Sue Pam-Grant brings all of her formidable talents to the fore in the The Something Prince, writes Diane de Beer
“The Self Portrait – the study of self. The Artist’s most intimate theme – HERSELF. It is in the complex view inwards – the gaze that penetrates back beyond the frame, that allows the viewer to see the lines, the lineage, the history, the cellular patterning, the memory, the mark, the scar… the trace, left by time. It is that ‘introspective view’ that reflects and mirrors the gaze, of the viewer looking in.” – Sue Pam-Grant, 2015
Starting with artist/writer/director Sue Pam-Grant’s mission statement of her latest work The Something Prince, and watching a rehearsal, it’s clear that this is the most immersive work she has produced as she pulls together both her acting and her artist self.
William Kentridge, who has worked with her, calls it a “talking, walking sculpture”.
“It is the first time I have completely merged my artistic worlds,” she concedes about this performance that opens at the Barney Simon Theatre on July 8.
And that’s what it feels like when watching a rehearsal in its early days. It’s like sitting inside a painting that’s emerging from an artist’s soul. It’s the process that’s unfolding, says Pam-Grant and watching her conducting her three actors – Leila Henriques, David Butler and Dorothy Ann Gould – it is picking these particular actors that’s as exciting as the work unfolding in what seems a sacred space.
Butler, who has been working solo for the past few years, couldn’t contain his excitement about being asked to join a cast.
“I last worked with other actors more than five years ago,” says the actor who these past few years has captured imaginations with his Herman Charles Bosman interpretations.
A remarkable actress, Henriques hasn’t been on stage for a while and Gould is one of the best on stage today.
The Something Prince is about a mother/ son bond, forbidden love and collective loss as the play unpicks and unpacks the age-old relationship in its never-ending complexity.
The actors are cast as a “stuck artist” and two therapists. “I knew I wanted Leila,” says Pam-Grant about her choice as she explains their studying together many, many years ago as well as a life-long friendship and an understanding between two women. That’s why she plays the “stuck artist”.
Telling the story through meetings between psychologists and artists, Pam-Grant is aware of every rhythm, every beat. The set is an empty swimming pool with the only sculptural element a diving board which the artist used years back, yet knew then she would use again.
“It’s a very written text,” she explains, but as is so often the case with this artist who is painstaking in her approach, “every single word counts”. She sits watching her actors intently as they go through the scenes talking to them about the text, where their heads are at and choreographing the piece as the three actors move as if in a complicated dance.
Gould notes that it’s glorious to be handed all these inner thoughts on the text with the choreography.
“Previously I have been choreographed without any insight,” which meant that she was left almost dangling with only the moves and no emotional centre.
There’s no chance of Pam-Grant not dunking her actors all the way in the emotions she’s exploring with this work which for the first time features her artwork in a play.
“It’s amazing seeing my work in the work,” says the artist. Her paintings are a magnificent backdrop but also tell a story that holds the emotions unfolding on stage. All of these are closely intertwined as the story is unravelled and revealed slowly as if in a dance.
“It’s the first time I’ve written in verse,” she says as Gould looks way yonder while in a poetically charged moment watches from a window upstairs. “It is about these microscopic moments, exploring the daily domestic minutiae of life alongside the larger poignant themes of our contemporary life’s cycle.”
It’s as if the players are in her head and scratching around, which is the intention. Pam-Grant is used to revealing her inner world in a way that makes sense of her life. Watching and participating as audience in this unpicking and stripping down is quite extraordinary, because she has found a universal way of telling very personal stories. Those in the room all feel as if she’s stepped into our heads and hearts.
Watching her work, she’s listening to every word, her words, laughing, agonising and asking an actor not to trip through a line but to give it emotional weight. It’s the focus, the emotional integrity and, more than anything, the artistry that is so compelling.
When speaking about this work, she gave a burst of laughter thinking of one of Pam-Grant’s earliest works Take the Floor, which had the whole Joburg audience dancing.
She’s that kind of girl and if you allow her to take you on her specific trip, it will touch and expand your mind. “The play is a subliminal inquisition into the ‘Human Condition’,” and if that all sounds too academic, she can be that too but she never turns too far from the heart.
“Even the artist’s most personal view, as personal as it is, if it is authenticated, it will be reflected back to the audience.”
Fine art or acting, they’re all a part of Pam-Grant’s way of telling stories. This time she’s contracted all her power into one pool.
• The season runs from July 8 to August 2 at the Market’s Barney Simon Theatre. Performance times: Tuesdays to Saturdays at 8.15pm and Sundays at 3.15pm.