Rabbit Resource Pack - Frantic Assembly

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Frank vs Marshall As we have noted earlier music has a very important place in the feeling of generation identity. Rabbit is written as a battle between the worlds of Frank Sinatra and Eminem. Madeline once identified with the Frank Sinatra of her youth, when there may have been a closer relationship between her and her father, but now she feels she belongs to another world. Madeline Rap is the poetry of the people of our time, I wouldn’t expect you to understand. (p.45) The worlds of Frank and Marshall are reflected in the language and rhythm of Paul and Madeline. There is probably more in this battle ground than we have exploited in this production. Instead of going for a literal clash of styles we have tried to use music that can suggest both worlds. (See Deadly Avenger p.13) THE KING IS DEAD! LONG LIVE THE KING! Paul If it wasn’t for my irony then we wouldn’t be standing on this heated floor in a glass house on top of a mountain about to enjoy the beauty of baked rabbit and Pinot Noir. Irony is a child’s toy. Success is sacrifice. (p.33) Paul is the King of his world, surrounded by the trappings of his success. Having reached the top the only way is clearly down. As the master of all that he sees Nature is now having the last laugh as cancer eats at his prostate and he faces weakness and, ultimately, the great leveller, Death. But a weak King is of no use to the Kingdom he has created. He must be usurped by the stronger, fitter beast Kate Time for you to inherit a little bit of manliness. Spin I’m sorry? Kate Don’t be. Come to us Spin. Come. (p.92) Spin is groomed by the opportunistic Kate into the new heir, the new Patriarch. She places the ideas in his head like a scheming Lady MacBeth. Kate My man. All class Spin The world’s an oyster in a shot glass Kate We’ll kill rabbits Spin Millions of them Kate You and me. (p.97) Once again the law of the jungle is enforced. Kate appears to be lining up a new mate, a new patriarch and Paul will soon be confined to the dust. Inside the king’s weekend retreat there may be underfloor heating but that does not leave one immune to the powers of nature. Death is never far away from Paul. The drug induced death of his brother, Spin’s parents, Driver’s ailing son, and his own failing body. But where there is death there is life. Paul begins to see the freedom he can offer his daughter, the life that will grow from his death Paul Let me off Mad. Let me go. Madeline I don’t know what I’m saying – Paul Let your old man go. Mad – Madeline Go where? Dad go where? Paul takes her by the thumbs. Paul I - (p.63) Paul’s illness represents the imposition of a natural order bigger than any world he could create or command. Death comes to us all in the end. It is undeniable. Uncontrollable. Invincible. And Kate has prepared frantically for this final act. Obsessed with the grieving process and how she will look in black she is left facing the reality of life without Paul only in the final seconds of the play but even she knows that life and death are a cycle and we play our parts at both ends. Kate Much beauty groweth from dead soil. Or something. (p.84) She holds out for regeneration from the demise of Paul. Rejected by her daughter she is facing the prospect of being alone. We even have her cuddling the rabbit at this point but things soon change with the return of Spin and his ‘grief killer’. She is grasping the positive and is rebuilding her life. And for this she needs a new Paul. The King is dead. Long live the King? SHAKESPEARE AND RABBIT During rehearsals we talked of all the possible Shakespearian references that exist in the play. I am not sure that Brendan meant them all but I have never met a writer who would not subsequently claim them all as part of his genius (only joking, Brendan). For those of you at home, see if you can spot references, similarities, blatant thefts from, among others, MacBeth - Lady MacBeth encouraging MacBeth to murder Duncan Hamlet - Gertrude and Hamlet get it on King Lear - Lear goes out onto heath with the Fool (act 3 sc 2) - The Fool as his conscience, - His Daughters tell him what they think of him - The ‘fool’ imploring the king to return home and reconcile with his daughters (Good nuncle, in, and ask thy daughters blessing). The Tempest - Ariel asking to be free - setting Ariel free Midsummer Night’s Dream - Lost in the woods and out of control The Winters Tale - Exit pursued by a bear Answers on a postcard to... ...and the award for taking analysis too far goes to... While we are looking at King Lear, consider the little accidental insight Spin offers us into his true status in front of Paul (Lear) when offering him the ironic Rabbit Spin - Well, I'm a little full myself. Pushing the point? Well maybe a little! 8
