'Flies' Swarms the Ex

Usually actors are given specific roles by a director, but with this original work inspired by William Golding’s "Lord of the Flies," director Alistair A. Debling ’16 let the actors decide for themselves which characters fit their actions and dispositions. "Flies," which will open in the Loeb Ex on Dec. 5, is a new take on Golding’s novel and differs from the original text in its narrative form and character development.

"We began with creating movement, and then from there we created characters more or less based around the formation of ourselves in the script," actor Archie I. H. Stonehill ’17 says. "Then, from the characters we created the story."

Debling says that all of the actors worked with each other—first through improvisation and prompts from Debling and then through the development of certain scenes—to create their own script. The main characters are the same, and those familiar with the novel will recognize Piggy, Ralph, Jack, and Simon, as well as major plot points, but actors say that the script is more inspired by rather than based on the book.

Instead, the narrative flows between more standard scenes of two or more characters and monologues interrupted with repeated lines. Debling hopes that the structure of the play will allow the audience to become intellectually and emotionally involved with the characters to the point where the audience will begin to think of the Loeb Ex as perhaps something more than just black and empty—as an island where children attempt to govern themselves.

—Staff writer Virginia R. Marshall can be reached at virginia.marshall@thecrimson.com.