pool (no water)

By Mark Ravenhill

2006

pool (no water)

Overview

A Frantic Assembly, Lyric Hammersmith and The Drum, Theatre Royal Plymouth production

First performed on 22nd September 2006 at The Drum, Theatre Royal Plymouth

A man – side-on to the camera, facing left – sweeps an arm back. Behind him, three other people lean backwards as if swept by the arm.
This post is written by: Scott Graham Artistic Director

We were thrilled to find ourselves working with Mark Ravenhill. We were having a drink after a show at the National Student Drama Festival and Mark casually suggested we should work together.

The next stage was to go into the rehearsal room in Battersea Arts Centre with little more than some Nan Goldin photographs and try to scratch out a story.

A woman is standing behind a man, her arm drapped around his neck. They both have their eyes shut and are wearing soft smiles

What developed, I think, was a fascinating story of artistic frustration. Friends of a celebrated artist join her in her American home and party like the old days when they all were all struggling to get by.

When she suffers a freak accident, they stay to help her convalesce but cannot contain the jealousy that has haunted them. Designed to be performed by any number of voices it meant that characters could be created depending on the number of actors and the breakdown of the lines.

A man lays on a metal bed, his eyes shut. A woman sits on the side of the bed, looking at him in a concerned manner. In the background two further figures loiter; one looking over at the bed, the other gazing into the distance

It also read much like a radio play which did make it an exhausting project to throw some Frantic ‘stuff' at. Maybe I would have done things differently now but we worked so hard to find the physical and visual in this work.

That said I was very proud of our work on this show.

Gallery

  • Four people hang from the bars around the deep end of an empty swimming pool
  • A man – side-on to the camera, facing left – sweeps an arm back. Behind him, three other people lean backwards as if swept by the arm.
  • A woman is standing behind a man, her arm drapped around his neck. They both have their eyes shut and are wearing soft smiles

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