Category: 3. Scripted (Oct 2012)

15
Oct

Introducing: playwright Ben Norton Davies

Ben Norton Davies

It’s time to introduce multi-talented ANOTHER DAY playwright Ben Norton Davies…

Ben, ANOTHER DAY will be the second time you have worked with A Friend of a Friend Productions can  you tell us a little bit about the first time?

Yeah, well I was fortunate enough to have a play in the ‘Scripted’ event at the Southwark Playhouse  last year.

Two years ago actually.

Is it really? Bloody hell, time flies. Okay so I had a play in ‘Scripted’ two years ago; a little comedic  two hander about unrequited love called “A Misunderstanding” which had just been shortlisted for the Soho Theatre Westminster Prize. I enjoy playing around with staging conventions in my writing and I came up with the idea of a piece that worked as a single narrative but told by two people in
separate spaces… it seemed to go down pretty well.

It really did. So what have you been doing since then?

You know the joy of it was I actually met with a number of people in the bar after ‘Scripted’ who had enjoyed what I had done and wanted me to work with them. That was a great feeling! So that night I was commissioned to create a piece for Invertigo’s ‘Seven’ event at The George Tavern in Shadwell. Then that in turn led to me writing a longer piece for them entitled “A Marked Man” that was presented at the 2013 HighTide Festival. I have also had works performed at new writing nights across London. Oh and I’m working on a screenplay… but then isn’t everyone?

A Misunderstanding SCRIPTED lob

Nick Read and Ben Worth in A MISUNDERSTANDING

A question we are asking all our writers is predictably enough; “did you always want to be a writer?”

No, not really. Don’t get me wrong; I’ve always enjoyed writing, but I actually went to university with ambitions of being an actor. Then while I was there I wrote a few plays for coursework that were well received, and then I started writing stand-up routines and comedy songs that I would perform at local pubs, and I guess I just found myself drifting more in that direction. Even now though I don’t really think of myself as just a writer as its only part of what I do, part of who I am I guess.

And what are the other parts?

Eurgh. I don’t know. I hate these kinds of questions. I do a bit of everything I guess; writing, illustration, comics, design… and then there’s the day job as a follow spot operator.

Can you tell us more about that?

About follow spotting? Well I point a big light at a stage…

Ha. No; about your design work.

Oh right, okay. So I created the webcomics ‘My TV is Evil’, ‘Catatonic’ and ‘Modern Life is Awesome’, and I’ve done logo designs and posters for various clients. I’ve also done artwork on iPhone apps and various websites. Most recently I designed the cover art for Jenifer Toksvig and David Perkins adaptation of ‘The Nutcracker’ for Samuel French, which we are currently developing into an interactive app book. So yeah; to go back to the question “did I always want to be a writer?” I guess I just always wanted to be creative, you know?… Damn, no; don’t put that.

Why not?

Well it’s a bit of a wanky answer, isn’t it? You know what; ask me again.

Okay. Did you always want to be a writer?

Yes.

Ha! Okay can you tell us a bit about your writing process? Do you sit down with a definite idea or do you just start typing and see what comes out?

I guess a bit of both. I fill notebook after notebook with ideas, and thoughts, and overheard conversations but naturally not every one of them will develop into something. I’m not one of those writers that handcuffs themselves to the computer for eight hours a day, I tend to focus on an idea with a rabid ferocity for as long as it feels exciting and then if I haven’t shaped it into something in the first week or so it tends to drop down into the “work in progress” file where it moulders, half-forgotten, until I rediscover it when I’ve lost interest in the next thing, do you know what I mean?

But still I would say I write most days; on the bus, at work, in cafes, you know? I’ve constantly got three or four projects bubbling away at any one time so I’ll flit between them constantly editing and revising. Of course sometimes you get lucky and people ask you for something specific; and I love it when that happens because in many ways it makes the process easier; having that pressure to deliver… you know that absolute threat of a deadline? It cuts out all the procrastination and forces you to, well… deliver.

We know what you mean.

That’s a relief.

