Live Essay Practice- Ocean at the End of the Lane

Due 01.12.23

‘Live theatre is one of the most powerful ways of communicating to an audience in 2022.’

Live theatre has always been judged on its relevance to societal normalities and expectations of the
modern day. These views have branched out across the world and how relevant theatre is has been
talked about my many different ages and ethnicities. Due to its global scale, theatre has tremendous
pressure placed on it for it to follow these expectations and find relevance to our current issues, one
main theme being political. The messages they aim to convey provide powerful insights into the topics
they surround and are effective in communicating the importance of these topics to modern day
audiences. I believe the provided statement to be true after seeing Joel Horwood’s ‘The Ocean at the
End of the Lane’ at the Noel Coward theatre. While it was originally a book written by Neil Gaiman,
Horwood effectively translated the key messages of the disconnection we face in a modern society of
childhood from adulthood within the main topic of self-identity. This was easily communicated through
the play due to the expression seen and the atmosphere I could feel while watching. The arrangement
of each actor classed as the mise en scene was evidently thought out carefully as to best portray key
emotions that are important to an audience of 2022 such as the failure to understand your own
identity. Carried forward by the sound and lighting of the performance, the mise en scene was
effective in portraying the unspoken messages and feelings that each character wanted me as the
audience to feel. Nonetheless, the acting, brought alive by director Katy Rudd, reinforced the
messages and enhanced the viewing experience, keeping me entertained and drawn to specific
scenes in the play where I felt the messages were most clearly seen. The play’s production values as
a whole made me consider each thing I saw carefully and realise the messages that were being
conveyed had relevance to my life. These were shown through intense yet intriguing ways that
together show just one of the powerful ways of communicating to an audience in 2022 through live
theatre making me agree with the statement.

The first key scene to focus on when considering the messages that are conveyed happens to be the
first scene, which through its use of a single white spotlight to create intensity and a green wash
against the backdrop, provided an unsettling and eerie scene. I felt the intensity building from the
initial moments of the show as the actors visibly moved round the stage to show the mise en scene
but also to allow me to begin to formulate questions and ideas as to what the mise en scene was
telling me about the piece. I felt engaged with the performance through the actors immersing me in
the performance as they ran past to get up on stage and in position. This initial intensity was effective
as it led to instant shock with the reveal of the funeral which added depth to the performance, creating
an immediate reflection of loss from the characters. The Dad, played by Trevor Fox, added insight into
how loss and bereavement was to be presented throughout the play as a central theme that would be
represented through semiotics. Trevor effectively showed a sudden intensity that added shock to the
characterisation shown. Much of the dialogue was similar to Neil’s novel, meaning that Rudd’s use of
textual evidence was effective in supporting the characters use of tone and pitch. For this scene the
tone used by every character was low and resounding in order to convey a sadness but I also felt
slightly disturbed by the almost creepy setting portrayed through the production values of lighting and
sound. The simple yet intense lighting created dramatic tension as the spotlight slowly began to grow
as more characters began to enter in order to set up for the next scene. The simplicity created by the
lights and quiet angelic sound showed me that death was going to be a common yet powerful motif of
the performance especially with the scene transitioning into the suicide of the lodger. The use of the
exposition forming an ominous and creepy atmosphere allowed me to see the focus of the scenes
and the message of the impact that death has on someone's mental health. I felt that Trevor’s
characterisation informed me of this impact through the slight shake in his voice and far proxemic
between him and the spotlight showing his disassociation from the loss of his father and in turn his
childhood. This maturing was presented through the bold lighting and acceptance of the situation. The
exposition also stood out to me due to its juxtaposition of the later scenes in which exaggeration and
physical theatre is the focus creating an unnatural and exciting performance; where as the opening
scene was slow paced, shown by the little gestures and pauses in dialogue, creating a sense of
realism which left a bigger impact on me. The protagonist’s introduction, played my Keir Ogilvy,
serves as a transition into the next scene with no time shifts, showing a constant flow of performance
which made his instant exposure to the suicide more impactful as it showed each characters
experience of death and how it links them. The opposing reveals of death between the two parts of
the exposition showed the varying ways that things affect us in life which I could clearly see they were
communicating.

The next key scene that drew my attention was Ursula, played by Charlie Brooks,as the scene started
with the immediate rising action of Charlie descending from the ceiling above centre stage, casting a
drawn out shadow to appear against the backdrop. This was effective in making suspense and an
instant feeling of unease and tension which made me gasp due to the shock. The lighting was a
simple white wash which maintained the focus on Charlie and Keir, while the sound was a gradually
louder bang of a drum, creating rhythm and setting the flow of the scene. This drum got gradually
faster as the scene continued with a brief face to face dialogue between Keir and Charlie. The scene’s
intensity began to fall slightly as the number of pauses increased, however the tension continued to
increase before both hit a simultaneous climax as a series of fast paced gestures accompanied by
frequent blackouts allowed Charlie to traverse the stage in a supernatural and disturbing way. Charlie
adapted a deep and gruff tone when laughing during the blackouts to create fear and cause the
audience around me to visibly jump as the mise en scene became more frantic and seemed more
random to suggest Charlie had become unhinged, reinforcing the fear I felt. By utilising the blackouts,
Charlie was able to quickly shift the proxemics constantly as she grew gradually more invasive in
Keir’s space. To further show the difference in power, Charlie finished by seemingly appearing from
nowhere as she rose up from the floor using a chair while Keir staggered back, deepening their
proxemic and adding a clear difference in levels as she loomed above Keir. This new dynamic was
effective in portraying new leadership and how Charlie’s character now runs the family, further
presented by her stereotypically masculine postures, used to assert dominance over Keir adding to
the ever increasing fear and atmosphere of tension that I felt. The use of immersion to engage me,
allowed me to connect with Keir emotionally through his characterisation. I also felt connected through
his inability to speak as he was overcome with fear constantly due to the repeated semiotic of the
blackouts casting the theatre into fear, disturbance and most importantly making me feel oblivious to
the coming events. Keir’s fear was shown through his exaggerated movements such as quick turns
and having an open gait to show his vulnerability to the situation and how he was unable to do
anything. The subtext of this melodramatic scene was effective in communicating to me a message
about power and dynamics which was powerfully presented through the constant immersion during
this scene. The production values involved within this scene reflected the simplistic yet intense
atmosphere introduced by the mise en scene which furthered this scene’s portrayal of the power and
manipulation the antagonist holds within this play.

