Charmaine Gilbert, Once Was Human

Prior to the frantic madness that is the annual and almighty Edinburgh Fringe Festival, a somewhat more downbeat affair took place in the Scottish capital – ‘The Hidden Door Arts & Music Festival’. The thought-provoking stage play Once Was Human (about a soldier’s battle with PTSD) was amongst the highlights. Film-News spoke with producer/designer Charmaine Gilbert about the production.

Film-News:
Charmaine, what prompted you to come up with the idea of staging a play with such a serious topic (a soldier's battle with PTSD)?

Charmaine Gilbert:
The play grew organically from the original Hidden Door theme of ‘regeneration’ and I wanted to investigate what this means in human psychology, having studied this at university. I am deeply fascinated by the way in which the mind can recover after mental trauma and I had personally witnessed this in a close family member who I saw recover from brain injury. However, I wanted to distance myself from my personal life and instead explore an issue that I was not so familiar with. Being quite a pacifist I was initially sceptical about the military in our society. However, I was keen to understand the rationale behind the desire to fight as a soldier: why would someone choose this career path and what are the psychological effects? Since working on ‘Once Was Human’ I have come to appreciate the high level of training that soldiers receive in the army; these men and women have to cope with the most stressful environments imaginable and I really respect the sacrifices they make.

Joel Mason, the director, has taken my initial idea on a personal journey. Having been diagnosed with Parkinson’s a number of years ago; he was keen to explore how people with ‘invisible’ injuries are treated by the rest of society. I think there is a lot of pressure for soldiers to return seamlessly to civilian life after their service and often society doesn’t recognize when something is wrong unless there are physical injuries.

FN:
In your opinion, do you think the general public is made aware enough about PTSD symptoms, or does the media hold back especially in relation to war-inflicted PTSD?

CG:
We’ve come a long way from the attitudes WW1 voiced by poets such as Jessie Pope, where war was seen as a game and all men must play for the winning side no matter the cost.
Today, I am astounded by the visceral quality of the video images that war reporters capture from the front line. Soldiers now carry cameras in the helmet to capture the situation as they experience. So now we at home have a better insight into the risks that service men and women take. Despite all this, the media very rarely reports on the long-term consequences of fighting in war, it mostly shows the overarching political situation and the direct casualties of enemy fire. It is rare to see a story about a soldier, who discharged from duty, is unable to cope with their previous experiences and therefore slip into crime, drug abuse, or even suicide. This does happen, even with the high level of training that the military receives to cope with stressful situations. It is up to us as citizens to understand what people have done in our name and how it causes suffering. Although mainstream media may neglect reporting on PTSD, there are some really good charities including ‘Combat Stress’ and ‘PTSD Resolution’ that offer an amazing range of services from counselling to housing support.

FN:
How did you get to collaborate with writer/director Joel Mason?

CG.
I first worked with Joel on a promotional film for his epic musical about a female pirate. We produced some great scenes including a sword fight on the beach with full period costume. I was so excited to see his musical come to life that I knew I wanted to collaborate with him some day on a project of our own. When I found out about the Hidden Door Festival and the opportunity to stage a theatre play, I conceived the idea of a soldier recovering from PTSD. I asked Joel if he would like to write this play and was delighted when he said yes.

This project has been a wonderful opportunity to collaborate with many creative people I had met over the 10 years of living in Edinburgh. This project also introduced some new artists that I hope to work with again in the future.

FN:
How much say did you have in the casting process?

CG:
In the initial stages we had on board an experienced theatre maker called Karen Douglas who was able to coordinate casting and attract the impressive talent we saw in our show. At this stage I decided to focus on coordinating the technical team including the sound and lighting designers. I believe in the full multi-sensory experience of theatre and I wanted the production to have the highest production values possible. I left my trust in Karen and Joel to pick the right case and didn’t regret that decision.

FN:
You are primarily a stage and props designer, but for 'Once Was Human' you took on - for the first time - the role of the producer as well. How was the experience?

CG:
My role though full was fantastic and varied: I was able to organise everything from rehearsal schedule to the building of the website. I took responsibility for overseeing the character and mood of the sound and lighting and really enjoyed the creative discussions I had with our talented technicians Tom Turner, Matthew Collins and Andrew Connor. Our ‘theatre’ was located inside the vaults under Market Street which was a challenging environment in which to stage a play. A lot of the traditional theatre design theory doesn’t apply to this unorthodox theatre space and I had to revise my designs many times over. It has been very rewarding going through this process; we feel that it has taught us to solve problems creatively and overcome barriers.

FN:
What was the reaction the play received, and did it meet your expectations?

CG:
We received some very positive feedback from the crowd. I was humbled by people coming up and saying how much they enjoyed it. I was a little embarrassed that we reached a full house in both nights and had to turn people away.

I found that the play encouraged a lot of debate and people came up to us to discuss issues we raised from both the discussion of PTSD and our strong visual imagery we had used to depict the horrors of war. I made this play in order to not only educate but to be a spark for discussion and I’m really glad that this turned out to be the case. From an artistic perspective, I was very proud of what we all achieved. We integrated physical theatre, video imagery, puppetry and classical drama into a single narrative with high production values on a tiny budget.

FN:
Will the play be performed again in other venues, or was this just a one-off production?

CG:
This was a passion project for all of us and the passion still exists. We will work hard to garner further funding with the ambition to tour around Scotland. I think there is definitely a niche for this kind of play and I think it would be a good education tool to take into educational institutions as well as veteran’s homes. I’m also planning to use the puppets and video footage that we captured in a kinetic art exhibition.

FN:
What do you think of the theatre and arts scene in Edinburgh in general, outside the Edinburgh Fringe season?

CG:
Edinburgh attracts every type of artist from all over the world for one dazzling month in August for the Edinburgh Fringe. The rest of the calendar is peppered with various festivals. However I have met so many enthusiastic artists who want to make art but are frustrated at the lack of funding for grass-roots art. Where is our sandpit where we can play and try out new ideas? You have to dig quite deep before you find these resources. For example, ‘Discover 21’ is a tiny black box studio theatre that seats 35 people and is dedicated to new writing

‘Hidden Door’ came about as a response to the quiet period in the arts calendar. Festival director David Martin didn’t want to wait for institutions to hand out funding. His brave and proactive DIY approach has given control back to the artists and enabled them to raise enough funds to create their own festival. It was rough round the edges but beautiful and the location within the vaults of Market Street gave it such a mysterious and exciting atmosphere.
FN:
What projects are you working on at the moment, and are there any specific projects you would love to get involved with?

CG:
At the moment I am working as a production designer on an animated music video about a courtesan of Louis XV. In addition, I am about to embark on an intensive scenic arts course run by Scenehouse Edinburgh.

Last year I worked as a design assistant on an interactive theatre project by LASTheatre called Deadinburgh. The premise was that zombies had taken over the city and the only sanitised safe house was Summerhall Arts Centre. I would love to create a similar series of interactive theatre productions for children where they are put in a certain situation, given some information and asked to make a decision. These projects could make children better decision makers and learn to think clearly about pertinent issues of the future such as famine and global warming.

FN:
Many thanks for this insightful interview, Charmaine, and best wishes for your future projects.