Six commissions, six playwrights, six narratives, one play. Led and edited by Richard Crowe
From the Brief…
Wassail and Richard Crowe are working together to offer this commission. We are looking for six theatre makers to collaborate on a collective script in response to the Coronavirus pandemic in Somerset.
Starting with news from Wuhan of the first death from C19 in January 2020, each contributor will produce one ‘act’ of five short scenes (max 20 minutes running time), charting the impact of the virus on the culture and consciousness of Somerset. A sixth scene (an epilogue if you like), set five years from the end of lockdown in an ‘imagined future’, will explore ways in which the virus might affect societal and political change in the UK. What will ‘the new normal’ look like?
You will be asked to address this through the eyes of an imagined ‘household’ of your choosing. A ‘household’ being any group of people (four, maximum, to allow for some generational spread) who find themselves in lock down together (family members, students, friends, residents in care homes and so on). Some will have direct experience of the virus, others almost no experience at all.
The final play will be developed through a series of weekly online script meetings (Zoom) facilitated by Richard Crowe, who will act as editor of the piece.
In the first instance we’ll present the collated piece as a scratch/rehearsed reading presentation as part of Theatre Nights Digital Edition in October/November 2020.
The writers and what they produced
Matthew Emeny – What Happened on Dorset Street
Chris Fogg – Because
Helena Payne – Dancing in Dust Sheets
Avril Silk – Love in the Time of Corona
Angie Ward – Velcro Medusa
Williams & Williams – Dream Home
The project lead/editor, Richard Crowe, has woven together a collaborative script THE TIME OF OUR LIVES using elements of the stories created by the contributing artists. It is yet to receive a public airing because its subject, the virus, is still keeping us off the stage and out of the theatre!
The production team
Project Lead/Editor – Richard Crowe
Director – Em Bettridge
Workshop director – Ged Stephenson
Producer – Nick White
With financial support from the following organisations
RICHARD CROWE | OVER THE WALL PRODUCTIONS CIC 