Herons

A proposal to produce the play Herons by Simon Stephens in multimedia format

It has been argued, convincingly, that “technological mediation enhances live performance”, it would be interesting therefore to look at a play adaptation and mix film with it, for it is theatre, which is “ the residue of real and authentic culture”. I think Herons, with its brutal depiction of life among those marginalised by society, would work well for such a project. For example, on the stage of Herons I would envisage a large projector screen with the filmed characters walking on and off the screen, almost seamlessly morphing into the live actors. The film parts would be shot on location at the Limehouse Estate, which can “authenticate the fiction”.

The protagonist of Herons is Billy Russell. He lives on the Limehouse Estate on Lee River in East London. The action takes place in the present day. Billy goes fishing for tench to find peace in his endangered and fragmented life. His voice hasn’t even broken yet but his life is full of horrors right from the start of the play. A year before the action begins the dead body of a thirteen -year old girl was fished out of the water after she had been attacked by a gang of vicious youths. Billy’s father witnesses the assault and phones the police which makes Billy a target for Scott Cooper and his cronies- for Scott’s brother is now in jail for the crime. There are cruel tricks and revolting insults at play, Billy is raped and the plot revolves around a vicious murder, with what the Telegraph calls “ the horrible stench of lived experience”. The cruel world that Simon Stephens creates is terrifying yet sentimental. Film may enhance the extraordinarily violent scenes in which Billy finds himself, and the environment in which, more generally, Billy is trapped. The characters are unable to leave the estate; there is a real sense of claustrophobia within the play. The film and stage parts of the production will tell different parts of the...