10 x 10min plays, rehearsed over 7 days and performed over 2hrs on consecutive evenings. I had no idea what to expect but I was blown away by the quality of the writing and the varying styles that they each took to. Here's just a brief few words on each to try and illustrate what I mean. All I'll say is that these writers are definitely ones to keep your eye on and they've even inspired me to put pen to page too!
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| londontheatre1.com |
New Beginnings, Yazmin-Mai Obisesan
Well-spoken young girl, Edith thinks she's arrived in the ghetto when she starts at university. Animal Rights activist India approaches this fur-wearing foreigner and immediately they take a dislike to each other. After a show of hands and splash of paint, the girls find out they're room-mates. As Edith struggles at the simple task of making her bed up, India decides that they should start again and takes her pillowcase from her to help. It seems that it doesn't matter how we find them, or different we are from one another, friendships can start anywhere.
Fruit, Stella Jane-Odoemelam
Evelyn has had a bad day, she hasn't heard back about the job she applied for. Her wallet is stolen. Then she is accosted by a plucky salesman and cocky market seller who thinks he knows how to teach this boy something about selling things, 'it's in the blood,' he says. Evelyn's in no mood to be taken for a fool and as our market seller tries his best to teach the salesman a thing or two, she takes a free bite from his apple and clears his crates of fruit ono the floor. Nothing's for free, someone's always trying to sell us something.
Pig In A Poke, Charlotte Gray
Social media investigator Carmen is on a blind date with Samuel West, a man with no online profile. The best she's found is his surname. Which way is right, which of them can we trust? Maybe we're just in a world where both can co-exist and neither is right or wrong. A statement about the privacy of our lives online and off.
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| techgyd.com |
Astrology student Charlie, choses to study meteor showers, instead of the moon (like everyone else does). She struggles to gather the data she needs for her assignment as the moon is too bright in the sky to see. She tells assignment partner Al, of the first time she saw a meteor shower, and she was reminded how small she was. How small her problems were. In seeing the shower she'd realised the beauty of being so small, the power that comes with it. Supervisor Samuel decides to changes the co-ordinates. The team happen upon a supernova, another point for the power of the small. Although we're small, we have such huge potential for light and beauty, even in death.
Dudes Scare Me, Michael Boateng
A world were we are looked after by invisible guardians. Guardians can see each other but we cannot. Carlos is Henry's guardian, and has been encouraging him to take a leap of faith, to step outside his comfort zone. Andie, a girl he knows, tells him it's ok for something not to be your scene. Turns out his guardian might look out for him more than he thinks.
Show Two
Iceberg, Paul McArthur
I can't remember much beyond the fact that this was one of my favourite pieces. I thought with that, I wouldn't have to take any notes as I'd remember it. Alas, I didn't and now I feel eternally apologetic to the playwright! I do remember a girl with a brilliant monologue. There was a moment with testing customers fussing over their food and drink orders - oh the monotony of social servitude. I wanted it to be longer, I remember that, I could listen to it all day. I hope Paul takes it further, next time I'll make sure to take notes and give the piece the credit it deserves.
Television, Jesse Petrie
A clever two-hander. A couple (I think) watch television and speak almost in tongues as they watch. The words leak out sounds like BANG, the sounds of that flickering box we've grown up listening to. They back and forth, driving each other to despair. We have become insensitive to those we know. He, ends up stabbing She, and resumes watching cartoons. Cartoons and television, communication lost, empathy lost, lives lost in front of the TV. A powerful statement on our disassociation with the real world.
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A powerful short piece about people trafficking. Maria is on a journey and recounts the memory of a job gone wrong. She recounts the horrible moment she opened the doors of the van to bodies, people who had suffocated. She tells us of their dreams, their journey and their end. A relevant plea to humanity in a world where people's lives are traded for money.
Automatic, Lori-Jane McLare
A Black-Mirror-esque future where operating systems run our homes. Our alarm clocks dictate our every move, from pouring our morning coffees to the milk we buy. We are required to remember nothing, not even our anniversaries. Though in an eerily plausible world, Tammy can't take it anymore. She cannot take the mundane routine of life, the unfinished conversations because it's time to put on her shoes. Only, she can't stop. She is merely a puppet on her schedule's strings. Both a metaphor for how we all run our lives on time, and the technologies that emerge to make us think less for ourselves.
Pirates of the Peninsula, Antonia Bici
A fun, adventure tale for young audiences. Thomas visits the Cutty Sark with his mum and is transported back in time to meet a real pirate, Olivia. He assists her on her treasure hunt but it seems that the only real treasure worth finding is family, as she is reunited with her brother and Thomas with his mother in the present day. A fun and educational family tale with a heart.
If you're not convinced after all that, then I'm out of words to change your mind. Sell A Door young writers program has produced some brilliant 10min plays here and I can't wait to see where these writer's progress to next. I hope to try the program myself! To find out more about it and how you can get involved, click here: https://www.selladoor.com/development/young-writers-program
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