Desperate Men have made vital street theatre with, and for, the people, for 37 years. Washed Up will be a candid, comic insight into the combustible creative tension that compels them to continue their journey, but also threatens to end it. We've shot great material, and cut a trailer to show how the finished film will look and feel, but we now need your support to complete a longer form edit and post-production. Can you help us? Donate, and find out how two very different people sustain a long-term creative working partnership without (much) bloodshed.
Jon and Richard play their 'real' selves and semi-fictionalised versions of themselves, as personal and professional relationships are pushed to the brink during the making of No Rest For The Fluid, the final screen adventure of Proxi & Peri (Tides Made Flesh). Art and Life imitate each other as fictional characters voice the actor's repressed dreams of freedom, and offer a glimpse into the complex dynamics of a co-dependent creative partnership. Devised for Bristol Loves Tides (a European Green Capital 2015 project), the Proxi & Peri characters enabled 3000+ young people to engage with fluid ecologies of History, community, and water; but are now a bone of contention as, much to Richard's annoyance, Jon is inflamed with an urgent need to address the looming ecological crisis.
A hybrid of The Trip, and Peep Show's sly interiority, with widescreen vistas inspired by Sergio Leone's Spaghetti Westerns, Washed Up was shot in Cabo de Gata, Spain, where the classic Dollars Trilogy was made. The creative and emotional mechanics of Jon and Richard's fruitful, fractious partnership are exposed, as they reflect with candour and warmth on ecological precarity, personal mortality, and a unique legacy of desperation. Director Nathan Hughes (Rough Glory Films) and Cinematographer Jacob Parish captured moments of grinding resentment and fraternal tenderness, and will now craft a compelling film to tickle your hearts, minds, and funny bits.
Our teaser video illustrates Washed Up's deadpan, tone, visual style, and comic potential, but we now need your gracious support to finish the film to a professional standard befitting Jon and Richard's insight into how 'utterly different people', can make compelling street theatre, and what it takes to live authentic, creative, and noble lives.
Much pleasure; then from thee much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee do go,
Rest of their bones, and soul’s delivery.
Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men
Holy Sonnet 10 (Death Be Not Proud - John Donne
"This film means a lot to us - after 38 years of the company's existence and 25 years of Richard and I working together, it's an honest look at how we manage to function and create new work despite our differences, sulks, stubbornness, and volatility. I hope it teaches us all a damn good lesson." Jon Beedell - DM
"This is us, warts and all, grappling with each other's moods and motivations, yet again working very hard for almost nothing, but doggedly keeping going to produce something interesting, and perhaps worthwhile. I'd like all our peers to see this and laugh out loud at our petty absurdities, but also to recognise something of their own creative struggles, and the sense of time running out." Richard Headon - DM
Post Production Costs & Creative Team
Edit - £2000 - Rough Glory Films & Jacob Parish - The Claw, No Rest For The Fluid & Proxi & Peri: One Last Job
Sound Design - £750 - Angel Perez Grandi / Sound Ark - No Rest For The Fluid & Proxi & Peri: One Last Job
Colourist - £750 - Chris Lyons (Aardman) - No Rest For The Fluid
Composer - £750 - Elizabeth Purnell - No Rest For The Fluid
Festival Submissions - £400 - Washed Up has potential to screen at international documentary and comedy film festivals, enabling further opportunities to develop new productions.
Production Admin & Campaign Fees - £350
RGF and DM's collaboration has been cited at academic conferences investigating how arts and humanities narratives raise young people’s awareness of, and ability to think about Climate Change. Washed Up will have significant cultural value as a definitive testament to one of the UK’s most admired street theatre companies of the last 30 years.