On the Rocks Interview: Bitter Root

Rory: People will have fond memories of Echo (Acts of the Bedroom) from last year. Is there any crossover between that play and Bitter Root?

Joanna (director): In both plays, at the centre of the action is a broken, volatile woman, who a male counterpart tries to appease, with varying degrees of success. (No psychoanalytical interpretations, please!) However, where Echo dealt with the dangerous potential of romantic love, Bitter Root focuses on an all-consuming love of a mother for her absent son.

Graham (John): Nonetheless, both plays feature volatile women. You can psychoanalyse til the cows come home. Which happens frequently in Fife, so do it quickly!

Dominic (Richard): I saw both performances of Joanna’s last play, which was awesome. The characters were genuinely fascinating people, and this play has even more fascinating people. There’s a more influential narrative which directly affects the characters, with an uncanny realism in how they interact with each other. 

Rory: I see. Living room dramas are often said to be boring. Bitter Root is a living room drama. Is it boring?

Joanna: A setting can’t make a play interesting or boring in itself. If you enjoy the characters or the plot, you’re not going to leave feeling bored by the setting. Also, if the characters you’ve thought up never leave their house, and you’d like to introduce them to audiences, you must invite the audience to the house. There are but few other options!

Dominic: No. Whilst the phrase “living room drama” may seem dull, I feel adding the prefix “psycho” to make “living room psychodrama” more accurately represents the play. Psychodramas are awesome and interesting. So is this play.

Katherine (Mrs Wallo & Lily): I think if anything the confined drab domestic setting only works to intensify the tensions within the relationships – and who doesn’t love on stage tension?

Graham: I don’t know what your living room is like, Rory, but mine is a constant hotbed of excitement. Ergo, this is a living room drama, not a living room boredom.

Rory: Bitter Root deals with suicide, a well tread theme in theatre. How does it sit within that tradition, and does it do anything new with it?

Joanna: It’s true that plays often end in suicide. It’s an easy way to tie up loose ends and resolve conflict. Bitter Root, however, begins with a suicide. This, I think, is where the real conflict of suicide arises – not with the victim but with those left behind. In Bitter Root, I have chosen to focus on the repercussions of such an event, and how (and if) two individuals can survive what another play has perhaps left them.

Coco (Rachel): It’s interesting what Joanna has done. Instead of focusing on the dead, we get to see how the dust falls in the aftermath of such a terrible event. Sometimes the most interesting part of the tragedy is not where the media glare centres but in the empty bedroom frequented by those nearest and dearest. Looking at suicide from the perspective of those left behind allows us to come closer to understanding the nature of grief, how it affects us all in different ways and how it can be almost impossible to alleviate.

Dominic (Richard): It can be difficult to depict suicide without representing the inner turmoil of the individual victims. Instead, this play shows the recognisable interactions of a family carrying out the motions of everyday life, distorted by an event which occurs like any other.

Rory: How has the cast found tackling such serious themes?

Graham: I actually don’t see suicide as being the key topic of Bitter Root. It’s more about the breakdown of a marriage, which is just as serious in an entirely different way. I’ve never played a part where two characters are on stage so much without really interacting. It feels very strange.

Cara: I agree. It’s not the serious circumstance itself that I’ve found challenging, but more the unnatural way with which Laura does (or does not) deal with it, and how this in turn affects her marriage. Her reaction is predominantly insular, and as Graham has said, although the two are in each other’s company for the majority of the play, they rarely interact — it’s this persistent lack of communication and intimacy that’s been unsettling.

Charles (Paul): I actually don’t have to! My character is completely absurd; a welcome dose of fun, who, with good but misguided intentions, bursts into the miserable protagonists’ lives ready to save the day…

Katherine: Like Charles, my characters are also a lot of fun as they represent the extremes of self- indulgence. Lily represents the carefree selfishness of youth, whilst Mrs Wallo feasts and festers on morbidity. 

Rory: How has it been working on a piece with the writer herself – limiting, fun?

Graham: It’s true, Joanna does limit our fun. But only for the good of the play.

Dominic: Awesome. As a writer myself, it’s been intriguing to see Joanna’s style of direction. She’s particularly good at bringing out naturalistic performances, and creating a sense of cast cohesion which is very important in a play of this tone. As it goes, rehearsals are far more fun than suicide-themed gatherings tend to be.

Charles: Joanna has created these characters so she knows them well. It’s interesting to work with her in bringing these characters to life in front of her whilst giving your own personal interpretations of them.

Cara: I’ve really enjoyed working with Joanna, although there is definitely an added pressure of working with the writer herself as the characters are not only her interpretations but her creations. However, this may just be my own paranoia. 

If this has planted any seeds of interest, be sure to make it to the Barron theatre on Saturday, April 6^th, at 14.30 or 19.30.