Guest Blog: Susannah van den Berg On All-Female Gang Musical ORANGES & ELEPHANTS
By: Marianka Swain Jan. 22, 2018
Oranges and Elephants is a new musical written by Lil Warren with original songs and music by Jo Collins. It features an all-female cast directed by Susie McKenna. Set within a framework of a Victorian Music Hall (which is extremely apt in Hoxton Hall), we tell the age old tale of the yawning divide between rich and poor, focusing on what women in particular have to do to survive.
The show is about two Victorian female gangs: The Elephants (a traditional Irish gang) from Walworth Road and the Oranges (a gang with Jewish roots) from Bethnal Green. I play the role of The Chair, who is based on the traditional Music Hall Chairman. I'm a narrator, a Master (or Mistress) of Ceremonies, a time traveller. Essentially, I'm able to make social commentary about the story, connect directly with the audience, and have an awful lot of fun along the way.
I was mainly attracted to the show because of that strong element of music hall. It's a style I absolutely adore and one that I really relish as a performer. I love the traditions, the strong, clear storytelling, and the music - who doesn't enjoy a good sing-song? We're already rehearsing in Hoxton Hall and it's such an incredible space. You can feel the history seeping out of the walls, and it feels a real privilege to be telling this story, in this space, in this style.
Music is a massive part of the show. We're a cast of actor-musicians and the music is all live and - rare in musicals today - completely unamplified. We're using the natural acoustics of the Hall as it was intended, and I'm finding it really liberating to do so.
Within the show, I personally play clarinet, accordion, flute and the odd bit of triangle! Not only does the music feature some Music Hall song pastiches, it also reflects the roots of the opposing gangs. So we have a flavour of Jewish Klezmer with the Oranges and some traditional Irish folk music with the Elephants. This allows us to perform a really eclectic score which, as a musician and singer, is a real treat.
I've worked within an all-female cast before, but not on a show where the entire creative team is female too. Many people have asked me what the dynamic is like and I honestly haven't thought about it, which indicates it's no different from any other rehearsal room.
My own role as The Chair is quite gender fluid. Traditionally a male role in the music hall format, I will be dressed in top hat and tails. It's a brilliant nod to great music hall artists like Vesta Tilley and to some of the female gang members who would dress as men so they could mix more freely within society.
What's great about the other characters in the show is that they're women playing three-dimensional, non-stereotypical roles that are written for them, as opposed to a cross-cast revival of a play, like an all-female Shakespeare, for example.
Gender isn't at the forefront when we're just getting on with telling their story, but the importance of telling it now in 2018 - in the current climate and whilst we celebrate 100 years since some women were first granted the vote - isn't lost on us.
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