16 June 2008 – Platform THEATRE503
The first staging of new work in progress by the London Playwrights’ Collective, as selected by Theatre503:
As Told To by Debbie Kent
He Says… She Says… by Darron J Ward
The Third Light by Jackie Kane
One Night in Lindum by Nathan Hughes
The Photojournalist by Dan Horrigan
Team B by Gina Knox
Small Footsteps in the Snow by Maude Laflamme
Over the 6 months season, the LPC writers’ group members were invited to create a new piece of writing or continue developing an existing piece of their choice through the practical sessions and with the support of their peers and other invited theatre practitioners. They were then asked to submit a 10 minute extract or complete short play for the platform to Theatre503. The selected playwrights were then paired up with professional theatre directors who cast and rehearsed the pieces for this exciting evening of readings. Photographs by Stephanie Larner.
As Told To by Debbie Kent
DIRECTED BY: Antonio Ferrara
CAST: Scott Hinds, Victoria Sutton & Jennifer Healy
Gretel tries to tell the shocking story of her encounter with a cannibal killer – but will Hansel let her reveal the truth? Victoria Sutton & Scott Hinds Maggie and John wrangle over the truth of their childhood story, back in the days when they were called Hansel and Gretel.
Victoria Sutton & Scott Hinds
MAGGIE:
Now I can tell it properly – how difficult everything was, how desperate.
JOHN:
You were the one who shoved the old dear in the oven.
MAGGIE:
There wasn’t anything left to eat. It was you or her. And there was a lot more meat on her.
He Says… She Says… by Darron J Ward
DIRECTED BY: Yolanda Ferrato
CAST: Paul Sockett, Beth Vyse & Matthew Blake
He Says… She Says… is an extract from Darron’s latest play, a hard-hitting story of boy meets girl, girl falls pregnant, boy gets angry & money changes hands.
Beth Vyse & Paul Sockett
[SPOKEN TO AUDIENCE] JENNIFER
Oh, just what the doctor ordered. Hmm, a major thoroughfare. Well maintained, obvious signs of hard usage. Well, if you’re going A to B (hmm), take a direct route. With a bit of time I could… add a few ring roads… maybe introduce a couple of speed restrictions…
ANTHONY
Fuck.
JENNIFER
Hmm, why did I wait two years, three months! A bit rough, but not selfish – certainly a giver.
ANTHONY
Hmmh, fuck.
JENNIFER
I think, little man, I might just see you again.
The Third Light by Jackie Kane
DIRECTED BY: Dan Coleman
CAST: Richard Eckles, Sara Templeman, Annie Julian & Daniel Gosling
The Third Light is a trilogy of short plays which tell the domestic stories of soldiers returning from battle in the 1940s. This first part reveals the personal consequences of war for an injured officer and his love.
Sara Templeman & Richard Eckles
ALICE
I thought I’d lost you before… Don’t put me through that grief again…
TOM
I was lost the moment I put on this uniform. We all were… We’re none of us the same men, Alice.
ALICE
Then talk to me. I want to know what you know…
TOM
I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy.
One Night in Lindum by Nathan Hughes
DIRECTED BY: James Barry
CAST: Richard Delaney, Jack Baldwin & Melanie Gray as Colida
VOICEOVERS: (Recorded by Jamie Russel): Tom Morgan & Fiona Hymns
One Night in Lindum is a comedic murder/mystery, written as an ode to the bohemian underbelly of his home city, Lincoln.
Melanie Gray, Richard Delaney & Jack Baldwin
COLIDA:
So, Robin, Otis tells me there’s a fiancée somewhere amongst all this packing?
ROBIN:
Was a fiancée, she pulled the plug last weekend.
OTIS:
Oh God Rob, I’m so sorry, you should have said!
ROBIN:
Too busy with the move and all.
COLIDA:
So you’re still moving in?
ROBIN:
Had no choice, given notice on my old flat and booked the removal van. Probably going to have to get a lodger in now. Champagne?
The Photojournalist by Dan Horrigan
DIRECTED BY: Steve Harper
CAST: Emma Laird-Craig & Will Kemp
The Photojournalist is Dan’s 6th play. It tells the story of a photograph depicting a trauma in Iraq and the effects of the trauma on those involved.
