Alison Steadman to star in Here

Alison Steadman has signed on to star in Lisa’s production of Michael Frayn’s classic comedy HERE at the Rose Theatre, Kingston.

The 1993 play – which runs from 19 April to 17 May 2012 -  centres on a young couple who share a small studio flat where they begin to construct their life together. 
But how will they decide anything when the other person keeps disagreeing, and when the woman downstairs keeps dumping the left-over remains of her own life on them?

Alison Steadman recently appeared in the West End in Noel Coward’s Blithe Spirit as the improbable clairvoyant Madame Arcati. Also on stage she created the role of the monstrous Beverly in Mike Leigh's Abigail's Party and starred in The Rise and Fall of Little Voice, for which she won an Olivier Award. 

Her films include Shirley Valentine and Mike Leigh’s Life Is Sweet and Topsy Turvy. Television work includes Fat Friends, The Singing Detective, Pride and Prejudice and Gavin & Stacey.

Here and Now

We're excited to say that our joint artistic director Lisa will be directing Michael Frayn's excellent comedy HERE at the Rose Theatre Kingston in April. All the details below:

HERE

Thu 19 Apr to Sat 12 May

by Michael Frayn
Directed by Lisa Spirling

Friends booking opens on 26 Jan, general sale starts on 1 Feb

Rarely seen on stage, Here is a touching and brilliant razor-sharp comedy about a young couple facing the challenge of organising their new apartment and their new relationship.

Here is where everything happens. Here and now – in the space around us that we can see and touch. For Phil and Cath, in this one small studio flat, as they begin to construct their life together. For them the whole past history of the universe has led up to this moment, and its whole future history will be determined by what they decide together. Here. Now.

But how to decide anything, when the other person keeps disagreeing? And when the woman downstairs keeps dumping the left-over remains of her own life on you...?

In an exciting change at the Rose, Here will be performed on a stage, purposefully built out in to the auditorium, that enables us to bring the intimacy of Here even closer to the audience.

To book please click here.

Breed shortlisted for 20th Meyer-Whitworth Award

We're over the moon that Lou's thrilling play BREED has been short-listed for the 20th Meyer-Whitworth Award. 

The play - following a young girl's attempt to escape the murky world of illegal dog fighting - premiered at Theatre503 in September 2010. It was directed by Tim Roseman and starred John Michie (Taggart) and rising star Jessie Cave (Harry Potter).

"The play grips throughout ... effortlessly good performances" (Telegraph)
"beautiful acting... gritty, savage... arresting" (Times)
"a pedigree production" (Time Out)
"Theatre503 have another sure fire hit on their hands" (British Theatre Guide)
"a strong offering by a clearly talented writer" (WhatsOnStage)

With a prize fund of £10,000, the Meyer-Whitworth Award is one of the largest annual monetary prizes for playwriting in the UK. It is intended to help further the careers of UK playwrights who are not yet established. The award is made to the writer whose play, in the Judges’ opinion, most satisfies the following description:

• a play which embodies Geoffrey Whitworth’s dictum that “drama is important in so far as it reveals the truth about the relationships of human beings with each other and the world at large”
• a play which shows promise of a developing new talent
• a play in which the writing is of individual quality

The winner of the award will be announced later in the year. 

Previous winners are-

1991 Award inaugurated

1992 (1st Award): Roy MacGregor for Our Own Kind

1993 (2nd Award): Philip Ridley for The Fastest Clock in the Universe

1994 (3rd Award): Diane Samuels for Kindertransport

1995 (4th Award): Jointly – Terry Johnson for Hysteria & Billy Roche for The Cavalcaders

1996 (5th Award): Michael Wynne for The Knocky

1997 (6th Award): Conor McPherson for This Lime Tree Bower

1998 (7th Award): Jointly – Moira Buffini for Gabriel and Daragh Carville for Language Roulette

1999 (8th Award): David Harrower for Kill the Old Torture their Young

2000 (9th Award): Kate Dean for Down Red Lane

2001 (10th Award): Ray Grewal for My Dad’s Corner Shop

2002 (11th Award): Jointly – Gregory Burke for Gagarin Way and Henry Adam for Among Broken Hearts

2003 (12th Award): Gary Owen for Shadow of a Boy

2004 (13th Award): Owen McCafferty for Scenes from the Big Picture

2005 (14th Award): Steve Thompson for Damages

2006 (15th Award): Dennis Kelly for Osama the Hero

2007 (16th Award): Morna Pearson for Distracted

2008 (17th Award): Hassan Abdulrazzak for Baghdad Wedding 

2009 (18th Award): Ali Taylor for Cotton Wool

2010 (19th Award): Natasha Langridge for Shraddha

First review of Hundreds and Thousands

By Aleks Sierz for The Arts Desk

One of the many strengths of new writing for the stage is that it’s not afraid to go into the darkest and most upsetting places of the human psyche. Whether at the Royal Court or at the Bush or Soho theatres, young playwrights have dived in to explore the grimmest reaches of our imaginations. Hundreds and Thousands, which opened last night, is Lou Ramsden’s powerful and compelling account of one family’s descent into a nightmare.

