Preview: Terminus

I’ve been subtly prodded towards directing a show by my AD, Lisa Thomas, for a few years now during our previous collaborations when I’ve been acting in a show for her. So the kernel has always been there but not really acted upon – excuse the pun. The script for Terminus was bought for me as a birthday gift by a friend back in 2021, who has seen four different productions of the show, is a big fan, and thought it would be right up my street. Despite his rave reviews, to be honest the script has been sitting on a shelf up until quite recently. I felt a bit guilty that it had taken so long to give it a first read so I finally plucked up the courage to give it a skim early last year and found that I couldn’t put it down.

I’m not sure what I expected but it wasn’t what I had read. The script felt so visceral and alive, and as I read, I just kept getting more and more ideas about line deliveries, staging and how we could do some really cool stuff with lights and sound. I think I’d pulled together a complete soundtrack for the show before I’d even given it a second read-through. A lot of the ideas felt like they arrived fully formed, so to be able to see them come to life now is a pretty cool experience. Sadly my friend will be in Vietnam during show week (of course), but we’ve had him down to a rehearsal recently to get his seal of approval, which I’m delighted to say he gave us!

It really does have an unconventional format, being primarily monologue based with each of the three characters trading speeches as they guide the audience through one haunting night in Dublin. From what I understand, Terminus is typically staged quite statically so as to let the poeticism in the language really come to the forefront.

In our production, we’re trying to add a new dimension by staging the show in traverse with each actor needing to control the space and bring the audience into the story through movement, compelling storytelling and breaking of the fourth wall. I want the audience in the palm of each actor’s hand, hanging on every word – so no small feat for our three talented actors, but a challenge I fully back them all to rise and meet. Add to this stark lighting as well as how we’re using music in the show, and I hope to put on an experience that will live long in the memory.

Terminus somehow manages to juggle quite dark, bleak topics with a wonderfully wry and subversive humour. I fully expect unexpected laughs at the worst moments. That being said, our show explores themes of love, loss and loneliness as well as forgiveness, repentance and what it means to be human. We’ll also explore what to order from a midnight petrol station, and what to do if a microwavable shepherds pie falls on the floor.

Our audiences will meet three characters, who share their stories through a series of monologues that continually brush up against each other in unexpected ways.

I’m afraid we’ve no names to share as the roles are simply identified as A, B  and C. Caroline Doyle plays A, a jaded mother working for the Samaritans, looking for a way to right past wrongs; Sophia Berger plays B, a vulnerable young woman who is whisked away unexpectedly by a demon; and Mithiran Ravindran plays C, a serial killer who wants to show the world what a great singer he is.

I’ve been a part of SLT for more than a decade now, appearing on stage in dozens of production, but I’ve always resisted the lure of directing because – to be honest – I don’t feel well read enough from a theatrical standpoint. My frames of reference mostly come from SLT! So discovering new writing or a play that resonates isn’t something that has naturally come to me. But now that we are a few months into the process, I feel more confident that I am finding my feet.

It’s certainly a shift from being on stage, acting and being shaped or pushed to find a performance – but this means that I have been trying to take the bits that have worked for me in other shows and apply them to Terminus. We’ve an extremely collaborative and open rehearsal space with all thoughts discussed and explored amongst the team and the cast. In a way, the monologue-led structure of the play has been a blessing in disguise because it has meant that most rehearsals have included a sole actor, myself, my ADs Lisa and Tiru, and a granular breakdown of each speech – a real luxury. I feel I have grown into the role of director, shed off the initial feeling of “oh, I’d do it like this!” and learn to trust the instinct of our actors. Ultimately, I hope the show is a real fusion of the best of all of us.

Dark. Fantastical. Poetic.