A Goldenberry Cage opens Monday 10th August at the Barons Court Theatre, inviting the audience to a bizarre family dinner they’ll never forget. Learn more about what to expect:
1: Why did you choose a family dinner as the setting?
Initially, the characters were a group of childhood friends reuniting for the holidays. I realised quickly that this dynamic was not working at all with the crucial one-dinner structure of A Goldenberry Cage. The level of intensity within the relationships of all four characters, borderlining on possession, does not sit well with an audience unless it stems directly from a family. In fact, it is even banalised. I did not wish to make a moralist play, hence the full exploitation of such banalisation. The audience becomes ‘partaking witnesses’, as the character of Kieran points out.
As for a dinner, it is the perfect excuse for four people who barely tolerate each other to sit together and engage in conversation!
2: The show explores “the absurd manners of the tongue.” What fascinates you about language?
Language goes way beyond ‘the tongue’, and that is what fascinates me. The same phrases can mean very different things to four people, and as a bilingual writer, it is an aspect of language I tried to draw out. A few lines (and the title) in the show are direct or twisted translations of French expressions, which take on double meanings and gruesome implications in English. Moreover, the manner in which a sentence is pronounced matters greatly, whether that involves tone or body language. All four characters have ‘gaps’ in their behaviour, more or less apparent in the disparity between their words and their actions, which add a layer of horror to the comedy.
3: Are the characters meant to represent ideas or are they simply flawed people?
Flawed people primarily, the characters represent roles. Throughout the dinner, all four of them reduce each other and themselves to their societal roles: a mother, a father, a son, a brother. This severing of individuality leads to the cannibalising of their relationships, through no one’s fault, but for the fact that their love languages are different.
4: How did movement become part of the storytelling?
Nothing screams possession more than involuntary body language, especially when it differs from what is being said verbally. A Goldenberry Cage is quite a physical play, as it revolves around a body laying on the dining table. The body gets progressively broken, leaving it up to the co-actors to move Lucy Maddison’s limbs around. The bulk of what is truly meant, in contrast with the words, transpires through every little grab, caress, punch and choice of chair on which to sit on.
5: Where would you like the show develop from here?
Wherever it goes.
6: What has been the most enjoyable part about creating A Goldenberry Cage?
Bringing it to life through the individual lenses of the actors. Many aspects of the performance were ideas initially brought up by the actors themselves: amongst others, Douglas Alexander first tea-stained the bandages, Max Easton decided to straddle Sam on the table. Theatre is a social endeavour and this is probably the most social production I have ever been part of.
A Goldenberry Cage opens Monday 10th August at the Barons Court Theatre. Many thanks to Alix Egoroff for answering our questions. Book your tickets here!
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