Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again by Alice Birch

The play:
A genre-defying piece, Revolt shapeshifts through stories of women being expected to behave better, to expect more and worse, to acquiesce and submit in increasingly more violent and chaotic language and form.

Production:

This production idea is my JMK Award proposal with which I was a Finalist in 2021. It was designed specifically with the Orange Tree theatre in mind, where you can build into the floor - but this is a pre-production design concept so there's plenty of room for production design students and production arts staff to contribute to what actually takes place.
The play needs pace, so minimal set and props are required. A performance space should be clearly demarcated. Flooring indicates interiors, such as carpet or flagstone, and perhaps a small table or chair, a standing lamp for soft lighting or as a sole source. A hum will play throughout until Act Four which requires quiet, and sound design should take us from polished tonal design to dissonance, highlighting the disconnect between scenes in Act Three.
Images of violence creep into the play in Act One, increasing with its absurdity. The tongue-cutting should be a realistic delivery on the building violent imagery, dropped the moment Act Three begins, with the performative nature of the violence further highlighted when someone cuts off their own head.
Scene changes begin with clean blackouts that become muddied, with early/late entrances/exits and sound/light cues. As the line between actor/character blurs, so does the line between reality and production. The whole theatre space will become permeable, perfectly served in the round, the actors watching from the corners to pacing the perimeter, performing on and off the platform, playing across it and abandoning it altogether. The play walks the line of an (increasingly fragile) performance of respectability and playing by the rules, and an underlying rage that could explode at any time. By exposing the modes of performance and the limitations of language, the play reveals that reality is grotesque, and that our attempt for some veneer of okayness, when our very modes of communication are damaging to half of us, is a trap.

Preferred space: Studio

Casting possibilities: 4f, 1m, or 3f 1m.

Learning opportunities:

Ensemble work, including choral speaking
Requires high energy, precision and an emotional gut-punch through the critical distance that is created as the play reshapes itself.