We sat down with an exclusive conversation with Jennie-Mae James, the director, dramaturg and producer of their adaptation of The Signalman by Charles Dicken’s showing this December. With a multi-sensory deign, this story offers a fresh take on Charles Dicken’s tale of guilt, isolation and fate. Jennie-Mae James gives us a unique insight of this exciting new production.
Jennie-Mae, this is such a hauntingly atmospheric story – what drew you to The Signalman and made you want to bring it to life on stage?
There is something tremendously cathartic about The Signalman, a story which connects two lost souls in the most unusual of settings. Thrown together in a remote railway cutting, with almost no outside human interaction, Dickens’ signalman and visitor connect in a way that would be practically impossible anywhere else. It’s the perfect tale to explore how we connect with other people – when there’s no-one else around to spoil that interaction. The original story also holds so many unused nuggets that deserved expanding on, as we have. And, as a side note, wearing my ‘other hat’ as a railway person myself, I couldn’t resist the chance to put on a bit of railway drama that actually resembles the real thing for once!
Dickens wrote this story over 150 years ago. What do you think makes The Signalman resonate with audiences today?
In my preamble to the script, I explain how The Signalman is essentially timeless. With a little tweaking to details, it could easily be set in the 1930s, the 1960s or even today. There are still signalboxes just like ours in the modern age. I’ve even worked with a dour Yorkshireman from one of the most remote signalboxes who could quite easily have been our signalman in another life! But most importantly this story throws together two lonely people with their own specific longings to connect. I really can’t imagine something more evergreen and embedded in the human condition, can you? I feel we spend our entire lives longing to connect more with others.
You’re using surround sound and multi-sensory design to immerse the audience. Can you tell us a bit about how those elements work to build the atmosphere?
I want people to feel like they’re actually sitting in the railway cutting as the events unfold around them. We’ll have curlews and birds of prey wheeling overhead… rock falls crashing past, unnervingly close… the scents and smells of Christmas and of the railway… the howling wind… this won’t be the “big buck” immersive theatre that has become fashionable… I mean, I do have a fringe budget to nurse! It will I hope be the very best of traditional story acting, enhanced by the senses. Think The Woman in Black, my favourite production ever, but actually being able to feel like you’re out on the marshes! If the audience are sitting there questioning what they just sensed, I’ll have done my job right.
The Drayton Arms Theatre is such a beautiful, intimate space. How does that setting enhance the experience you’re creating for the audience?
The Drayton Arms is such a special space, a mix of Grade II listed pub with technically advanced theatre – an actor I worked with recently excitedly called the theatre a “mini Almeida”! I think it’s ideal for the setting we’ve given The Signalman – it’s full of tech but feels like you’re almost on the stage as you watch. The acoustics are second to none, leaving audience members feeling a part of the action without having to be shouted at. And the pub was built around the time Dickens wrote the story so everything just “fits”.
The show promises to be not just watched, but experienced. What kind of feeling do you hope people leave the theatre with?
Christmas is so often a time for forced jollity that I feel we need a little cathartic balance to neutralise some of it. A bit like adding sugar to medicine a-la-Mary-Poppins or adding salt to caramel or pepper to strawberries. The two things don’t cancel each other out, they help one appreciate each other. In the same way, I feel the great British tradition of ghost stories at Christmas helps us enjoy the festive season all the more. Think Scrooge… Woman in Black… we love our ghosts to be festive! I want my audiences to be so immersed in our chilling world that they leave carrying the story with them and able to feel the happiness of Christmas all the more for it.
Get your tickets for this show at Drayton Arms Theatre from Dec 10- Jan 2 with this link now- TICKETS!