Our current Theatre Company in Residence, Encore Productions’ residency with us at An Táin Arts Centre is coming to an end. The blog below give us an insight as they prepare for their final show, The Visit.
Another Irish summer – and the actors of Encore prepare themselves for a well-earned 2 week break – so they can really enjoy the rain! But there’s sun amongst the showers and great progress being made on our production of ‘The Visit’ by Freidrich Durrenmatt. Music has been added to the rehearsals bringing a greater sense of movement and atmosphere to the rehearsal room. The set has been designed and will be painted over the coming weeks to create a suitable back drop to the action.
Encore Productions have a unique style – 12 or so short scenes each interspersed with a short film, sometimes animated, sometimes live action. The group spent three full days on stage in costume with film maker Dara McCluskey and have shot acres of material that will now be whittled down to the most vital and atmospheric sequences to give even more detail to the narrative of the whole production.
Our films are shot without sound with voice recordings of original text being added later. Therese Baxter and John Marron from RehabCare Dundalk will lend their voice talents to the process alongside music from the string quartets of Johannes Brahms which are alluded to in the script.
We are delighted with the stills from the film shoot and feel they give a great sense of the tone of the production. We will be working flat out between now and September to create a show that really delivers our very best to the audience.
Meantime – here comes the rain again!