was well sustained and easy on the ear! Gaelic name pronunciations were authenticaJly supplied on tape by the Irish relatives of one of the actors.

The next difficulty was learning to convince the audience that, although the actors were in fact all speaking English, the school students were supposedly speaking Gaelic and could not understand the English soldiers and vice-versa. We discovered that by overlapping each other's dialogue and frequently interjecting with "what?" and "sorry?" , we managed to achieve the desired confusion, and appreciative laughter from the audience convinced us that they comprehended the situation ea rlier than we thought. Also giggles and nudges from the female characters helped the reception of Captain Lancey's long speeches in Act I.

For this particular play I found it more beneficial to devote a whole week to rehearsing a single act, leaving run-throughs of the whole play until the week leading up to opening night. I also had a dedicated cast who helped tremendously by learning their lines early in the rehearsal period .

After browsing round old farm

buildings during the summer 'break and getting some helpful pointers from a local farmer who turned out to be a keen amateur historian, I began sketching a set plan suitable for our stage (c. 22 ft sq). Sight­Lines are always a problem for us, also wing space, consequently sets have to be angled to approximately 12 ft wide for the back flats. The author's suggestion for "the remains of cow byre tails" had to be dismissed, as did "a double door Stage Left large enough to allow a cart to enter"! I decided for our stage it would be advantageous to erect a rostrum 12 ft wide x 8 ft deep x 2 ft high, pushed up against the back flats, from which a short flight of unrailed wooden steps could lead to the Living quarters Offstage Right in the loft. The Master's table and chair could be Up Centre with plenty of room in front of it for speeches and business, thus alleviating masking problems when 10 characters were on stage at the same time. Centre steps could lead down to the floor level where four benches could represent the students' "patch" during lessons. "A small window Stage Right, a door Stage Left and, if possible, a skylight window set in the suggestion of a roof Upstage Centre would make me very happy," I told our Stage Director and Set Designer, Steve Arnott, handing him my grubby, badly drawn plan of the set.

Two weeks into rehearsals we were presented with a superb replica of an 18th century barn complete with

beams, stone tilted roof s t backstage fl at" wide skylight an old windo\ Right (both filt~

plasbc " g l a ~'

typical farm\·ar Left and a ca filment. 10 .

to suggest a August afternDO"' genera I stag were lit b~

Fresnels. We tried Stra \V bu

the fairly light stonework of the set, the overall effed bght. We ended up wi th Straws, rounded off w it offstage in 30 Yellow to pr \ sunshine effect throu " window (Stage Right) a _ Upstage skylight.

schoolroom set and tri~ :! leafy glade in moonlig'" lovers' tryst. We had groundrow against whi r the moonlight. A pa ir Windsor profiles on the -::­House bar in Deep BIlle the basic evening effect, Eo a pair of leafy gobos in give the "moonlight thn:_ trees" outdoor effec t. Fresnel on Bar 1 in ~

highlighted the wall to r the setting.

Act 1II was set against a evening ou tside, so the . was "lit" by three hanging 10 the main, the evening , achieved by using the g ' from Act I, but at a Il supplemented by the F House Blues from Act IJ :: Blue floods replaced tn ~

through the window _ta .~

and skylight. Lightru _ flashed through both \ using SOOw flood s in 0 Flickering fires outsidl. created by Flame colour~ offstage operated \-ia s tepped chases on our _

16 KilL

Effects Panel, to provide an appropriately paced flicker. We supplement the offstage fl,1mes with a pair of 1 kw Fresnels focused in red on the set itself.

Our versatile wardrobe ladies supplied Bridget, Maire and Sarah with two changes of period costumes, consisting of cotton blouses, long woollen skirts, laced black bodices and shawls, topped by white bonnets or mop caps, all changing into long-sleeved gingham or soft woollen ankle­length dresses. The men wore the same outfits throughout, ranging from the wealthy, immaculate frock-coated Owen; the shabby, past-gentility outfits of his father Hugh and brother Manus; the agricultural smock and cords of farm-worker Donalty; and, right at the other end of the social scale, Jimmy Jack, with his greasy hat, torn cords and raggy Regency style coat as the village tramp. Thanks to the wardrobe's diligent needlework for the rest of the cast, we were able to hire two magnificent 19th century officers' uniforms for Capt Lancey and Lt Yolland.

We were very fortunate in obtaining the services of a genuine Uilleann Pipe.r, Derek Morgan, leading up to and throughout the week of the show. This was Derek's very first venture into the crazy world of amateur dramatics. His first introd uction to the cast coincided with our publicity photo­call and, like the good sport he is, he was persuaded to "dress the part" and be photographed with his pipes and cute leprechaun hat. The outfit became his trade-mark and each evening he delighted our audiences with opening, closing and interval music, playing a variety of Irish airs.

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SPECIAL __ E~T ,~ _'

As Act 1lI develops, it is obvious that something sinister has happened after the preceding scene, which will affect the lives of all the characters in the play.

A build-up of tension was created by thunder and lightning effects at the start of the scene; flickering lights outside the Stage Right window to denote camp flames, and ending with a build-up of flickering lights from the skylight and open door with some smoke, indicating that the fires were getting nearer, all of which added significance to Hugh's final speech. .. The right background and atmosphere was created by our props team who "decorated" the set with straw, corn and old farm implements kindly loaned to us by Ollr friend the farmer. One lady remarked that she could "actually smell the cow platters" from where she was sitting in the audience! The sparse furniture consisted of the Master's old chair and table, two little milk stools and four old benches left over from our pantomimes. Some old orange boxes served as bookcases for the hundreds of old books we had littered about the set with odd maps and slates, all of which immediately signified to the audience that this was a very poor school of some country village. Decrepit old lanterns (fitted with battery-operated bulbs) complete.d the scene.

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My enthusiasm for the skylight window in the "roof" was dampened somewhat on discovering the limited space behind. I am very grateful that it was our Lighting Director, Tony Hall, and not myself who had to balance on a ladder stretching through the a pertufE', struggling to position a Par can (sunshine), two floods (lightning), two more floods (Evening Blue) and y~t two more floods (flames). The plastk "glass" in the window was very effectivE', but be warned - do not attempt to fasten it in until all lights have been finally fixed!

TRANSLATIONS is a deeply thought-provoking play; it is not for the faint-hearted, either back stage or on stage, but it IS a play of our time written by one of Ireland's finest playwrights. It demands nothing less than the best from all the team. I like to think we succeeded.