Persephone

Hades

Oxford Playhouse

Directed by Emma Hawkins

Music Direction by Carrie Penn

Oh boy, there was something special about this show for me. I was fortunate enough to be involved in the workshopping process as well as the first stage production of Persephone. Sitting with a character for a year and working alongside a hugely talented cast and crew for so long is something truly special. You connect on different emotional level and the cathartic release of energy as the curtain came down on opening night was like no other feeling I've experienced. I feel truly lucky to have been a part of this show.

The subject matter of the show is tricky at times to confront, and the music is both challenging and catchy. The dance was an aspect of the show I couldn't have begun to understand from the start of the whole process. I learned so much about posture, strength and practice from dancing in Persephone. Partnered dances are such amazing exercises in trust and connection, and I enjoyed discovering a new passion for dance. I just hope that I can continue practicing in the future.

I've also heard rumours about the show going on tour during Summer of 2022, so stay tuned!

In a world where immortality is rife, power is corrupt, and nothing is a secret, there’s one thing everyone craves but no one can keep for long: youth.

Through a fusion of Greek mythology and folktale, this contemporary retelling offers a new perspective on love, loss and recovery. When Persephone, the young goddess of spring, leaves behind her sheltered childhood for the love of a stranger, she discovers a world far removed from the one she knew.

But how do you hold onto your innocence when you live forever?

In case you'd like to know more about the workshopping process, here is a piece that I wrote for Jazz Hands Productions in the run up to the Oxford Playhouse show:

Putting on an original musical is a long and arduous task. A labour of love, for sure, but nevertheless it is a long and difficult route from a show’s inception to opening night. One of the most important steps along the way is the workshopping stage. I was lucky enough to be involved in the workshop of Persephone last year and now, to take on the role of Hades in the Playhouse production this Michaelmas. There are many different forms that a workshop can take, but often this is the point at which a first full draft of the show is presented to actors.

Early on, it’s usually a good idea to gather everyone for a table read. This means sitting down and working through the show from start to finish without interruption. Sometimes, it will be a cold read - the material is completely unseen by the actors before the meeting - as this can give a great sense of the show in its rawest form. The words can finally be brought to life and become inhabited by real people. As a writer, you can hear the way that the lines fall on stage. As a director, you can see the tensions and dynamics between characters. And as an actor, you can get a sense of your character’s trajectory in the overall story.

After the initial table read, there’s a fantastic opportunity for everyone to share what went well and what doesn’t quite hit the mark. From there on out, the workshop process typically consists of the writers going away to make small tweaks (or in some cases, larger adjustments), followed by smaller group sessions and read throughs to discuss the implications of these changes. There were many times during the Persephone workshops in which Emma, our writer/director, would present us with two different versions of a scene. We would start by acting through each version before dissecting which works better and why. Sometimes it’s just a feeling that you get as an actor that you’re connecting with the words and your fellow actors on a deeper level - kind of like things falling into place nice and neatly. Other times, neither version fully clicks, but it sparks an idea of what might work instead.

What makes a workshop particularly effective is developing a strong relationship between the writers and the workshop cast. The actors involved are able to come to the show completely fresh - they can offer new insight into each character and a new perspective on the story as a whole. This can inform the writers of the show’s strengths (it’s always nice to know that what you’re doing works!) but, more crucially, it can shine a light on the show’s weaknesses. This is the crux of the workshop mindset: a dynamic, creative partnership. Everyone is there to make the show stronger, to shape it into its final form.

Developing the music can be slightly more involved, depending on the composer, of course. There are, in many ways, more constraints on the creative process for writing music. For example, your vocal range (and, to some extent, vocal style) has a significant bearing on what is and is not possible. Workshopping music requires more commitment in order to learn the material and suggest changes. You can’t just show up and sing something flawlessly. (Unless you’re a sight-reading machine, which I most definitely am not.) The time it takes to familiarise yourself with the music inevitably makes it slower to workshop, but there’s always the same sense of satisfaction when it all comes together. Carrie, our composer, was really open to hearing my suggestions and listening to my intuition when I felt that something didn’t quite work.

Another great facet of workshopping can be the use of improvisation and other devising skills. Once the actors are comfortable with one another and the characters they portray, they can start at one point in a scene and let it play out naturally to see where things go. The ideas that come up can be hit-or-miss but it’s always worth a try, just in case things work perfectly - the right idea may be just around the corner, if you’re willing to push that little bit further. There were plenty of times during the workshop that we tried to play around with a scene, only for it to descend into laughter and disbelief at cringe-worthy lines. However, there were a few moments of magic that felt so genuine and heartfelt which have crept their way into the final script and I can’t wait to see them come to life on the Playhouse stage!

Workshopping can be a truly valuable experience for all involved - writer, director, composer, actor, the list goes on. There is so much to learn from one another on this journey and it is so rewarding to see your efforts reflected in the characters’ voices and the show’s final message.