Combining video projections, flipcharts and a live string sextet in the cramped confines of the Town Hall basement, Mark Hewitt and Black Productions’ Scrublands probably couldn’t be more Fringe if it tried.
The product of 13 years’ development and collaboration, what Lewes-based Hewitt describes as the crystallised version of his long-term vision is being performed for three evenings from Wednesday.
“The show follows a character on a psychological journey, or a journey of the soul,” says Hewitt, who not only wrote the piece, but also stars as The Protagonist.
“People read different things into the journey.
There are some questions about the sanity of The Protagonist; for other people it reveals, or he says, things that are profound about their own quests and lives.
“Partly it’s about the difficulty of being a human being, about the struggle and endurance. It’s also about the desire to escape.”
After a try-out performance in August, Hewitt felt the piece needed to be staged underground – and when he first entered the Old Police Cells he knew it was the perfect location.
“There is this Greek word, katabasis, which refers to the mythic descent into the underworld,” he says. “It’s like Virgil leading Dante down the steps of the Inferno. There is something psychological about descending steps into a performance space.”
The other performer in the piece, Kathyrn McGarr’s The Guide, will meet the audience – which can number no more than 40 – in the Town Hall foyer and take them down to the space.
Alongside the live music, which sees The Bergersen Quartet (plus two guest musicians) performing specially written pieces by Peter Copley, there will be video installations and artefacts lining the walls which take on a significance in the piece.
“It’s a real collaborative piece,” says Hewitt, who is co-director of Blank Productions and artistic director of Lewes Live Literature.
“There are eight musical sections which have become part of the piece, visual elements from the video and a series of images made specially for the production on old slide projectors.
“The text was the starting point for all the other elements that became involved with it.
“It is quite complex in the way it weaves these things together – it all relates to something quite personal about being a human being, and having a life.
“It is such an unusual combination of elements it had to evolve in the way it did, rather than fit into a pre-exisiting category.
It tends to remind people of epics, such as Dante, The Wasteland, Biblical stories from the wilderness or scenes from Beckett.
“The last words of the production are ‘Make of it what you will’, and to some extent that is the message to the audience.”
Old Police Cells Museum, Brighton Town Hall, Bartholomew Square, Brighton, Wednesday, May 9, to Friday, May 11
Starts 6.30pm, tickets £10.
Call 01273 917272.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here