Manon/Sandra premiers tonight. I just got back from the dress rehearsal with Jamie Webb, Clara Strandhoj, Laura Batey and Johannes Ruhkstuhl. Stealing the snippet about the play from Camdram:
“She touched me all over, just like I’d touched the body of Our Lord.”
Manon needs God to speak to her. Sandra needs to fuck somebody.
This fearless and passionate play touches on the lives of two women obsessed. Manon is chaste, lonely and desperate for divine release. Sandra is a transvestite, driven by a primal desire for sexual gratification that drifts into religious ecstasy.
Each untouched, their stories intertwine. One can’t stop touching her wine red rosary beads, the other wants to paint on her lover’s body with green lipstick. Both are outcasts. Both are frantic. Both want to feel someone else’s skin against theirs.
Translated from Québécois French by John Van Burek, this play is a snapshot of passion and desperation, in the form of interweaving monologues. Welcome to the stage the sacred and the damned.
Here are the photos from the dress rehearsal. Enjoy! A link to the ticket booking webpage is at the bottom of this post.
I arrived a bit early for the show, and Johannes Ruckstuhl walked me through the lighting setup for the scenes from the control room.Director Laura Batey helping Jamie Webb to apply make-up and with plucking his eyebrows.Prayer beads, and nothing else…Do not forget your Hail Marys each day.A bit of warm-up dancing before the dress rehearsal starts.Jamie shaved for the role. Laura is pleased.
The dress rehearsal starts.
Jamie’s side is brightly lit from front and side, so I side step to get some shadows on him.There is a mirror on stage, which makes for a great photo opportunity. I was trying to will him to take one step closer to get a more compact composition. Need to work on my telepathy and/or mind control skills.Clara’s side of the stage is not as well lit, and on top of that she is wearing all black. This makes it tricky to define her shape, and the orthodox clothing does not help either.Jamie on his side is now applying some form of body paint.Since the movements on stage were quite restricted I was able to jump up on stage and shoot this photo from behind.Clara having a heart to heart with a too absent God, wondering if he has found a fresher soul and forgotten about hers.Clara, give me a few quotes to put here!She is not happy with God.Not happy at all!Despair. Here during this scene I was stepping backwards while shooting, adding more and more black space around Clara.Jamie on his side is also having some darker moments.I like that the mirror gives us two angles of Jamie.Normally I just ignore the exit sign and photoshop it out, but here I was trying to incorporate it into the photo.One of the sex scenes that the play walks us through.I like the simple composition in this photo. When there is less movement on stage, I have more time to plan my shots and move into position.During Jamie’s monologue Clara has been lying still on the ground on her side. I am shooting from a low position to see it from her angle.More God-dispair. I am trying to keep the statue of Mary in the photos whenever I can.The black dress disappears into the black background.As the play progresses the two stories start to intervene more and more, and I am trying to capture both Clara and Jamie in the same shot.More doubt and darkness. Again I am shooting from the side, as head on would give me a very flat lighting.I am on the far right of the stage. Clara has a static pose during Jamie’s monologue, and I am shooting frame after frame, trying to create an interesting composition. Then Jamie takes this pose, and I am happy.Here I am starting to get even more ambitious, and try and get Jamie, Clara and the statue in the same frame.A Jesus-gasm? Jamie has just talked about his feelings for the pious Clara who he never dared to approach.Here I chose to do the photo in black and white to make the statue in the background stand out more.Regret?It is not easy being Manon.Jamie walks over to Clara’s side of the stage, and I try and line up them and the statue as Clara is reenacting one of Manon’s holy moments...
The play runs Wednesday to Saturday this week at the ADC Theatre. You can find your ticket on the ADC webpage. The Varsity review gave the Manon/Sandra a well deserved 4.5 stars.
If you want to see more photos of Jamie and Clara, then check out the blog post about our previous photo shoot.
This is the 200th blog post. Small celebratory dance!
– Johannes
Cast
Manon – Clara Strandhoj
Sandra – Jamie Webb
Production Team
Director – Laura Batey
Producer – Johannes Ruckstuhl
Photography – Johannes Hjorth
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