We sat down for a quick chat with Caroline Kriesen about her latest project, Forever Hold Your Peace. Five years ago the world ended, but we don’t talk about that. At Kelsey and Matt’s wedding, we don’t talk about anything… until Olivia shows up.
- There’s an interesting contrast between the different strands of the play, from international borders to affairs. What brings those elements together in your script?
The relationships motivate the play, so they also tie together those strands. Olivia is American, but met the rest of the British ensemble at uni a few years before COVID hit. As I wrote the characters, I discovered so much cultural conflict and tension in those relationships. I’m Filipina-American, but I’ve lived in the UK for the bulk of my twenties. So, I naturally think a lot about immigration, culture, and belonging in the context of adulthood. It’s pretty hard to ignore conflict about immigration, especially in recent years. It’s also hard to ignore how connected our countries are, but people do. London is so global, so we like to think global, but sometimes we’d rather look outside than look within. The relationships reflect those themes, rather than center them.
- How did Forever Hold Your Peace come together?
I tend to start plays from a high-conflict scene. This scene was between Jack and Olivia, the sole members of the wedding party. They debated monogamy in a way that felt really intimate and full of possibility and frustration. I had a lot to say, so I just kept writing and realised I wrote 84 pages in one sitting. I was actually meant to be writing another play about fascism, but it was really, really not good. I knew I had something with Forever Hold Your Peace.
The first pages started off as a two-hander, but I started getting curious about the bride and groom. Honestly, I am so bad at two-handers, so those 84 pages became my first proper ensemble play. It was a new challenge, but I loved it. Way better than fascism.
- What impact has being part of the Royal Court Writers Group had on your writing?
I wrote this play in the Group, and I think the Royal Court’s culture impacted me most. The Royal Court is full of brilliant people who just LOVE theatre. You don’t feel an elitism or a snobbery in that theatre. You feel passion, intelligence and pure openness to all work. For that reason, I also felt very validated about the type of work I was doing. I was quite self-conscious of the fact that my strongest writing centered romantic relationships and broader questions of culture. I think the snobby and less secure part of me didn’t feel that fit into “theatre.” But ultimately, storytelling is storytelling. It either resonates or it doesn’t. So I focused on writing the story I wanted to tell, without self-sabotaging in anxiety over whether it was “theatrey” or not. That’s incredibly freeing.
- What are the benefits of holding a rehearsed reading like the planned one on the 22nd November?
Rehearsed readings are great ways to focus on the text and the connection between the characters. I have a lot of threads and themes in the play that need to cook, basically. I have done a scratch night and two R&Ds previously, which helped establish specific relationships. With this reading, I get to witness all the characters in one room, interacting and escalating throughout the full run-time of the play. I also get to discuss the play’s themes and questions with early audiences. I want my plays to spark conversations and debates that feel very human. I think theatre is the antithesis of getting stuck on our online, fake, and often dehumanising spaces of conflict. Rehearsed readings offer a great space for real conversation about real issues.
- Why use theatre to explore the themes of Forever Hold Your Peace- grief, separation, as well as political issues?
Theatre is such an intimate art form. I’ve been doing theatre since I was five, and no matter how heartbreaking or financially unviable it is, I cannot seem to shake it. For me, live performance is the ultimate form of connection. And people need connection. Grief is the most isolating thing I’ve ever been through, yet it taught me how non-negotiable human connection is. We cannot always understand each other, but we have the tools to try.
Theatre gives you those tools. Theatre gives us a theoretical conflict, which we can conceptualise in a safe space. You can share how a character has made you feel, even if you cannot share what you feel. We need those spaces to share human emotion and conflict, especially for the themes of the play.
- Following the reading at Hen and Chickens, what next?
In the short-term, I’ll probably have some edits and thoughts and questions for the script based on the reading. I’ll probably make another draft in the aftermath, but I might also just give it some space! In the long-term, I do want the piece to be a fully staged production. Compared to other pieces I’ve written, it feels a bit more commercial and larger-scale, so it will probably take a bit longer to get there, but mostly I want this reading to draw in general interest over the themes and conflicts.