Dublin Theatre Festival 2013: Desire Under the Elms, The Corn Exchange

This Must be the Place

Eoghan Carrick, Assistant Director

It was, in a way, the culmination of three weeks of rehearsal: interrogating the characters’ voices and their mannerisms, exploring their internal landscapes. The cast, a few days before the photo-shoot, had tried on various pieces of costume Annie Ryan (Director) and Maree Kearn’s (Designer) had discussed trying over the last month. Those few hours were spent searching for that illusive something that would help bring the character to life.

Some characters were found quite quickly: Lalor Roddy’s onesy was a snug fit and brought out the grotesque of Ephraim Cabot, while his faded old jacket and hat captured the tight-fisted selfishness; the two brothers (Peter Coonan and Luke Griffin) came into focus as Peter pulled on a roughed up red cap and Luke opened a few extra buttons of his shirt to reveal an old yellow T-shirt.

Other characters were harder: Fionn Walton’s character, Eben, had to be a mix of his father’s hardness and his mother’s softness so the boots he wore, how his trousers fit him and what colour shirt were all much harder to tie down. As was Janet Moran’s character Abbie because, more than any other character’s costume, Abbie seemed to set the time of the play and inform us of the world beyond the farm.

On the morning of the photo-shoot a heavy misty rain covered Dublin. The actors got into their costumes for the day. Dirt was applied to skin and teeth while music poured out of an iPhone sitting in an empty cup. When Rich Gilligan, the photographer, arrived, spirits were high but the low lying cloud masked the mountains in the distance: our intended destination.

We set off and as we climbed in altitude the buildings grew further apart, the mist thicker and the landscape harder to see. Eventually unable to see more than a few meters in front the convoy pulled over to decide on a course of action. When we got out we became mesmerised by the rolling fog. Rich decided to take a few test shots just to see how it would look while the cast explored the uneven tufts of grassy hillside. When we saw the first few test shots we knew this was the place.

The insights we found in the rehearsals before the shoot helped direct us to where the characters might be. The photos that came out of that day have helped us move forward in our understanding of the characters and their world. Every character in this play is searching for something they can call their own. Watching them emerge from the mist I couldn’t help but hear a song from earlier in the morning. Two lines resonated more than any others – they seemed to say a lot about the people in front of me:

“Home. It’s where I want to be

But I guess I’m already there.”

Eoghan Carrick, Assistant Director