Preview: The Stick House

This autumn sees the premiere of The Stick House (Sept 7-Oct 17), a unique new theatre piece by Bristol collective Raucous, fusing live performance, film, music, and creative and digital technology.

With the help of Bristol’s walkabout circus/theatre aces The Invisible Circus, Raucous will transform the red-brick, arched chambers under Temple Meads station into the Lo-co Klub, where they will tell a dark fable of love found, betrayals made – and the beast in all of us. Here’s Creative Director Sharon Clark to tell us more.

Tell us the setting for The Stick House…
On the edge of an endless forest, Marietta sits in her house made of sticks counting the days until the Beast arrives to claim her as his. But her heart has been captured by the strong young woodcutter from the village, and the young lovers are desperate to escape the deal her father made with the Beast. Now, though, the clock is ticking and the howling comes ever closer. So where do you hide when the Beast comes to your door…?

You’ve gone for a mix of the old (folk tales) and the new (digital technology)..
I wanted to write a play with creative technology sewn into it. Then it was a case of working out the best way to ensure the technology and live performance worked together within a world. I have always been a massive fan of [novelist] Angela Carter, and thought that I could take the world of myth or fairy tale and, using Carter’s rules as a template, tell a fable for adults that has magical elements to it. 

How did the Lo-co Klub come into being?
We had always wanted to make The Stick House in a ‘found’ space – not a theatre, but a space with its own unique atmosphere. After a long search, we heard of the vaults under The Passenger Shed and found out that The Invisible Circus had use of them. Doug [Francisco, Invisible Circus] saw our trailer and asked us if we wanted to be the first company in. We jumped at it. Even though the space has no electricity and no toilets (yet), its potential as a creative space for Bristol is amazing. 

So, what can audiences expect?
There is a great deal of live performance and then there are projections and film, some of which occur in surprising ways and places. There is technology that makes the world more beautiful; astonishing robotics to take you to a new place; an original score that heightens key moments; and your very own piece of technology that is personal to you.
However, this is still very much a theatre piece: we are just harnessing some aspects of creative technology to make the whole story ‘breathe’ more, to make every moment just that bit bigger. I was interested in making a piece of theatre that removes the ‘moat’ between the audience and the action. 

What can technology add to theatre?
I think it has the potential to have a lasting impact on stagecraft. We were always clear that we would build the story and the technology at the same time – so one wouldn’t be an adjunct to the other. We didn’t want to find some shiny new piece of technology and then use it as a ‘new toy’ just because it was fun or glitzy.
The tech had to serve one of the following purposes: push the narrative forward, reveal something about a character, guide the audience around a space, help the audience have an emotional response. If it didn’t fit, we didn’t use it.

How important is its Bristol base to Raucous?
This project wouldn’t have seen the light of day in any other city. The very first person I mooted it to – Clare Reddington, director of Bristol’s Pervasive Media Studio – liked it enough to invite me to apply (successfully) for a Studio residency. The Studio gives you space and time to explore a different way of doing things and to push your ideas further. Everyone we have worked with has been based in Bristol: we have collaborated across the city and across disciplines. I doubt if this would have happened in the sharp-elbowed world of London.
Bristol has a unique ‘can do’ attitude, an ease of collaboration – and an extraordinary range of skills within theatre, science and technology. 

The Stick House will be staged at The Lo-co Klub, underneath The Passenger Shed, Temple Meads, Bristol from Monday, September 7 to Saturday, October 17. For more info, visit www.raucous.org.uk/whats-next