Developing new work: An interview with director Cheyney Caddy

We chat to Cheyney Caddy, director with independent company Black Apple Theatre, who has developed her new work, Songs - A Play with Music, with the support of the New Blood creative development, an initiative of Kingston Arts Centre.

Can you explain how the development process for this piece worked?

I began writing this play in 2009, and then submitted it for Kingston Arts Centre’s New Blood Program at the start of 2011. When we were accepted, we worked for about three months on it in rehearsal, presented it at an open showing in July, received feedback, rewrote it, rehearsed it again and here we are in November! Whew!

What are some of the challenges in creating new work and performing it for the first time?

There isn’t anything that isn’t challenging about creating a new work of theatre. At the same time, if it’s easy then you’re doing it wrong.

I said to my cast from the start that I wasn’t in it to be anything less than the best because I believe that artists have a duty to their audience. It’s a kind of hubris to ask for 90 precious minutes out of people’s lives and not give them all you’ve got in return.

I’m glad to say that I had a bunch of artists on board who were similarly committed and I think the result of that is a work that could rub shoulders with just about anything playing on Australian stages at the moment. But don’t take my word for it.

What made you decide to develop an original score for this project?

Well it’s a play about a composer, Ruby Red, who, post-war, is on trial for an opera she wrote for the Third Reich and her daughter, Little Blue, who was an opera singer, but who now refuses to sing, so it seemed a fairly logical next step to incorporate music.

Also there are aspects of the text, particularly all the fairy tales I’ve written for it, that are quite lyrical, and really cried out for a score. And I have to admit, I’m a great believer in giving people bang for their buck.

I feel as if, when you’re going to ask people to go on a pretty full-on journey, as Songs does, you can at least make sure that it’s aesthetically spectacular. The darker the play, the more beautiful the picture should be. And Songs is radiant!

The show is called a 'play with music', rather than a musical play, or a musical, for example. What are some of the reasons behind this?

The music in Songs works in a different way to music in a piece of musical theatre. For example, in a musical characters will break into song at the climax of their emotional journey, whereas in Songs the characters never sing. Instead the band and vocalist perform the score, which works in a similar way to the score for a film, underpinning the narrative and creating a sense of place and mood.

The big difference between a film score and the score of Songs (and what I think makes the play so unique) that there is a great deal of interaction between the spoken text and music and the play is slightly different each time.

In the moments where the play slips into fairy tale, for instance a character will say “a bluebird, who sings as she flies” and then the song of the bluebird will appear in the score – or there will be some crashing chords or rumbling from the piano (our composer Tiffanni is pushing the boundaries of the ways a piano can be played!) and the text will take the audience under a mountain with a troll. So the music helps to tell the story as well.

What are some of the challenges involved in basing work on true stories?

Actually the ‘true story’ element was what helped the play take off for me as a writer. I had originally imagined Ruby’s crime as something more direct and immediate, but there isn’t really any grey area when it comes to raising a hand to another human being – you always know exactly what you are doing.

So when I encountered the story of Veit Harlan in a documentary, I was seized by the idea of a piece of art becoming an instrument of murder and that forms the basis of the play.

Writing from history in general, rather than a specific story, was what I found the most challenging, as you’ve got to be aware of what you do and don’t have a right to appropriate.

I made the decision not to touch the stories of the victims, very early on. I think it’s okay to deal with Ruby and Blue, who fall on the guilty side of the war, in the way that I have – they’re victims too in a way, as everyone who lived in that period was, but they’ve absolutely made their own choices and I think there is something of them in all of us.

You’re currently performing the show at the Northcote Town Hall, after premiering the show at the Kingston Arts Centre earlier this month. Does the show change a lot in a different venue?

Yes, it’s gotten better! I’m terribly excited about Northcote, because the venue has dark floors, and different lights which means that our set looks absolutely stunning. I didn’t expect that, but it’s a pleasant surprise.

We have been at Northcote Town Hall before, so we were always keen to get back there, and it’s a very similar set-up to Kingston. Venue aside, it’s the audience and performers that really change the play – it’s never the same twice.

Part of the development initiative at Kingston Arts Centre involved presentation of work in development to an audience, who then provide feedback. Is it hard to receive such feedback and still separate yourself personally from the work that you’ve created?

Not really, at least not for me. By the time I’ve worked on the play for three months, I don’t know whether I’m coming or going, so it’s nice to know how the play works for the audience. There is always someone who says something that makes all the pieces fall into place.

There also comes a time when you realise that no two audience members want the same thing and that can be tricky. There’s a balance between pleasing a crowd and maintaining the integrity of the work, and I feel like we’ve got it this time round.

How important is it for you as creators are opportunities like these to develop your work?

Fundamental. Every single person involved in Songs has a part-time job, though each of us is practicing at a professional level. To have a rehearsal space that I didn’t have to pay for was an absolute gift and allowed me the space to work on the piece in the way only much larger state-funded companies can.

New Blood creative development is an initiative of Kingston Arts Centre. The program provides professional development for independent performing artists, and aims to assist production of high quality new Australian work.

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