Jam
Set in the classroom of a secondary school in Dorset, Jam follows the story of a teacher and her ex-pupil as they reconcile an event from ten years ago that has fundamentally shaped their lives ever since.
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For me, the play bears some similarities to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, which begins with a quotation from Paradise Lost:
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Did I request thee, Maker, from my Clay
To mould me Man, did I sollicite thee
From darkness to promote me?
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So I was very influenced from the off by the idea of clay – or materials that were otherwise used to create and shape. This developed into a want to show the characters leaving marks on one another, and highlight the messiness of this confrontation.
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It's a play that feels like molten tar bubbling away under the surface of the characters' psyches, waiting to erupt out. Jam also bears some resemblances to the claustrophobia and intensity of a cage fight, so we've tried to create a world that feels like a crucible in which the characters' worst selves can be exposed. These impressions of the tone have informed not just the visual design but the textures used to create our sound world, which scores most of the play.