Preview: Outpost, Factory Theatre

Tobacco Factory Theatres co-produce with Green Ginger, Bristol’s world masters of dark-hued adult puppetry, on this absurdist comedy dealing with nationalism, leadership – and the terrible consequences of using another man’s toilet.

Luis and BK are stationed at a remote border crossing between their two countries. Luis believes in order and discipline. BK believes in taking things easy. And he believes that somewhere out there, mysterious creatures roam the desert. The chance discovery of a strange other-world takes the two guards on a journey into the dark heart of politics, tyranny and murder.

Green Ginger’s Chris Pirie tells us more.

Tell us about this odd couple, Luis and BK.
On the surface, Luis and BK are very much classic ‘stock’ characters; the fresh-faced and naive Luis on his first day on the job, full of optimism and pride in his homeland Escobia, meeting the wizened, lazy and cynical BK from Grud. But as storytellers, we were keen to probe a little deeper into their personalities as the story unfolds.
We were curious about the circumstances that made thousands of young German soldiers carry out atrocious acts in the name of the Nazi machine and also how bad things needed to get before voices of reason and humanity kicked in. And for BK we wanted to show what someone who has lived a remote and isolated existence for 30 years might become.

Are Luis and BK reflections of their respective nations?
The two guards do fundamentally reflect their countries, not just in their characters but also in design decisions: their respective national flags, uniforms, personal possessions and the tiny cabins that each calls home. We had toyed with ideas to make the relationship between each guard and his nation less obvious, but ultimately decided to dispense with juxtapositions and get on with telling an action-packed comedy thriller!

Readers may remember Green Gingers’s brilliant Rust. Are there similarities here (eccentric characters lost in their own obsessive worlds), or is Outpost a more obviously political show?
I was recently considering how Outpost fits into our work as a whole and it struck me that if a quick count of common themes were taken, then bullying and injustice would both be near the top. Also death: we have portrayed more deaths than any of us have actually witnessed. But humour, I hope, would be forever holding top spot. That is our chief concern – making people laugh, yet hopefully sending them home with tiny ‘snacks for thought’ that may stimulate further thinking or conversation. We are not in the business of creating didactic theatre. We imagine that our audiences would hate being told how to think.

What’s new this time around, then?
For Outpost, we wanted to challenge ourselves and not produce anything similar to previous shows. We sought out fresh collaborating partners such as Benji Bower, well known for composing for many memorable productions for Tobacco Factory Theatres, Bristol Old Vic and Travelling Light. And for the first time we commissioned a writer/dramaturg from outside the company. Mike Akers has produced a wonderful script based on material generated during four weeks of improvisations.
What we did retain from previous Green Ginger productions was a design-led process, which hopefully means that audiences who anticipate a rich visual experience, full of transformations and surprises, will not be disappointed.

Do puppetry and politics mix well?
Green Ginger set out to create a political comedy suspense thriller. As production got underway, events in Ukraine and Palestine were certainly hot topics, but we could not have imagined quite how pertinent and timely our themes of migration and borders would become, once we were touring.
I think it may be less about how politics and puppets mix – history shows that they can combine well, from Punch to Spitting Image. Puppetry offers us devices that allow for the possibility for fantastical elements within the storytelling.
The bigger challenge was getting the balance of politics and humour. Migration – as we have seen in the tragic events affecting hundreds of thousands of people fleeing extreme circumstances in their homelands – is serious. Fascism and totalitarianism are serious. Bullying is serious. Yet we hope we have found a way to tackle these subjects with our own brand of twisted humour, without being trite or predictable.

Outpost is at the Factory Theatre from Monday, October 12 to Saturday, October 24. For more info and to book tickets, visit www.tobaccofactorytheatres.com/shows/detail/outpost