Asturias
‘Asturias’ by James Duncan was to be our production for 2002. This proved to be a highly successful and enjoyable venture. We had an exhausting two weeks of preparation for the play which involved building a set around the actors and enduring many Spanish Donkey jokes. Our first performance of this play (which is set in 1930s Spain and deals with communities protecting their homes and jobs from the forces of fascism) was held at old haunt E15 Acting School and met with great appreciation from the audience.
Our tour of the north-east of England then commenced - beginning with a performance in the Bridge Hotel in Newcastle where we managed to muster a fair audience despite Tiran’s identity crisis.
The following evening at the Ouseburn Warehouse we played to a small
audience who were almost all in tears by the end of the evening (not
due to mirth or boredom but because they were moved…we hope) After
this show, we packed up and set off for the village of Dawden on the
coast where we had been kindly invited to spend the night at the new
community centre. This was in preparation for a full day workshop the
following day as well as our evening performance.
Alex , youth worker at the community centre welcomed us warmly and got
us settled in for the night (although having the whole cast, director
and stage manager sleeping in one room had the strange effect of seemingly
turning everyone into adolescents at a pyjama party).
The next day we worked with about thirty youngsters from the village in a workshop all about community roots. We played several drama games and then worked in smaller groups developing improvisations. All eight of us were involved and the day, although knackering, was a good experience. Not least for the participants; comments at the end ranged from …‘excellent’ to… ‘the morning was crap, but the afternoon was good’(!) After the workshop we got set up for our evening performance. Our audience on this night consisted mainly of the teenagers who had participated in the workshop along with a few who had not and some adults. We were quite nervous as we were unsure as to the kind of reception we would receive, but the show went well and the audience were very appreciative.
The next evening we had the honour of opening the Capapie Youth Drama Festival in the village of Dipton. Capapie, a local community theatre had recently taken over the old Co-op building in the village and were renovating it to create a proper theatre. We were to be the first play on their new stage. The stage was actually being built around us right up to the point when we went on- but as our set had been done in a similar way it was no skin off our nose(s). We had a good audience of local people during this performance. The only thing that slightly marred it was a disturbance by some youths who ran in and nicked some stuff from our dressing room –however, they were apprehended by Capapie staff and we got it back.
Our final day, Saturday the 13th of July was also the Durham Miners Gala. As well as doing our performances all week we had been working with Chopwell Youth group, again on the theme of roots. The piece that had been devised during these workshops was to be performed in the Unison Tent at the Gala and so we went to Chopwell to board a minibus set for Durham along with our group of ten young people. The day was a hot one and we marched along with thousands of others through Durham before reaching the field. Some ad-hoc last minute rehearsals took place and then we went to the (extremely hot) tent to perform. The show went down a storm and we were very proud of the whole group who all shone as they performed their piece.
Our last evening performance was in Chopwell church hall. We had told the Chopwell Youth group of our performance and said that the show was not for kids but they were welcome to turn up if they would sit quietly. To our surprise three of them did show up (as well as a number of other people) and were wholly attentive throughout the play…not only this but we were presented at the end with some beer and a small bag of coal as a present from two members of the Chopwell Youth Group.
So ended our tour. It was a great experience and we were particularly glad of the links we forged with some of the communities in this area (be warned, we shall be back!) Thank you to everyone who made us feel so welcome. The play itself we feel has a lot more life in it yet and James is presently considering adapting it for radio.
Tiran’s Identity Crisis – Although it would be impossible
to relate the many funny moments we encountered on stage during our tour,
we cannot forget Tiran’s faux pas in the Bridge Hotel. The play
was in full flow and Tiran in the character of ‘Jim’ (or ‘Hai-me’ in
Spanish) came on stage and in superb Geordie tones confidently announced ‘MY
NAME IS CARLOS…’ Which would have been fine… if he
had been playing Carlos that is.
As soon as he spoke, he realised his mistake and after only a momentary
pause added ‘Er…Hai-me Carlos!’
The rest of the cast had to use every ounce of professionalism to contain
their laughter and it caused much confusion throughout the rest of play
about how to address the character of Jim.
