Acorn is a funny, modern, and feminist take on the true story of Julian of Norwich, an anchoress who committed herself to a life of isolation after surviving the bubonic plague. It is currently being developed through Omnibus Theatre's Engine Room programme.
Acorn was created for the Virtual Collaborators Festival as a short Zoom play called Brick, which became the basis for a live interpretation. When rehearsing the Zoom version, we became interested in the curious way you end up interfacing not with your scene partner but with a projection of them. This seemed like an apt metaphor for the way friendship in isolation is experienced and the disconnect between the two characters. When we staged the live version, we let audiences have that same experience of their bifurcation by butterflying open the scene and having the actors play to their counterpart as if they were standing on the other side of a wall in front rather than to the side of them.
During our R+D at Omnibus, we have further explored what Julian's visions look like and reimagined the aesthetics of the producction, which now draws on female-led metal and early rock music concerts to portray the hardcore, revelatory experience of discovering your purpose.
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Early Feedback:
"It worked just as well in both formats...this is something we’ll see more of"
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Credits
Photographer - Alessandra Davison
Performers - Charlie Blandford, Hannah Rosen