Bluets
One of the most interesting pieces of theatre I have ever seen. Bluets, currently being presented at the Royal Court Theatre, is an adaption on the book “Bluets”, written by Maggie Nelson. The book is made up of prose and poetry, all talking about the color blue. Or should I say, the obsession with blue.
It’s a story of depression, desire, longing, love and loss. It’s hard to explain how many themes are involved in this piece. And part of the themes in this show is blue. Isn’t that interesting?
From reading the description of this show, I had assumed it was going to be very interpretative. In my head, I thought the set would be bare, with little to no big pieces. I could not have been more wrong.
As soon as I enter the theater, I am puzzled. There is so much going onstage. Three big professional cameras with tripods, all spaced out evenly on stage. Surrounding the camera equipment were tables that were decently sized TVs. There were also other pieces of props. The most obvious was the same bottle of Makers Mark whiskey with a glass cup, and they were stationed the same on each of the three tables. On the same tables was a bunch of blue Knick-knacks. It was the exact same stuff on each table. Behind these tables and cameras, was more stuff. It was chaotic how much stuff was on stage, I couldn’t tell what it was possibly there for.
What also threw me off was the fact that behind all the cluster, it was completely open to the back of the stage. Around 10mins before the show started, I could catch glimpses of the actors just sitting backstage. It appeared there was so no borders or backdrops. The wings of the stage were also open, so much so I could fully see the stage manager.
The biggest piece of scenery though, was the gigantic black screen over the actors on stage. It was so huge, it took up all of the width of the stage and more than half of the height of the proscenium.
I knew I was in for a ride. This was going to be a interesting show,
The story follows someone, who became infatuated and obsessed with the color blue. It also follows the story of her clinging to a toxic ex-partner, and then taking care of a friend who becomes quadriplegic. All while struggling with depression, and desire to be loved. It was so poetic and personal, but philosophical and emotional. I was inside the mind of someone who was slowly loosing touch with reality and themselves.
The way that this was all portrayed sometimes took me out of the words the actors were speaking. The story of all the moments the author was going through, are all portrayed on the huge screen. The cameras in front of the actors were all transmitting live to the screen. But we could see how they were creating those moments, right in front of us. Why did they go this approach? As if a film was coming alive, and we were part of watching the process. This production would have only made sense as a film, so why did they do it like this? Why execute this piece in this way?
Does this count as theatre or some other sort of creative piece? I don’t know. What is theatre? The fact that this production posed this question to me, is quite impactful. It’s challenged me to think outside of the box, in a way no other show has done.
Well that is it for now friends!
Theatre in London U of A 