After the End @ Pleasance Courtyard

The Rep is on a roll at the moment, having been recognised by The Critics Awards For Theatre Scotland as one of the nation's most vibrant producing houses. Having done Sweeney Todd, a musical that has an operatic complexity and a taut update of the classic Dolls House, how does this production stand out in the programme?

Yes, in the last couple of seasons we’ve had a mix of musicals, modern classics, adaptations and new writing. After the End stands out in the programme not just as being an intense psychological thriller, but it’s also rather noticeable for the Rep in that it’s a rare site-specific production and certainly the first time that we’ve done a show in a warehouse at the back of the theatre!

What prompted the move to site specific, especially for a theatre with such a flexible stage?

The play is set in a nuclear bunker and lends itself to a more claustrophobic space than our main stage. The play has been done a couple of times since it’s premiere in 2005 and we felt that we particularly wanted the audience to have a very immediate sense of the world of the play. Putting it in a warehouse not only encapsulates the industrial feel of many cold war bunkers but as a theatre it presents us with an interesting challenge!

First produced in 2005, the play seems to recall paranoias of the cold
war: mass destruction, isolation and deceit. Does it have a contemporary resonance?

Absolutely. The Cold War may be over but we still live in an equally uncertain world in which there is an ever-present threat from international terrorism, unstable political regimes with nuclear potential or natural disasters such as Japan’s recent tsunami and nuclear radiation leak. The play also taps into universal themes such as fear, isolation and loneliness, and looks at the ways in which they can manifest. Kelly’s terrifyingly acute in his observations and no doubt it will recall other stories that have been in the news and public imagination over the last few years.

And does being a rep company add anything to the production process?
Being a Rep company, things are incredibly busy and the ensemble work back to back rehearsing one show by day and playing another at night. We have a very tight rehearsal period with After the End with the actors playing Anna Karenina every evening up until the week before we open. It is therefore great to be already familiar with the actors so that we can just cut to the chase in rehearsals and get on with the play.

 

And why this play for the fringe?
After the End is a razor sharp, brilliantly written and thought provoking play at any time but given recent events including Japan, it feels particularly relevant to the world of 2011. Such an intense and clever psychological thriller is also rare in theatre. With the show running for just under two weeks in Dundee, the fringe is therefore a fantastic opportunity for it to have a wider platform.