On the 18th October 2013 I interviewed Mr P. Heap, writer and director of 'Frost and Fire'. The cast, of around thirty, performed the play on the 7th, 8th and 9th November. It was a promenade production: three groups of audience saw different scenes in separate places, one after another.
‘Frost and Fire’: how do you expect to feel on
the opening night?
I will be exhausted. The nerves don’t really kick in for me
as a director; if you've written it, then you've done your job! The feeling on
opening night is very, very tired and hopefully at the end of it being very,
very pleased.
What is it like to
have your own words brought to life by a group of amateur actors? I can imagine
it’s a little nerve-racking.
There’s no problem – amateur actors tend to be pretty good, or
you wouldn’t cast them. The actors we’ve got here are great, and I’ve been so
pleased with the way that they’ve taken the dialogue and made the most of it. The
dialogue was actually created with the people who had been cast in mind; I wrote
the play knowing that certain people will be acting the parts.
Obviously the plans
behind a production like this don’t form overnight – can you give me an idea of
how long it’s been in the pipeline?
It actually started off looking at the stories of Hans
Andersen. Originally that was going to be the main focus, but it’s interesting
how it then changed. Gradually the idea of having a play which was based on
three very separate things came into my mind. That was probably about two years
ago, and then it was a matter of finding out ‘What stories do I want to use?’,
‘What message do I want to put across?’ and so on.
There is a myriad of
different ideas and styles in the play – how did they come about?
There are two basic things in terms of style. First, story-telling:
just one person or a group of people sat down and talking to another group of people.
The other one was immersive theatre which is a big love of mine... Anything you
write is an extension of yourself. I can look at that play and pick out bits
and think, ‘that is about me’, ‘that is something that I’m interested in’. There
are bits in there which are directly taken from my life... I will not say which bits they are! Details
are changed in all sorts of ways but at its heart there are quite a lot of
things from my own experience.
Why did you choose
the themes you did?
The main theme is the moments in your life where you’re
faced with a decision. I chose to dramatise those particular moments... Dramatising
moments of change. I thought New Year’s Eve was the perfect time to do it, the
time when you’re making decisions about what the next year is going to be.
As the playwright I’m
sure you could divulge a couple of subtle details and links that you’ve planted
in the script – is there anything that you expect the audience not to notice?
There are certain echoes in terms of lines. For example, the
phrase ‘a step into the unknown’ is said in each of the three plays in different
ways, to show however different people’s lives are, however different the
choices they face are, they are all an important choice.
If you look at the names of characters, a lot of them are
‘virtue’ names; Grace, Verity, Faith, Hope and so on. The surnames, which you
might not hear, are often related to trees with healing properties; you have a
character whose surname is Rowan, for example, and the cleaner’s second name is
Dabrowski, a name which, in Polish, relates to the oak tree. It’s about roots;
it’s about growth and healing.
There are some characters who have names of archangels. The
three archangels are Gabriel, Michael and Raphael; there is a Gabriella, a
Michelle, and a Raphael. The symbolic name of the place where we are is called
‘Angeltown’; in drama there are a lot of evil characters, but I wanted
something where there are people who ‘do good’.
So far, what has been
the exciting part of the rehearsal process... And the most stressful?
The most exciting part was when suddenly all the three scenes
ran together. You write something, hoping that it’s going to all fit... when it
comes together, you realise that it’s going to work. The most stressful is
early on, when you are not sure as to how it’s going to go. It’s the ‘step into
the unknown’!
If you had to
describe, in three words, how you’re hoping the audience will feel after seeing
the production, what would they be?
Moved... Hopeful... Reflective.
Would you like me to explain those?
Yes, please do.
There are moments which people will in some way relate to
their own lives, and I hope that that becomes quite moving. Hopeful, because a
lot of the play might be coming across as very dark... You have to get through
all the difficult times and then that makes the moment when suddenly everything
looks better, even better. For each of these plays, there is hope at the end.
Reflective... It’s not just about the people on stage; it’s
about everyone’s lives. This is not just about other people, this is about us,
and I hope that people reflect on that in their own way.
Finally, is there anything
else you would like to voice?
For a student to offer to act in a play when they haven’t
got a clue what it’s going to be like takes a great leap of faith, a leap of
faith in me as a teacher and as a writer. I’d like to thank everybody who is
involved for having that faith in me – that I could write something that would
live up to the high standards that I expect of them.
Thank you very much.
