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Production History Clout was commissioned by the Necessary Angel Theatre Company in Toronto. The play premiered at the National Arts Centre, 26 January 2001, as a National Arts Centre/ Factory Theatre/Necessary Angel co-production. The Cast TRENT – Eric Peterson EVE / RENEE / NURSE – Waneta Storms LIONEL K. BIGGAR – R.H. Thomson Director – Richard Rose Set and Lighting Design – Graeme S. Thomson Costume Design – Carolyn M. Smith Music and Sound Design – Michael Phillip Wojewoda Assistant Director – Isaac Meyer Odell Stage Manager – Susan Monis Apprentice Stage Manager – Angela Marshall Fight Coach – James Binkley Movement Coach – Clarence Ford Playwright’s Notes Clout is an expressionistic comedy; the play takes place inside the head of a dying man on a morphine drip. The first production was staged in a black box setting with a stage element that lifted both horizontally and vertically. The lighting design emphasized the suspended quality of this limbo: we used only one blackout – all other transitions were on the fly. The sound score employed computer-manipulated riffs from a couple of well-known pop songs; the time in the music stretched and twisted like warm toffee to support the dream-like atmosphere of the piece. My music choices are obviously illustrative rather than prescriptive. We used the sound of dripping water in all the torture cell settings. Again, the sound source was manipulated to evoke the shifting colours of various psychological states. The overriding impression should be of story elements drifting through each other like twists of smoke. My stage directions and tech cues are the sign posts I needed to find my way through this netherworld and locate the initial production. I would urge you to ignore them if they get in the way and see the play the way you want to see it. David Young, 15 February 2001 |