Ha. ANOTHER DAY focuses on the residents of Southwark and in particular Blackfriars, can you tell us a little about your connection to the area.

Well I have been a Southwark resident for about 10 years, first in Elephant and Castle and now slightly further out in East Dulwich. I love South London, especially the genuine sense of pride that people have for the area. I also love how you are only ever a few minutes from a park, I’m not a full on tree hugger or anything but I do like to sit in the shade of a tree with my ukulele on a sunny afternoon. As for Blackfriars itself I am quite familiar with the area as I often cut through on my way to and from work but thanks to working on this project I’ve been spending more time in the area and spending more money in the many bars! This summer I happily ended many an evening staggering to the 63 bus stop on Blackfriars Road! You know, I actually set “A Marked Man” in Blackfriars? Admittedly a slightly dystopian future version of Blackfriars, but still… I was drawn to the dichotomy of the area, extreme wealth and extreme poverty rubbing against each other in such a confined space, and then you’ve got the sense of history in conflict with extreme modernisation and the fact that you can see these changes in the skyline happening daily, happening relentlessly; it makes for a strong visual metaphor for modern society. It’s actually been extremely satisfying to revisit these ideas and have them inform the piece I’ve written for ‘Another Day’.

Ben Norton Davies is the writer of ‘The Artist’s Dog’ for ANOTHER DAY.

Follow Ben on twitter : @mytvisevil

Check out his comics:

My TV is Evil - http://mytvisevil.thecomicseries.com/comics/1/
Catatonic - http://bnortondavies.wordpress.com/page/27/
Modern Life is Awesome - http://modernlifeisawesome.thecomicseries.com/comics/1/

18
Oct

Directions to Southwark Playhouse Sunday 21 October

The show is only three days away – we hope that you’ve reserved your ticket in advance (if not, visit the Southwark Playhouse website to book), and just in case you needed some help planning your journey, we thought we’d share these helpful hints. Remember, the performance will start at 8pm, so make sure you’re there ten minutes early so you can find your tickets and your seats… and maybe the bar too!

The Shipwright Arms is a great landmark, so you should be able to spot this distinctive pub exterior if you walk along Tooley Street. Southwark Playhouse is safely nestled in the nook just behind it.

By Tube
The nearest tube station is London Bridge, served by the Northern (Bank branch) and Jubilee lines. It is less than five minutes walk from the tube station to Playhouse.

Exit the station via Tooley Street/Duke Hill Street, turn right and walk along Tooley Street towards Tower Bridge. You?ll find us at the end of Shipwright Yard which can be found on the corner of Bermondsey Street and Tooley Street; right next to the Shipwright’s Arms pub.

London Transport Journey Planner

By Train
The nearest mainline station is London Bridge.

London Transport Journey Planner
National Rail homepage

By Bus
(to London Bridge): Numbers 17, 21, 35, 40, 43, 47, 48, 133, 141, 149, 343, 381, RV1

London Transport Journey Planner

By River Taxi
To London Bridge City Pier

London Transport Journey Planner

By Road
Southwark Playhouse is within the congestion charge zone.
Car parking is limited. Nearest parking is an NCP on the corner of Snowsfield and Kipling Street (a ten minute walk to the venue).
There is a taxi rank immediately outside the Playhouse.

AA Journey Planner

By Bike
There are bicycle stands nearby on the corner of Tooley Street & Stainer Street.

12
Oct

Meet the Cast of Scripted

We’ve got a great cast of talented actors lined up for you at Scripted next Sunday, and we can’t wait to introduce them to you! To be sure that you don’t miss out, be sure to buy your ticket in advance from the Southwark Playhouse website.

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Opening Announcement

The stage manager would like you to turn off your mobile phones…

 

written and performed by Mark Fairclough

Mark has been writing as long as he can remember being able to. He has contributed to the long running comedy sketch show Newsrevue, and some of his work has also been performed in his native Leeds. He hopes to complete his first full length play in the near future.