Emma Laird-Craig & Will Kemp
SAM
Why do you do it?
SARAH
Why do I do what?
SAM
Go to dangerous places to take photographs?
SARAH
I enjoyed what happened tonight but don’t think I have strong feelings for you
SAM
If you did would you answer my question?
SARAH
I did it to show a woman can make it in a man’s world
SAM
I don’t believe you
SARAH
Good
Team B by Gina Knox
DIRECTED BY: Vicky Graham
CAST: Jack Baldwin, Charlotte Workman & Richard Delaney
Team B is a wry look at survival in the dog eat dog world of business in the face of incompetence and sabotage.
Charlotte Workman, Duncan Worth & Richard Delaney
DUNCAN:
Vision my friends, vision, that’s all it takes. A team like soldiers marching onwards without knowing why and shooting a few people on the way, we are not just part of Cruikshank and Blowers, we are Cruikshank and Blowers! SO they can throw all the De Vasconcelos’s, Mahlers, Pablos we will just bat them back like a tennis pro, Come on guys lets go for it! Ahhhhh!
Small Footsteps in the Snow by Maude Laflamme
DIRECTED BY: Anthony Biggs
CAST: Sophie Wu, Gabrielle Hamilton & Anthony Biggs
Small Footsteps in the Snow is a magical coming of age fairytale. Fight dragons or fall in love? Live or dream? Getting older is a very dangerous adventure…
Gabrielle Hamilton & Sophie Wu
EMILY
And that’s when it happened, I saw it with my own eyes – a nightmarish transformation: the man’s jaw and teeth growing grotesquely, his hands becoming hairless paws, his skin glowing red. Iro wrestles in the dragon’s embrace, the paws clutching at his back, his brow so hot it evaporated the trickling cold sweat of fear it had just created. But as a slimy fish in the untrained hand, Iro slips away, ducking the fiery breaths and escaping the reptiles’ gaze. For a moment in the confusion, Iro searches for an escape route but instead pulls out the twig from his belt as a knight would a sword! He would fight for me, to keep me, the old woman, safe from the demon of his imagining. But the monster is bigger, stronger, scarier and in one sudden move flattens our Iro to the ground, and throws him aside, the discarded carcass of a insect. We are now alone, the monster and I, his gaze fixed upon me as he approaches, panting slowly his warm sulphurous breath until we are so close one would think us lovers. I melt in the proximity of his ever burning flesh: frozen in place by the inevitability of his embrace.
23rd & 26th September 2008 – Brockley Bites MOONBOW JAKES
A night of new short plays by LPC writers
The Games Room by David Bottomley
Affirmation by Yvonne Smith
Ninety Stories by John Brown
The Trial of Saint Eustis by Reen Polonsky
Keen to support this new venue, the LPC produced an evening of new writing, offering 4 of our writers the opportunity to test a new piece on discerning audiences. The evening was followed by a Q&A, offering the audience a chance to share their thoughts, thus participating in the creative process.
Photographs by Stephanie Larner.
Affirmation by Yvonne Smith
DIRECTED BY: Francis Watson
CAST: Richard Woolnough, Ann Marcuson & Samuel Lewis
It’s the afternoon session of the Positive Development Workshop. Ellen and Jim’s encounter with coach Allan could change their lives; but for the better or worse?
Samuel Lewis, Richard Woolnough & Ann Marcuson
JIM CLEARS THROAT, PAUSE, LOOKS AROUND I came here today, doubting, cynical. Fucking cynical. Please excuse the language.
ALLAN
If it’s who you are…
JIM
Extremely cynical. I thought all this was a complete pile of… well, I’ll just say bollocks. I didn’t come of my own accord, I wouldn’t have come within ten miles of this strapped to a bargepole. But then I met someone, someone fantastic, who thought they were shit. To be honest, I thought they were shit too at first because they did and I reflected that back at them. At her. We were both reflecting shit back at each other.
