British actress Kate Pendry said she had to create her own works when the theatric and film industry weren’t offering her roles.
The Norway-based actress, who alongside her Norwegian creative partner, Audun Aschim, performed Cripplewolf a modern adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s Little Eyolf, at the Brazilian Embassy Amphitheatre in Abuja, said despite her classical, Shakespearian theatre background, she had found herself jobless and irritated.
“No one would give me work. I wasn’t ugly enough to be interesting. I wasn’t pretty enough. That’s how the acting world works. I understand it’s the same thing here in the Nigerian film industry. So, I was forced, thank God, to create my own work.”
Pendry channeled that anger and irritation, into writing social, politically charged works addressing current events and cleverly wrapped in humour. These include: The Rest Is Silence in collaboration with choreographer Hege Haagenruud, Sex In The War Zone, Corona Chronicles (2022/21) and Erasmus Tyrannus Rex (2010), which won the Henrik Ibsen award.
It was while creating works of her own, works that drive to the core of issues, that she met Aschim, in December 2016, who was then studying his Masters at the Norwegian Music High School and College of Music. When Aschim her collaboration in a big band production he was working on, Kate came up with a piece titled Ode To A Mad King, which focused on then US President, Donald Trump’s rise to political power (in November 2016).
For both Pendry and Aschim, their connection was natural. Although coming from varied backgrounds of Shakespearean theatre, and Nordic heavy metal band, their shared love of dramaturgy, music, improvisation and risk-taking – helped them find “an intersection between their artforms where the epicenter of future work hinges”.
Unlike other artistes, the duo sees dramaturgy beyond just a form, rather multidimensional, thus impacting the choices they make towards realizing dramaturgy of every work they create.
“We felt the same about wanting to break boundaries but maintaining realness, and not being afraid of taking risks. So, when one person takes a risk, the other jumps in behind. At rehearsals, we are just recording, then, we improvise with something with natural dramaturgy, structure, and all the different layers. By doing this several times, working together just got better and broadened. And every time we set a structure, and we go in together, we say, “let’s break them”, and we do, and its even better than before. It’s like a sixth sense creating together as collaborators, and neither of us have had that with other artistes,” said Aschim.
Speaking on the risks they took with the production Cripplewolf, Pendry said its about checking-in with her co-creator to avoid a devolution of playing different characters becoming ridiculous; the use of sonically and textural interpretation in adaptation, and the use of curse words.
As Pendry said, it can be quite egotistic of an actor to play all characters in a play. And changing characters just by changing voices can quickly become “a silly old woman doing voices. It is a risk. If I don’t work my ass off to make it work. I keep asking my colleague ‘do I need to do something?”
“We have an interpretation sonically and texturally, because I have rewritten the text and honed in on a very specific way of looking at this play. That is very controversial.” Pendry believes Ibsen was a feminist, and so adapted the work from a feminist point of view, of a woman Rita who lacks motherly instinct. “I know Ibsen was a great feminist. I think he is giving us a message here – not necessarily a happy note. It is a controversial one.
The final risk they took with the production is the use of curse words to reflect the grotesque emotions of the modern adaptation.
“I use the ‘f’ and ‘s’ words, but took out the ‘c’ word, though it was there at one point. This is art. We shouldn’t just have nice, safe work. But it is a risk to use that kind of language. I also thought if the character is allowed to speak in modern language, what would she say? And if Ibsen was writing now, how would he use those words. I know he would use those words,” said Pendry.
Pendry advised young Nigerian artistes not to despair when jobs are not forthcoming. But create their own works that cut to the core issues/emotion. “Create your own works. In creating your own works, you not only get to star, but create works that you are passionate about. It also opens doors to bigger opportunities. You never know who is watching,” said Pendry, who was recently approached to star in a film production involving American actor, Rober de Niro. The movie was delayed owing to COVID 19 onset.
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