The third key scene that impacted me was a noticeable display of the friendship between Lettie,
played by Millie Hikasa, and the boy, played by Keir Ogilvy, presented through the use of the ocean
being a liminal space. This dream like world was portrayed through a blue and purple wash to show a
space-like setting where they could float freely. This was effective in serving as juxtaposition to the
previous high intensity scenes as this served as a source of comfort and relaxation for me as well as
the actors. The highly excited, child-like characterisation when being a puppet allowed Millie to
explore the very relevant message of a desire for freedom and escape from the oppressive forces in
life. This particular characterisation stuck with me the most as I found myself resonating with the idea
of using child-like wonder as an escape. The puppet form of Millie stood out due to the magical,
orange lights that followed the ends of her hands and feet as well as her head. The colour of the lights
contrasted the blue wash, showing where the focus is meant to be whilst also showing the importance
of the subtext of being unique and sticking out. These lights then appeared on Keir’s puppet showing
the magic spreading and it made me feel as if it was spread to me too. The ocean was represented
through a long flowing cloth which, due to being seen through, took on the blue and purple colour and
moved around the stage with the puppets to show the movement of them in the water. The wavy cloth
showed a clear embodiment of waves and therefore adding to the soothing feeling of this scene. The
beauty of this imagery was further portrayed through the use of mime as the puppets ‘swam’ around
the stage as well as another production value being used, the crashing of waves which stereotypically
is used as white noise to create a calm, sleepy atmosphere which the play interpreted and reflected
perfectly. I felt a great sense of awe while watching this scene as the use of puppetry was incredibly
smooth and therefore not just entertaining but also mesmerising. The scene’s beauty wasn’t just
surrounding the mise en scene but also caused by the display of their friendship, indicated by their
intimate proxemic and constant reminder of them being equals through the lack of varying levels. This
had the biggest impact on me out of the performance as the trance-like state that was created through
the major use of semiotic for the ocean added a much needed break from the intensity which in turn
caused a momentary shift in my mood from tense and fearful to a calming feeling. This gave me time
to reflect on the performance and the messages that had been conveyed to me. This scene perfectly
showed off some of the key aspects that other practitioners such as complicite try to incorporate into
their productions, mime and puppetry as well as physical theatre and visually rich moments. This
shows the modern day basis to most theatre productions which in turn allow some messages to be
clearly conveyed while leaving a lot of room for self-interpretation. In turn, this shows that not just the
scenes contain powerful means of communication but also showing how theatre itself is a powerful
way of showing communication to the modern day audience.

On the contrary, a few scenes didn’t follow the same structure of: each scene provides a message
which is meant to be interpreted and reflected upon, but instead lacked a clear message and failed to
draw out the action and instead let it fall too early. One scene which particularly stood out to me for
this reason was the dispersion of the hunger birds, in which Old hempstock, played by Pennie
Laydon, entered on stage and instantly wiped out the surrounding birds. While the scene conveyed
clear dramatic intention and was effective in creating a peak for the climax, it lacked in providing a
message that would impact me as the audience. This scene is on of the least memorable scenes as
there had been a long rising action and just as it hit the climactic point of the tension, it instantly fell,
leaving me with a slight distaste towards the scene as it was the final point of high tension within the
play yet it left the form of the following scenes to be slightly fragmented as the falling action was
missing. The dispersion was shown through a brief flash of orange light, the same used during the
ocean puppetry, which caused the hunger birds to screech and cry out in pain before falling to the
floor. The immersion within the scene was maintained through the sudden shift in power dynamic
however it didn’t cause me the same drawn out intensity to my thoughts after the scene as the others
that followed the same form did. The scene was breathtaking with the reveal of the moving set and
the collapse of the forest around them yet it left no time or reason for me to consider what had
happened nor any message to interpret. The first hand experience of the scene I thought contained
many dramatic techniques which I was amazed by, however thinking back to the scene afterwards
was missing the sense of excitement and shock that it had the first time. The scene transitioned into
the slight falling action of Millie’s death meaning it would have been a great opportunity to add in the
starting themes of loss and bereavement however with no message carrying the scene forward, some
of the immersion and emotion was lost from the following scenes. If the statement were to directly
relate to this scene I'd find myself disagreeing as I felt as if the sudden cut-off of action meant that the
powerful ways in which they had been communicating before was lost within this scene.

To conclude, I couldn’t agree with the statement more, as while some scenes within the play lack a
clear message or direction, ultimately there are still a few messages that are carried throughout the
piece using the subtext as well as some overarching themes containing these messages which
actively affected me at all times. The adaptation by Joel Horwood was extremely effective in
conveying everything that Neil Gaiman presented in his novel. Each aspect of the play served a
purpose that was characterised effectively, which resulted in a beautiful and impactful display of
theatre and the powerful ways of communicating to an audience in 2022.