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Budgie Lung's ‘Dark Paths’.
 It
says a lot about the passion of Artistic Directors for their
theatre performances that they can talk so eloquently without
revealing too much about a piece of work. So it is with Simone
Avramidis of Budgie Lung as she enthuses about ‘Dark Paths’,
their show for the Fringe. Obviously, it’s a piece she’s very
very proud of, a play in three parts with only two actors.
Written by Stephen Sewell, ‘Dark Paths'’ utilises the talents
of regular Budgie Lung member Michael Finney and Rachel Paterson
(who is also Artistic Director at Urban Myth Theatre Of Youth).
The two perform monologues then come together for the third
- and final - act.
‘Dark Path’ is a story of discovery, suggests Avramidis. "It doesn’t have a message or anything, it’s about opening up the heart and soul, and it’s very confronting."
The stories, she suggests, show the essence of getting expressiveness back into theatre. Thinking of her two actors, she muses "At the end of the day it’s got to come from them - it’s one of those plays."
Beginning to put the play together last year, Avramidis brought in musician Heather Frahn at the time when they were talking about the concepts. It was a fairly unusual step, but she says determinedly, "It was the best thing we could have done, because it forced where we were going to go with it". Frahn, they agree, was in tune with what is happening on stage, and in any case, she’s on stage also.
"It needed to be that way because it’s a very organic piece."
Frahn - as we talk about the script - talks of her perceptions in terms of emotions. She had to decide whether to mimic the emotions on stage or add counterpoints.
"There are moments when the music builds with the text and moments when nothing is happening but the music is raging. It’s quite layered," she murmurs
To assist in the interpretation - and Frahn is the only musician and onstage for the entire performance - she’s developed a new musical instrument, which we are calling the steel drum harp. Developed by Frahn and local musician and instrument builder Todd Telford, it utilises the basis of the Jamaican steel drum for its sound box (resonating chamber) and is strung with harp strings for the higher end frequencies, and includes Tibetan Prayer Bowls. It’s an instrument which Frahn can pluck, finger pick, bow and hit.
"The sounds from this new instrument are quite diverse," she says with considered understatement. It’s a weird looking beast, this instrument, and Frahn freely admits she’s still working out how to play it and extract a full range of sounds. "Getting the combination of all those sounds and also utilising different mallets, sticks, bows, voice, you can just create these amazing textures.
"I’m so much looking forward to this - I’m learning something new every day."
Alex Wheaton
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Budgie Lung’s ‘Dark Paths’ plays at Fowler’s Live from Sat 28 Feb.
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