‘Memoirs of a Biscuit Tin’ was by a small theatre company called Maison Foo, which is a touring theatre and street theatre. The play is set in Mrs Benjamin’s house. The three characters in the play are the Wall, the Chimney and the Floor. They told the story of Mrs Benjamin’s life by using props and costumes. The play wasn’t a serious play; it had quite a lot of humour, with some serious themes like death, dementia and loss. The audience were brought into the house by the door (on wheels) being turned around and Floor asking if we knew Mrs Benjamin and where she had gone. This felt more intimate.
The set for the show was designed to be quite shabby looking and monotone; colour was added through lighting in some scenes. The main items on stage were a door, chimney, microwave, lampshade, plant table and a coat stand. Later in the show the lampshade, plant table and coat stand were used as puppets, the actors put blazers onto them and they became men and they danced with them. I found this part really interesting because they could have used actors but this made it more interesting – the audience had to use their imagination- and it was cheaper. They also used a half a bike in one scene to show Mrs Benjamin rode a bike and the other actor moved props around to show she was moving. After the show I stayed for a question and answer session. I learnt that the set had been thought up of by Maison Foo, they were told to only have props that were needed on stage. A rough drawing was made, but the props were actually produced by a company called ‘Realize Events’.
The costumes for the actors were grey, shabby and were made to represent what each character was. Floor wore a quite baggy costume with a faint pattern on it and some patches in places. Chimney wore grey dress and a shoulder cape; this costume had more dust on it. Wall wore the most interesting costume; she was wearing a dress that looked like she had peeling wall paper, the pattern on this costume was stripy and the dress had different flaps of fabric sewn onto it. I feel the costumes suited the play because they needed to be simple and just hint what they were.
I feel the aesthetics of the play work very well, the set isn’t too much and the costumes are simple. The play made me sad at times with Mrs Benjamin dying and when they showed her life with dementia. There were also parts of the play that made me feel happy, when Mrs Benjamin was younger and life with her husband. The play was in a studio theatre and I think this was the best place for it to be. I was sat quite high up, in the theatre; this was a good place to sit because I could see everything clearly. If the play was in a proscenium arch theatre the front row wouldn’t have been able to see some parts of the show. The play didn’t need to be in a big theatre, I could see it working in a marquee. I would recommend this play to anyone.
I have linked Manifesto to this post because I think it inspired to make the box more for memories, I could add a section to keep some memories in.
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