The Journey Interviews - 4

Ahead of tomorrow’s launch, the last conversation finds interviewee Jill Korn turn interviewer to speak with Kenny Burnham.

Kenny is a theatre-maker, dramaturg and playwright. His work for stage includes Hollow and They’ll Get You Now You’re Gone. Kenny also featured in the filmed theatre event, A Journey Around My Tenement.

Jill: Hi Kenny, lovely to talk to you about the play. It was an intriguing play to be part of. Just tell me briefly which part you play.

Kenny: I took up a small part and play The Guard.

Jill: OK

Kenny: The Nazi Guard (laughs). Not a real Nazi, just to be clear here! But he’s got that kind of characteristic.

Jill: But not really in character for you at all?

Kenny: Ha ha! I hope not! No.

Jill: I’m interested in actually interviewing you as the author of the piece because I would like to know how you came to write the play in the first place. How did you come to write this play at all?

Kenny: Well, it has had a long gestation period! It’s a story I first came across in a book, I think it’s called The Art of Travel by Alain De Botton. I was intrigued by this reference about travel not just about going from A to B in the real world but it being other things too. He (De Botton) touched on a story of this French nobleman way back in the 18th century who was put under house arrest. He had planned an expedition …which was big in those days…and all of a sudden he couldn’t go. But being the belligerent character that he is, he thought “well, I’m going to go on an expedition come hell or high water” so he went on one around his room! Stark Theatre originally staged the Diaries, but the Diaries – like any set of diaries - is just a list of entries with random thoughts. At that time it was a bit of a departure for Stark Theatre (which you and I together with Lorenzo were part of) at the time because it was a bit more upbeat compared to what we had done prior to that. There were problems with it because diaries are not dramatically interesting – and that became apparent even though I think it was done really well by the actors.  We always said we would revisit it and we did in 2016 with a completely different set of actors and a completely different story really.  What was lacking originally was an antagonist to just really give the story bite and so it became an appropriation at that point. Of course, as we went into 2021, the early days before anybody had had a jag, it became apparent that there was going to be no theatre this year. I just wanted to do something and thought of you busy doing audio plays and thought maybe this is something I could look into as well. And as result, I adapted it (Journey) for audio. Yeah, so that’s the story (laughs) over about a ten year period! 

Jill: It’s quite interesting because we do relate to Xavier and his lockdown. Basically, he’s locked down for quite a long period of time and we’ve all felt that way. What do we do with our houses? Lots of people decorated their entire houses and took their own journey around their own living space, if you like. But this play also has a specific lockdown iteration doesn’t it? You took it to another place altogether when you produced a video version. You took it into a Glasgow Tenement. 

Kenny: Of course, yes!

Jill: How that peculiar reality came into the cotemporary age

Kenny: Well that was really interesting actually! Of course, it’s a very similar title: A Journey Around My Tenement …and it really has nothing much in common with A Journey Around My Room but it was inspired by it. And, of course, inspired by the kind of effect of the pandemic which radically altered everybody’s lives. So, that was interesting. It’s weird because in my head - they diverged so much that the final product to me is no longer related to Room. The thing that relates it is simply maybe the title. But it’s (Tenement) set in a completely different era and it’s got three very different and interesting characters: one by you, Jill, and the other by Lorenzo Novani. And that became a filmed theatre event which was very well received. So, the whole original story and idea has borne fruit in many different ways.

Jill: I think it just shows how one small piece of literature can relate to the modern era two or three hundred years later and how you yourself have developed and evolved that. Coming back to this piece, you’re a playwright, graduating from the University of Glasgow, specifically in playwriting and dramaturgy, and you’ve always concentrated on stage work. And this is the first time you’ve done audio drama. So, why the shift?  

Kenny: If I’m being absolutely honest…it is purely because of the pandemic. And I think if I was to imagine a world where the pandemic hadn’t happened, maybe I would have done audio but I wouldn’t have done it now. It might’ve been a couple of years down the line when maybe I wanted a change from doing something for stage, I don’t know.  I do know that it wouldn’t have been now because I’ve written a couple of other plays and they are specifically for stage. And I would assume that all other things being good – in other words no pandemic – at least one of these would’ve hit the stage before now. So, it was never part of the plan for me to revisit Journey and make an audio version of it. The only reason I did was because it seemed to be the play which I’d written which lent itself best to that medium. I got some tips from yourself, Jill, in terms of…well, one of the things you do for stage for example is show-don’t-tell. That’s really good writing. You limit the exposition. Unfortunately, you can’t really do that for audio. You can’t show on an audio medium. So, that requires you to put some of the exposition back in, but there is an intelligent way to do that.

Jill: And is that the main difference you notice between stage and sound-only writing having now done both?

Kenny: In terms of writing on its own, not recording or production, yes… an accentuated focus on sound effects. When you’re writing for stage, for example, you will put some directions in. And mostly – I don’t know about anybody else – I’m so keen to just get the scene done that I know what the directions are, so they are written in note form. When you write for audio, you can’t do that. You’ve got to be specific about exactly where it’s going to be, where these sound effects are. You can’t just put in “yeah, there’ll be a dog barking, there’ll be a cup dropped, a door slammed but don’t worry about it, it’ll sort itself out” (laughs). It sounds easy. It sounds obvious. It was harder than I thought.

Jill: Mhmm. Any other differences you notice particularly between one and the other?

Kenny: The only other thing…almost a throw-away thing… it depended upon the director used. We’ve had two different directors for Journey (in the past). And things change, y’know? Obviously the writing changed but the characters were there and there’s a dog which features in Journey. And dogs on-stage are problematic. You don’t want an animal onstage and you can’t really have a human…and yeah you could have a dog barking but not being there but that’s not really right either. So, I think most of the time, the dog didn’t really feature on the stage. When it came to the audio, the dog’s there! And the dog drives parts of the story as well!

Jill: OK, so Rosine is the one we’re unable to interview for this! (laughing). It’s been good to talk to you though Kenny. Thanks very much for taking us through that.

Kenny: Thanks a lot, Jill!! Thank you.

I hope you have enjoyed these interviews. My great thanks to David, Jill and Lorenzo. A Journey Around My Room will be available on my website Burnham Dramaturgy from tomorrow (6th October). I very much hope you are able to join Xavier on his journey!