FOR THE third week of the JOLT season of new work at the Town Hall Studio, newly-formed Galway theatre company, DoDo Theatre present The Pump.
A key element of DoDo’s work is the use of art, particularly installation art, and in The Pump the company uses this to explore the idea that we all have secret selves, which we can never truly share with another person, and what that means in terms of relationships.
Over an afternoon phone-call, cast-member Amanda Gareis explains how The Pump is a singularly distinctive play, both in terms of its content, and how it has been put together.
She begins with an outline of the plot: “The starting point for the play was this idea of two people trying to get back to their elemental selves. There’s a husband and wife and they both die, but just before they do the husband tells the wife ‘I don’t think this was meant to be.’
“Then they find themselves in a kind of limbo and the wife is furious with the husband after his revelation. They come across this strange pump which brings up memories of their past life and through that they see each other’s experiences.
“But the pump also creates two foetuses that kind of represent the state of perfect potential and these add to the experience of the memories. The man and wife make for a very human story at the heart of this strange world of the play. There’s a lot of humour in it as well to balance the more philosophical aspects.”
While Pump’s plot is both rich and strange, the creative process behind it is also somewhat unusual in that all the members of the company have worked together in devising and scripting and directing it.
“We started off with just free-form bits of writing and gradually the shape of the piece emerged,” Gareis explains. “The collaborative process worked well for us, there were no ego trips or anything like that. Different people might have strong viewpoints on artistic choices within the production but we’d discuss them all and in the end the best ideas would win through.”
Gareis pays special tribute to the input of Simon Kenny who provides the musical score for the play.
“Simon would come into rehearsals and start improvising music live there and then,” she says. “It was amazing because the music would spark new moods in the scenes we were doing and suggest different ways for us to play them. He’s creating a wonderful haunting soundscape for the play which will be played live during the performances.”
The production features founding members Feilim O’hAolain, Maria Lopez, Amanda Gareis, and Conor Geoghegan and runs from Wednesday May 18 to Saturday 21 at 8.30pm. As with all JOLT shows, there will be a talkback session on the Friday evening and live music on Saturday with Jimmy the Hideous Penguin, Simon Kenny, and guests.
Tickets are available from the Town Hall on 091 - 569777 and www.tht.ie while JOLT events in the bar are free of charge.
