to download the learning pack for the house that will not stand

by Marcus Gardley

Background Pack Written by Harry Mackrill

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Background Pack | The House That Will Not Stand | Autumn 2014

Tricycle Creative Learning

The Tricycle’s Creative Learning programme works to develop the imaginations, aspirations and

potential of children and young people in the diverse community of Brent and beyond. Collaborating

with schools and young people, we use theatre, drama and film, to bring unheard young voices into

the mainstream; creating work that engages the emotions and provokes debate. Whether as

audiences, writers, performers or producers of new work at the theatre, young people are at the

Tricycle’s heart.

About this Background Resource Pack

This document is designed to give an insight into the research and rehearsal of the Tricycle’s 2014

production of The House That Will Not Stand by Marcus Gardley, directed by Indhu Rubasingham.

Contents

The Tricycle Theatre Production p3

Character Biographies p4

Background and Context: New Orleans, Free People of Colour. Placées and Voodoo p6

Assistant Director’s rehearsal diary p9

For further information on the inspiration behind the production and what to expect from the story,

please watch:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBaEm61z2tU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-MSYhsP3vs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mGYGaWbQPg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBaEm61z2tU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-MSYhsP3vs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mGYGaWbQPg

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The Tricycle Theatre 2014 Production of

The House That Will Not Stand By Marcus Gardley

The Production opened at the Tricycle Theatre Kilburn, on Friday 17 October 2014.

The Company

Odette Ronke Adekoluejo

Agnes Ayesha Antoine

La Veuve Michele Austin

Beartrice Martina Laird

Makeda Tanya Moodie

Marie Josephine Clare Perkins

Maude Lynn Danusia Samal

Visitor Paul Shelley

Director Indhu Rubasingham

Designer Tom Piper

Lighting Designer Paul Anderson

Composer Paul Englishby

Sound Designer Carolyn Downing

Movement Director Lucy Hinds

Voice Coach Richard Ryder

Casting Director Briony Barnett

Assistant Director Harry Mackrill

Michele Austin, Ronke Adekoluejo, Danusia Samal, Ayesha Antoine, Martina Laird

Photo: Mark Douet

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CHARACTER BIOGRAPHIES

Beartrice Albans

The powerful matriarch of

the Albans household.

Beartrice is the placée (see

p7) of recently-deceased

Lazare, and mother to his

only daughters. She is a

free woman of colour, and

is spoken of as one of the

most powerful in New

Orleans.

Agnes Albans

At nineteen, Agnes is the

eldest daughter of Beartrice and Lazare. Agnes dominates her younger sisters and is determined to

attend the Quadroon Ball in order to become the placée of the wealthy and handsome Ramon le Pip.

She refers throughout the play to her own burgeoning sexuality and, Beartrice refers to Agnes as “all

body”.

Maude-Lynn Albans

The middle daughter of Beartrice and Lazare, Maude-Lynn had

the closest relationship with their father. Playwright Marcus

Gardley took inspiration for Maude-Lynn, a devout Catholic,

from Henriette DeLille, the first black nun in New Orleans.

Maude-Lynn is determined to keep her sisters as holy as she is.

Odette Albans

Odette is the baby of the family, aged fifteen. She is a hopeless

romantic and desperate to find true love. Odette has been

sheltered by Beartrice and has a naivety about the world. Her

journey through the play is one towards self-awareness and

enlightenment.

Marie-Josephine

Beartrice’s younger sister, who has been locked in the house

since she was a young woman, when she was found trying to run off with an African drummer she

met in Congo Square. Marie always tells the truth but people rarely believe her because they think

she is mad.

Ayesha Antoine (Agens(), Danusia Samal(Maude-Lynn), Ronke Adekoluejo (Odette)

Photo: Mark Douet

Clare Perkins (Marie-Josephine)

Photo: Mark Douet

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Makeda Albans

Makeda is a slave belonging to Lazare and

Beartrice (slaves often took the surname of their

owners). She has been part of the household for

many years, and helped raise the three girls.

However, she remains an independent spirit, one

who seeks her own freedom from slavery.

La Veuve

A free woman of colour. La Veuve is Beartrice’s

oldest friend, who nonetheless betrayed her when

she fell in love with Beartrice’s first love Armand.

The two have been rivals ever since. It is La Veuve’s

greatest wish to take Beartrice’s house from her.

Lazare Albans

A wealthy, white fur trader of New Orleans.

Married to a local white woman, but his true love is

Beartrice –who has been his placée for 20 years.

Lazare has died of a heart attack the night before

the play begins, but his body remains onstage

throughout.

