Alumni Stories - Rocket Box Theatre
MA/MFA Advanced Theatre Practice graduate Mischa Jones talks with us about founding collaborative theatre company, Rocket Box, and producing their latest production, Gentle Things, an adaptation of the Greek myth of Cassandra. She also shares how her training at Central impacted her work and offers advice for aspiring theatre-makers.
Can you tell us a little more about your theatre company, Rocket Box, and what inspired you to start it?
Rocket Box was created by a small group of theatre-makers, musicians, and visual artists. It was founded as a bit of an experiment to see if we could collaborate joyfully, across multiple disciplines, and with compassion and trust in each other and in our audiences.
You recently produced Gentle Things, an adaptation of the Greek myth of Cassandra, how did you approach that project?
Gentle Things is one of the live shows currently in development for our season this year. We decided to approach this myth through the auditory world because of the intimacy and complexity of the story. Amalia Paschalidi, who performs as Cassandra, is great at expressing that kind of closeness with her voice. We wanted Rach Horner to write this show because we have always really admired the way that they write with such beautiful softness. Rach Horner is amazing at prodding at certain systems or norms, but with a lot of empathy. Because of this, we thought they would be a great fit for this retelling of Cassandra, which is a story of religion, spirituality, gender, war and violence. We released Gentle Things last month on streaming platforms. We’re entering into the next stage now, which is securing all our funding and planning rehearsals for the live show, touring in late summer this year.
How have audiences responded so far, and how will you go about adapting it into a full-length live show?
Audiences have particularly connected with the Greek language used in Cass’ prayers, and also with the music, composed for Gentle Things by Oscar Reeve and James Freeman. Some people have also been particularly interested in Cass’ relationship to the Temple and to The Gods. This is something we want to tap into more; engaging with ancient spirituality, religion, language and culture meaningfully. The collaboration between Rach Horner and Amalia Paschalidi will be so vital for this. We want to use the senses and the natural elements in our live show; Cornwall will be a great setting for that.
How has your training at Central’s Advanced Theatre Practice MA program impacted your work as a theatre-maker?
Our tutor worked a lot in auditory spaces, so her expertise was very useful in the audio R&D for Gentle Things. On the course, I really learned to refine, to strip back, to clarify, to rearrange. One module was called ‘Composition’, and I still find it helpful to think of live work like composing a piece of music. Our tutor also once advised us that, “as soon as your work gets onerous, pause, maybe even stop, and rediscover it.” (That might be a massive misquote, but that was the gist…)
Can you share any advice for other theatre-makers who are interested in starting their own theatre companies?
Ultimately, we all need to get paid for this. Writing up good contracts, paying the team fairly for their work and time, creating a healthy work balance, getting funding… this is all as important as writing, directing and performing. Reach out to your friends and mentors if you’re feeling lost with that stuff, there’s some decent advice out there.
What are your future plans for Rocket Box?
We’ve got a few shows we’re hoping to tour this year locally in the South West; Gentle Things is one. We’d love to collaborate more with some of our local communities. We’re also developing our sense of being attached to a wider, global network of theatre-makers this year; we’d love to do more in languages other than English.
Visit Rocket Box’s website and follow them on Instagram @rocketboxtheatre to find out more about their upcoming productions.
