'The Portrait of Dorian Gray' – Student Review and Q&A With Box Tale Soup
On Tuesday 27th February, Box Tale Soup performed their version of The Portrait of Dorian Gray adapted from Oscar Wild in the Sidcot School Drama Studio.
The set was highly stylistic and we thought very clever, displaying the major theme of ‘Art and Beauty’ with their use of golden picture frames enveloping the actors in a loose arch upstage. This minimalist set utilising Box Tale’s own house style with self-made paper puppets/ oil paintings. I especially liked the use of puppetry in the performance. These allowed the three actors to easily multi role and when dormant the two -dimensional ‘paintings’ sat hanging in portraits. These figures of the ‘great and the good of London’s elite’ were a constant reminder of the socialite gossip and scandalous talk which will and has ruined many a public figure. Indeed, as was the case with the novel’s author Oscar Wilde. The puppets seemed to stare from their frames at Dorian in the background and create a feeling of shared judgement and enhance Dorian’s guilt while also reflecting the symbolism that Dorian treats people like puppets. As Dorian’s journey towards a life of recklessness and insatiable tendencies was played out stage the puppet characters gradually disappeared from the picture frames showing Dorian’s self-motivated alienation from the community in which he used to be adored.
Chopin’s classical piano really set the tone, historical era and social class of characters we were watching. I thought their use of sound pedals exposed to show the technical working of the show really fitted with their Brechtian style, as did the clever and fast paced multi-rolling utilising the puppets very effectively and switching into non-major characters such as Alan.
The puppets themselves were very well designed with subtle movements of the head side to side and opening or closing the mouth in time with the words and wider for exclamations making them feel almost like separate beings. They also used a hand attached to wire for puppets to further express emotion and feeling, using wide open gestures with palm up when feeling confident and good and sharper, faster movements for after their experiences with Dorian Grey. The actors also used different voices for the puppets to add to the feel of a separate entity. However, the actors acted beside them, resonating the character in a stylised, creative way.
Through clear multi-rolling, the actors also made clear definitions both physical and vocal between characters, such as when Allen switched to a neutral character marked by the removal of a symbolic waistcoat, the actor instantly changed the pace of his movements, his posture and his gestures, making them more ‘neutral’, within the space of closing a trunk. When they were not a character, the actors moved to the back, framing themselves in one of the portraits and becoming part of the set, avidly engaged in the moment of action and remaining part of the piece-, which was a good trick to learn for our scripted pieces to come!
The costumes were also symbolic and representative of particular character foibles, with Basil and Harry in green tailored waistcoats of the turn of the century, Basil’s darker and more subdued, reflecting his calm and artistic nature while Harry’s was bright and gaudy, very “in your face” and reflecting his over the top nature and nature of attention. Contrastingly, Dorian’s waistcoat, on the other hand, was cream/ white and showed his innocence and purity. Their use of italic script styled cravats showing sections of the text also blended with their house storytelling style and nodded to the fact this was originally a classic Oscar Wilde literary novel.
Key moments for me included first the revealing of the painting. I felt this was very nicely done, instead of choosing a horrific picture which would have been out of place amongst their creative and minimalist house style, they opted for using the same actor playing Dorian to created semi gurning expressions. At the same time this was happening, another actor ran their hands downwards upon Dorian’s face, stretching it so to make it seem horribly deformed. This was incredibly effective for me as the un-natural appearance created on the natural actor was a horrific- a juxtaposition which made me feel uneasy, exactly the intended result. Using Dorian as the picture also helped to emphasize that the soul and body, although they look different, are still one and Dorian feels this always, even if it does not show, emphasizing Oscar Wilde’s original message ‘what is in your soul that counts more than how you may appear.’
Matthew Boddy
Lower Fifth Student
Questions for Box Tale Soup – interviewed by Livia, Max and Ella (Upper Sixth)
What did you study at School/University and did it have any impact on what you are doing now?
Definitely – we all went through different routes- some of us went to Drama School straight off, others did degrees first in Set Design and then went to Drama School and others worked first and then went- guess where- to Drama School!
Did you ever have more than one job? How did you make that work?
I don’t think there’s an actor out there who never had to hold down two or three jobs at a time until they are established. You have to be very self-sufficient and patient. Noel trained as a teacher to do supply work and was a Street performer, Antonia designed sets and Mark produces shows as well as acts. We’ve all done other more ‘normal’ jobs too in order to pay the rent.
How do you get work- do people just phone you up- how do you promote yourself?
Word of mouth is very important but so is knowing your audience, where you can find it and choosing the right play which people will want to see.
When is it hard to carry on? How do you get yourself over these times?
When other people have things that just are not possible for you if you are going to keep touring. When you stop enjoying it, it’s time to stop.
Do you have to reinvent your ‘brand’ how do you do this and how do you know what ‘brand’ to be?
With Antonia’s background with an MA in English Literature, I think we always knew we wanted to bring great stories to life that people knew or half knew but wanted to see on the stage. We started with Austin’s North hanger Abbey because we knew there would be a market for that but now we are getting to the stage where people know the play is done by us so because they have seen us before they come to see the show, which is nice.
Is this a job for forever?
You have to really love this job to do it and when you are working it’s the best job in the world- you get to ‘Play’!
What are the best bits about your job? This! (performing)
Is an Actor’s life as glamourous as it looks on TV? No! Antonia actually did quite a lot of TV work previously but actually she found it quite boring- for her, it is far more satisfying performing to an audience.
Have you got any tips for people wanting to get started in the industry? See as much theatre as you can, get involved with as much theatre as you can, market yourself.
Don’t be arrogant – you have to take all types of job if you are going to make it. Listen to advice but keep a sense of yourself throughout.