Last year I was fortunate enough to see Smoking Apples perform their heartfelt play ‘Kinder’, which covers the kindertransport movement during World War II. The company were in Canterbury as part of a UK tour, combining imaginative puppetry, creative set design and an incredibly emotional script in a family-friendly piece of new theatre. Their production actually made it into my top shows of 2023 and when I heard that they were going to be bringing a new piece of theatre ‘We Are More Alike’ to Folkestone Harbour Arm this August, I couldn’t wait to hear more. I had the opportunity to find out more about the new show from the company’s Co-Artistic Director Molly Freeman, who has also directed and co-written ‘We Are More Alike’. The new piece of writing is a collaborative project in partnership with Farnham Maltings, KRAN (Kent Refugee Action Network), Folkestone Harbour Arm, Folkestone Museum and Folkestone Town Council. It will be performed outside in the Folkestone Harbour Arm this weekend, offering Kent locals a chance to see some creative and thought provoking theatre for free.
What can you tell me about the early beginnings of Smoking Apples? How did you end up starting your own theatre company?
Myself, Matt [Lloyd] and Hattie [Thomas], the three co-artistic directors all studied together at Rose Bruford College, on a brilliant course called European Theatre Arts. As part of our second year of study, we went on a placement together, to Prague, and studied Puppetry and Alternative Theatre. We didn’t really know each other before that but when we came back, we were like, where can we do puppetry? And at the time (14 years ago!), there weren’t so many options, so we decided to set up a company so that we could practise together and the rest as they say, is history!
What is it about the art of puppetry that inspired you to make it such a focal part of your theatre making?
Puppetry has this magical ability to magnify human action so I think it allows a really special insight into the human condition. There is a distance to it, which you don’t get when you only work with actors/performers playing the characters, and this allows for wonderful space for the audience to interpret and infer. It can be beautifully emotional and engaging but there’s also an objectivity about it. Our work is really centred on people and the stories of what it means to be human, and puppetry continues to be a really exciting medium to explore this. Don’t get me wrong, it has to be justified, we ask ourselves at the start of every new show or project, why puppets and not people! If we didn’t have a clear reason, we wouldn’t do it.
Having watched you perform ‘Kinder’ at the Marlowe Theatre Studio last year, there is no denying how incredibly visual your work is. What can you tell me about your process for creating new productions?
The early stages of a new show start as conversations between the three of us but often also involve our wider creative team too. Finding the seed of a new idea is often quite casual and can take a while to percolate but I think that’s the joy of it for us. We often have three or four early ideas rolling around our brains at any one time and then when a gap appears, we’ll pick one and start developing it in a more targeted way. The choice of which one is often dependent on other factors; themes or ideas that are in the public eye, partnerships and opportunities etc. Once an idea is being developed, we normally go through a research and development period (R&D) and this is where the core of the visual ideas are developed. It’s hard to describe, it’s quite an organic process but we work very much with the story, the script, the visual aesthetics, set design and puppets together. We sometimes group up and work in smaller teams but ultimately, there is always a crossover because whilst there might be a script, the visual language of the show is really what does the communicating. I’m definitely the non-practical dreamer, I think I wrote in one of the first Kinder scripts that shoes start raining from the sky! Matt and Hattie then look at this and groan but they know that I don’t mean they literally rain, more that’s what it should feel like and then go away and master up how the set could support that image as an idea and we work on creating the sensation of that, in rehearsals. I’m lucky to have people who can translate the things I write down and make them a reality! Once we’ve found the visual language, during the creation and premiere stages of a show, it’s really about making sure that the language is cohesive and follows a set pattern or some rules. This is really important and essential to the audience’s understanding. We test our work a fair bit during these stages, often in small chunks, to see if the way we think it’s all working actually is. Then it’s onto the premieres and the tours after that but the process of adjusting is always there.
Folkestone is becoming such a creative place, with the growing arts scene, the Creative Quarter and the recent Folkestone Live festival. What is it about the town that inspires you to produce new writing?
