CRAFTconditioned

As beer enthusiasts, I assume we’ve spent a fair amount of time at the pub. And anyone who has spent time at the pub has also witnessed it become the stage for someone’s drama – feuding friends, awkward first dates, the drunk’s aspirations for a one-man show, bachelorette parties. So it can’t be a surprise that the National Theatre of Scotland staged a production inside a pub. Of course, when it came to town I had to check it out and report back.

Long before my love affair with beer, I loved good theatre. I’m particularly interested in good site-specific performance. As a storyteller, it fascinates me to see how performers will creatively use a non-traditional space to augment the story they are telling. “The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart“, on tour after a very successful run at the 2011 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, was staged locally at a well-known (and well-worn) beer bar. Attention to a number of details helped to set the scene, loosen up the audience, and establish the feeling of a raucous “lock in”.

The evening began with a complimentary whisky tasting (Benromach – a pleasant, slightly-smokey Speyside single malt) which helped to start conversations and lower inhibitions. The bar also compiled a menu primarily of British-style beers and ciders to further make the audience feel at home in what would soon be transformed into a small-town pub in Scotland. I opted for Oskar Blues Old Chub, a Scottish-style ale with a complex malty (and almost licorice-like) palate.

The cast of 5 players entertained the room with live music from the Scottish Borders before launching into fast-paced, tag-team storytelling complete with cheeky rhyming metre and energetic acting using the entire floor (and a few table tops). Over the next 2 hours, the cast engaged the audience, asking for help to tear napkins into snow, requesting (and receiving) “desultory applause”, trusting audience members to protect their drinks from being spilled, encouraging one-on-one improv to establish a scene, and initiating a rowdy round or two of soccer chanting. In exchange, the actors were rewarded with an audience enthusiastically playing along in a way I seldom see in theatre but have definitely seen on a night out.

Were this a theatre review, I would provide my thoughts on the acting quality, express opinion on whether or not the script was slow at times, and praise the particularly witty bits. But this is a beer blog so I’m more interested in the site-specific element. Put succinctly, by night’s end at least 2 people were stripped to their underwear, most of us were buzzed, and everyone was singing. That sounds like a successful pub performance to me.

Disclaimer: “The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart” is hosted by The Shakespeare Theatre, a former employer of mine.