Theatres are still shut, but that doesn’t mean that theatre can’t continue. Following on from the phenomenal success of Sunset Boulevard at Home live stream over Christmas and New Year, Curve Theatre decided to produce a showing of The Color Purple. Originally performed at Curve in 2019, the original cast and director Tinuke Craig were brought back for this special live stream.
Evolving the production on from Sunset Boulevard into a production more in keeping with the style and aesthetic of The Color Purple was the first challenge. We worked with Tinuke, and decided for the cameras to not be as intrusive within the story as the cameras were in Sunset Boulevard – as the meta comparison of having cameras and lights in shot for Sunset Boulevard worked for that story, but wouldn’t for The Color Purple.
Staging the production worked in a much different way to Sunset, with the production being contained within the round, rather than sprawling across the entire theatre. This made the production much more intimate, enclosing the stage with Ben Cracknell’s amazing lighting design the entire production felt special and dynamic. Jordan worked with Nikolai and Tinuke to work out camera positions and staging to best capture the beautiful performances.
Additional to Duncan on camera, we had a large team of freelancers including Francesca Costa and Migle Cimzaite on cameras, Dan Hunt operating a crane and Mbili Munthali on the gimbal. Dan retained the same role as he had for Sunset Boulevard and assisted the entire camera department throughout the production and took on the role of producer for the project – liaising directly with the theatre and ensuring all kit is ready for the production.
Covid safety was paramount, and as well as daily health declarations and temperature checks, the whole company adhered to social distancing measures, face coverings and multiple covid tests whilst on site.
The final product was shot ‘as live’ – we had two attempts at the production and we chose just one to take forward into the edit. The tight turnaround on the project gave us just 4 days to complete the edit before it was streamed out for the opening night.
We were really thrilled with the feedback we received from audience members and the press, with multiple 4 and 5 star reviews from national press.
It was an absolute honour to work with such an amazing group of talented people to tell Alice Walker’s poignant story about her grandma’s life, and we would like to thank Nikolai, Chris and everyone at Curve for trusting us in helping tell this beautiful story.
Photos courtesy of Natasha James
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