Myself, Matt and George, some of the creative team for We Are More Alike, have been based in Folkestone for the last three years and it’s a fabulous community of people. There really are endless things to be inspired by here; the history of the place, the people who live here, the environment, the art, all of it really! The community is also very creative so it becomes part of daily life here. When you are surrounded by creative people, the ideas come thick and fast!
For ‘We Are More Alike’ you are collaborating with Folkestone Harbour Arm and ‘exploring the changing face of Folkestone’. How are you hoping to connect with the local community through this new piece of writing?
It’s so nice to be making a show on our doorstep, about the place that we live in and I’m really excited about doing the show because I think that will also open up new conversations. By looking at some of Folkestone’s history and balancing some very silly fun, with some of the more poignant parts of the show, we hope that it’ll be an accessible way to engage with the local community. We also think it’s a really nice way of introducing ourselves to them, it’s much easier than describing what we do! The show is also about people, whether they move through, stay in, come from or arrive to Folkestone, and being an inherent part of its fabric. It feels like a good way to say, we are also part of that.
‘The Anthologists’ are the characters at the centre of the play and they ‘require the assistance of the audience to help them map out the past, present and the future’. To what extent will spectators be able to interact with the puppets?
The Anthologists are characters played by actors in this instance but they will be joined by a whole host of puppets that help them learn about Folkestone. I’m really glad you’ve used the word interaction, instead of participation, as I feel like a lot of people (me included) cringe at the idea of being pulled up in front of people and asked to do something. However, interaction is a different way of getting the audience involved, there are a series of things that the audience will need to help the Anthologists with to both work out and tell the story. It’s more of a collective task than an individual act. Of course, this is fairly risky as a performance choice. It’s not something we’ll be able to test hugely before we perform it but I also think that’s what keeps it exciting and will keep the cast on their toes!
What age and demographic is ‘We Are More Alike’ aimed at?
We Are More Alike is a family friendly outdoor show so the aim is that younger audiences and all the way up to older people will enjoy the show. Like much of our work there are different levels to it. Younger audiences will enjoy the high impact visuals of the steampunk inspired set and the playful nature of the Anthologists (they are quite silly!) and adult audiences are likely to understand some of the more complex references to the different time periods we travel to.
You are touring the UK with ‘Kinder’ again later this year, to what extent are you making any changes to the production, ahead of the new tour?
We are, yes! We’re really looking forward to touring Kinder again. Second tours are always a joy, as the work has come on such a long way since its creation. This is sometimes just by the sheer fact that it has been performed so many times and therefore fine-tuned but ultimately, I think it also allows for the work to deepen and breathe, in a way you don’t get when it’s fresh out of the box. We always review our shows before they go back out again and we will make some minor adjustments. We will be joined by a new cast member so of course, there is also the process of bringing their unique quality to the characters they will be playing and the puppets they will be operating. We won’t be making any major changes to the story but we are extending the set a little, so that we can fit in another 10 people. With a purposefully petite audience per show (previously 32) we ummed and ahhed about this, but Kinder has been very popular and we want to make sure people can see it, without disrupting the intimate nature of the work.
Catching ‘We Are More Alike’ in Folkestone this weekend
Molly and the team are performing in Folkestone this Saturday and Sunday (3rd and 4th August), with performances at 11am, 1pm and 3pm. If you’re interested in seeing the family friendly outdoor show and helping the Anthologists on their journey, you can find the company in the Folkestone Harbour Arm this weekend. The show runs for 30 minutes and is free to attend, providing an opportunity for locals to experience some fantastically creative theatre with no price tag. Later this year they will be touring Kinder again and it’s exciting that they have increased the audience slightly, so that more people can see such an impactful show. I wish the company all the best with ‘We Are More Alike’ and also their second ‘Kinder’ tour later this year.
Thanks for reading my blog today.
Love Kat xxxx
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