Extraordinary Trash
by Stewart Laing and Pamela Carter
Extraordinary Trash: A Theatre Essay is a funny and provocative meditation on adaptation, authenticity, and Scottishness. Playwright Pamela Carter and director Stewart Laing have returned to archival material from their 2013 theatre production of Paul Brights Confessions of a Justified Sinner in the hope of making history. Featuring actor and film director Adura Onashile as 'The Archivist' audiences can expect a suitably meta-interpretation that is part-lecture, part-documentary, part-theatre. Warning: May Contain Truths.
Clip from the video design of Extraordinary Trash
In Extraordinary Trash, The Archivist played by Adura Onashile gives a lecture on the process of archiving by sharing how she navigated archiving Untitled Projects 2013 show Paul Bright's Confessions of a Justified Sinner. Stewart Laing brought me on board the project as a Video Designer to create some video elements to somewhat visualise The Archivist's process and accompany the performance.
We set up a table at National Theatre of Scotland to photograph the archival objects from Justified Sinner. These were then brought together with digital recordings to make the table surface also look like a computer desktop background, in a sequence where The Archivist discusses keeping digital copies of the analog media.
We also filmed an interview where Adura Onashile's character, The Archivist, interviews Adura Onashile, Herself; and a zoom call where The Archivist speaks to Herself again "live" while she is visiting Nigeria.
Adura Onashile as The Archivist shares her process
Adura Onashile as The Archivist interviews Adura Onashile live over zoom
Behind the scenes at National Theatre of Scotland
Featuring Adura Onashile as The Archivist and Herself
Written by Pamela Carter
Directed by Stewart Laing
Video Designer Daniel Hughes
Stage Manager Fi Johnston
Producer Jana Robert
Extraordinary Trash was commissioned by Edinburgh International Book Festival, supported by the Scottish Government's EXPO Fund and Sir Ewan and Lady Brown, in association with National Theatre of Scotland.
