Every day of the Edinburgh Festival, Mark Ravenhill wrote a new short minute play, each offering a succinct glimpse at modern life.
Taking their titles from grand novels and movies of the past, each play asked the question: is the epic experience possible in our increasingly insular lives?
The plays were performed the following day over breakfast in Traverse Two.
Play readings featured a new team every day, taken from the pick of acting and directing talent at the Edinburgh Festivals.
“I reckon this is the worst way to die. Get a kid, just a little kid, tell them they’re going to die, wait till they¹re old enough to understand it then tell them, let it sink in, then give them sixty or seventy years to think about it and watch it coming.”
“Yeah you¹re right. That¹s the worst. We’re not going to go like that are we?”
“We’re not living like that.”
Grizzly, Dog and Gnome live to climb mountains. They’re good at it. They’re not looking for death. They love what they do and they do it to the limit. But they’re climbing up to places where death is only one mistake away.
The prestigious partnership of Paines Plough and the Drum Theatre Plymouth returns to present Rona Munro’s thrilling story of friendship, adventure and chasing ghosts.
“He looks at me for just that fraction too long and when he drills those eyes on to me I sprout fangs and a scream builds in my ribcage but still no sound.”
Billie is in love with worst possible man in the world. Cordelia knows it. Shiv knows it. But Billie won’t listen because love feels so good. An urban love story
A selection of plays from Ravenhill’s epic cycle exploring the personal and political effect of war on modern life. The full cycle was presented throughout London in April 2008 in collaboration with The National Theatre, Royal Court, Out of Joint, The Gate and BBC Radio 3.
A programme of six evenings all curated by Duncan Macmillan, Paines Plough’s Pearson Writer in Residence.
Monday 13 October 2008: New Shorts
A mixture of new work by Gary Owen, James Graham, Effie Woods, Tim Price, Morgan Lloyd Malcolm, Jonny Donahoe and Danny Benoliel.
Wednesday 15 October 2008: Fear and Misery in the Third Term
A brand-new play commissioned by Dan Rebellato and written by Mike Bartlett, Chloe Moss, Ben Musgrave, Dan Rebellato and Duncan Macmillan.
Friday 17 October 2008: Directors’ Perform
Brave theatre directors step into the spotlight to ‘perform’ pieces written specially for them by playwrights Zawe Ashton, Chloe Moss, Duncan Macmillan & Alan Harris
Monday 20 October 2008: If Things Were Different…
A collaboration between Olivier award-winning writer Bola Agbaje and comedians Eddie Kadi and Jamie Howard, as well as new work by Francis Addio, Zawe Ashton, Nathan Clough, Lizzy Dijeh and Titas Halder.
Wednesday 22 October 2008: Cabaret LATER
Playwrights and cabaret performers collaborate on new pieces. Including playwrights Zawe Ashton, Stella Feehily, Nick Gill, Phil Porter and cabaret artistes Bourgeois & Maurice, Dusty Limits, Scottee and Carissa Hope Lynch. Compèred by Georgeois Bourgeois.
Friday 24 October 2008: Roy Williams
Award-winning Roy Williams presents Reunion and Shifting Sands, two new works in progress.
After 40 years of building a home in London, Agnes is retiring and moving back to Ghana.
Her final wish is for her sons to live together under the same roof when she is gone. But her eldest, Sol, is living with a girlfriend Agnes loathes and he won’t move home until Agnes accepts her. Whilst younger brother Caleb will do whatever it takes to inherit the house – except share it with Sol. As her departure draws closer, tensions at Agnes’ rise to breaking point.
Will she trust her 21st century boys and finally allow them to be men? Who will own the House of Agnes?
A tender, astute and humorous portrait of clashing traditional and cultural values in modern family life.
Into the awe-inspiring space of Canterbury Cathedral, the last refuge of hope, comes Dallas Sweetman.
He has a strange story to tell of love and honour, kidnapping pirates and miraculous happenings.
It is the reign of Elizabeth I, when the old religion Catholicism is being replaced by the new Protestantism, and the people of Ireland and England have to choose their Queen or their faith. He is driven to justify the actions of his life before us, his ‘judges’; to find truth – and the possibility of redemption.
With his extraordinary lyricism, Sebastian Barry captures a critical turning point in English and Irish history which still reverberates today.
Paines Plough return to the Soho with their irregular nocturnal writers’ salon.
Monday 19 January Directors’ Perform…
Unique pairings in which playwrights create tailor-made plays for directors to perform. Includes Joe Hill-Gibbins with Alecky Blythe, Roxana Silbert with Steve Thompson, Esther Richardson with Nicola Wilson and Raz Shaw with Naomi Wallace.
Monday 26 January Hassan Abdulrazzak and Akbar Kurtha – the writer and co-producer of the award winning Baghdad Wedding curate an evening of new work.
Monday 2 February Award winning playwright Steve Thompson (Roaring Trade, running till 7 Feb) has returned to his old school to work with ‘A’ Level students. He’ll present the best 5 pieces on this very special evening.
***
Monday 5 October Future Perfect Perform… Featuring the new wave of Paines Plough’s Future Perfect playwrights, performing specially written monologues – brand new work by Lucinda Burnett, Laura Lomas, Danielly Sibley, Penny Skinner, Adam Taylor and Tom Wells
Monday 12 October HONEST by D C Moore A brain-numbing day job. A long regret-filled night out with the office crowd. A late night epiphany. The writer of 2007’s acclaimed Alaska presents a new work.
Monday 19 October SEX AND CHOCOLATE by Rona Munro – ruminations of a woman on the night she turns 50 by one of Scotland’s leading playwrights.
It’s the hottest day of the year. Leanne returns home to a small town in search of the past. Meet the frappuccino-swilling Goth, the young girl longing to meet her idol, the guitar-playing agoraphobic, and the man just looking for love, as they come together on a day that will change all their lives forever.
‘This is McSorley’s. Second largest bank in the square mile. Half our traders break the million pound barrier. Just how far are you prepared to go?’
Pressure is mounting on the bond traders’ floor. Millions stand to be lost or won. Jess is playing FTSE with the clients; PJ’s practising his poker face for bonus day – hoping it’ll be Barbados, not Bruges – and superstar trader Donny’s in danger of losing his crown to new boy Spoon. Could they be headed for more than a financial crisis?
A topical, fast-paced new play by Steve Thompson (Whipping It Up, Damages), Roaring Trade exposes just how far people go for the highest risk jobs in the City.