Article for 2014 Apr 08

2014

2014 Apr

Apr 08 Tue

- Because it’s confusing!
- Is it?

Last summer Theatre in the Quarter, the Chester-based drama organisation, narrowed the age intake for their widely successful Jigsaw Music Theatre from six-to-sixteen-years to six-to-thirteen, and set up a brand new group, Quartz Youth Theatre, for the teenagers who enjoy doing the acting and singing done at Jigsaw but wanted more sophisticated parts than Jigsaw could provide. Having performed in Jigsaw for many years and become Jigsaw’s assistant director, I immediately recognised Quartz as a boon and a windfall and I signed up. I have never regretted it. The awesomeness of Quartz is something there can be no confusion about.

No member of Quartz’s directorial team is a member of Jigsaw’s, but the two groups have the same Company and Stage Managers, as well as the same poster/programme designer (me), and also the same ethos of community and unity of purpose as we strive to enhance with diction and conviction the depiction of the tale at hand. Jigsaw is very much a family, and Quartz even more so, despite them being sisters (this family metaphor is falling apart, unlike the families concerned - by which I mean drama groups). Multiple members of Quartz have younger siblings in Jigsaw, which I find rather neat, and because Quartz and Jigsaw are sister groups their rehearsals and performances never clash, which is perfect for me as an actor in one and an AD in the other.

To clarify, Quartz as a thing is younger than Jigsaw but its cast members are older than Jigsaw’s. Theatre in the Quarter is the parent organisation overseeing both Jigsaw and Quartz, but was spawned from Jigsaw in 2005 as the people behind Jigsaw wanted to expand their remit and put on plays with adult casts... Oh, that’s made everything more confusing. Sorry guys. I’ll change tack. Here’s a graphic.

You’re probably still confused as to why I’ve started this article this way. The introductory quote is from “Masque”, Quartz’s début play that we’re performing this week (by “we”, read “Quartz”), about the effects of the English Civil War on Cestrians, and the difficulties of portraying such a period without making much use of cold history-book facts, which are a world away from the general population who had to deal with starvation and gunfire and cannonfire and actual fire and death every day.

You might well also be confused as to the title of the play. Let me explain. A masque is a play of a particular style consisting of dialogue, song, and pantomime, popular with royalty around the time of the Civil War. “Masque” is pretty much a masque itself, though we’re performing it in the Magistrates Court of the Town Hall, rather than the king’s court, and there’s little room for pantomime in a play as serious as “Masque”.

So now you know who Quartz are and what this piece is, all that’s left for me to say is this. If you’re confused as to how to spend tonight and tomorrow and Friday evening (8 o’clock) or Saturday lunchtime (2 o’clock), please come to see “Masque”!