Creating ‘Residue’, a new piece of theatre from the MA Collaborative Theatre Production & Design

Residue is a thought-provoking new piece of theatre that explores various dream states and the lingering feelings that they leave with us. This work is based on a collection of found texts and has been brought to life through the multidisciplinary efforts of our MA Collaborative Theatre Production & Design cohort.

We caught up with Emily Dickson (Production Manager and cast member), Sam Fox (Director and Co-Writer) and Lu Herbert (Set and Costume Designer) to find out more about the inspiration behind the project, their roles on the team and how it all came together.

You can also visit the MA Collaborative Theatre Production & Design Instagram for a behind the scenes look at how they created the piece.

Watch the trailer for Residue

Can you give us an introduction to Residue?

Sam Fox: Residue is a short work of theatre based on a collection of found texts that explores various dream states and the lingering feelings that they leave with us. From the inherently collaborative nature of our programme, it has organically become a communal reflection of the dreams and sensations that we all might experience and specifically focuses on repetitive dreams, lucid dreams, and daydreams.

What was your brief for the project, and what inspired you to go in this particular direction for creating Residue?

Sam: Residue evolved from a brief to create a project about dreams, in any meaning of the word, through any mode of performance. As a cohort, we immediately gravitated towards creating an original work as a means to explore our creative ideas without the parameters that would come from something that already existed.

We found our inspirations naturally emerging around dreams as they apply to sleep and focusing on dream experiences that felt universal to us all. Within this, we were immediately drawn to the nonsensical, surreal nature of dreams and captivated by the concept of liminal spaces, which are the physical spaces between one destination and the next. It is from these elements combined that we found the foundation of creative direction for our show.

What are your roles on the project and what do they involve?

Emily Dickson: As part of Residue, I started as the Production Manager, essentially this meant I have been overseeing the important yet (to be honest) boring things; ranging from the budget, to the scheduling, all the way to health & safety. However, I later also took on a performance role, which has been a very new and exciting experience.

Sam: I am the director and one of the writers for Residue. As one of the writers, I helped with assembling our various sources of text into the collage of material that has become our script, in addition to adding in bits of writing to connect each text and editing anything as necessary.

As the director, I have been responsible for the staging of our production and helping to ensure a cohesive vision amongst our creative team. Due to the nature of our programme though, we have all found ourselves taking on various roles and helping in departments outside of what we are credited as during the course of this production.

Lu Herbert: I am the set and costume designer for Residue, and that has involved a multitude of tasks including the technical drawings, the paint finishes, costume designs, set designs and so much more. My experience as a designer prior to coming to Guildhall has allowed me to work methodically and make sure that everything is done to a high standard, so the other departments have all the information they require before starting tasks. I’ve also taken on roles such as being a scenic art supervisor and helping with the marketing design, all of which are fun additions to my job.

Emily – what’s it been like be in the cast as well as work as the Production Manager?

Emily: It has been a combination of exciting, stressful and very exploratory. But it’s definitely an experience that I’ll take with me into the future when working on productions, having the perspective of both an actor and a PM respectively. The process has really opened my eyes to how the cast and crew have to work together on a production.

One of the main difficulties I initially had was separating the two roles during rehearsals. I had to take off my logical and practical brain I had as a PM and switch to working as an actor (and this was not easy). However, having such a fantastic team to work with meant that I soon became more comfortable working as an actor, and the transition between the roles became much more fluid.

Samantha – as director, how have you worked with the cohort to bring this idea to life? What was the process like for you and the team?

Sam: The short, technical answer is - lots of meetings! As such an interdisciplinary, communal effort, clear and constant communication has been fundamental to assembling our individual, unique visions into a united final product. I have tried to be involved in as many creative discussions as possible to make sure that we’re all on the same page and that everyone’s ideas are being taken into consideration.

While so much of what we have done has been working to navigate the standard hurdles for any production, much of this process has also simply been getting to know each other and figuring out our specific roles and dynamics within the cohort. It has been an exciting challenge to bring this production to life and a wonderful experiencing getting to know everyone over the course of our first project together.

