After seven months at the National Theatre in London, The Ocean at the End of the Lane <\/i>is embarking UK and Ireland tour. Ahead of its regional premiere, at The Lowry in Salford, I talked to the play’s Resident Director, Eleri B. Jones, about returning to Manchester, the joy of theatre, and what a Resident Director does.<\/p>\n
Eleri first trained as an actor at the University of Manchester, but even from a young age, she was involved in amateur dramatics: \u201cI\u2019ve always been involved in theatre,\u201d she tells me. When I ask what prompted her to become a director, she explains how it was more of a process than an instant decision: \u201cI was always on the directing team [in amateur dramatics]. But I think I hadn\u2019t given myself permission.\u201d It was not until people pointed out that she had accidentally started an artists collective that Eleri began to recognise herself as a director.<\/p>\n
Now, until September 2023, she is Resident Director of The Ocean at the End of the Lane<\/i>, based on the book of the same name by Neil Gaiman, which is visiting 29 cities and towns across the UK and Ireland.<\/p>\n
First, to ask what a Resident Director actually does.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m going on tour with the show, maintaining artistic quality, supporting the illusion, puppetry and movement teams. I\u2019m also in charge of understudies.\u201d It seems like a massive job! Ultimately, it is about making sure the show is \u201cembedded in the theatre\u201d, since each theatre has a slightly different space. This is especially challenging since the show is a hugely technical one, using a range of effects to immerse the audience.<\/p>\n
For added difficulty, the actors only arrive in Manchester on the day of the first show. \u201cWe\u2019ll arrive around midday on the Tuesday, do a technical rehearsal, maybe a dress rehearsal, and then we perform on Tuesday evening.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eleri has performed at The Lowry before, but she tells me, \u201cThis is my first time in the main house [the Lyric Theatre].\u201d Although it is a big project, she seems excited to be starting in Manchester and directing in a staple Manchester theatre. \u201cI can\u2019t wait to be back!\u201d<\/p>\n
This first series of shows makes up the previews, and while the tickets are often cheaper, they are no less exciting. \u201cAt this stage, we\u2019re still making adjustments, we\u2019re rehearsing between shows. They\u2019re really unique shows.\u201d An audience that sees one of these first performances may see something never performed quite that way again. But this is true to an extent for all theatre. As Eleri says, \u201cIt\u2019s always a work in progress; it\u2019s what I love about theatre.\u201d<\/p>\n
But back to this piece specifically. What is The Ocean at the End of the Lane<\/i> about? Well, summed up in a few sentences: \u201cIt\u2019s about friendship, about adventure, about growing-up. It\u2019s about learning to overcome the obstacles that life puts in your way. It also has these sci-fi elements.\u201d<\/p>\n
As Resident Director, Eleri is also on the learning team, talking to teachers and young people about the play. But she insists that it\u2019s not just a play for children. \u201cI really believe there\u2019s something for everybody. The play has a relationship with memory. It\u2019s about childhood, but it also has these big technical spectacles!\u201d<\/p>\n
The play is set in Sussex, a setting which begs for a Sussex accent. I ask about the importance of representation of dialects and accents, especially from a theatre such as the National Theatre, where people might expect to mainly hear RP English.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s even more important than ever that people feel involved in the National,\u201d Eleri explains.\u201cEspecially for rural communities, it\u2019s such an important thing to be doing. It\u2019s what makes the theatre national<\/em>.\u201d The commitment to accent shows the range of work the creative team is putting in to make the whole piece feel authentic and truly a piece of fantasy set in Sussex.<\/p>\n Finally, what could follow this tour? Although she has a lot of creative projects in the works, Eleri confides that first, \u201cI think I\u2019m going to go on holiday.\u201d After a nine-month tour and 29 venues, I can only say that I think she will have deserved it!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Ocean at the End of the Lane <\/i>is at The Lowry<\/a> from December 12 until January 8 – the first stop of its UK and Ireland tour<\/a>, which ends in late September 2023.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Eleri B. Jones, a former UoM student and the Resident Director of The Ocean at The End of the Lane, talks to The Mancunion, ahead of the play’s regional premiere at The Lowry<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2240,"featured_media":128132,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[16096,33133,5921,164,27,3795,58,4379,14903,2940,752,33134],"coauthors":[27135],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mancunion.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127618"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mancunion.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mancunion.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mancunion.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2240"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mancunion.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=127618"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/mancunion.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127618\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":128248,"href":"https:\/\/mancunion.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127618\/revisions\/128248"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mancunion.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/128132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mancunion.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=127618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mancunion.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=127618"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mancunion.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=127618"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mancunion.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=127618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}