Samovar
Written by Frank McGuinness Ryan O'Donnell as Anton
Directed by Rachel Ann O'Sullivan Graham Butler Breen as Raoul Wallenberg
Sound Operator - Eoghan Carey
Samovar takes an exploration into the unknown fate of Swedish humanitarian, Raoul Wallenberg, following his capture by Soviet forces during World War II.
A Luna Collective production in association with the UCD Ad Astra Academy.
Samovar first began production following a brief email from Kellie Hughes, our creative director on the Ad Astra Performing Arts strand: Frank McGuinness has a small script and wants someone with UCD connections to perform it. What soon followed was a three month period of rehearsals spearheaded by Rachel – not without difficulties as Ireland recovered from the easing of post-COVID restrictions. Rehearsals took place both in person and online; a hybrid of self led work and ensemble work.
What struck us initially about the text was the deep longing felt by both Rhaoul and Anton buried deep in the text, how dark an intimate conversation between two friends (lovers?) could become while not betraying the surface feeling of lightness. Frank’s language also swayed us as a company. Rhaoul’s final monologue was where the musicality of this piece was picked up on. How could we begin to extract the birdsongs hidden within?
When we could meet to rehearse in person, Rachel led us through various viewpoint exercises. While the performance is so still and silent in terms of movement, it was important to know how these older characters sat in younger bodies. Both Graham and Ryan were 23 when recording Samovar, a fair shy away from where Rhaoul and Anton were projected to be. By examining how it was we moved through the space, hobbled or smooth, hunched or upright, we began to understand the ails of these characters. The deep sores of time, the malnourishment of the body, the aches of joints. Where does the body go? Where is it searching, what is it searching for, how is it searching? Is the focus hard or soft? Where are the lines of power drawing from and emanating to?
These explorations led to the discoveries of voice. A grunt coming from the dragging of a leg leads to a raspiness, the sight of trees spreading towards the heavens draws breath smoothly. The body influenced how both performers spoke to and with each other. A dropping into the gut for Graham/Rhaoul and a pull upwards for Ryan/Anton.
The most difficult decision was figuring out how to stage it. Do they sit on chairs or on the ground? COVID restrictions limited us to how close we could be to each other, so distance was ruled out. The question still remained: how do we dress it? The answer, as ever, came from the text. Is the facility both of these men are in a kind and loving place or a place of torment? And thus, the image of two men sat on the ground in the cold and the wet was born.
A place where two men could not be intimate with each other out of fear leads to a mutuality: “I want to be as close as I can to you, the handles of these benches get in the way of you, join me here.” Forbidden longing, a need to be close, the simplicity of a shared experience.