The Trial of Saint Eustis by Reen Polonsky
DIRECTED BY: Yolanda Ferrato
CAST: Glennon Anderson, Ben Upson & Curtis Jordan
A story of office politics after death. Three minor saints discuss the trial of a colleague who is charged with hitting a man with a bus.
Glennon Anderson, Ben Upson & Curtis Jordan
ERNEST
You think he’s innocent?
BERTIE
No, of course not. The evidence is all there. One number 14 bus. One dead man. This chap’s blood is all over Eustis’ hands. But that doesn’t make him crazy. See, he knew all about this fellow. Every morning, sneaking an extra five minutes of duvet time. Taking long showers. Lingering over the last few sips of coffee… Invariably missing his bus. Then praying for the next one to come. And as soon as it arrives, forgetting about his prayer, as if it had nothing to do with the bus appearing just in time. Day after day. The same bloody thing. And did this chap ever thank Eustis for all his hard work?
The Games Room by David Bottomley
DIRECTED BY: Francis Watson
CAST: Richard Woolnough, Ann Marcuson & Samuel Lewis
Laura thinks she is auditioning for the local Drama Group but soon discovers there is an alternative performance scene with ex Army members in the underground Games Room.
Samuel Lewis & Ann Marcuson
JEFF
Excellent. Did you bring an audition piece?
LAURA
No… I didn’t realise.
JEFF
Not to worry. Shall we try a bit of movement? Would you mind moving for me? (LAURA sways in a half hearted, self-conscious manner) Why not try… entering the room for example.
LAURA
Okay. Pause. She doesn’t move
JEFF
From outside.
LAURA
Oh, with you. LAURA exits door closing it behind her. Pause
JEFF
In your own time. (LAURA opens door and enters slowly and dramatically) Good. You have an excellent figure Laura.
LAURA
Why, thank you.
Ninety Storeys by John Brown
DIRECTED BY: Niall Costigan
CAST: Peter Lovstrom & Tayo Oyeniyi
Fatima discovers Hadrian about to make a suicide jump. She seems strangely unconcerned until her own story is revealed.
Peter Lovstrom & Tayo Oyeniyi
HADRIAN.
You’re making fun… you’re sending me up…
FATIMA.
Shut up and listen! Not everything is about you.
HADRIAN.
Why are you twisting the knife in me?
FATIMA.
IN YOU! What about me? Listen to MY story! Why does nobody ever hear me?
HADRIAN.
All right! I’m listening. Take it easy. BEAT
FATIMA.
It was beautiful in the country… you’re right. But… your romantic notions… you just don’t know…
8th December 2008 – Platform THEATRE503
The best new writing of complete short plays from the current writers’ group as selected by Theatre503:
Producer: Gina Knox
ADDICTION / 4 plays by 4 writers:
Worse by Jenny Klein
Salad by Yvonne Smith
Remote by John Baker Brown
A Space Between Us Where Honesty Could Be by Lee James McDonnell
This season’s plays were based on the theme ‘addiction’ endemic of today’s modern age and society in ever increasing variations. The theme was inspired by our host venue Theatre503’s motto ‘fearless writing’ giving the writer a bold gateway to step out of their usual writing style and challenge their creativity in creating a totally new piece of writing.
Salad by Yvonne Smith
DIRECTED BY: Yolanda Ferrato
CAST: Curtis Jordan, Chloe Metcalfe & Colin Howdle
Rodolphe has some bad news to break to Julia as they wait for their new ‘safe’ dealer. All he can think about is salad, all she can think about is the perfect family she watches from their window. Maybe the perfect family could be the answer…
Curtis Jordan & Chloe Metcalfe
ROCCO
Why can’t we do normal things? Why don’t we go to Asda and get food, not crates and bottles and tins,… We could go look round some garden. We could go Ikea and get curtains. There’s a blanket over our window! That room could be… well, better. JULIA STARES
JULIA
You… you capitalist. We said we wouldn’t be like that, shops and stuff and money.
ROCCO
You’re stealing money off kids to buy drugs from scum!
JULIA
They’re just like you and me.
ROCCO
Exactly!
JULIA
You’re upset. I’m upset. It’s upsetting. You can cry if you… you know. Just… like, have a cry.
