Interview: Jenna Fish talks about Unpacking Mr Becker, Magnet Summer Season 2024

For its Summer Season 2024, Magnet Theatre is presenting four solo plays by young theatre makers who also perform in the plays. Jenna Fish (24) who graduated in 2021 at Stellenbosch University, with a degree in Drama and Theatre Studies, talks about her play, Unpacking Mr Becker (written in collaboration with Robin Kitto) which is a “fictional story injected with elements” of her own experience:

TCR: Is Unpacking Mr Becker an autobiographical play- based on your own story – did you sort out your grandfather’s attic? If not autobiographical, then please tell us about the genesis of the play.  

Jenna Fish: Unpacking Mr Becker is a fictional story injected with elements of my own experience. The idea for the play really sparked after a conversation I’d had with a friend who was busy typing up his Grandad’s autobiography. He’d agreed begrudgingly to do an hour or so. During that time my friend uncovered a huge sadness that had happened in his grandpa’s childhood, that he’d never known about and would have never even thought to ask. This got me thinking about all that dies with the person when they grow old, memories forgotten, stories fragmented etc. Linking to my own experience, when I was sitting at my grandad’s funeral, I was confused by the man they were all talking about because he did not match the image of the Grandpa I knew. I became intrigued by the idea of the generational gap.  That is how the story of Bella and Patrick began.  

TCR: The play “deals with the uncovering of ‘things’. The literal, left to gather dust and the figurative, the memories, secrets…lives forgotten as people grow old and the stories buried by a world moving too fast to stop and listen.” Can you elaborate and can you talk about Bella feeling like an “imposter”?

JF: The undercurrent of the play is empathy, a reaction that I had to wishing I made more effort with my own grandfather, before he died. There is a strong sense of misunderstanding in this play – or rather never truly knowing the truth. We grapple with the question of finding truth. What do you do when you find truth that belongs to someone else…? How does it change those of us left behind? Bella enters the room annoyed to be doing a task for a man who never seemed to pay particular attention to her. Having a surface level relationship with Grandad she feels the least qualified for the task at hand and uncomfortable about rummaging around in his life. As the play unfolds, we watch her change and soften as she realises that just like herself her grumpy grandad was just a man who had his own life of challenges, and joys.

TCR: Who is Bella Cambel and Patrick Bekkers of 1950, 1960 South Africa that you refer to in the media release?  Does the play reference 1950 and 1960 – Apartheid and how does this relate to you as a twenty something person in SA now?

JF: In my original write up of the play this was a more prominent element than it has ended up being. It is hard to talk much about how Apartheid is mentioned in the play without revealing an important piece of the puzzle uncovered by Bella. What I can say is in developing the character of Patrick Becker, I referred a lot to the type of masculinity we so often see in the generation that grew up after the war. Often distant and more comfortable showing love, through providing for a family, rather than through vulnerable expression. As a young adult in today’s South Africa, it is always quite bizarre taking time to research specific happenings and sadnesses of our country during Apartheid. We are so far removed from that world it is hard to imagine – a time when people were so forcefully made to be apart – and how much of a scandal could be created when people chose or rather tried to bend those boundaries.

TCR: Who is directing?  Can you tell us about the design, lighting?

JF: For the large part I have been directing myself. Magnet provided us each with mentors, to help guide our process, my mentor being Professor Mark Fleishman. Mark has skilfully steered me towards the end product asking questions I had not thought to consider and challenging my delivery. The play is set in an attic, a space filled with labelled boxes, dusty forgotten artefacts, but also a place where Grandad retreated to sit in his Lazy Boy enjoying the silence of the topmost floor. I have loved piecing together the design, with vintage objects from my own parents and grandparents, the set is filled with me. I hope to have created a set with interest, and enough eye candy to trigger nostalgia and reminiscence within the audience. I want the lighting to resemble the idea comfort left behind while also being a little dusty and dingy to begin with. While Bella shifts in and out of memories, I aim to narrow the light to certain areas of the stage mimicking the far away placement of the old thoughts/remembrances.

My lighting was entirely brought to life by Mark Fleishman. He said: “We want it to look like you’re stepping into an old photograph.” We worked to create an atmosphere that showed the age/intrigue of the room, subtly shifting things as Bella morphs into lost memories of her grandparents, a suggestion in the dim placement of the lights that they still hang somewhere within the space. 

TCR: This is your professional theatrical theatre debut? Exciting and daunting? Can you tell us about the process of writing the play – from concept – to stage and how did the play come about being staged as part of Magnet’s Summer Season? Have you worked with Magnet in the past?

JF: It’s been an absolute baptism of fire. I’ve found the process quite overwhelming, to go from nothing to wearing the hats of producer, director, writer, actor, marketer etc. Having never done this before, in hindsight I’ve done the process a little backwards. I stared by writing a script (alongside Robin Kitto) this was a sort of safety net for me and only started exploring the work on the floor after the text was “finished”…now on about text version 11 I have realised that its far easier to begin the process without any restrictions, to play, explore, improvise and then commit to text. It has been difficult but an incredible learning opportunity. I am only just ticking off all the to-dos but am finally allowing myself to feel that looming performance excitement. My involvement with Magnet began back in April this year [2024] when I auditioned for the Magnet Youth Company, though I didn’t make the company, I was invited to submit a proposal for a one woman play. They accepted my proposal and here we are today.

TCR: Anything else to add about the play, your career in theatre – including busking work around the UK with a hat and a violin?

JF: My Passion for the stage began when I was very young, amazed by the way actors could transport you, make you laugh. Make you think. My walk in the industry however is just beginning – this being my first year of freelancing as an actor. I have found the industry to be large and quite scary but the longer I’m in it the more I realise it’s just a case of finding your groove, meeting as many people as possible and perfecting the art of YES AND! Performance is my passion, and I am enjoying exploring how many ways that can manifest in a career – be that radio, narration, improv, teaching or classical music. Last year I travelled the UK for three months with my violin, funnily enough a 303-year-old violin that was discovered in my grandfather’s attic. Go figure.

✳ Jenna Fish: Her play Unpacking Mr Becker, (written in collaboration with Robin Kitto) is premiering at Magnet Theatre’s Summer Season 2024. The season runs November 30 to December 13. Pic supplied.