Child Z - new play by Sarah Hehir

He said: You're my diamond Zoe. And I believed him

                                         

Poster and book design by Sam Fentiman-Hall

Child Z is a cracking new play written and performed with passion. It's inspiration came from an interview with one of the survivors of the Rochdale child grooming scandal on Woman's Hour. This play puts her story and her voice at the center of attention, but also illustrates the cultural and economic forces at work around her during that time.

The characters are all fully rounded, though their choices and the impact are shown we also get an insight into why they act the way they do. The chief executive carries on a conversation with his dead, and it is implied, neglectful father. The  teenage crisis worker implies a past lived in the shadow of an abusive parent, and a parallel story of bullying at school brings out another layer of depth.

Structurally, the play is very interesting with three actors playing all of the roles that you see, interactive with off screen voices and characters who aren't even physically there. This widened out the storyline and places the story and characters into a wider context, emotionally and physically.

The tone of the play is well balanced, and what could have been an unremittingly grim piece is interspersed and balanced with humour and hope.

Sarah Hehir's Child Z will be performed again at Southwark playhouse on Sunday, 21 and Sunday 28 June

The Spirit of my Dream

The fabulous second Rochester literature festival continues with a night at the theatre. Three of Medway's finest playwrights share with you an evening to remember

Image credit: 17%

Inspired by Byron’s poem ‘The Dream’, Maggie Drury, Sam Fentiman-Hall and Sarah Hehir, have collaborated to create an evening of new plays with a somewhat fantastical theme.

More information about the plays, the writers and the venue are available on the Rochester litfest website here

Date:Saturday, 04 October at 7pm
Venue: Chatham grammar school for boys
Tickets: available on eventbrite

Angela Carter: in the arms of the White Bear

It's an uncanny feeling, caught between the sweet dusty texture of talcum power and the lush aroma of meat stew. It's a step into Angela Carter's Bloody Chamber, and no-one can pass through that unchanged.   
 

Close up of the set for "The Lady of the House of Love".
Stage design by Natalie Parsons
Image credit: SM Jenkin

The White Bear theatre in Kennington is running an Angela Carter double bill The Tigers Bride and The Lady of the House of Love until Saturday, 03 May. Both stories, originally featured in The Bloody Chamber, are produced by MISK theatre productions.

Though each story only took half an hour, each managed to throw up a dreamlike world, inhabited by recognisable characters grappling with desire. Sensuality battles with experience, with innocence and with hunger. Both deal with a character caught in a limbo of sorts, living in a wasteland and waiting for something to set them free. And for both their prayers are answered with what is needed perhaps,  but with very different results. Was it the fairy tale setting that lulled me into that state of mind? I do not know. If you set your critical mind aside, you will enjoy the atmosphere of expectation, that feeling of suspense. That feeling that anything could happen.

On her book Angela Carter said this, "My intention was not to do 'versions' or, as the American edition of the book said, horribly, 'adult' fairy tales, but to extract the latent content from the traditional stories and to use it as the beginnings of new stories."

This production managed to create those stories anew. Go and see it. 

Three Sisters - Chekhov at the Southwark Playhouse

This was my first introduction to Chekhov, as performed live at the Southwark Playhouse in its new location. This version of Three Sisters has been adapted by Anya Reiss, and was directed by Russell Bolam.  I haven't seen other versions, so I can only tell you my response to this play.

The empty stage
Image Credit: SM Jenkin

I loved it. I loved the characters, each drawn out with care and without judgement. Chekhov is a master of subtext and the actors did their best to explore and manipulate the meaning implied in the text. So much is left unspoken by the characters, all flawed in their own ways, but all showing an admirable stoicism even in the face of heartbreak and misunderstanding.

Is happiness a choice?
The questions I took away from the play: What does it mean to live, happily? Are we allowed to be happy now, how can we find happiness or manufacture it? There was a lot of talk about hope, and this resonated with me. Does work make you happy and what do we mean by "proper work"- can we do this when there are no jobs around?

I have discussed this with other people, who raised the point that the sisters, and really everyone else, would have been happy if only they had moved on. Why didn't they just leave? Is it really the practical issue of getting a plane ticket that stops someone from leaving an unhappy situation, or something else? Inertia or fear can be awesome barriers, as well as the misplaced hope that somehow things will get better by themselves and without any effort.

Sounds grim, doesn't it? Chekhov's stories are some of the funniest I have ever read, and that humour is in evidence, from Andrei's  karaoke version of "common people" to.... well, you've just got to see it.

One of the reasons that tipped me into seeing the play was the inclusion of Paul McGann in the cast - I ended up sitting next to another Who-vian who had travelled all the way from Swansea to see the play. And he was very good in it, as were all of the cast. But would somebody please tell him to stop turning his back on the audience - it really got on my nerves. Sort it out, McGann!

Playella - Jam Tomorrow

Can you tell a story through 12 lines of dialogue?

The Descent theatre think you can - they are showcasing playellas - 12 lines of dialogue each - on their blog

Credit: Gregoria Gregoriou Crowe fine art and creative photography.

 My piece - Jam Tomorrow - was published 8th December and can be found on their blog here http://descenttheatre.co.uk/2013/12/08/playella-jam-tomorrow-by-sm-jenkin/

 Let me know what you think....

A tingle in my fingers ...: Rochester literature festival

A tingle in my fingers ...: Wordless Wednesday

I'm very excited about the programme of events coming up next month during the first ever Rochester literature festival.

Art exhibitions, poetrymon, plays, the heroes journey, poetry readings and work shops... and many more surprises to come.

International women's day

So in Medway had not one, but two events to celebrate International women's day. The first a talk with Scarlett Thomas, and the second involving a motivational speaker (Sam Hall from 17percent - a social enterprise that champions and encourages the work of female playwrights)

The theme this year was the gender agenda - maintaining momentum. My aim for the events was to give women a space to share our words and our stories, as the only way to move forward is to understand what is happening now, to record what happened to our mothers and grandmothers. Otherwise, those with an agenda will find it easier to lie to us, to our daughters.

More details are available here: www.internationalwomensday.com/medway