A joyful re-imagining of a classic fairy tale featuring an upbeat electronic score, innovative technical wizardry, gorgeous puppetry, bears and TURNIPS! We sat down with director Barra Collins.
What can audiences expect from your reimagining of The Light Princess this Christmas?
The Light Princess isn’t your average family show. It’s got an exciting grown-up electronic sound courtesy of our brilliant composer Ellie Isherwood (aka BYFYN). Influenced by the likes of Grimes, Animal Collective and Fka Twigs, Ellie fuses Ambient Electronic with Synth Pop to create atmospheric, yet catchy tracks. From the very beginning, I knew her sound would be perfect for the floating, effervescent world of The Light Princess. Audiences can also expect beautiful movement by Amy Butler, lyric video style creative captions from video designer Dan Light and, to complete the Tik Tok vibes, giant neon TURNIPS from set (costume & puppetry) designer Sascha Gilmour! We are heading into week two of rehearsals and the process has been filled with laughter – the show is going to be a LOT of fun.
What drew you to this particular story?
I spent a lot of time reading through folk and fairy tales looking for a character that had something to say about the world today. When I read The Light Princess, I knew she had a lot to say. About love. About loneliness. About ableism. About activism! But this floating princess was locked in a terrible tale. One with an evil woman lurking in the woods (of course). A prince that saves her (of course) and “fixes her” by making her normal (OF COURSE). So we changed all that. We all float to start with – floating in the warm waters of the womb, tethered to our mothers by our belly buttons. Floating is as normal as normal can be. The Light Princess just never stopped. So…what if the princess isn’t the problem? What if it’s the world that needs to change? That was the idea that got me hooked.
What does this show have in common with other shows you have made? And how is it different?
Good Question. This is our first show to include creative captions which we are SUPER excited about. Puppetry is a regular element within out work but The Light Princess includes miniature sets, filmed live as part of the production, which is a first for us. We are passionate that young audiences deserve beautiful and rigorous storytelling. We never talk down to our young audience members – no primary colours and rosy cheeks here. As always, there is loads in there for the adults – we pride ourselves on crafting work that can hold and entertain audiences young and old. This is also our first show to include a wheelchair user and it’s been really exciting to learn about wheelchair dance and it’s gliding, spinning, super powers!
How did you get involved with making theatre in the first place?
As a small child I went to a Living History Weekend at the Irish National Heritage Park in Wexford, where I grew up. I ran away from my parents and sat listening to a woman telling stories around the fire in a round house. When she finished, I walked out into the sunlight and bumped into a Viking. I challenged him to a duel. The giant accepted. I found a shield and hid behind it. The Viking gasped, murmured something about magic, and went on his way. I scuttled back to my parents who, I’m sure, had only allowed me the illusion of escaping. The bug bit. A year or two passed. I studied Theatre at Goldsmiths and Trinity College Dublin. I took any job I could to get in the room with creative people and learnt as much as I could. The Jack Studio (Brockley Jack as it was) was really supportive of me in the early years. As was the BAC. And the now world famous Punchdrunk! Without each of them, I certainly wouldn’t be the creative I am today.
What do you hope your audiences take away from the production?
A little snow and glitter in their soul. If we can bring joy this winter and also get a few people thinking about how they make the world a more compassionate, a more inclusive place this festive season then we will end the year very happy bears. Did we mention the bears? The less said about them the better. Probably.
Buy tickets here https://www.thealbany.org.uk/shows/the-light-princess/