Michele Austin (La Veuve)

Photo: Mark Douet

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CONTEXT AND BACKGROUND

The House That Will Not Stand is set in New Orleans in 1836, in the household of Lazare and Beartrice

Albans. They share this house with their three daughters: Agnes, Maude-Lynn and Odette, as well as

Beartrice’s younger sister, Marie-Josephine, and their house slave, Makeda. We meet the family on

the morning following the death of Lazare, with Beartrice demanding that “they go into mourning

for seven months like proper free coloured women.”

To understand the narrative, and the decisions that the characters make, we need to understand the

context of the play; the time and place in which the Albans live. The social constraints of New

Orleans in 1836 have a direct impact on each and every character of the play.

New Orleans

The land on which New Orleans now lies was founded as a French colony in the late17th Century,

and was alternately under French and Spanish rule for the next hundred years. Spanish and French

sensibilities intermingled with African and Caribbean ones, as many Black Creoles and slaves

emigrated from Haiti to New Orleans in response to the Haitian Revolution (1791-1804).

This resulted in a unique fusion of culture, religion and cuisine that still exists today. When America

bought the city from France in 1803, as part of the Louisiana Purchase, New Orleans became part of

the United States. Through this, America obtained a thriving and culturally distinct port town, with

free passage to the Mississippi River.

As an important port with a large population, New Orleans played a key role in both the Atlantic and

domestic slave trade in the late 18th and early 19th Centuries. Two-thirds of the slaves brought to the

Deep South arrived via forced

migration through the internal

slave trade; where free people

of colour were taken from their

homes and forced into slavery.

Despite its role in the slave

trade, New Orleans also had the

highest population in the

country of free people of colour

at the time; individuals who

were often educated and

middle-class property owners.

During the first half of the 19th

Century, New Orleans became

the wealthiest city in America,

due to the profit it made from

the slave trade.

New Orleans’ French Quarter in the early 19th

Century

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Free People of Colour

Despite the slave market, New Orleans had a thriving black community, known as free people of

colour. When French settlers and traders first arrived in the colony, the men took Native American

women as their concubines or common-law wives, and when African slaves were later imported to

the colony, they took African women as wives. Thus a Créole population began and grew in New

Orleans – these were the free people of colour.

Free people of colour developed as a separate class with

a status between the colonial French and Spanish and

the enslaved black African workers. They often obtained

an education and achieved some measure of wealth,

spoke French and practiced Catholicism. At one time the

centre of their residential community was the French

Quarter. Many owned property and their own businesses.

They formed a social category distinct from both whites

and slaves.

Plaçage

Many Créole women engaged in a form of common law

marriage, known as plaçage, with white European men

during the early 19th Century. With European men

outnumbering women, the male colonists took free

women of colour as mistresses. By the early 18th century

the plaçage system was developed to define the legal

ramifications of these relationships, including inheritance

of property and rights of the offspring. A white man was

entitled to have a white wife and still engage in the legal system of plaçage.

The most common way for a white man to find and secure a

placée was through the convention of dances, known as

Quadroon Balls. These Balls were designed to encourage liaisons

between mixed-race women and wealthy white men through

plaçage. Usually a masked event, they happened as often as once a

week and were populated solely by white men and Creole women.

Voodoo

Voodoo was brought to the French colony Louisiana from Africa,

and from the Haitian exiles after the Haitian revolution. From

1719 to 1731, the majority of African Captives were brought

directly from what is now Benin, West Africa. They took with them

their cultural practices, language, and religious beliefs, rooted in

spirit and ancestor worship. Their knowledge of herbs, poisons,

and the ritual creation of charms and amulets, intended to protect

Placées in New Orleans

Voodoo Practitioner Marie Laveau

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:MarieLaveau_(Frank_Schneider).png

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oneself (or harm others), became key elements of Louisiana Voodoo.

European and African religion and custom entwined in the late 17th and early 18th Centuries and as

a direct consequence, Catholicism became a valued part of the Voodoo tradition. The core beliefs of

Louisiana Voodoo include the recognition of one God who does not interfere in people's daily lives,

in addition to spirits that preside over daily life. Spiritual forces, which can be kind or mischievous,

shape daily life and intercede in the lives of their followers.

One of the most renowned Voodoo practitioners of the 19th Century was Marie Laveau. Marie was

the illegitimate daughter of a rich Creole plantation owner, Charles Laveaux, and his mistress

Marguerite. Both she and her daughter, also named Marie, had a large following in New Orleans, and

her practice is still remembered today.

Definitions and Further Information

Domestic slave trade: The forced transportation and enslavement of free people of colour

across State lines in America, predominantly to work in cotton fields

in the Southern States.

Atlantic slave trade: The forced transportation and enslavement of West and Central

African people across the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas between

the 16th and 19th Centuries.

Haitian Revolution: A slave uprising in the French Colony of Saint-Domingue, which

culminated in the elimination of slavery there, and the formation of

the Republic of Haiti.

