VJ Paul Hithersay reflects on how Begin/End has developed

First time I've been to Cambridge and the Junction in years. The venue looks absolutely great from outside and the work done on the inside has utterly transformed it.

My eyes just went straight to Anna's set on stage where it looked so perfect from the height and distance of our seats, it made me say 'wow' out loud! This was the first time I'd seen it since the tech rehearsal, it was like being greeted by an old friend!

Then the first words and I'm impressed again at just how strong and natural Amy's characterisation of Lili has become. I was always impressed with what I saw of Amy's work in development at Half Moon, with the whole process of Angela's direction and the ideas that emerged. The performance I was seeing here was perfect. This IS Lili. Then from the moment Yaz appears I'm transfixed again. The timing and poise that Rachel has and maintains throughout, is, actually awesome. The way she conveys Yaz's character growing and changing is so well conceived. Her movement, body language, gestures, voice, and facial expressions are riveting and they absolutely fit the moment.

What really works for me is the amazing dynamic that has developed between these characters. I was hugely impressed by the way in which Amy and Rachel have worked together in making the relationship between Lilli and Yaz so believable through how (as actors) they move and interact physically on stage. The way Rachel has understood Yaz as someone who changes while her friend Lili stays stuck, is played out physically, as well as in dialogue and narrative, with great insight, finesse and empathy. They have both made this work on so many levels. The way Amy lives Lili's turmoils, frustrations and rejection is just brilliant. She makes you able to feel exasperatingly contradictory emotions about the way Lili thinks and behaves. You feel her almost going mad with both the joy and the pain. The story is of a roller-coaster emotional journey, Amy and Rachel took us on it with impressive skill and power.

The stage management was seamless magic, the music filled and fitted the world of Lili and Yaz's journey with real integrity and purpose. I thought the visuals worked well, not too intrusive but still appropriately meaningful. There was never a moment when my attention was away from the action. Time belonged to the world within the stage and the story. Lili and Yaz (Amy and Rachel) absolutely owned it!

A superlatively impressive show in a very impressive venue.

Judging from the audience response and the perceptive, enthusiastic questions afterwards, they were very impressed, too!

VJ artist Paul Hithersay on his experience of creating visuals for the play

This has been a very unusual challenge for me.

Creating video which has to be noticed almost subliminally/subconsciously to support the emotional feel of parts of the drama, without being a distraction from the main focus on the characters on stage is something completely new to me. Usually I make very "in yer face" VJ cuts, to go with dance and electronic music! Usually I make images to be projected on a flat screen. This is projected on to a 3D set!

The process of getting started and developing images that really support and entwine themselves with the unfolding story has been pretty tough. The starting point is always your own personal, subjective interpretation and I found the text of the play really gripping, all by itself. I struggled for a while to imagine how video would work and what techniques, especially the development of a style, to bring to it in a subtle way, that could actually add something to an already powerful drama. I found that my usual way of doing things was not going to hit the spot. I had to re-think the way I was working it.

In solving these questions and coming up with pieces of work that would answer the challenge, I have to say that Angela's [Angela Michael's, Begin/End's Director] vision, direction and support of the artistic process has been tremendous. Each stage in the development of the whole production, the set, the music, the acting, the action, the use to the stage space and of the video, has been coaxed into being by Angela's skill, experience and ability to get the very best out of people and ideas.

This is the first time I have worked with Half Moon and I am seriously humbled and impressed by the friendliness, professionalism, enthusiasm and creativity of everyone involved. Not only that, I'm really chuffed to have contributed something that people, including the playwright are pleased with. We are nearly at the end of the process now and I am surprised and delighted with what has evolved from it.

As I write, I'm looking forward to running through the next rehearsal, with all the video in almost it's final form and order.

There are a couple more days left to make final tweaks, ready to go on show and on the road which this truly excellent, truly live, truly multi-media production of a very powerful drama.