We're staging 4 brand new plays by emerging, female playwrights in a month long festival in June, celebrating the re-opening of the Space.
The Foreword Festival sees 4 plays, developed through the venue’s ScriptSpace programme, staged for a week each, back to back, this June.
The plays are Labyrinth Diet by Laura Horton, Look Who’s All Grown Up by Abigail Chandler, Refuge by Katie Duncan and Misfits by Lekha Desai Morrison.
ScriptSpace
Back in January 2020, the Space received over 200 submissions of early draft new plays. ScriptSpace sees each of those plays receive written feedback with a number of them selected for prepared readings and feedback sessions. Due to COVID, these were moved online, with 13 readings taking place between April and August. Thanks to the Culture Recovery Fund, the Space was able to re-open the ScriptSpace window and delivered a further 10 readings in early 2021.
Foreword Festival
This is the 2nd Foreword Festival, following a successful pilot in May 2019. One of those pieces, 4 O’clock Flowers by Louise Breckon-Richards, has been adapted and is currently being shot as a film. We've raised the initial funding thanks to the Space’s Culture Recovery Fund, but we need further funds to produce the plays. In addition to being staged at the venue for socially distanced audiences, each piece will be livestreamed with recordings made available on demand for two weeks afterwards.
Artistic Director, Adam Hemming
“We’ve helped develop some exciting new work through ScriptSpace, work that we really wanted to see staged. Foreword was created to do just that. A foreword is an introduction and this festival is another way for us to introduce the plays and playwrights to audiences.
There are a couple of puns in the title too, obviously 4 new plays (four words), but we’re also looking forward to what these playwrights do next. The plays are all very different but I think each of the characters go through a process, whereby they are looking forward too. It’s a festival full of hope.”
Produced by Adam Hemming and Matthew Jameson for Space Productions
Dramaturgy - Mike Carter
Design - Constance Villemot
Sound Design - Keri Chesser and Harry Guest
Lighting Design - Andy Straw
Stage Management - Catherine van der Hoven
Production Photography - Ross Kernahan
Poster Design - Keri Chesser
Social Media Management - Social Wonderland
Production Assistants - Mélisande Pibarot, Daisy Suffield, India Aujla
Labyrinth Diet
Written by Laura Horton, directed by Charlotte Everest, performed by Anjelica Serra.
8th-12th June
"I’m supposedly an average size. If that’s really the case though, why don’t I feel it? If I’m average, why doesn’t it feel more normal?"
At a clothes swap party where nothing fits and no one understands chub rub, Louise feels like life won’t improve until conditions are right, but who decides that? A comical and poignant play about self-acceptance and how it’s exhausting trying to fix your own brain, let alone anyone else’s.
Look Who’s All Grown Up
Written by Abigail Chandler, directed by Ella Murdoch, performed by Kalifa Taylor, Daniel Bravo, Stephanie Pezolano, Shereener Browne and Joshua Lendon.
15th-19th June
‘I went from being too young for sex scenes to old enough to play a wife overnight. It’s weird.’
Felix and Caitlin are child actors navigating the tricky transition to adulthood in the withering glare of public scrutiny. As they deal with mental illness, sex and finding their identity, can they help each other stay balanced? Or will they simply drag each other down?
Refuge
Written by Katie Duncan, directed by Jess Barton, performed by Kristin Mcilquham, Anabela Teixeira, Maggie Evans, Katie Honan and Daina Karai.
22nd-26th June
Three women from different worlds find themselves living side by side in a women's refuge, where in order to become the authors of their own futures they must first let go of their pasts.
Misfits
Written by Lekha Desai Morrison, directed by Bethany Sharp, assistant director: India Aujla, performed by Patsy Prince, Deven Modha, Lee Farrell and Selina Hotwani.
29th June- 3rd July
A modern family comedy about Meera, a traditional Indian mother, with a status to maintain within her much-feared community steeped in old-fashioned values. To fit in, she sets out to find a bride via a dating website for her gay son Rajiv.
Meera’s journey leads her to question her own and women’s rights. Will she conform and fit in or stand up and be counted?
Case for Support
We'll need to perform under social distancing guidelines, which will mean our capacity to generate income from ticket sales will be greatly reduced.
Pledging to our crowdfunder will mean giving your support to 24 emerging freelancers, after a year where it's been incredibly difficult for them to earn a living doing what they were born to do.
You'll be helping to showcase the incredible talents of 4 wonderful playwrights and be a part of getting these brilliant plays on the stage.
You'll be supporting the Space, a venue that has worked tirelessly, over the last 12 months, to provide digital theatre, workshops and events, keeping people engaged and entertained during lockdowns.
You'll be a card-carrying* patron of the arts!
*Physical cards not provided by the Space, although we encourage you to make your own.
This project successfully funded on 4th June 2021