Sap

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While more and more plays dealing with LGBTQ+-specific issues are being commissioned and staged, Sap is rare in explicitly dealing with bisexuality and the prejudice many bi people face from within the rest of the queer community. That it does so with such engaging, occasionally distressing grace and humanity is just one part of its charm. Marcus has crafted a play which speaks on many levels, and is effective on each. Writer Rafaella Marcus comments, Seeing the reception to SAP's Edinburgh run was one of the most moving experiences of my life, and I'm thrilled that we now get to bring the show to audiences across the UK. The opportunity to tour and share ideas nationally is an essential part of our cultural lives and I'm grateful to every venue that has opened their space to this strange, mythic play. I can't wait to share the extraordinary talent of our cast and creative team in new theatres, with new people, and I hope anyone who needs to sit with the play's story of liberation, power, and transformation will be able to do so. Similarly, her bisexuality, which is arguably the catalyst to further problems, is a fight between her natural and taught instincts. Her attraction to men is almost an animalistic urge, as opposed to women, a softer, more comforting love. She jokes about going out for ‘ladies night’, when her friends say she can’t decide that beforehand, otherwise that would make sexuality a choice. The way she describes her attraction is notably less eloquent than other moments- its chatty and familiar. Whilst it makes sense to her, it’s confusing to be able to express it outwardly. She’s not a scholar, she’s just trying to tell us what she feels in a way language cannot. Maybe if she was able to, the rest of the story wouldn’t happen. We’ll never know. Jessica Clark and Rebecca Banatvala reprise their performances with brand new vigour. Directed by Jessica Lazar, Marcus's debut play defies genres: part romantic drama, part psychological thriller, part queer cautionary tale, it's thoroughly gripping. Clark is utterly magnetic in her internal conflict as she is engaging in the lighter, more sardonic exploration of the push and pull of Daphne's sexual orientation. She controls Lazar's traverse, guided by a script that flows with introspective eloquence, perfectly in tune with the comic side even during the darkest points of the show. Award-winning Atticist and Ellie Keel Productions return with a new play based on an old myth, about passion, power, and photosynthesis. A contemporary fast-paced thriller with ancient roots, SAP is directed by Offie-nominated Jessica Lazar ( Anna Bella Eema, Arcola Theatre; Outlying Islands, King’s Head Theatre; Dangerous Giant Animals, Edinburgh Fringe/United Solo Fest New York/Park Theatre). This debut play by Rafaella Marcus is a queer urban fable about bisexuality and what we allow people to believe.

There are elements of magical realism at work too, as Daphne experiences a connection to nature that, while predating her encounters, comes to the fore as the character endures at the hands of her tormentor. There are allusions to Greek mythology at play here, notably of Daphne and Apollo, but the imagery of a woman encasing herself in tree bark, of lakes full of drowned nymphs, speaks to a history of women being abused for men’s gratification, and the need to constructive a defensive shell to protect oneself. Rebecca Bantvala portrays both the girlfriend and the girlfriend’s brother with absolute conviction. Using subtle touches of persona, which become more evident as the play progresses, it is an absolute gem of a role played to perfection. Breffni Holahan in Collapsible by Margaret Perry at the Edinburgh fringe in 2013. Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/the Guardian From the 1st few moments of SAP you know you’re in for some incredibly engaging theatre. Jessica Clarke’s top-notch performance reaches out and grips everyone in the audience. The 1st section of the play is very relatable and delivered with a comedy twinkle. The later sections demanding depths of emotions that are both conflicting and powerful. The stage itself is in traverse, with no stage setting and minimal use of props. The ability to look over and see the other side of the audience, almost becoming included, helps to aid the diary nature of Clark’s monologue. Clever lighting and sound is enough to capture where the story is taking place each time. They complement the rhythmic-like script, creating meaningful beats and pauses which only add to the rising tension of the storyline.The name ‘Daphne’ comes from the nymph in Ovid’s Metamorphoses, who, hotly pursued by Apollo, turns into a tree. In Sap, the silent lie takes root in Daphne’s subconscious and psyche until she too starts to turn into a tree with “bark like eczema.” As her relationship develops, the lie grows, and the stakes rise. The conceptual basis of this narrative also brings to mind the prose works of South Korean author, Han Kang. The Fruit of My Woman and The Vegetarian, tell of a young woman who, as a way to cope with a hostile environment and patriarchy, transforms into a plant. The arboreal language used in Sap to describe the growth of the tree that takes hold of Daphne’s body is poetic and entrancing. I have been in several meetings recently with theatres who have expressed an interest in my work and those conversations have come down to me being asked “Do you have a great producer we could co-produce with?” or “Do you have connections with other theatres we could co-produce with?” or “Do you have a celebrity who you have a good relationship with?” The common semantics of trees appear throughout; the title itself and recurring themes of roots, planting her in the ground. Mentions of decay and trees overtaking a house, almost like nature is overtaking. These moments, along with more conversation-like script work well together, the poetic descriptions of her being ‘rooted’ into the ground in fear help the audience understand her psyche. Moreso, they help her deal with what is going on, she’s able to distance herself from the situation and focus on what her body is feeling- almost like a defence mechanism.

