KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMA by Kander amp Ebb

fames Cross discusses his production for HumDrum AmDram at the New Theatre Royal Portsmouth

O n the 6 August 1900 the ew Theatre Royal in Portsmouth WIIS reshyopened a ft er rank Matcham comple ted its third major redesiq n Nearly 2()00 people fill ed the baroq u rococo auditorium to see Sudermann Mllgdl1 on the 65ft d eep stage

In rapid sue ess ion the great actors performed there Sa rah B rn hord t Henry Irving John Giclgud In 1932 w ith Porl~mou ths P ri nc middot s and Kings thCiltres hvo yea rs ea rl ie r the ROYll was converted to a rearshyproection cinema In 1948 the bu i ding w as r-opened as a va ri ety th tl bu twas gi e n OV to w restli ng (with seating and ring on Ihe s tage) until its closure in 1966 Over fhe next six years thieves r moved most of the brass and lead fi ttings

In ovember 1972 children broke into th building and fireworb were released on the stage destroy ing Ih stage roo f and technica l block TIlt folio ing yea r va nd a ls destroyed the bulk of the pla~terwork in the a uditoriulTI

The e w Thea tre Roya l Trustees purcha ed the bui lding in 1980 and have commenced res toration A tempora ry s tage was built in front of tilt pro~cenium arch and the thea tre can now hos t 300 people seated in thlt stalls and its firs t lie r

HumDrum AmDram has used the New Thea tre Royal Portsmouth sinc the group was formed in 1993 This July we presented Kander amp Ebb s Kiss of the SpidP IAumal1 o ur 14th sh ow

During the week of the Sl10W the Arts C()uncil announced tha t both of Portsmouths remaining cnues the J e w Theatre Royal and the Kings were no longer to be considered for L()ttery funding This news was a terrible blow to our members having seen such great improve ments in the thea tres facilities Local press coverage proved to be a doubleshyedged sw() rd w hile many people were d e te rmined to support the thea tre by attending our pert()rmance that week o thers assumed the building has already closed

CHOOSIN~~Tc~ HumDrum is a relalively voung and small theatre c()mpany The gruup as formed vith three main ilims to improve the performa nce skills oi its members to po rtray well-kn()wn pieces in a new light and to b ri ng under-produced works into the C ity of Po rtsmouth HumDrum has specia li sed in small-scale presentiltions of musicals and plays h o m Stephen So ndhe ims IIto the Woods to Willy Russe lls ShirlclJ Volentillc

Kiss of the Spider WOl11all was first suggested t() uS following our second prese ntation It has a small cast o f s ix men (two non-singing) and three women plus a chorus o f male prisoners and at the time was ideal

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ior a compan y of o ur size We first sought to pe rf()rm KI SS of tile Spider 110111011 in 1995 and three years la ter we were informed that permission could be granted

With()ut being hassled by the femak membership the direc to r and choreographe r middotvove ~eve r(tl additional women into the shows fantasy scenes bringing the entire cast to a tota l of 24 Further details on fantasy women to follow

It should be noted that it is becoming increasingly difficult to selec t sma Ifshysca le musical pieces tha t will ensure reasonable audience fi gu res We would w elco me any sugges tions fro m similar groups

ONCE vOlhI~ KISSED~

Kander 1nd Ebb and the ir director Harold Prince d eve l()ped this musica l vers ion of Man uel Puigs dark novel thro ugh a series of workshops in 1992 After the shows initial devclopmen t Kiss f the Spider WOIIOII

was taken fro m Canada to the UK The show immediately won the Evening Standards award for Best Musical

The novel concentrates on two characte rs sharing a South American prison cell Molina a 37 year-old gay window dre$se r and Valent in a young p()litica l activist As the novel closes Molina declares that he is the Spider Woman waitini for men to become trapped in hiS web The

s ubsequent film with Ihe same title cas ts Va lentin s upper class g irlfriend Marta in the role ()f the Spider Woman and w()n an Oscar for William Hurst fo r his portrayal of Mo lina

Molina su rvives within the ja iJ through a series ()f fantasies about his screen hero ine Allrora In one of her films Aurora played the Spider Woman Vho brought death to everyone she kissed Molina believes tha t the Spider Woman wi ll one-day kiss him

At a crucial turning point Valentin decides to ig nore hi s distrust of and dis taste for Molina and embraces him Once hes been kissed Molina now re leased from prison passes vital inf()rma tio n from Valentin to Marta

Ask any hot-blooded male actor if he wo uld like one of tw o leltlding roles that enc()mpass nca rl v 111 of the dialogue and most of the songs in a musica l and his answer will probably be yes Then tell him tha t ha lf wltJY through Act II he wi ll kiss nno ther male actor in front of his mother (in the audience) Meanwhile tell one of them that he must remove hi s tro llsers and underwea r during the fi rs t act to be cleaned by the othe r actor afte r beilS seri ously poisoned by the Prison warden Are they still interested

This is a gritty piece of theatre that makes no concess io n to hide the

brutaLity within the prison Th marked contrast between th o rdea l of prison over-crowd

fh -

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tnt the pe rceived tenderncs - that be tween the two men v iole nt beatings nre interlaced ep ic musical scenes from 30 m - bo und toge ther by Au rora Spider Woman