The Louisiana Purchase: A land deal in 1803, in which America bought around 827,000 miles

of land (much of what are now the central states of the USA,

including Louisiana in the South) from France for around $15 million

dollars.

Créole: A term that means ‘native born’. In Louisiana, Créole people are

those born in America who are of African and either French or

Spanish descent.

Plaçage: A recognised system in French and Spanish colonies of America

where white European men entered into extra-marital common-law

marriages with women of African, Native American or mixed-race

descent. The term comes from the French placer meaning "to place

with".

Common-law marriage: A marriage considered valid by both partners, but not formally

registered with any state or church registry. Depending on the

period in history, and local laws, these marriages may carry the same

rights and obligations as traditional ceremonial marriages.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint-Domingue

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ASSISTANT DIRECTOR’S REHEARSAL DIARY

Pre-production:

The work that leads up to the production of a play begins long before the first day in the rehearsal

room. The House That Will Not Stand has been part of the consciousness here at the Tricycle Theatre

since it was sent to us a year ago. Once a play has been programmed, the creative team is

assembled, the process of designing the production begins and the actors are cast.

As often happens with new plays, there was also additional work on the script. The House That Will Not

Stand has previously been produced in America, but Marcus still felt the play had the potential for

further development. He and Indhu therefore spent the year discussing elements of the narrative

and how it could be developed. Once Marcus had a draft he felt happy with, we assembled the cast a

month before rehearsals started, to hear the play aloud for the first time. This would usually happen

on the first day of rehearsals, but giving the play an additional reading allowed Marcus and Indhu to

hear the elements that had worked and identify those parts of the story that still needed

development.

Week One:

The meet and greet (where the company come

together with theatre staff for the first time) of

the first Monday of rehearsals is a calmer event

than usual, due to the workshop in the summer.

Each face feels familiar and there is a real

excitement from everyone. During the morning

session we read the play aloud and then Indhu

hands over to Marcus who explains his inspiration

for The House.... He tells us that, for the

characters, “language is their most important

weapon. They relish their own wit. The language

is in contrast with their bodies – especially when

constrained by corsets.”

The play is imbued with the socio-political

landscape of New Orleans in the 19th Century,

and during the first week the company share

pieces of research in order to understand the

history behind the text and the world the

characters inhabit. Marcus discusses race in New

Orleans under French and Spanish rule and

explains the status of the free people of colour.

We also learn about the system of plaçage, and

how important it is to the lives of Beartrice and her three daughters. To become a white man’s placée

was one of the only ways of securing a stable position in society. In addition to this, we also talk

about the slave trade (both the Atlantic and the domestic slave trades) and the Louisiana Purchase.

Michele Austin

Photo: Mark Douet

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All of these factors have a direct effect on each character, and for the actors to play their parts with

authenticity they need a deep level of understanding of these influences.

The Créole culture of New Orleans has elements of the French and Spanish languages, so we spend

much the first week perfecting the pronunciation of certain French words – and of names!

Week Two:

After the necessary table work of Week One, it is exciting to get the play on its feet and start to

inhabit the Albans’ home. We discuss the architecture of the house and the differences between the

size and shape of the rehearsal room, and the stage, once it is filled by Tom Piper’s set design. We

then have the first movement session with our Movement Director, Lucy Hind. This session focuses

on the wearing of corsets and use of fans. As Lucy tells us, the fans and corsets were seen as “an

extension of one’s self” – and Tom contextualises this for us by saying that we should think of the fan

as the equivalent of a mobile phone: never far from reach!

Movement during the turn of the

19th Century was incredibly

mannered. All people, especially

women, were taught ‘correct’

ways to sit, stand and walk, and

we therefore work towards

making this consistent for all

members of the cast. Posture is

upright and walking is slow and

restrained – which, as Marcus

told us last week, is in direct

contrast to the lines the

characters are speaking.

Lucy then works separately with

Clare, who plays Marie Josephine

– Beartrice’s younger sister. Marie has a pivotal moment in the play when she dances to the

bamboulas (the drums played by her lost lover). During the early 19th Century, the playing of the

drum was banned by the ruling white population – and the only place it was allowed to be heard in

New Orleans was in Congo Square. Clare and Lucy work together, using footage from the internet

and then combining their own ideas to create a fluid, seemingly improvised, dance. The dance

expresses the freedom that the women so urgently need, and is a wonderful contrast to the

restrained waltz during Act One.

In conjunction with this work, the foundation for the production, Marcus is constantly watching

rehearsals and rewriting the moments where he and Indhu feel the narrative could be more clearly

told.