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One Day on the Train

In the rolling heat of the city strangers rush past each other every day without thinking, but what happens when we’re forced to engage with one another? One Day On The Train is a short comic play about a man and a woman whose seemingly unconnected paths intersect on a tube train, with surprising consequences!

 

Lin: Laura Edghill

Laura trained at the Birmingham School of Acting. Theatre Credits include I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change, Comedy News Hour, Alice in Wonderland, Don’t Blame it on the Wolf, Jane Eyre, Hedda Gabler, The Arabian Nights, Troilus and Cressida and Teechers. She has also featured in It’s All About You, Fiddles, Cheats and Scams and Tonight for ITV1 as well as 11 short films, including recent short The Sun Does Not Exist and award winning short Smoking Kills.

 

 

Xan: Ben Worth

Ben Trained at Rose bruford college. He has done a range of theatre film and television. His recent credits include the uk film council film Top of the range with This is England’s Joe gilgun, Punk fairytale The Golden Boy (Liverpool Unity Theatre) and has just finished filming on BBC’s new series of Being Human. This is Bens first time performing at Southwark playhouse and he is really looking forward to working on these pieces of great new writing.

 

 

Blu: Nick Read

Nick has recently returned from touring Italy in A Midsummer Night’s Dream playing the part of Bottom. Previous new writing performances include Things that Never Grew in the Garden at the Hampstead Theatre, The Shed at the King’s Head Islington and Soho Storeys at the Pleasance Theatre. Classical theatre roles include Athos in The Three Musketeers, Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet, Caesar in Anthony and Cleopatra and Malcolm in Macbeth. Nick is thrilled to be working on these new short plays at the Southwark Playhouse.

 

 

Stu: Robert Nairne

Robert has just graduated from The Oxford School of Drama, having previously studied biochemistry at Oxford University. Theatre credits whilst training include Oberon in ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ (Blenheim Palace), Dan in ‘Dark Matter’ (Soho Theatre), and Pierre in ‘The Madwoman of Chaillot’. Robert is also a member of Oneohone Theatre Company; and experience before training includes Medvedenko in ‘The Seagull’ (Oxford Playhouse), Baby John in ‘West Side Story’ (Oxford Playhouse), and Wattmore in ‘The Night Heron’ (Edinburgh Fringe).

 

 

 

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DRAG

With blood being thicker than water, you are bound to drown sooner rather than later.

 

Alan Drake

Alan’s most recent work includes this year’s Universal Pictures feature film A Fantastic Fear of Everything, in which he plays the part of Perkins the Community Support Police Officer. His TV work includes Little Miss Jocelyn for the BBC and The Amazing Dermot for Channel 4. Recent theatre – Kissing Sid James by Robert Farquhar (West End and New York); Danny’s Wake by Jim Sweeney (New End Theatre, Kings Head Theatre, West End and Edinburgh); Huge by Jez Butterworth (Kings Head and Edinburgh); Fen by Caryl Churchill (Sheffield Crucible); Far Away by Caryl Churchill (Sheffield Crucible); and Hamlet (Greenwich).

 

 

Myra Sands

Myra has created many roles including in: Acorn Antiques (Theatre Royal, Haymarket), Cats (New London), Me and My Girl and Marilyn (Adelphi), Dear Anyone (Cambridge), Oh Kay and Funny Girl (Chichester), Evita (Prince Edward), Candide, Money, Summerfolk and The Villains Opera (RNT), Postcards from God (Jermyn Street), Sherlock Holmes the Musical (Exeter) Lust (Hornchurch). Other theatre includes: Jesus Christ Superstar and Les Miserables (Palace), Billy, Sweeny Todd and Oliver! (Drury Lane), The Boyfriend and Gigi (Regents Park). Tours include: My Fair Lady, Annie and Fiddler on the Roof.
She has also appeared in films such as The Devils and TV shows including The New Basil Brush Show, The Bill and Love Hurts. Work in the pipeline includes Gay is the Word (Jermyn Street) and Follies (Opera House, Toulon).