HumDrum was fo rmed w hen groups of friends werc brou together to prod uce the 70s mLshyCodspell As the company h1 5 lm ou r directors ha ve continued to ell the most suitable people for ead on the basis of merit abilit artistic development New memk are generally encouraged to med I existing cast and crew before joi run _ the g ro up and usuall y W (lr

backs tage during a pcrforman biore being cast In thi s way they ill in troduced to o ur res iden t directdrshyand choreog rap her and can discushythe ir asp irations and pre viou shyexperience

Whilst one of HumDrums origi= me mbe rs was asked to crea te th character of Molina his counterpart Valentin was played by a recen recruit in his second music1 1 role A shy()ne of our main aims WE succesSh l1l coached this performers oc technique and skills during lh rehearsal period The part of AU[(1 rquir 5 a female ran ge down to the E below middle C (in fact the entire parshyis scored 8ba) As with Val nti n W

cast an actress w ho has been illshyHumDrum a couple of years tho ugh she has a great dea l of experience In musica l theatre having worked w ilh many amateur compa nies wi th in driving dista nce of Portsmouth

There are four other main sillgin= characters within the piece tw women Mol inas mother a nd lvIa rta md two men the Prison W1lden and Molinas former cell ma te Gab rie l

With only one relatively large-scale musical per year HumDrum a~ keen to ensure that the femal members were given the opp()rtunil to perform The direct()r w re5tlel with the notion for many mont while reading the scrip t

Mos t people wo uld agree that it innppropriate simply to include 101 people in the cast solely beciluse OUr membership exceeds the number characters

Whils t li s tening to the score th choreographer began t() see images lavish Busby BerKley movies anJ was suggested that a limited nl1m~ of women were lI1clud~d as WCJTi shyon-screen ent()u rage Six ltgt1 t

major production numbl~ rs ~ L

readily include these ladies wi th ~ d etracting from the reality of Mo fanta sy life

It should be noted tha t while the characte rs and to a ce rtain extent male prisoners were aware 01

NOVEM

twists and turns in the story the fat bmads in leotards (ilS they loving ly dubbed themselves) thro ug h (lttending separate dance n~ hea rsals found themsflves working in almost complete isolation from the plot Of course this was the directors intention as they only appeilred while Molina was relating a nlov i to Valentin

The girl~ noted tha t they w ere simply llsed as n10v lng scenery - somethlng pretty to look a t however if anyone else repoundcrred to them by their own pet-name they had a tendency to become as violent as the prisoners p layed by the men

Tho ugh the directo rs wo rried about the ir addition of female scenery the audience saw them as an extensIon of Aurora a part of Molina s v ivid imagination

Seven months o f p lanning fi ve months of rehearsal two hectic days o f- ge t-in technica l rehmrsa l and last minute costume a ltembons brought Spider WOlllan to its firs t pe rfo rmance Most of th d etails will be f1miliar to an y ma teur thea tre comp1ny however it js unusual to work on a perfo rnlance space with no vings no fli es and no down-stage ccess

The back stage at the New Theatre Royal fits be lo w the original p ros enium Mch It e tends forwi1Jd approximil tely 20 fee t into the stalls and fm s out below the now unused box (a pair on both stilge left and ri ght) Towards the front fhe stage is tapered to permit audience access to fire escapes This is illso the only way that the actors can approach the stage climbing tread s up to the acting M e1

Modificiltions to the building four yeilrs ago (due to fire regula ti ons) mean tha t the iludiel1cc in the first tie r can illso u se the s til li s s tage le ft emmiddot rgency exit This new route runs behind the Dr -s Circle boxes with a cleM view of the tage Wi th a clever combination of custom-built blocks and scaffolding the director reques ted 1 raised stage left entrance to a fourshyfoot deep pla tform running the entire width ot the stage At the s tage left end of this platform a set o f treads w placed running out towards the front of the stage

Of course when the scaffold was bro ug ht to the theatre a few critical pieces were miss ing We were incredibly pleased when our fri endly scaffolder wh o had given up his Sunday morning lie-in loaned us the missing pieces This fortunate ly was our ony panic The scaifold was comple te within two ho urs of ente ring the building and the treads and walkway from the stage left box complete by noon While the stilge

NOVEMBER

was be ing painted dnd va rnished with acrylic (to keep the pa int where we wanted it) the lights ilnd sound were rigged and by 3 pm the cast call ed to work throug h the technical rehearsal

THE BORIN~)ilf ~ Half an hour la te r the cast were of course bored by the technica l people Whi~ elleryone unders til nds that it is important to milke sure U1a t the actor~ a rc correctly lit this can be quite ted ious A larile spide r web was p ilinted in white UV paint across the black floor and w hite cyclo rama such that it would g low under UV light Of course so did the h ite underWQc1 r worn by the dancing g irlies - a good job they atten d ed the tech rehearsil

With the lighting queues programmed the ga in on the radio mics set correctly il nd the cs t in black underwear a hel lf hour brea k was taken ilnd by 730 pm - around 12 hours since the th atre doors were opened - w e ran a full dressed rehearSc11