THE RABBIT Why is there a live Rabbit in a box? What does the Rabbit represent? The play is called Rabbit. Why do you think the Rabbit has such a presence? Kate I don't know why we just don't buy them dead and stripped from the butcher. (p.29) Why do you think Paul has insisted on a live rabbit? Here is another example of urban man attempting to dominate nature, to take his rightful place in the scheme of things. It is not enough to buy a processed Rabbit. It is only right to assert the superiority of man and subdue the inferior beast. This is the world of Paul Cave. Paul Action is a real man’s business. Action and whacking. That’s the ‘real world.’ (p.69) Why would Paul want a live rabbit? As Paul approaches the dying of the light there is nothing more life affirming than death. If he can command the death of another creature then it proves his own vitality... Kate If he wants killing then there must be killing! (p.66) The only way Paul can control death is to dispense it himself. But he is unable to act and takes desperate measures to make peace with nature before he is consumed by it. He sets off into the forest be at one with nature, to find the true nature of living Paul And now look at me. Mouth on mike jawbone drop the argy-bargy. (p.69) *** Paul I've always been confronting. Let us shed the wrappers of humanity. Throw organs to the wind. (p.72) As Paul attempts to renounce his ways and discard the material trappings of success, his predicament begins to echo that of the rabbit. Both are trapped, doomed, stripped of life, just rustling in a box. In their current states they are both of little use to anyone Kate Will you please but fucking die! (p.76) Kate feelings towards the rabbit become indistinguishable from her feelings for Paul. Her outcry could be as much about Paul as it is about the rabbit. Indeed in the feeding of ‘ironic rabbit’ to Paul they both become one. (They have both taken the poison of the ‘grief killer.’) He is eating his own words. He is eating the symbol of his self. He is becoming nothing. Paul is also Peter Rabbit. His clothes are mounted in the woods as Peter’s are. Kate prepares his meal (minus the baked Rabbit!) consisting of all the vegetables that appear in the Peter Rabbit story. The vegetables that Peter devours. Paul tells the story of an understanding that exists between Farmer MacGregor and Peter Rabbit where the farmer lets the rabbit go. In this story the expected roles are reversed. Madeline is the powerful MacGregor figure and Paul is the little rabbit figure at his mercy, desperate to be let go. He has already implored his daughter to do just that Paul Let me off Mad. Let me go. Let your old man go. Mad. (P.63) CHAPTER 2 Building the show WRITER/DIRECTOR RELATIONSHIP Although we set out to take on an existing text we were adamant that we also wanted Brendan to join the creative team. When he arrived we talked about how this was an exciting opportunity to create something new rather than just create a British version of the Australian production. Having Brendan on board meant that we had immediate access to him and he could see immediately what we were trying to achieve. What really helped was that Brendan was open to new ideas, was still trying to get to the heart of his play, liked a few beers and was up there with the best when it came to mucking around in the rehearsal room. He truly is an honorary Frantic person. All of this inspired an incredibly exciting couple of weeks where we got to grips with the emotional and intellectual meat of the play. But this makes light of Brendan’s unbelievable energy, commitment and speed of work. He responded to ideas immediately, always brought back improvements the next day and was absolutely integral to the success of each day. I hope he also feels that it was well worth the air fare and deep vein thrombosis to get him over here. 9 DIRECTOR/DIRECTOR RELATIONSHIP As Frantic Assembly has two artistic director people often ask if we always agree on everything. The answer is simply no. If we did there would be no need to have two directors. We would simply be saying the same thing twice. When there is disagreement there is also a trust that allows one partner to run with their controversial idea and probably convince the other partner of its merits. If a partner is willing to fight for an idea then there must be something of worth there. We have seen this enough times through the years to let it happen knowing that the unconvinced partner will probably catch up their understanding and, no doubt, offer the finishing touches that the first partner may have been too involved to notice. The phrase ‘you cross ‘em over and I’ll nod ‘em in’ has been heard more than once. There are also moments when we look at each other blankly and turn towards the actors and ask them to ‘play’ (often a euphemism for ‘get busy and look away while we think of something’). Fortunately the performers are so instinctively creative just by being such fine and funny actors that inspiration is never far away. And the beauty is that we always get to claim it as our ideas. The down side is that Brendan is busy in a corner retyping the script and claiming those ideas for himself.
Page 1 and 2: Rabbit BY BRENDAN COWELL A COMPREHE
Page 3 and 4: How? Why? Who? DISCOVERING RABBIT R
Page 5 and 6: THE REAL WORLD The City vs Nature T
Page 7: Drugs vs The Real World Paul Have y
Page 11 and 12: d) Who is Paul Cave? This is a ques
Page 13 and 14: The Last Supper This is the final m
Page 15 and 16: c) Spin Spin is an opportunist. We
Page 17 and 18: Chapter 4 Essay Suggestions THE PLA

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