 

 

Imogen Smith

Imogen has just been performing in some shipping containers on a harbour in Somerset in “Echo Watchet: Portrait of a Harbour Town” with Theatre Melange. She recently played Susan in “Bed Among the Lentils”, one of Alan Bennett’s “Talking Heads”, at the Northcott Theatre, Exeter. Other theatre includes “Palace of the End” at the Arcola, “To Kill a Mockingbird” at the Theatre Royal, York and on tour, “The Snow Queen” at the Brewhouse, Taunton, “The Mona Lisas” with Theatre Melange, Trevor Griffiths’ “Thermidor” with Little London Theatre Company, “The Time of the Tortoise” at Theatre 503, “Trojan Women” with Actors of Dionysus, “The Winter’s Tale” at the Royal Theatre,
Northampton and “Coriolanus” directed by Steven Berkoff at the Edinburgh Festival Theatre.

 

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Bespoke

His daughter’s home for Christmas, but she’s not meant to be. Now he can’t get rid of her.

 

Stephen Chance

Stephen trained at LAMDA and has appeared in over 125 theatre productions, from panto to Pinter. He first appeared at Southwark Playhouse at its previous address, in Christopher Logue’s War Music; then at its current address, in Doug Lucie’s The Shallow End, earlier this year. Since then, he has appeared in Don DeLillo’s The Word for Snow at the Southbank Centre, recorded a voice-over for For No Good Reason (the forthcoming film about Ralph Steadman), and been filming Gallipoli – The End of the Road in Turkey. Other recent roles include Quartermaine in Quartermaine’s Terms at Farnham Rep, Windbreak in The Madness of George Dubya at the Charing Cross Theatre, Sherlock Holmes in The Final Case in Macclesfield, Robert in Don’t Misunderstand Me at the English Theatre, Hamburg, and Brian “The Vampire” Stoke in the comedy-horror film, Kill Keith, starring Keith Chegwin. He once worked with the Spice Girls.

 

 

Ruby Thomas

Ruby graduated from Oxford University in June 2012 with a first in her English Literature degree. While at Oxford Ruby played parts such as Masha in The Seagull and Blanche in A Streetcar Named Desire (Oxford Playhouse) as well as Jill in Equus, Helena in The Dream and Sarah in The Lover. She also directed a sell-out production of Amelia Bullmore’s Mammals at the BT Studio. She just completed the OUDS/Thelma Holt tour of Much Ado About Nothing in the role of Beatrice, performing in the Bodleian Libraries at Oxford, the Southwark Playhouse and three venues in Tokyo. She has appeared in television and film including The Bill, Gunrush, Lewis, Casualty and Wild Child.

 

 

 

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The Belly of Hell

Jonah used to be in control of his own life. Now, in the space of less than a week, he’s gone from a happily uneventful life as an Iron Age fisherman to being involved in a violent shipwreck and then swallowed by an aquatic mammal. There’s only one explanation – God must be smiling on him. Apparently some people believe this really happened.

 

The Whale: Matt Cross

Theatre credits include: Macbeth in Macbeth (Ripley Castle), Dazzle in London Assurance (National Theatre), Preston in Heavy Pencil (King’s Head/Nimax Theatre), Romeo & Juliet, King Lear, Merry Wives of Windsor (RSC), Pierrot in Marguerite (Theatre Royal Haymarket), Lee Harvey Oswald in Assassins (Sheffield Crucible), Riff in West Side Story (50th Anniversary), Stu Franklin in Callifornia Suite (Bridewell Theatre), Reecey in Our House (Cambridge Theatre), (Mungojerry in Cats (New London Theatre), Jose in Days of Hope (King’s Head Theatre), Simon Zealotes in Jesus Christ Supestar (National Tour), G.I. in Miss Saigon (Theatre Royal Drury Lane).

Television credits include: Tim in Misfits (Quite Funny Films), Sean in Shameless (Company Pictures), Jimmy Lips in Life on Mars, Paul in Law and Order UK (Kudos Television), Casualty, Holby City, Doctors (BBC).

Film credits include: Dominic in Trance (Danny Boyle), Simon in Come on Eileen (Cloud 8 Productions), Tim in Double Time (Tiget Aspects), Jesus Christ Superstar (Really Useful Group).

