Plays produced in fringe theatres tend to be overlooked when theatre history comes to be written up – despite the fact that many early plays by the current crop of younger playwrights were put on in venues above pubs, arts centres etc. There is also a kind of snobbery that decrees that once a writer has had work on away from the fringe, then that’s where they should stay. It is often assumed that an established writer will only have a play produced at a fringe venue because a mainstream theatre has rejected it. It is simply not true. There are all kinds of reasons for working on the fringe, from having greater artistic freedom and needing to respond to an issue quickly to wanting to work with a particular company or director.
With the exception of Ashes and Sand, all of the plays in this volume were produced by the Red Room Theatre Company. Launched in October 1995, by Lisa Goldman and Emma Schad, it has consistently developed work with a critical and original take on the world we live in. Starting life above the Lion and Unicorn pub in London’s Kentish Town, their first production was my The Shorewatchers’ House (also available from Methuen). This plus three other plays in this volume were directed by Lisa Goldman – part of our long-term artistic collaboration.
In this volume, Stealing Souls is a one-act two-hander set in Brazil, and was influenced by my reading of South American literature. It might be described as English magic realism meets S&M love story.
With Sunspots it’s back to the English seaside to explore the relationship between two sisters, and the idea that two people can grow to complement each other like two halves of the same whole. It transferred to Battersea Arts Centre, and the fact that it had a pizza in the final act kept an impoverished writer fed for many a night.
People on the River was a Red Room commission – an attack on victim TV and media exploitation.
Know Your Rights – my first attempt at writing monologues – was part of a rapid response political season, where a number of writers responded to the media’s uncritical complacency where the new labour government was concerned. While examining litigation culture I was also looking at a wider issue: the powers that be and the way in which they encourage us to blame those immediately around us when things go wrong, in order to prevent us seeing the bigger picture.
Finally, back to Ashes and Sand – a take on girl gangs and shoe fetishism in Brighton. This play is also about the frustrations of being a working-class teenager, seeing the very limited prospects that are coming your way and dreaming of escape.
These plays were my escape. I hope you enjoy them.
Judy Upton
November 2001