Liverpool University Drama Society’s long association with putting on diverse and interesting plays continues this autumn with their production of Pool (No Water). Pool (No Water) is a painful, visceral insight into the issues of self-loathing, artistic integrity and bitter jealousy amongst friends and artists, known solely and collectively as “The Group”.
Reunited at the funeral of a mutual friend, a famous artist invites her old friends and colleagues out to her luxurious new home, complete with private pool and for one night only, The Group is back together. However, celebrations come to an abrupt end when the host suffers a horrific accident.
Putting this play together is third year University student Danny Partington. As a member of LUDS he has acted in many of the team’s productions including some great work in their performance of Dr. Faustus. A keen member of the University, he has hosted a successful radio show on campus and outside of the University recently had the pleasure of performing as Kerouac for a short Liverpool film. I caught up with Danny between lectures and last minute essays.
What made you take the play on?
Danny: “The play is very dark, it’s very atmospheric; it’s very cold out there so people will be on edge from the start, which I think will help. I first read it as a ten-minute extract with my friends for my A-levels. At the time, I had no real interest in doing anything live, physical theatre was very new to me at the time. That was about four or five years ago now and I think that as time’s gone on, I’ve always thought it’s one of those things that’s interested me and as a creative person I like to have a bit of freedom.
If you do Shakespeare, you can do it in your own style without going too far off the beaten track, you have sets, you have characters and situations with Pool (No Water) you have no characters, no stage, no direction – you get to divide up, you get to create it yourself and no two productions the same, there can be as many characters or as few as you want there to be. You can have the lines read the same way or split up into different characters and have their personalities focused on some of those lines so then I looked to the original production done down in Plymouth in conjunction with Frantic Assembly and they had four characters whereas I’ve got six and from there and the way they sub-divided their lines that it becomes so different and so new something so fresh, it’s always what you should look for when you are creating theatre. I think ‘fresh’ was the word that came to mind when I was pitching the play.”
It seems to me that the play is absolutely teeming with metaphor.
Danny: “There is a lot of suggestion and a lot of metaphor but the entire idea is about telling a story so it’s not set in real time, it’s looking back as a group of artists, it’s recounting their stories and putting a very personal spin on it and so you get a series of facts rather than portraying them as they are you get such bias but in this case you get six different biases or as many as you want in your production of it. You get to see a situation through so many eyes; it’s an interesting way of doing a play actually.”
You’ve worked outside of the stage quite a lot with Rio Matchett; that must be interesting and rewarding?
Danny: “Unfortunately I’ve never worked with her in a play as such but I’ve always been fascinated with her work and those friends I have in the LUDS Society. I’ve made an effort to get to know the directors especially since last year and to get to hear their intentions, talking about their plays and be more than a little inspired by something coming from someone else’s passion. I’m very fortunate being in my third year that I know a lot of the members of LUDS and call them my friends and know a lot of my friends are directing this semester or if they are not there, they are in these plays.
There’s that joy I think in working with them, having respect for those in the Society, you become very aware that you have to live up to their expectations and the standards they are setting as well and it’s very hard but it’s a ‘self’ thing, that pressure is not necessarily put on you and everyone is so supportive and friendly. I did have Rio come into my class and do a workshop recently and I found the process, the way she helped everyone and gave fresh eyes to the way everyone engaged in the play, she’s been nothing but completely supportive and makes my job feel so much easier, it’s not easier but it feels like there’s a lot less anxiety than there should be!”
How important do you feel LUDS is to new students that come to the University of Liverpool?
Danny: “If the students look at the Freshers’ Fayre or a meeting or a social and if they’ve got the passion for it, desire to do something like this, then there’s always something going on and they can be accommodated. You can’t always be in every piece but some of the actors in Pool (No Water) are astounding. I have four established LUDS members, who have all been in at least one major play and then I’ve got two freshers who do not feel out of place at any time or any point in it. That’s what LUDS is all about, from that first meeting you belong there, you’re welcome and there are a number of people you will meet throughout your time there and they will support you, work with you, try and help you discover what you really want.
I initially wanted to get involved in acting then move over to directing but I’ve got people who have really helped me on both fronts and I think for anyone who joins the Society have a fresh look, those who didn’t join last year but did this year will go through the same process, which is what we’ve all gone through. It’s a lovely feeling really as you seen inspiration, creativity, talent just spring up from this community, which is the best thing about this Society.”
Who do you have in the play?
Danny: “I’ve got Madelaine Smart who is a former backstage and costumes leader, she’s one of the people who’ve added such energy to it, she’s played it so young compared to others whose characters are darker, she adds such a wonderful dynamic. Dominic Davies, he’s one of the freshers, he’s working with Scribble at the moment, doing some comedy writing, he’s got some really biting sarcastic lines and the comedy really shows through. Charlotte Parsons who has energy in abundance, she owns the stage; I get shivers up my spine. Then I’ve got Iona Campbell who is so versatile, I can ask her to do anything and she’s on it straightaway. I could ask her to do any character and she could handle it very well.
I’ve got Bryony Holloway who again was in that commanding version of Goblin Market. She’s really the elder statesperson of the group, she’s the most experienced one, rather than being very animalistic and dark, she’s more arrogant and very expressive. Her facial expressions at her auditions terrified me quite frankly. I sat there, the way she uses her hands and her body was so artful. The last one is Jacob Lowman who is a second year, he was in Odepius Rex last year, this is his first leading role in LUDS, he’s stepped up. I’m very proud of all of them. He signed up for a side role but ended up with a leading one. You could see little changes in the way that he moves and he’s very much a blank canvas to add little pieces to and eventually he builds up to a very powerful character but all six of them together offer something so different, whether they are calm or angry, sad or happy, it’s the way they all converge and become one, they become the group, there’s no names in the script, they are just called the group. The way they form this group is just magical, they have done me proud. They are really wonderful.”
As with a lot of LUDS productions at the moment, especially the exceptional piece for Goblin Market, there was some intriguing work done before hand in terms of a photo-shoot, how did you find yours?
Danny: “The photo-shoot for the publicity was a nightmare, the planning was done over two months, finding swimming pools, liaising with camera people, it was just one of those things where it all had to come together in a very short amount of time. It was the most stressful thing I’ve ever had to do for the entirety of this production as it was always tantalisingly close but never quite there. The amount of hoops I had to jump through! Eventually, we got it and I had Rio and Lois Riley, I had Meave Sullivan who does the publicity and marketing for LUDS and between the four of us, we got it done and it was all good fun once we’d got involved. It’s all very new; no one had done this before! As a legacy, I think it’s quite an o.k. one! Looking back, the effort was worth it, it came together as a beautiful thing and everyone got excited by the prospect of it and they way of working on the idea, the passion the creativity people brought to this project really made it work I think.”
Pool (No Water) is being performed on Wednesday 27th to Friday 29th November at the Stanley Theatre in the Liverpool Guild of Students. Tickets are priced at £6 for an adult and £4 concessions. Doors are at 7pm for a 7.30pm start.
Ian D. Hall