“Our time will come and all the people will come out into the streets with their fists clenched, their arms and voices raised. You have to be listening. And you have to be ready.”
From the seventeenth floor, Raphael watches the city for signs of a revolution, his voice echoing through a homemade radio transmitter to the streets below. He watches. He waits. One day, he disappears. Now, years later, it’s down to Lia and Suz to continue where he left off. But will a revolution ever come if we just wait for it?
“These are the messages. This is the meaning. Be ready. Be listening. And do not be afraid.”
Actor, writer and director Pip Williams plays Watcher One in Boundless Theatre’s new fiction podcast Radio Elusia by Nina Segal.
Based in London and Cambridge, he is also the co-artistic director of his own company We Talk Of Horses, who performed their second show Where Is Ban Ki-moon? in venues across London last year. He has performed with MoCo Theatre and Somna Theatre, and has written and directed work at the Southwark Playhouse. He is a member of the National Youth Theatre and has worked extensively in making theatre with young people.
The Artiscape spoke to him about his role in this performance and the challenges he faces during the covid lockdown.
What inspired you to get involved in this?
Pip: Someone sent me a link to the audition sign-up on Twitter – I’ve always been really interested in audio drama and fiction podcasting, and it’s a scene I’ve wanted to get into for a while, so it seemed like a great opportunity to explore that and see how that sort of thing actually gets made.
I’d heard about Boundless before and I really respected and was interested in their work, so I was keen to get to work with them too.
What are the challenges for you in performing this compared to what you usually do?
Pip: The total lack of physicality – we had four days of rehearsal and it was very odd spending them mostly stood behind music stands and reading off the page, I think we were all used to moving around a bit more!
It means all the dynamism and the energy has to come from the voice, and that was a really useful skill to hone.
I think as well, because I do all the public service announcements in Elusia, it was an interesting challenge trying to strip character out of my voice and sound detached and machine-like, even if what I was saying was quite sinister.
What have you enjoyed about doing this podcast?
Pip: Meeting the rest of the cast, of course, who are the kindest and most talented bunch, we had a really fun time rehearsing together and really supported each other, I think.
It was also lovely to feel like part of a team, an ethos which the guys at Boundless were really good at creating – I don’t play a massive part, for example, but I still really felt like my input was important and like I was playing an active part in the making of this piece.
There was just a very collaborative and friendly vibe in the room, and that’s really lovely to be with for a few days.
What would you like an audience to take from this performance during the time that we are in?
Pip: That communication is important! That we shouldn’t take for granted all the many many ways we have of talking to each other, and that communicating, listening and interacting and engaging, are radical things.
Even if we can’t be with each other physically right now we are lucky to live in a time where there are so many other ways of forming communities and keeping friendships alive.
How does one keep creative during lockdown?
Pip: With great difficulty, apparently! It’s important not to put too much pressure on yourself to be creative- it’s an anxious and uncertain time, and you’re allowed to be anxious and uncertain instead of writing your masterpiece!
Keep chasing the things that make you happy – music and films and books etc – and that are good for your brain. If you’re feeling nourished you’re more likely to be of a mind to make stuff, or to want to engage creatively. But the nourishment comes first, absolutely, and it’s ok if you don’t want to make stuff either. I hear Unorthodox is very good, for example.
Set in the sprawling fictional city of Elusia, Radio Elusia is a new weekly podcast from Boundless Theatre about transmission and revolution.
For more information visit https://boundlesstheatre.org.uk/productions/radio-elusia/.
