Comments on View From The Stalls: "Memory Cells" - October 2009

i think Cora's exit and Sam's interpretation of th...

2009-11-02T18:58:37.891Z

i think Cora's exit and Sam's interpretation of that left us all with many questions. Good questions as to what had occured, memory, reality, death, rebirth, a whole cycle endlessly repeating. Both versions, script and and performed are vaild, as are all of our own interpretations. For me the most contemporary relevance was Fritzl and Amstetten sans folder over the face. And that's where all good critics should leave it .... in the dark, dank, retreats of your memory cells - bravo it was a wonderful show.

"In Louise's play, the ending is a scene of the tw...

2009-11-01T11:31:31.040Z

"In Louise's play, the ending is a scene of the two characters about to descend the staircase to the basement where Cora will be imprisoned and die. The final image is her caught in the blazing summer sunshine. It appears like a happy ending but the audience know what is to come for her."

I have to agree with Anonymous - the ending is more subtle and affecting the way Sam has it. It effectively manages to convey the ideas from Louise's ending (despair, horror, etc all acutely contrast with the bright shining summer light)... but by showing her about to ascend the stairs it's also able to shade the audience with a more bittersweet suggestion: the life of Cora we never got to appreciate, the 'real' Cora, Cora in the world, sunglassed, young, happy, in love, bathed in sun. It's fairly clear how the story ends from how the story develops, so I think that affords the play a bit of leeway on how it approaches its ending. The play need not match the story step for literal step, especially if to do otherwise illuminates other aspects of the characters not yet handled. Just my 2¢.

People! The ending was rather magical and subtle ...

2009-10-29T12:24:21.730Z

People!

The ending was rather magical and subtle too, as it picked up one of the main threads of the play, that of the myth of Persephone (aka Kora - geddit?!), her abduction by the god of the underworld, her 'escape' and return to her grieving mother and the world of the living, at least once a year, every spring. Myths involve cycles and transformations, but their characters never change. Kora is always a girl, she always yearns for her mother and she always 'escapes', only to be forced to return. It's therefore not a 'happy ending' as such - it's a point in a cycle. Well done, Sam Rowe, for capturing that moment on stage.

I agree with Lisa that 'political correctness' has...

2009-10-29T09:41:51.283Z

I agree with Lisa that 'political correctness' has been a tool used to narrow and prevent debate but my attacking what strongly appears to be postmodernist theory and practice applied to the direction of this play is not meant to do any such thing. It was me after all who instigated this discussion...The other categories mentioned are subgenres of modernism, a theory aimed at understanding and refining perception whilst postmodernism is quite the opposite - a destructive fallacy that all interpretations can be 'deconstructed' and therefore all interpretations are equally valid. Surely the playwright's interpretation is most valid and all others involved should be attempting to serve that cause? I was under the impression that Sam was attempting to do this with the ending but it is clear from his comments here that that is not the case - " other interpretations are perfectly valid ". This was never discussed as such in rehearsal and when it came to it in the production, my back was literally turned. Otherwise I would have fought tooth and nail ( as I did with other attempts to subvert Louise's interpretation ). This is a play that puts great demands on an audience to understand the structure and allows for understanding to be gained at different times and levels. I thought we all worked very hard to assist that cause without taking any easy options and so therefore I am disappointed to find that we blew it to an extent in the last five minutes for the sake of a spurious postmodernist directorial device at odds with the play as written.
btw..I know Louise is away hillwalking so I am going to have to tell her about this wee stooshy tomorrow!

Personally I really enjoyed the fact that the endi...

2009-10-28T18:17:31.313Z

Personally I really enjoyed the fact that the ending was open to interpretation and that my opinion at to what it might have meant differed to my companions. Blaming postmodernism is a pretty lazy cop-out we hear all too often, it is akin to using the phrase "its pc gone mad" in my book. Abstract movements, surrealism etc have all come before postmodernism and offer similar openness to interpretation which makes for engaging, dialogic art.

I have to admit that although I can understand the...

2009-10-27T20:59:46.657Z

I have to admit that although I can understand the attraction of Sam's intended image of 'release', for me Louise's original would have been an incredibly powerful moment of theatre.

Thanks for your contributions - we really appreciate them.

In Louise's play, the ending is a scene of the two...

2009-10-26T15:59:00.992Z

In Louise's play, the ending is a scene of the two characters about to descend the staircase to the basement where Cora will be imprisoned and die. The final image is her caught in the blazing summer sunshine. It appears like a happy ending but the audience know what is to come for her. These other open ended "interpretations" come from misunderstanding or misguided post modernist indulgence, in my humble opinion, and don't serve the play well.

Statler, I think your interpretation is very apt. ...

2009-10-26T12:35:19.574Z

Statler, I think your interpretation is very apt. Ultimately the ending is an image of release; be it Cora's deathbed fantasy, an "if only" moment, a release into death or a combination of all three. I agree that the idea the play is all his fantasy could be seen to undermine what has gone before, but I don't think that idea holds up to much analysis , e.g. why would Barry fantasies that Cora causes him so much frustration and that he rejects her? I guess if you don't like open ended ideas then you were indeed never going to like it, but thank you for interrogating it so thoroughly!

Aye, post modernism has a lot to answer for and no...

2009-10-26T09:26:04.889Z

Aye, post modernism has a lot to answer for and not a lot to offer understanding in my book...

Thank you both for taking the time to comment. It...

2009-10-25T15:58:34.645Z

Thank you both for taking the time to comment. It's certainly been a show that left me with plenty to think about, but I'm afraid the frustration level was a little too high for my taste. And telling me "other interpretations are perfectly valid" doesn't help matters as I'm afraid I'm very much a right-or-wrong-answer kind of person. Of course I appreciate that's a problem with me and not a problem with the show.

But if this is a choose-your-own-ending type situation I'll always 'choose' the version that leaves most of the events intact. So in this case I guess that means, for me, it was all a deathbed remembrance by Cora and she changed the ending (on the basis that a memory is more 'reliable' than it being a delusion/nightmare of either character).

If there is a degree of fantasy involved, whose fa...

2009-10-25T12:02:41.183Z

If there is a degree of fantasy involved, whose fantasy is it and where does it end/begin? As someone who has watched Cora's fate rewind, what do you want for her? For me there is a clear idea at the core of the ending, though other interpretations are perfectly valid.

Hi. I think it's wonderful that you cared so much ...

2009-10-25T09:24:30.606Z

Hi. I think it's wonderful that you cared so much about our show that you have tried so hard to figure out what was going on at the end of the play and I fully understand why it's been so difficult for you. It's maybe not really my place to go in to it so all I'll say is that the ending of our show was not exactly as Louise had written it and it might be an idea if our director Sam Rowe explained what was behind his thinking on it so I will text him ( in a wee while - it's still early doors Sunday morning - extra hour weyhey! ) and tell him I've posted this...