Lu – what inspired you for the design of Residue? Is there anything you’ve particularly enjoyed creating?

Lu: The design of Residue is inspired by the concept of liminal space. I liked the idea of these strange, transitory places that have an echo of familiarity. We looked at all kinds of environments as a starting point – airports at 3am, petrol stations deserted in the early evening, children’s playgrounds in the middle of the night. I wanted to capture that dissonance of a familiar environment with a strange eerie nature to it. I was very inspired by David Lynch, Wes Anderson and music by Manchester Orchestra and The Dear Hunter (I recommend songs like Angel of Death by Manchester Orchestra and At the End of the Earth by The Dear Hunter).

I also particularly enjoyed the costume design process. The entire costuming for the show is in two monochrome colours, blue and lilac. I have the cast wearing these entirely blue and lilac outfits down to even their socks, and the effect is fun because it doesn’t feel quite right. When tied in with the set, which is a phonebooth in the middle of a main road, the feeling of ‘I can’t quite put my finger on why this is wrong’ feels fantastic.

What have been your highlights of working on the project so far?

Emily: For me personally, I think the first full run we did in front of the cohort. I was really nervous about it but actually having the whole project come together and being able to have people watch it, and give notes was super fun and made me feel a lot more comfortable for the performance!

Sam: One of my favourite things from the past several weeks has been watching the show come to life in the rehearsal room and getting to be there to experience the moments where the actors have performed something really, really well for the first time within our rehearsal process!

Lu: My highlights of the project so far have been when we’ve been successful in our endeavours. Because of the nature of this project and its limited budget and time constraints, we had to really push for certain elements of the show to come to fruition. It’s nice to see those parts finally working, things like our ambitious street light, pelican light, graffiti wall and the light up ‘TELEPHONE’ lid for our phonebooth. It’s also been great working with other young professionals who are putting in the same energy as you for a project.

It feels like sustainability and welfare have been important to you in this project. Can you tell us why you’ve focused on these elements in how you worked?

Emily: During the first few weeks we saw how much Guildhall was invested in sustainability and since it’s a topic that is also close to a lot of our hearts, we wanted to see what we could do within our first project to further this agenda. This included things such as creating an e-handbook, accessible by QR code, that would serve as a central hub for all the information surrounding our concept for the show, as well as using recycled paper when putting up posters throughout the school.

When it comes to welfare, we wanted to be able to care for ourselves and each other, especially as a lot of us are prone to overworking. We made the decision to set our own boundaries in terms of working hours, to prevent anyone from becoming burnt out. We also made a conscious effort to split the personal and professional relationships we have developed over the course of the project, and we often have chats regarding communication and organisation so that everyone is on the same page.

We also have two people who have a dedicated role as welfare - Carrie and Cae. By ensuring we prioritised people’s welfare, we wanted to reduce the most amount of stress as much as possible, so that people could enjoy the process as a team.

What do you feel you’ve learned on this project, have there been elements to the production that have been new to you?

Emily: The nature of our course means we get to work across many different departments. This term I definitely feel like I’ve learnt so much about technical elements of theatre, especially with lighting and sound. There were elements of both that I wasn’t aware of before, and I’m glad to have a greater understanding now so that I can take that knowledge with me into the future.

Sam: Although I’ve been performing for many years, this has been one of the first times that I’ve been able to approach a production solely from a creative position. So, while many of the elements of this production haven’t been entirely new concepts, the most impactful learning experience has just been in looking at everything from a new lens!

Lu: One of the new elements for me was definitely the fact I’ve used a lot of practical lights in our piece, such as the street light and the traffic light rather than the stuff hung up in the rig. It’s been fun having those conversations about design with the lighting team, and chatting through the overlap between our departments. I feel like from the process I’ve learned a lot about time constraints and budget constraints too – costings were new to me but I did all of the scenic ones and it was a really valuable experience.

Residue is showing on 3 December in the Milton Court Theatre. 

Find out more about Production Arts programmes, including our MA Collaborative Theatre Production & Design