Legend of the Rocks
“We have run out of excuses and we have run out of time. We have come to let you know change is coming whether you like it or not. The real power belongs to the people.
Now it begins.”
Greta Thunberg
The Rusthall community play Legend of the Rocks ended with the words of Greta Thunberg, leaving its audience with more than an ending. It was a call for action with the hope of real change.
The chorus, Legend of the Rocks, July 2019
As a member of the cast of the play, I was lucky enough to be one small part of the special experience that was Legend of the Rocks in the summer of 2019. Performed in the open air in front of the Toad Rock between 24th and 28th July, it had a nightly audience enthralled. Before the final performance on the Sunday evening, I caught up with the writer and director Jon Oram to find out more about the thinking behind the play.
“If there is one single theme of the play it is about the urgent need for action on climate change.” Connecting the hyper-local elements of the Denny Bottom landscape we are all familiar with – the rocks and sand – with larger global issues, the main message the play hopes to get across to its audience is one of our own collective power to make a difference. “If we all looked after our own little bit of the environment, together we could all save the planet,” Jon says.
Jon Oram has an international reputation for producing community plays. His Claque Theatre is celebrating its fortieth birthday this year, and Legend of the Rocks: the Heroes Journey was the fiftieth community play he has done. As a long term resident of Rusthall, I ask if Jon has always wanted to put on a play in his own community? “No! I’ve always been nervous of doing a play in my own community,” he admits. He explains that when you do a community play there can be sensitivities which mean it can be easier to be an outsider. “It’s taken me forty years to do a play here, but I am glad I have done it. It has strengthened friendships I already had and led me to discover new ones. As a result, I feel more connected and rooted in the community. The setting at Toad Rock is so gorgeous and extraordinary too.”
Did anything surprise him? “Yes, the story itself, because it was fully devised.” Devising is a way of writing as a group, using workshops to generate ideas from the community, and bringing them together to form a story. “The story came from the community, and so it is not the play I would have written myself. Trying to put a play together from the imaginations of fifty different heads was challenging but also extraordinary and wonderful.”
The play follows young climate change activists Matilda and Archie, as well as Archie’s Grandmother Mrs Moon and concerned local Mr Woodcock, as they slip through the rocks into the realm of the evil King Swelter and the stone people, persuading sceptical adults that urgent action is needed on the environment along the way. It is a story punctuated by humour, music, puppets and visual feasts, as well as a serious message.
What was it like to take part in? Many of the actors were local people, acting for the first time. For Leo Moodley, who played Archie Moon, the best things were “getting to act and meet new people.” Karen Gardner, who lives in Rusthall, has been involved with the play from the beginning of the project. Has she enjoyed it? “Oh my goodness yes! I’d never done any acting before, and I have learnt so much about theatre from being involved with the project. I really enjoyed working with Laura, the costume designer – the level of professionalism, problem solving and creativity involved was eye-opening.” Claire, another Rusthall resident, got involved with the play through Karen, said, “I’ve never done acting before, and I just wanted to do it as an experience and to make friends. I’ve surprised myself – I’ve done better than I thought I would.”
“Last nights are more magical than first nights because line by line, as you are performing, the play is dissolving and becoming memory. It is pure theatre.”
Community plays often bring people together and make a lasting impact on their lives. “I met my husband in a community play,” Liz tells me. She plays one of the stone people, Jade, and her solo of the Martha Wainwright song Proserpina is one of the stilling and beautiful moments of the play. “I moved to Tunbridge Wells ten years ago, and Jon was doing a play called The Vanishing Elephant on Camden Road, so that was my first community play.” She started working for Jon at his Claque Theatre for a few years after that, and found that through the community play she had become part of a tight knit friendship group. “What I learnt is that the performance is important, but for the community the process rather than the product can be even more important. It’s that sense of having a common purpose, and putting all that work in to make a play together, that really binds us together.” She feels that The Vanishing Elephant created a whole new friendship group, of which her husband Angus was a part, and they stayed connected through the shared experience. Seven years later they were married, and they have a young son together. What makes community plays different? “They are new stories and new writing. The story comes from the community and is told by the community, so they are making history.”
One of the challenges for the cast in Rusthall was the outdoor venue. They learnt to throw their voices in order to be heard, and to contend with some interesting weather as they rehearsed in a supernatural heat, and attempted to perform in thunder and torrential rain. As the cast gathered to listen to Jon before the final performance, the weather finally felt still and benignly warm. He praised the cast. “It is in the ethos of community plays that people take care of each other – from listening to other people’s ideas and building on them, to helping each other in the delivery of lines.” Collaboration is in the fabric of the play, and what is required if its message about protecting the world is to have meaning.
Jon had some final evocative words for the cast. “Last nights are more magical than first nights because line by line, as you are performing, the play is dissolving and becoming memory. It is pure theatre.”
Whether you credit magic, history or the spirit of a community, something special took place in Rusthall that summer.
www.communityplays.com
