From Pre-Publicity
De Montfort University and Stan’s Cafe take theatre careering to the edge of chaos.
Having lost all sacred texts our heros are found trying to realise some kind of ultimate answer from a film they can barely remember and certainly don’t understand. Their efforts at re-enactement are loud, messy and confused. They blunder around. They argue and fight their way through demented set pieces, lonely solos and excellent gags. It looks like one hell of a mess, but there are echoes of bombs here and if you squint you may find it strangely moving.
From Program Notes
This is a show that has been waiting a number of years to be made. In 1995 I started to think it would be exciting to try to make a show which was so messy and so close to chaos that it would appear only to be held together by the passion and belief of its performers. This notion is in stark contrast to recent Stan’s Cafe shows [Simple Maths, It’s Your Film and The Hearing of Susan Tuesday], which have been both restrained and highly choreographed. What is common to all these projects is a concern for the audience’s relationship with the artistic material. The multi-focused nature of Make Like You Believe, with its sketchy fictions and lack of formal clarity, makes it a piece that must be watched creatively. Though this is demanding of an audience we hope the accompanying rewards are increased in line with these demands.
What the programme notes and the rest of publicity material deliberately avoided saying was that the show started from the absurd question “what would it be like if Star Wars were your only sacred text and you could barely remember that?”. Similarities between this notion and The Carrier Frequency are, perhaps, not entirely coincidental.
Credits
Devised and performed by
Linda Ahnmark, Gillian Battersby, Lee-Anne Bosley, Kelly Broome, Kath Browne, Akeem Campbell, Luke Cilliers, Joel Clarke, Henrietta Coddy, Paul Dagley, Andrew Dedman, Gaynor Gallagher, Jodey Huckfield, Ali Khan, Laura Johnson, Colin Leggo, Helena Martin, Faye Munns, Jenny Pink, Anita Ramdhamy, Claire Sergeant, Russell Shaw, Georgina Simmonds, Kevin Stayner, Georgina Stevenson, Rob Tofield, Alex Williams, Emma Wilshaw.
Directed by James Yarker
Production assistance Craig Stephens
With thanks to: Nicholas Arnold, Martin, Paul, Phoenix Arts, Mark Anderson & Blissbody, Brian Duffy and Simon Ford (graphic design).
Tour Dates
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26 – 27 May, 1999
De Montfort University, Leciester