LAST MINUTE NERVES Sunday evenings rehearsa l brought 1 fe rroblems out in the open As usua not enough tirne was allowed to m1k entrances - given the climb out the box across a two foot wide seven fo()t high walkway onto the rea r pla ttorm or the mad dash into the s taib to access tlw s tage The South American cicada sound effect played through a Roland MS-l sampler tended to appea r during the wrong moments And as for the two shooting scenes

The Warden releases Molina so thil t he can visit his sick mother in the hope that crucial iniormation will be pas~ed from Vill entin to the resis tance Once Molina has made hi s tdephone call he is captured md brought before Valentin The Warden threatens to shoo t Molina (Talk yo u Ling fa~got or Ill blow your Ling head off) unless he names Va lentins contact

V1lentin begs Molina to confess however Molina only replies with I love you at which pOint the Warden kills him

After Molinas death we see a reshyenactment of his last moments as per a 30s movie cull11lnating with the Warden shooting Molina who then rece ives the Kiss of the Spider Woman

Originally we were going to use a sta rting pis tol for these shootings Three years ago HumDrum used one fo r off-s tage shots in A Little NiXll1 Mu sic During one pe rformance the

pistol jammed and Frede rik had to fake the outcome of his due l We were very worried abo ut syncing an off-stage gunshot with an on-s tage actor (obviollsly he could not hold the pistol to Molinas temple and fire it) and opted to use the sample r Recorded gunshots must be played very loud to give the correct effec t shyhence the p roblems when the crickets wouldnt be quietI

The only other sound problem was the DJ in the pub next door using a radio mic on the Si1 me frequency as one of ours and the occasional taxi radi t) and mobile telephone causing disturbing interfe r~middotnce These problems were readily so rted out but had us worried for a couple of hours

The 10le scene rehearsed in seclusion during the month before the show do ubled in length once the gu ys had plu ckd up eno ug h courage to perfo rm it in front of the rest of the compilny much to the armoya nce o f the Musica l Direc to r who had to has tilv rev ise the scene undc(sco ring

If they were worried about nudity and kissing it did not show These are issues no t often tackled by amateur companies and it seemed that Spider Womllll would o pen without any hitches

A major pa rt of th e budge t for HumDrum s shows is normally spent on 1dve rbsing VVe felt that we now h1d a Lilrge enough aud ience bn~e to sta rt to rely on p ast ti cke t sales and word of mouth Of course Spidrr WOIIan W 15 promo ted loca lly through the media and use of poste rs and hilndbilb We were delighted to find that our figures were up o n the previous y1[5 musical and as the smoke effect cleared on opening night we co uld te ll that we had a decent house

Given the nature of the pe rformance space the Dress C ircle is only a d ozen fee t from the front of the stage As the first few no tes o f the Prologue we re heard the cast could see the whites o f the audiences eyes through the smoke Though lmnerving for our newcomers this gi ves the cast and aud ience an incredible intimacy not normally experienced in a Victorian theatre

The reviews in the locill press ranged from il factual HumDrum AmDrams production makes effective use of the limited New Theatre Royal s tage to a jubilant The result is an oddshycouple romance as the cellmates d is like and distrust g ives way to Jove and respect with spectac ular musical interludes

The iludience reac tion was ill so mixed Many people w ere unprepared fo r hard-hitting theatre portray ing governmental killings s ay men and manipulating cha racte rs Musica l theatre is supposed to be a combiniltion of light and froth y so ngs nnd easily understood characters Others were engrossed in the s tory delighting in the songs and s urprised by the choreography But no one said it was badly staged poorly performed o r let down by the tcchnical aspects

For all of the New 1l1eltltre Ro val s difficulties this is a wmking theatre with amateur repertory and

professional pe rformances We were contracted to be o ut o f the building by midnight of o ur last show

HumDrum h ilS a histo rv of everyone pitching in and afte r a q uick celebra tory drink in the thea tr ba r the entire cast and Crew worked toge the r to un-rig the sound and li g11ts dismantle the sc t and clear the dressing rooms Since the thea tre is in the middle of one of Por tsmouths busiest night time areilS (with over a dozen pubs in the block) we were permitted to remove the dismantled set iirs t thing Sunday morning while the next company m oved in That aiternoon the company gathered for its traditional a fter holV Sund~y lunch - this bme a ba rbecue in the country followed by a game o f rounders using a piece of scaffold offshycut as a bat

Two days to get the show into the theatre Tota l get-out time two and a half hours

AN AFTERTHOUGHT-- Next year the Royal hakespeare Company is bringing Til llill of the Shrew to Our CItY e ithe r o f Portsmouth s two his torica l buildings will host thi s presentation Instead the RSC will pe rform in the itys main sports complex In the meantime over pound70m of Lottery assisted money is being spent on a verti cal drop ride and shopping complex at the harbour entrance

For further de ta ils concerning the New Theatre Royal please ca ll Mr Gareth Vaughn on (023) 9264 6477 For fu rther information about HumDrum AmDram v isit www hilntsorgukhumdrum

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