EK: I learned so much about theatre producing with that series. Audio has to work a bit harder to reach people. We had to be really careful of what we commissioned and the development process on each of those pieces, because at every stage it could lose its resonance. I was much more on point than I had ever been in the hurlyburly of producing fringe theatre. I had more time and focus. The fable in question is that of Apollo and Daphne. The first very much obsessed with the latter, who is prepared to do whatever is required to reject him. In the mythical version, the final solution to the unwanted attentions arrives from Daphne’s own parents, who turn her into a plant as soon as Apollo gets too close. In Rafaella Marcus’ modern interpretation, this transformation is more metaphorical – albeit described so vividly that we can’t tell where reality ends and gives space to imagination. RM: I know it’s been said before but I don’t think I ever want to stop saying it: there’s been enormous pressure on freelancers. Fresh from a critically acclaimed run at Edinburgh and with The Plaines Plough, Marcus’s debut is also a Soho Playhouse winner of Excellence in Theatre. Sap is an enlightening, thought provoking drama that explores with maturity the nature of trust, truth, control and cohesion as well as the complexities of contemporary relationships.A contemporary fast-paced thriller with ancient roots, SAP is directed by Offie-nominated Jessica Lazar (Anna Bella Eema, Arcola Theatre; Outlying Islands, King’s Head Theatre; Dangerous Giant Animals, Edinburgh Fringe/United Solo Fest New York/Park Theatre). This debut play by Rafaella Marcus is a queer urban fable about bisexuality and what we allow people to believe. The signs of trouble set in when her new girlfriend says that she will not date a bisexual woman, and Daphne chooses to hide her sexuality. Marcus has Daphne play this as a convenience, a white lie that she will eventually confess to – until her girlfriend and her one-night stand are revealed to have a connection to one another. Lazar has her kiss the soon-to-be girlfriend tenderly after having previously engaged in an intense balancing act with the man. It's a striking summary of Daphne's precarious equation. From the poetic elements of the writing and its visual allegories down to the staging and performances, Sap is a gem.

Jessica Lazar’s luminous direction allows plenty of room for the performers to transform their bodies, and our imaginations”Director Jessica Lazar makes a stage that is kept entirely bare seem busy. Clark paces in circles as she reels through her story. In the stifling standoff between Daphne and her chaser, the empty space between them raises the tension. Presented by Atticist and Ellie Keel Productions, this is a glorious tapestry of a play. At the end of the performance, the actors were presented with a Lustrum Award given by Summerhall’s founder and owner Robert MacDowell to shows he particularly admires across the Edinburgh Festivals. RM: Yeah, because of where I am in my life. I got married recently, am thinking about having a family, and it gets to a point where you feel you love this job so much because when theatre is good there’s nothing else like it. But I do want to be able to live. There is a tough truth with theatre and art in general that it has never been able to wash its own face, or exist as a purely commercial venture. It has actually always required more money going into it than will come out. So art must be subsidised to exist, which means that decisions to cut government funding for art are ideological. The originality in Marcus’ exploration of bisexuality is fantastically complex. It centres on the experience of bisexual women and the fact that they are more likely to be abused by their partner than heterosexual or lesbian women – come the end, this is a fact that the play is open about starting an enlightening discussion on.

Sap is a loose adaptation of Ovid’s Metamorphoses, a tale of Apollo and Daphne – where Apollo’s obsession becomes increasingly intense and concerning. In the original tale, Daphne’s parents turn her into a plant whenever Apollo comes close. However, in Rafaella Marcus’ debut play Sap at Summerhall, this is reimagined metaphorically and the tale itself is grounded in modern sensibilities. Director Jessica Lazar places the audience in traverse, allowing Jessica Clark’s Daphne to narrate to one half of the audience, then turn to deliver a wry aside to the other. Her character navigates her attraction to a man she meets at a work, then to a woman she describes as a “goddess” at a lesbian bar – both played by Rebecca Banatvala. In each case, Clark’s delivery shows us a woman who is as confident in her sexuality as she is insecure about her attractiveness to other people. There’s a vicious circle because if you tend towards safer programming, you actually double down on the audience that you already have. You’re going with what’s tried and tested. You are de facto not inviting new people.

RAFAELLA MARCUS’ DEBUT DRAMA TAKES AN ANCIENT STORY AND MAKES IT BOX FRESH’ – Lyn Gardner, The Stage Jessica Clark plays this Daphne with a frantic edge – the character’s need to please makes words catapult out of her before she has time to think them through. Clark also does a remarkable job of finding light and shade in a text that is dense but has might. Centring on the experiences of bisexual women, who are significantly more likely than heterosexual and lesbian women to be abused by their partner, it blends the past with the reality of the present. Peppered with artful what-could-have-been moments and self-aware sides, this mammoth story is squeezed skilfully into 70 minutes – and for the most part, it drives. Direct from a critically acclaimed run at Edinburgh Fringe, Atticist, Ellie Keel Productions and MAST Mayflower Studios present Rafaella Marcus’ debut play based on an old myth, about passion, power, and photosynthesis.