Professional Development: Gate Theatre Masterclass

Location: Notting Hill Gate, London

This Thursday I attended a masterclass on adaptation courtesy of the Gate Theatre, Notting Hill Gate.

The Gate has always held a special place in my theare heart, as Sarah Kane directed and premiered her second play, Phaedra's Love at this intimate venue. Phaedra's Love and its direction were the focus of my undergraduate dissertation, so to visit the Gate and sit in the venue where it all took place was very significant for me.

The full day class was run by Anna Ledwich, director of Dream Story, the current show at the Gate, and consisted of a table discussion on how to adapt prose text for theatre performance. There were 11 of us in total, all from different backgrounds and for different reasons, which sparked some good discussion. It was a little talk-heavy for my liking, I would have preferred to work more practically on the text we used, but the day was very useful.

We were given a story to read and prepare, which took me back to my English Literature days. We prepared 'The Lady with the Little Dog' by Anton Chekhov, and were asked to bring in images which were inspired by the story in some way. I went very literal, and chose the sea - which features in many of the crucial moments of the story, and the pomeranian dog in the title - as realising it would be a challenge. Do we go literal and have a real live dog? Is that wise? They are cute though.



During the class, we were given insight into Ledwich's process of adaptation, how to begin distilling a story into performance. We were not taken through a comprehensive how-to guide, but that would have been rather patronising. The class was pretty inspiring, and I intend to give it a go myself. Not with a view to stage yet, but to try it out as an exercise. The idea of attending was that if the opportunity to adapt came up, I wouldn't be too overwhelmed to shy away from it. I now have some kind of starting point.

Following the class, we were invited to attend that night's performance of Dream Story.

Dream Story is an adaptation (of course) of a novella by Arthur Schnitzler. Set in early 20th century Vienna, the play opens on the confessions of a doctor and his wife. Upon being called away to a house call, Fridolin is drawn into a night of erotic nightmare, the stuff of a lavish acid trip, where lines between dream and reality are thrown out of the window. The story is compelling, driven by strong performances from each of the four cast members, who play a variety of roles. The set is simply gorgeous, transforming before the audience's eyes and enhanced by a beautiful lighting design (my stage manager side was positively giddy).

I had seen the performance in preview, but I never turn down a chance for free theatre, and it was interesting to see the performance later in the run, once any teething problems from preview had been ironed out. I have to admit that I was disappointed to see moments return from preview, which I had hoped to have been culled. The second viewing was not as powerful as the first, which hits you with such force, wrongfooting you at every turn. I would most definitely recommend seeing Dream Story, but just the once. Gorgeous.