Remote by John Baker-Brown
DIRECTED BY: Francis Watson
CAST: Samuel Lewis, Louise Ashcroft & Tim Mirza
A newly arrived neighbour strikes up a friendship with a dysfunctional married couple. But when this threesome start to interact deep seated problems emerge. Each can see signs of obsession and addiction in the other two but are blind to their own failings. It leads to the inevitable crisis and each is faced with hard truths… but do they confront them and move on…?
Samuel Lewis & Louise Ashcroft
DAN
What’s your problem? Why can’t we have friends?
ANGIE
I don’t need other people getting into my business.
DAN
They are real people, with ideas, they say things. You know… Conversation? Not like these phonies you’re obsessed with on TV all the time.
ANGIE PICKS UP THE REMOTE AND FLICKS THROUGH CHANNELS.
They’re real people.
DAN
They’re images, little dots of light. Dancing in the plasma.
ANGIE
And… somewhere there is a real person in front of a camera.
DAN
Performing! You don’t see who they are.
ANGIE
I know who they are.
Worse by Jenny Klein
DIRECTED BY: Vicky Graham
CAST: Matt Addis, Charlotte Medcalf & Brendan Murphy
How should you react when you realise that all is not well in your family? What matters most? How your son feels? How you feel? Or what everyone else thinks? Is it really as bad as it seems? After all – things can always get worse.
Charlotte Medcalf & Brendan Murphy
QUESTIONER
Alright, lets talk about your son. Tell me about him.
MOTHER
My son? He’s a boy. You know boys, teenage boys? He’s all elbows and knees and clothes on the floor and uncombed hair and eating straight out of the fridge and ipods and xbox and football and teachers he likes or dislikes and hanging out with his mates and kind of grunting. He’s all that. Do you want to know his favourite food, his favourite colour, his favourite TV programme? Because to be honest, I’m not sure I can tell you that. But I do know he is a person, like me, like you, with thoughts in his head. With feelings. His own person. Trying to put one foot in front of the other, to move forward, to fight his way forward away from all the shit and find a life. And somehow he got the impression he could find it at the bottom of a bottle, God, if it was only that simple.
A Space Between Us Where Honesty Could Be by Lee James Mc Connell
DIRECTED BY: Hanna Wolf
CAST: Felicity Davidson & Oliver King
Cities are large imposing places. Sam, ignores the “No Talk” rule and talks to complete strangers in the park. One of those strangers is Jane, who is the last person to chit chat whilst jogging. Their chance meeting becomes an improbable love. Will they stay together when they realise how different they are?
Felicity Davidson & Oliver King
SAM:
Feelings are powerful things.
JANE:
You are well over the line.
SAM:
I hope we can suspend the line.
JANE:
I created the line.
SAM:
I wish the line didn’t exist.
JANE:
The line is there for security.
SAM:
When will we know that the line is obsolete?
JANE:
When I feel safe.
SAM:
When will that be?
JANE:
Who can tell.
21st & 28th September 2009 – Crash Test Audience THEATRE503
CRASH TEST AUDIENCE: New Writing worth watching!
Spread over 2 evenings, and selected in partnership with Theatre503, The London Playwrights’ Collective is proud to present extracts and short plays by emerging playwrights! These exciting platform performances were the result of a 6 month development period where our writers were advised and mentored in developing their best pieces. Paired with a professional theatre director and following practical workshops developed by the LPC, this bold project has encouraged stimulating and provocative drama:
Monday 21st September 2009 @ 8 pm
The Invitation by Reen Polonsky
The Darkest Hour by Rick Perrins
To Death! by Maude Laflamme
Monday 28th September 2009 @ 8 pm
Service Industry by Jenny Klein
UN-Organised Crime by Ed Shore
2525 by Gina Knox
Late Swallows by David Bottomley
Presented with the assistance of several of London’s young and talented directors: James Farrell, Samuel Miller, Yolanda Ferrato, Francis Watson, Sarah Norman, Zoe Waterman & Anne Khazam.