Lorna is not unusual. She’s a frumpy thirtysomething who wants a baby. Unable to meet a suitable man, she tries speed dating. After thus hooking up with Allan, an ice-cream man, she moves into his isolated farmhouse, deaf to the protests of her younger brother Jonathan. Before long, Lorna discovers that there’s much more to Allan than immediately meets the eye. For a start, he has a live-in housekeeper, a very strange girl called Tiggy — who wears a dog collar and chains.

'Ramsden explores this macabre family set up with a fine sensibility that mixes gothic horror with ethical concerns'

For the next hour and a half we watch in agony as Lorna finds out all about Allan and Tiggy. But she is no truth-seeking heroine. Desperate for a baby, she allows herself to get sucked into Allan’s weird world, and Ramsden excels in presenting this horror story in a way that solicits our sympathies for each of the characters in turn. In the end, Lorna has a moral choice: should she do what she wants to (marry Allan) or choose what’s right (phone the police)?

Ramsden explores this macabre family set up with a fine understanding of psychology, and with a sensibility that mixes gothic horror with ethical concerns. The situation of Tiggy is reminiscent of that of real women such as Natascha Kampusch and fictional situations such as Yorgos Lanthimos’s Dogtooth. Using storytelling techniques and vivid stage images (the climax is excruciating and almost unbearable), the playwright creates a thrilling atmosphere that has the audience on the edge of their seats.

As directed by Lisa Spirling, Hundreds and Thousands is staged in Soho Theatre’s Upstairs Studio, as Steve Marmion, the new artistic director of the venue, has made it his mission to open up the nooks and crannies of his building. It’s a swelter-box of a studio, its sweaty claustrophobia perfect for this play, which is well cast. As the dowdy Lorna, Sukie Smith contrasts nicely with Nadine Lewington’s oddball Tiggy. Likewise, Stuart Laing’s highly disturbing Allan differs sharply from Robert Wilfort’s goofy Jonathan. 

All this delivers an evening of shocks and sudden moments of poetic insight. Even if you can’t accept the uncompromising audacity of Ramsden’s vision, the play works as a punchy parable, a resonant metaphor for family relationships and individual selfishness. At all times, just behind the dialogue, you can catch a faint whiff of a burning cruelty and a deep hatred which is the play’s emotional fuel. And it burns, it burns.

Who would you invite to a theatrical dinner party?

Pinter? Wesker? Miller?

Speaking to the Bush Theatre's Bushgreen website this week, Lou explained who would be invited round to hers for tea. She also explained which type of plays float her boat ...

Dream List: what plays should we be reading, putting on and going to see?

Anything but pure naturalism.  Not to say there aren’t some brilliantly written naturalistic plays out there.  But if I ruled the theatrical world for a day, I’d encourage everyone to push the boat out some more.  I love plays that are slightly off-kilter.  Dream-like, nightmarish, weirdly funny, scary, fierce, or just a bit wrong.  Anything that surprises you, gets your heart racing or makes you laugh or cry.  Anything with a story and a strong pulse.

Describe your first theatrical epiphany

How late can you have an epiphany? When I saw Philip Ridley’s play MERCURY FUR in 2005 I’d been writing for a few years, but it completely changed my view of drama.  I found it compelling, hideous, addictively terrifying.  It made my heart pound – literally – and I never quite realized that theatre could have such a physical effect.  I hope that my plays now have an element of that - perhaps not to the same extent, but a hint of it.  I like playing with that conflict in people that horror films provoke - when they want to look away, but at the same time feel compelled to watch.  This said, there’s nothing like hearing an audience laugh, and I hope my plays are shot through with some black comedy, too.

Who would you invite to your fantasy theatrical dinner party?

Anthony Neilson, Philip Ridley, Dennis Kelly, Caryl Churchill, Alan Bennett, Sarah Kane, Martin McDonagh.  I love Hildegard Bechtler’s designs so I’d get her to do the place settings.  And I’d invite some people who don’t know anything about theatre – gets a bit boring talking shop all the time.

For the rest of the interview please click here.