There's certainly no rest for the wicked! Still reeling from the great success of my last play, Avoidance, which played to packed-out audiences at The Kings Arms Theatre at the end of May / beginning of June, we're getting ready for the next outing, during the fab Greater Manchester Fringe Festival.
I'm totally excited about this project. I wrote The Big Things during my MA in Playwriting. I was lucky to have some amazing mentoring from award-winning playwright, Louise Page, and sent it off to a number of different places, including 24:7 Theatre Festival, the BBC and the Bush Theatre in London. It got a rehearsed reading at 24:7 with some great additional mentoring from Martin Thomasson; shortlisted for the BBC Alfred Bradley Award with some additional mentoring by amazing radio producer / director, Pauline Harris; and shortlisted for performance at The Bush Theatre. So, after all that interest, it was only a matter of time before we got it up on its feet.
And the team we've got is totally top-notch. Not only do we have my favourite director, Martha Simon, in the driving seat, but we have an amazing cast of Leni Murphy and Andrew Fillis.
I'm really excited because this marks Leni's return to acting after a stint at being a super producer and director for her own theatre company, Asphalt Roses. Leni is playing Grace in The Big Things. She most recently directed the 5* Angel of the House by Alex Keelan which appeared as part of the Wonder Women Festival at the marvs Hope Mill Theatre. Coming up after The Big Things, Leni is directing Fear Of Driving for ADP at Oldham Coliseum, as well as setting up a gender-fluid script reading group.
Andrew Fillis is playing Malcolm in The Big Things and is well known in the region. He is currently a drama lecturer for Staffordshire University. Before that, he trained some of our best NorthWest actors at ALRA North. He has directing credits as long as his arm, including a piece developed by WriteForTheStage - Pass by Naomi Sumner - which debuted at 24:7 Theatre Festival in 2014. He will also be recognisable by many of a certain age (*clears throat*) as Gary Stanley in the brilliant scouse soap, Brookside. I was a massive fan of Brookie back in the day and remember him in it, so it's a total thrill to have him as part of our cast for The Big Things.
Martha Simon, our fine director, is always working, which is total testament to her talent! This month she's been working at Home MCR and completing a residency with her theatre company, Red Bobble Theatre at Oldham Coliseum. That was immediately after directing the Arden School of Theatre showcase piece written by my great mate, Cathy Crabb.
I first saw Martha's work when she directed the amazing Manchester Theatre Award winning All The Bens by Ian Townsend at 24:7 Theatre Festival in 2012. I've been desperate to work with her ever since and so happy that we're finally working together.
So, The Big Things is playing at 2 venues throughout the month of July at Greater Manchester Fringe Festival. The dates are
Fri 7th & Sat 8th July - 7.30pm
Sun 9th & Mon 10th July - 9pm
£10/£8
Wed 19th & Thurs 20th July - 7pm
£5/£4
Tickets available from here.
The Big Things will be my 17th stage-play. Check out my playwriting CV.
The Big Things - the blurb
Grace is different. That’s why Malcolm loves her. But when she decides that they should have a baby, the differences grow and the tensions threaten to tear them apart. A tragi-comic play about love, delusion and parenthood.