Danusia Samal and Clare Perkins

Photo: Mark Douet

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Week Three:

After the initial discoveries

of the first fortnight we start

to add detail to each scene

and character. Each

element of the play is

starting to come together

to create a unified whole. A

perfect example happens

on Tuesday when we have

both Paul Englishby, our

composer, and Darren Lang,

the illusion consultant,

come in and work with the

cast.

Paul has written the music to the lyrics Marcus wrote into the script, and spends an afternoon

teaching the cast the initial parts of the songs. It is interesting to hear the many different styles and

sounds that come through, illuminating how culturally diverse New Orleans was (and remains to this

day). The three daughters are taught traditional Latin hymns, whilst Tanya – who plays Makeda –

learns the spiritual “Jordan River”. We also hear the music for the waltz – and start to discuss how the

rhythm of the bamboulas will be used during Marie Josephi ne’s dance.

We then turn our thoughts to magic! Darren teaches Clare

a slight of hand trick to inform her line, “but I have six

cents...” and we explore multiple possibilities of how

Lazare’s ghost can ‘appear’. Darren has brought an

‘invisibility cloak’ in for Paul Shelley (Lazare) to try on. In

reality, this is a large black cloak with a thin line of thread

attached to a hood – Paul will walk onto the stage during

a black-out, covered by the cloak, and the audience will

not be able to see him. When given the cue, our assistant

stage manager, Imogen, will pull the thread off stage and

Paul will appear, as if by magic!

Week Four:

Our fourth week begins with a visit from Crispin, an expert

on voodoo. He comes in to talk to us about the nature of

voodoo ritual, to help us to understand the scene at the

top of Act Two. It is important to all of us that we

represent voodoo authentically and respectfully – the

audience must come with us on the journey through the

scene.

Ronke Adekoluejo

Photo credit: Mark Douet

Martina Laird

Photo: Mark Douet

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Crispin tells us a great deal about the history of voodoo, as well as the current practices. There are

many different forms of voodoo across of the world, and New Orleans has very a particular practice

that Marcus is familiar with. We link these two thoughts together and Marcus comes in the following

day with a rewritten version of the opening of Act Two, which incorporates everything that we learnt

from Crispin. It is exciting to hear the new scene for the first time, and through changes (and a

clarification of the ritual) the scene gains greater dramatic purpose.

Towards the end of the week we are joined by our fight director, Kevin McCurdy. The challenge of

stage fighting is that it must remain safe at all times while seeming viscerally real for the audience.

Kevin is very clear in his direction and soon the fights are both safe to play and terrifying to watch!

We continue to work through the play and end the week with a run. This allows Indhu to chart the

arch of the narrative, and for each actor to understand their own character’s journey when we piece

the whole together.

Week Five:

The usual rehearsal period for a play at the Tricycle would

be four weeks, but fortunately for us we have a luxurious

extra week in the rehearsal room. This allows us to focus

even further on the detail of the play and continue to

grow and develop in a safe environment. Indhu utilises

the extra time we have by running the play three times

over the course of the week. This allows the company to

understand the rhythm of the piece, both when they are

on and off stage.

We are joined by members of our creative team: sound

designer Carolyn Downing and lighting designer Paul

Anderson. They both sit and watch the runs to formulate

their ideas for the design. Sound and Lighting Designers

have to navigate between the requirements of the play

and the practicality of the space and budget. By watching

the play in the rehearsal room, they can start to clarify

their own artistic vision but also begin to problem solve

before the technical rehearsal begins in the theatre.

After our final run on Friday afternoon, we say goodbye to the rehearsal room. It has been a time of

real creativity, and there has been much laughter both on and off stage! However, it feels time to

take the production to the next stage of its life, and it is exciting to be heading into the theatre and

allowing the work of the creative team to be realised.

Tech Week:

As we begin tech week, we see the Albans’ house for the first time. Tom Piper’s set is magnificent,

and it is great to see such a sweeping staircase in the Tricycle! As with all technical rehearsals, the

Tanya Moodie

Photo: Mark Douet

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week is a slow process, where each designer watches individual scenes then works to build up

lighting and sound cues as required. It takes patience, but before our eyes (and ears!) New Orleans

starts to appear.

After three long days we end with a dress rehearsal. It is the first time the cast have performed the

play in its entirety since last Friday, and the next time we tell this story it will be in front of the final

piece of the puzzle: the audience. As Indhu tells the cast, “this is the beginning of the next stage – it

is about finding out what this story is with an audience.”

Throughout the following week the creative team will watch each preview, learning what works and

what doesn’t in front of an audience. We listen to how the audience react to a story they are

witnessing for the first time, and make sure the play is as clear as it can be without sacrificing the

complexity of Marcus’ story.

This is the final step in our journey for the play. Now it is up to the cast and stage management,

along with each new audience, to continue to tell the story of the Albans over the course of the run.

It’s an exciting time – and as they say in New Orleans, “let the good times roll!”

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