In two weeks from now I start rehearsing the first of two plays to be performed in The Jellyfish Theatre. Oikos by Simon Wu. Oikos takes its title form the project and is Simon’s first play for The Red Room.
I first met Simon two years ago. In our early conversations we talked about his experiences growing up in a house on stilts above the water in Hong Kong. Being from London I though this was a magical thing. However the stilt houses, now demolished, were created because of overpopulation and poverty. Similar to the ones featured in the BBC documentary Welcome to Lagos. In a sense this was a reminder that although our plays are dealing with a possible future, the present, (with the “Big Three” issues converging, namely: over population, finite resources, and a rise in world temperatures) is where action needs to be taken.
Perhaps this is why Simon has chosen to focus his play around our obsession with consumerism and the need to shore ourselves up against harm through material possessions. In Oikos he asks the question what will it take to find another way?
The exciting challenge I have with Oikos is to create a space that represents a beautiful house in Chiswick which can also be flooded with real water; in a building more like the stilt houses of Simon’s youth than any modern theatre today. It’s a daunting challenge that we hope to make theatrically exciting.
The great thing is that we have almost all our actors. Despite the ambitious themes it’s a small company just three actors, and we are very nearly fully cast.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday this week ( 21st July) we are having a workshop for Protozoa our second play, written by Kay Adshead. Tickets for both plays are on sale now. It’s worth seeing them both as Simon’s is set about five years from now at the beginning of the floods and Kay’s is set in 2020 in a period after the floods.
Kay has written for The Red Room before. Her play Bogus Woman won a Fringe First and I am really excited that she is collaborating on The Oikos Project. Kay writes with passion and commitment. Protozoa pulls no punches, it really must be seen.
