pool (no water) Behind the Scenes
Alicia Clements - Set & Costume Designer
pool (no water) is a designer’s dream: how often can you say your brief is as open as “ambiguous setting; must be ultra-stylish”? Using a palate of steel, glass, black, white, and sickly greens and blues, Adam and I have attempted to create a minimalistic set that can move fluidly between the lush and grandiose and the cold and sterile.
The costumes channel the 1990’s Grunge movement which we felt best captured the hey-day of the characters’ artistic, drug-fuelled careers.
Arielle Gray - Actor
What projects have you been working on since your last HotBed show in May?
I co-created a theatre piece called The Adventures of Alvin Sputnik: Deep Sea Explorer with Tim Watts which premiered at The Blue Room in May and is currently touring to the New York Fringe Festival. I also traveled to America in June/July to participate in a one-month intensive physical theatre workshop at The Dell’Arte International School Of Physical Theatre in Blue Lake California. I also began work on my solo show Nobody Cares But You, written and directed by Luke Milton which will debut at The Blue Room in October.
What did you learn from your experience performing in The HotBed Ensembles first production for 2009, The Dark Room?
It was such an amazing opportunity playing ‘Grace’ in The Darkroom. The opportunity to play a character like her doesn’t come around very often, so it was amazing. I also really appreciate working with Adam Mitchell, he is an outstanding director and I always feel that his direction encourages me to grow as a performer.
Tell us about your characters journey in pool (no water).
The journey of my character is similar to all the characters in that it is an ensemble piece and it is about a group of people experiencing something together. It’s about a group of people who watch their friend rise above them and they all deal with it slightly differently but they are all struggling with the same feelings of jealousy and envy. Then the group act of using their friend as an art project and the guilt and pleasure is again felt by the entire group but the characters deal with those feelings in slightly different ways. I feel that my character tends to get on her high horse a bit throughout the piece even though she is just as involved as everyone else.
Who or what inspires you when you need it?
I always feel inspired whenever I see an amazing piece of theatre, film or art, especially when it comes from Perth, because there is that bit of home pride involved. Globally, Robert LePage really inspires me, he is an incredible theatre-maker.
Ben Collins - Sound Designer
What projects have you been working on since your last HotBed show in May?
I worked as the sound designer and composer on a Curtin University production of Martin Crimp’s Attempts On Her Life directed by Adam Mitchell. I’ve also been writing a few tracks for pool(no water) and writing and producing for an EP I hope to finish by November.
How have you approached the sound design for pool (no water)?
I started by listening to a lot of material that I think suited the feel and mood of the show, and met with Adam a number of times to discuss the direction. I then spent time creating and recording percussive sounds and textures from ‘found sounds’ and wrote musical cues or motifs and worked them into tracks that reflect different sections of the script, with the aim to find a cohesion or overall sound to the production. Now in the rehearsal phase I can get a better idea of movement and time in a scene, and with Adam’s direction, shape the material into soundscapes and tracks that will create the necessary mood and texture for the show.
There is more to sound design in theatre than simply recording or obtaining sound effects to compliment the textual requirements. Can you explain the use of soundscape in theatre?
Aside from the obvious need for incidental sounds to represent elements that make up our everyday perception of the world, sound design incorporates atmospheres and underscoring, much like soundtrack in film. The term soundscape is regularly used to describe these elements. A soundscape often exists somewhere between an atmosphere and an underscored cue and is quite often beneath dialogue. Soundscapes are often fairly subtle but rich in texture, and can be used to create tension or mood in a scene.
Do you ever go out and randomly record sounds without an express purpose or need for that particular recording?
I have done in the past and certainly have a long list of things I want to record. I have a fair sample library at home and often incidental sounds and atmospheric elements can be sourced from production libraries. These sounds are pretty clean and varied, and are a quick way of obtaining the necessary sounds. Field recording requires a lot of time, patience and often traveling to get those sounds. Having said that it’s a very enjoyable and creative thing to do and I really hope to put time aside soon to do more of it.
