Quantum Theatre’s latest production, Chatterton, is adapted from Peter Ackroyd’s bestselling and Booker Prize-nominated novel of the same name, a century-spanning exploration of authenticity and literary counterfeiture (“one of those rare books equal to its hype… a tour de force, a brilliant novel” – USA Today).
Quantum Theatre’s Chatterton spreads out in three dimensions, immersing its mobile audiences in the haunting spaces of Trinity Cathedral Pittsburgh. Its plot takes inspiration from the historical character Thomas Chatterton: the Romantic era’s most famous suicide, an 18th century poet who took his young life and was immortalized 100 years later by a very famous painting. Modeling for that painting was Victorian poet George Meredith, whose own dramatic life also features in Ackroyd’s novel. Meanwhile, in the present, poet Charles Wychwood goes on a hunt to solve mysterious puzzles from the past – is what we believe about Thomas Chatterton truth or fiction?
Chatterton offers a trifecta of poets in three centuries, a colorful London with Dickensian characters bristling with humor, and deep debates on what’s real and what’s fake in the intertwining worlds of art and commerce…
Chatterton will run for seven weeks, from September 14 – October 28, and — in addition to the performances, Quantum Theatre is hosting an online book club (more on that below)!
What about Chatterton made Quantum want to stage a production?
Quantum’s work is always so deeply informed by space — all of our productions are staged environmentally in places that are not theaters. The work informs the space and the space informs the work, always. So in 2014 we staged a production of TAMARA by John Krizanc, a play that calls for the audience to make choices, journeying from room to room in Rodef Shalom Congregation. Ours was only the second time that play had been staged in North America since it’s such a big undertaking. It was a huge hit, selling out with unanimous praise, and Quantum’s Artistic Director, Karla Boos has had it in the back of her mind to create her own play in the same style.
Then she read this novel and found the story so compelling, especially that the three characters are poets across different centuries. And the themes of each of the writers in the novel experiencing similar questions about authenticity in storytelling as well as grappling with what will be their legacy and how the same questions haunt the poets of 18th, 19th, and 21st century London, it just felt like this was it. This was the moment to again ask our audience to make choices weaving through an immense space following mysterious and interconnected themes on tracks of centuries. St. Mary Redcliffe cathedral features heavily in the novel as it did in the life of Thomas Chatterton, so we knew that Trinity Cathedral was so right to host this piece.
Chatterton is premiering as part of the Pittsburgh International Festival of Firsts, can you tell us more about that and Quantum’s involvement?
The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust asked Quantum Theatre’s Artistic Director Karla Boos to serve as Guest Curator for the 2018 Pittsburgh International Festival of Firsts, a major offering to Pittsburgh of world and American premieres of theater, dance, music, visual arts and immersive experiences. It was a perfect fit because she was able to bring to bear her own relationships with international artists — the people who have influenced and intersected with her own work over her nearly three decade career. Under her direction, the festival highlights the fluidity of artists across borders and Pittsburgh’s own evolution as an arts community of global impact. The Festival runs from Chatterton’s soft opening September 14, 2018, through its official Outdoor Opening September 21, and on through November 11, featuring 30 international companies and artists from 20 countries – a significant expansion of the event which has occurred approximately every five years since its inception in 2004. This year also marks the first time that local work is included in the festival, not only Quantum Theatre but also Bricolage Production Company.
Tell us about the Chatterton Book Club…
We had this idea to invite literature-loving people who have book clubs (and those that are book club-less) to participate in a virtual book discussion. It’s something we have never tried before but people seem excited to dive in. We have a Facebook group as well as weekly emails linked to a discussion board on our website (for the non-Facebook users). We are posting weekly discussion questions as well as interesting facts about the topics in the novel. Quantum staff is leading the conversation with help from a dear friend, Jim Kincaid, who is a professor of English Literature at the University of Pittsburgh and happens to specialize in George Meredith, one of the poets featured in Ackroyd’s story. The group largely consists of friends of Quantum — subscribers and frequent attendees — but it’s open to anyone! While we’ve already started, we’re happy to have any interested readers (who can participate at their own pace).
And you’re hosting a book club night, too — can you tell us a little bit about what we can expect from that?
Right, the idea was never just to have this virtual book club but to actually gather these diverse groups together for a conversation. To that end, we’re actually hosting two in-person events to try to gather these people and get a little more conversation going. The first is on August 20, where Jim Kincaid will give a brief lecture on George Meredith and lead some discussion about the novel. The second is a special Book Club performance of Chatterton on Wednesday, September 26th. We are encouraging readers and lovers of the novel to buy a ticket to that evening’s performance to see how it translates to the stage, and we will have a post-show discussion with Jim and Artistic Director Karla Boos. We think that it will be of interest to our literary friends to hear from Boos about the process of adapting the novel to the stage.
For showtimes and tickets, visit QuantumTheatre.com!
Photo Credit: Jason Snyder
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