 

 

Jonah: Jamie Wilkin

Trained:- Arts Educational London Schools.

Swing cover Arab, West Side Story, U.K Tour. Grease,Victoria Palace,London. Eddie cover Sky, Mamma Mia!, Prince Edward & Prince of Wales, London. Goody cover Nick and Joe, Fame, Aldwych Theatre, London. Scranton Slim cover Harry the Horse & Big Jule, Guys and Dolls, U.K Tour. Thomas cover Lancelot, Spamalot, Palace Theatre, London. Cover Eddie & Sky, Mamma Mia! International Tour. Currently appearing in Mamma Mia in London, Novello Theatre!

 

 

 

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A Misunderstanding

School friends Alex and James have drifted apart, with girlfriends, jobs, and the very act of growing-up forcing a divide between them. It seems there is only one course of action to bridge the gap; a couple of pints and a catch-up. But as the beer flows, and their stories are told, a web of half-truths and coincidences lead to a major misunderstanding.

 

James: Ben Worth

Ben Trained at Rose bruford college. He has done a range of theatre film and television. His recent credits include the uk film council film Top of the range with This is England’s Joe gilgun, Punk fairytale The Golden Boy (Liverpool Unity Theatre) and has just finished filming on BBC’s new series of Being Human. This is Bens first time performing at Southwark playhouse and he is really looking forward to working on these pieces of great new writing.

 

 

Alex: Nick Read

Nick has recently returned from touring Italy in A Midsummer Night’s Dream playing the part of Bottom. Previous new writing performances include Things that Never Grew in the Garden at the Hampstead Theatre, The Shed at the King’s Head Islington and Soho Storeys at the Pleasance Theatre. Classical theatre roles include Athos in The Three Musketeers, Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet, Caesar in Anthony and Cleopatra and Malcolm in Macbeth. Nick is thrilled to be working on these new short plays at the Southwark Playhouse.

 

 

 

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Special guest, comedian Dave Bibby.

Dave was awarded ‘Best Male Act’ at the SOLO Festival Awards for his debut one man show ‘Stories from the Spectrum’, which he then took to further venues including The BAC.

As a comedy specialist Dave was team captain on comedy panel show ‘World’s Worst Web’, played Bottom in Principal Theatre’s ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’, toured nationally with the improvised comedy show “Your Line or Mine?” and continues to be a regular on the stand-up circuit.

Dave has presented live from Reading Festival, V Festival and Little Episodes Live. He is currently fronting a new show about women in professional football called ‘Women on The Ball’ and developing a new sitcom for Talkback Thames.

He can be seen next alongside Stephen Fry in new Channel 4 hidden camera show ‘Public Eye’ and will also feature in new British sitcom ‘Dave Shakespeare’ later this year.

 

 

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Tickets are £10 for the performance, commencing at 8pm on Sunday 21st October 2012.

Book in advance by visiting the Southwark Playhouse website: http://southwarkplayhouse.co.uk/events/scripted/

31
Aug

Tickets on Sale

You can now buy your tickets on the Southwark Playhouse website, so hurry before they sell out….

The performance will be on Sunday 21st October at 8pm, with access to the bar available before and after the performance for delightful drinks and nibbles.

Click HERE to follow the link, or copy the following into your address bar: http://southwarkplayhouse.co.uk/events/scripted/

18
Jul

Shortlisted Scripts

We’ve been keeping you waiting, and it’s finally time to announce our shortlisted plays for Scripted:

Please Turn off your Mobile Phones by Mark Fairclough

One Day on the Train by Alexander Williams

Drag by Simon Poole

ST by Isley Lynn

The Belly of Hell by Robin Johnson

A Misunderstanding by Ben Davies

Watch this space for information on how to buy your tickets for the show on Sunday 21st October 2012 at 8pm in Southwark Playhouse. And don”t forget… we’re still casting for a comedy act to close the show, so if you have a friend of a friend who might want to perform in Scripted, get them in touch with us!