Faces In The Crowd – 10 Questions!
March 9, 2018
AT tutor Bonnie Adair & Graduate Adam Bone, stars of Faces in the Crowd, answer 10 questions about their upcoming play!
1. Tell us a bit about your characters in FITC?
BA: Joanne is a tough northerner, born & bred in Sheffield who’s approaching her 40th birthday and is re-evaluating what she wants in her life. She met Dave when she was young and impressionable and pinned all of her hopes and dreams on him. The play starts at the point that she comes to see Dave after ten years of separation.
AB: Dave is a 44 year old guy, originally from Sheffield. Now living in Shoreditch, he has aspirations of a greater life and has never fulfilled these aspirations . He is understandably not particularly at ease with this.
2. If your characters each had a theme tune, what would it be?
BA: Joanne’s a romantic at heart and favours the old classics, especially The Beatles (her favourite song of theirs is Two Of Us).
AB: Dave- Young and invincible -Feldspa
3. Do you have a favourite line or moment in the play?
BA: There are so many incredible moments – and it changes every time. Joanne has an incredible moment when she talks about what it means to be a woman and the battles that women face and it still feels hugely relevant right now.
AB: There are some great lines in the play and hopefully they are always changing -guess you will only find the answer to this question on the night you come!
4. Can you tell us about the first play you ever performed in?
BA: The first play I remember performing in was Twelfth Night at School when I around 13. We’d all been to see it at The York Theatre Royal and I think several of us wanted to play Olivia. I actually got cast as Maria, the maid, and soon realised just how much fun I could have with the character – I’d love to play her again one day actually, along with Emilia in Othello.
AB: As a child I remember doing ‘A Christmas Carol’ at primary school and loving the feeling of getting dressed up and pretending to be someone else! Remember having soot on my face for some reason and thought that was very authentic!
5. If you spent a day with your character, what would you do together and what do you think they’d make of you?
BA: We’d probably go and see a film together, something funny and we’d smuggle a bottle of wine in so we could enjoy ourselves. I think Joanne would be secretly horrified by my lack of self maintenance, she’s got a kind of pride in her appearance, putting a face on for the world that’s very unlike me. She could be at rock bottom but she’d still have done her nails & put some lippy on.
AB: They would probably think I was too easygoing and lacking ambition! We would probably do something quite dramatic, like go on a jet boat on the Thames or sky diving, something quite full on.
6. What qualities do you admire the most and the least about your character?
BA: I love her tenacity and her loyalty to those she loves. I think the thing that’s difficult about Joanne is her hard edge, she’s been through a lot & it’s given h
er a bitter, cold side. If you got on her wrong side you’d know about it, she certainly doesn’t suffer fools
AB: Like- that he has made steps to improve his life; that he knows how to have a good time. Dislike- his lack of awareness of the repercussions of his actions; his selfishness; his dreams are superficial.
7. What’s been your most memorable theatre experience – either as an audience or cast member?
BA: I saw Debbie Tucker Green’s play Random at The Royal Court and it absolutely blew me away. I couldn’t speak afterwards, it was incredibly moving.
I think my most memorable theatre experience to date was in Time Of My Life at The Tabard Theatre, when I was playing the role of Stephanie. There’s a scene where she’s sat in a restaurant and her husband has just left her but the waiter doesn’t realise so is offering her lots of deserts, which she’s agreeing to because she’s trying to hide the fact that she’s absolutely beside herself in floods of tears. I’ll never forget sitting on stage one night blubbing away & then hearing a woman in the front row exclaim in a loud stage whisper ‘Ooo she’s a good actress.’ The rest of the cast backstage were in hysterics!
AB: As a viewer, certainly seeing Mark Rylance in Twelfth Night was like watching a child play in their playground-amazing! And seeing In a Forest Dark and Deep about 7 years ago was very memorable for the raw energy given by Matthew Fox.
8. Why is the story of FITC important?
BA: I still don’t think working class characters get enough representation, and if they do they’re often secondary roles. Faces In The Crowd puts two working class characters at the centre of the story and examines what happens after the love story? What happens to people when they start to hit their late thirties & forties and realise that their lives haven’t worked out how they wanted or expected?
AB: It’s an everyday tale of 2 very ordinary people, caught up in extraordinary events without any capacity to really deal with them and the consequent painfully real results. It’s something most of us can relate to as we all make mistakes, it’s just that usually the consequences are not quite so difficult to bear!
9. What’s going to surprise people about this show?
BA: I think the rawness of it. The characters really are laid bare with nothing to hide behind & the way that we’ve worked in rehearsal means we’re working from impulse – we don’t know exactly what’s going to happen ourselves so there’ll be surprises all round and every show will be different. AB: Hopefully they will recognise aspects of themselves in it and be surprised at what this means to them!
10. Finally, describe FiTC in three words. BA: Gritty Northern Comedy AB: Dark gritty comedy.
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