The Invitation by Reen Polonsky
DIRECTED BY: James Farrell
CAST: Genevieve Adam & Jeff Peterson
Eleanor and Carter are getting ready to host a dinner party. The only problem is that no one invited the guests. Was it a simple misunderstanding, or something more sinister? The Invitation is a satire on social class in modern-day America. + photo + extract
The Darkest Hour by Rick Perrins
DIRECTED BY: Samuel Miller
CAST: Martin Head, Dan Ford, Phil Wilmott, Brooke Hender & Kenneth Jay
The Darkest Hour, by Rick Perrins, tells the forgotten story of the Kovno ghetto in Lithuania during World War 2. Based on Avraham Tory’s diary, it is about courageous and principled individuals who are forced to make impossible choices as they attempt to save Jewish lives. This is a companion piece to “The Definite Article”. + photo + extract
To Death! by Maude Laflamme
DIRECTED BY: Yolanda Ferrato
CAST: Meghan Popiel, Emma Carroll & Emma Manley
This is an extract from the full length play which follows the lives of three friends as they reunite to share joys and woes at funerals. In this scene the girls reunite after their turbulent 20s around an empty coffin… + photo (to be added later)
MARIE:
I think I found it, what was different that morning. Like every other day he kissed me at the top of the stairs, but then he didn’t look back as he always did. It just felt different. And so I stayed there, watched him disappear at the end of the street. And then every day since, I look in the direction he left as if I could go back to that day, scream his name, make him turn around, force him to remember that I am still here. Sometimes I think I see him/ Why didn’t he turn back? Does that mean he knew? That he’d already decided? Or did he just forget? His memory erased like I’d never existed. I believe Daryl comes back home every night, it’s just that he never gets here.
Service Industry by Jenny Klein
DIRECTED BY: Francis Watson
CAST: Rachel Warren, Louise Ashcroft & Shamaya Chalabi
When you start a new job there are always a few quirks to get used to. But some employers are quirkier than others, so what’s an ambitious girl to do? Empty stage. A woman walks in carrying a desk. She is struggling because the desk is big and heavy and she is wearing very high heels and a very tight dress. She is also wearing dark rimmed spectacles and has her hair up in a bun. She is the Secretary. She manages to get the desk into the room, drops it rather than places it, pushes it into position and then catches her breath. She goes out and returns with two chairs which she arranges one on each side of the desk. She goes out and comes back with 2 glasses and a large jug or bottle which is full to the brim with water. She puts the glasses on the desk and starts to pour water into them but spills it. She looks around but there is no cloth to be seen. Her outfit is so tight it is clear there are no pockets. After considering she sits on the desk and mops up the water by wriggling around on the spill and absorbing the water into her dress. She stands up, and a split second later another woman walks into the room wearing a plain dark business suit and carrying a briefcase. She smiles at the Secretary but does not speak. This is Miss Elaine.
UN-Organised Crime by Ed Shore
DIRECTED BY: Sarah Norman
CAST: Scott Ainslie, Paul Thomas, Richard Woolnough
UN-organised Crime is a brief look at the allegations of corruption at the United Nations’ anti-corruption office. It is based on reported facts and the UN’s internal investigative report.
2525 by Gina Knox
DIRECTED BY: Zoë Waterman
CAST: Emma Carter, Hywel Morgan & James Woolridge
The year is 2525 the world has changed beyond recognition following the third world war in 2105. This is an excerpt of a full length play where past values throw new order off balance.
ALICIA:
I was teaching the old religion as stated in the curriculum, one of the students asked me if Jesus existed. I said yes he was a real man.
COMMANDER:
What happened then is irrelevant now
ALICIA:
I wanted them to think how our ancestors once did.
COMMANDER:
I think you couldn’t wait to share your beliefs with them, you were in your element harping on about miracles and self righteous clap trap.
Late Swallows by David Bottomley
DIRECTED BY: Anne Khazam
CAST: Richard Stoker, Gill Stoker, Gregory Cox & Graham Jones
What made British composer, Sir Edward Elgar make the pilgrimage with Fred Gaisberg, EMI record producer, to the exiled Frederick Delius in 1933? This is an excerpt from a full length play investigating a possible scenario.