After critical acclaim and a sell-out night at Sherman Cymru, cult theatre company Dirty Protest is turning its attention to directors in Wales. Using the same play, the fifth night from the theatre company will aim to put the spotlight firmly on the directing talent of the country. Simon Harris, former artistic director of Sgript Cymru, Ruth is Stranger Than Richard's Adele Thomas, Dirty Protest director Mared Swain, Julie Barclay (Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama) 3D Theatre Company's Gareth Bale and writer/director Kit Lambert will debut their interpretations of Phil Porter's short play Repeat at club Ten Feet Tall later on May 29. The inspiration for the Directors night came from new writing group DryWrite, based in East London which presented the play last year. Dirty Protest's Tim Price said, 'After hearing about the Drywrite directors' challenge which debuted Porter's Repeat last year, it got us thinking about the emerging directors in Wales. 'Where are they? And what do you do if you want to be a director? 'As it stands, there are few schemes, programmes or bursaries to get emerging directors attached to plays in our major theatre companies. They're happy to let people assist for free, and learn by osmosis, but don't seem to want invest in emerging directing talent. 'New writing has a moderately sized drum that gets banged, but new directing is completely unsupported. This is our way of drawing attention to that, and saying to the people who run these theatres, you have a duty to support emerging directing talent. Come and see who they are.' Director Adele Thomas says that while opportunities for directors in Wales are improving, more still could be done. The Cardiff-based Thomas believes that theatre no longer solely revolves around the writer and adds that the director is becoming more important, citing experimental companies like Kneehigh and People Like Us as evidence. Porter's play, to be showcased in Cardiff later this month, is a short, open-ended play which the directors are free to interpret in any way they see fit. There are only four rules that need to be observed, a new line does not necessarily denote a new speaker, a line does not necessarily denote a single speaker, _________ is a blank to be filled in by the director and all stage directions must be observed. With actor Matthew Bulgo, Thomas has created a dark back story for her play and is keen to see what the other directors make of the play. Writer/director Kit Lambert, taking a break from writing a new play for Hijinx, has also turned to the darker side for his interpretation of the play. He said, 'I didn't know what to expect from the script, so was intrigued when I first read it. It is certainly quite abstract, but you need something that different people can interpret in different ways. I am looking at the various ways in which we can deliver the text to bring in new meanings - recorded voice, music etc. I think my interpretation is quite dark, but the text and stage directions lend themselves to that. I just hope it is not too similar to anything the others are doing.' It is a twist on the typical Dirty Protest events, which have up until now put brand new writers on the same platform as established award-winning playwrights (from Ed Thomas to Gary Owen) bringing experimental new plays to audiences in Cardiff featuring some of the country's best acting talent. This dedication to new writing has lead to a new friendship with the critically acclaimed Paines Plough theatre company which will launch the prestigious Rod Hall Memorial Award in Cardiff on Thursday May 29. The winner of the award will receive representation from the Rod Hall Agency, and a £5,000 commission from Paines Plough. Hosted by Dirty Protest, literary manager Pippa Ellis and Assistant director Corey McMahon will meet new and established writers at Milgi, 213 City Road, Cardiff at 4pm. Those writers wishing to attend should email dirtyprotest1@hotmail.co.uk Plus Dirty Protest is still looking for writers of all walks of life to submit plays for this year's Latitude Festival. Writers are being asked to write part two or three of The Whole Truth which debuted at the Sherman Cymru last month. The play's text and video can be found on Dirty Protest's Facebook page. The best plays will be taken to the festival in July. |
| web site: www.facebook.com/pages/DIRTY-PROTEST/15245189534 |
| e-mail: dirtyprotest1@hotmail.co.uk |
Wednesday, May 14, 2008 |
Older news
stories have been carefully archived.
2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 | 1999