Tmesis Theatre’s SealSkin comes to Salford on January 16th at The Lowry.
Elinor Randle, artistic director and co-founder of Tmesis Theatre, paused during rehearsals of another performance, which she described as “a bit bonkers”- seagulls performing swan lake – to speak with MM about the show.
The production tells a story of the mythical Selkies. On the full moon Selkies are said to appear from the sea, peeling away their seal skin and becoming human for the night, where they dance in the moonlight.
One night a local fisherman steals one of their skins and SealSkin explores the consequences through physicality, projection design and live music from duo Me and Deboe.
Described by Arts City Liverpool as “absolutely enchanting” the production was born last summer, where it showed for the first time in July at The Liverpool Everyman.
The piece has evolved in some ways since then, Elinor explained: “the beauty of keeping something going for such a long time is the performers so inhabit it now, it’s so embedded.
“When we first performed it I felt it was the best it could ever be, but it just keeps getting better.”
As the piece travels to The Lowry, Elinor is enthusiastic about performing in a new space: “It’s really exciting. With the feeling of the space and the audience, it’s always a bit different but it will be great.”
The show can be packed away into one suitcase – with all the technical production, lighting and live music the majority of the stage set can be boiled down to one large piece of translucent white fabric.
In fact, the projections and lighting is so high tech that the technical team need two full days to set up the production.
Alongside the magical story-telling by the actors, the piece is accompanied by musical duo Me and Deboe.
With this production Elinor knew she wanted live music, from a band which was fairly local and established. Which is where Me and Deboe came in.
When Elinor met the musicians she knew they would work well together: “The music is amazing and they are absolutely great. To have the music live as well is just really great.”
The bones of the story had been established before then, but the duo were involved early on in the research and development.
Working with the artists the music enhances the art of the performance. The music performed live by Me and Deboe works not just alongside the performers but with them, filling in moments in the story and adding to the mystery.
When describing her favourite scene Elinor was effusive: “There’s a weirdly beautiful moment.
“The selkie and the fisherman start having a sort of relationship. It’s a bit of a Stockholm syndrome situation or not, depending on how you interpret it.
“But you forget everything that surrounds what happens because of how beautiful the moment is of the song and the performance that goes alongside it.”
The performers, who were also heavily involved in the research and development of SealSkin, have influenced the piece.
A large part of SealSkin was developed in Portugal, where one of the cast members lived, in a rural village which Elinor described as “like travelling back in time”.
“It’s still very by the rules, very religious,” she said.
Elinor explained how this had an impact on the characters in the piece: “Actually, in the show, which isn’t set in any particular place or time, the villagers are much more bizarre than the selkies.
“The selkies seem strange, but people are stranger. Everybody is influenced by how their lives have been affected. People are just ridiculous at the end of the day, aren’t we?”
The quirky characters serve to add moments of levity in the performance amongst the secrecy and betrayal between the fisherman and the selkie whose skin he steals.
You can watch the tale unravel at The Lowry in Salford on the 15th and 16th of January. Elinor described the show as a really captivating story about these mythical creatures: “It’s very dramatic and uses lots of visuals to evoke the feelings and plot.”
All photos by Alan Blundell
