Page to Stage Festival - What is our involvement?
On Monday the 4th April I found myself in a place where in years gone by I have enjoyed a few pints and watched a Beatles tribute band play Oasis songs. And in more recent years, I’ve nipped upstairs for a shot of absinthe in between sets. You guessed it, the Zanzibar… Although, this time was different. This time I wasn’t here for a gig, nor a shot of the naughty sauce, this time I was here to watch some theatre. Yes, that's right, theatre. I know what many of you are thinking, "The Zanzibar to watch theatre? The Zanzibar isn't a theatre!" But, to be totally honest with you, it took me right back to the Edinburgh Fringe. A place where I had watched a stand-up gig in a Bingo Hall and a theatre show in a hotel room. The Zanzibar offered an intimate room complete with a bar, a minimal amount of tech equipment and actors, what more could you ask for? I'll tell you what... A festival of shows in venues like this. You see, there is a little festival going on at the moment in Liverpool, you’ve probably heard of it...
Not only was I here to watch theatre, this time I had come equipped with a pad and pen as I was here as the reviewer. Not like a "reviewer reviewer" (Put your pitchforks away) but as a "Hello, I'm an aspiring artist and I saw your show!" You see, our club, the newly named 'Liverpool Arts Society' is going to review every show in the festival. I think it's a great idea. I've had reviews in the past and I have had feedback from University lecturers or other esteemed members of the industry, but never before have I had detailed feedback in writing from another aspiring artist. And to be totally honest, that is who I want to hear from. You want more than the obvious "Yeah, that was good" from family and friends, you want more than to be scored on a rating system, you want to know what you did well, what you didn't do so well and how you can improve. I don't know about everyone else but as an artist I would love recognition from other artists an know that they have seen and appreciate my work. So thank you to Page to Stage Festival for inviting us to join them and see some brilliant pieces of new writing in this amazing city. Best of luck to everyone involved! You'll be hearing from me soon! For more information on the festival and the shows, go to;
So if you're in the area and love the arts, why not support some new writing?
Let me tell you about this year’s shows;
BRICKS Sisters Janet and Louise are poles apart in terms of geography and getting on. Their ideas on care for their elderly father who is suffering from Alzheimer’s also differ. Would a care home be suitable? Who will prevail and what will happen to the family home?
THE CHAMBER OF BEHEADED QUEENS Anne Boleyn, second wife of Henry VIII, and Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, share a chamber in the honeycomb of eternity where they bicker about things both epic and trivial. Disagreement about how to allocate the ten tokens they are given every century to spend for their comfort and pleasure opens old wounds. Clever Anne is still bitter about the manner of her demise and resents Mary banging on about her generations of royal descendants. Mary meanwhile is sulky and querulous, acting the martyr and needling Anne about her only daughter's role in her death. While preparing for the imminent arrival of Marie-Antoinette, Catherine Howard makes a surprise visit to Anne and Mary. Although she was the fifth queen of Henry VIII, she was never officially crowned and anointed and is thus excluded from the Chamber of Beheaded Queens. She begs to be allowed to transfer there from the foul Dungeon of Adulterers, where she is wretched. The encounter with both Catherine and Marie-Antoinette forces Anne and Mary to face unpalatable truths, but wrings out the best in them as they give comfort to two souls in torment. Their relationship will never be the same again.
AN EVERYDAY APOCALYPSE At her wedding reception, Maya ducks into a corridor for a minute’s respite from playing host. But she is not alone. Waiting in the dark is an old friend with an unexpected proposition…
Fast forward ten years. Maya did not take up the offer. Today, just like every other day, she returns home from work to her sensible suburban house on its sensible suburban street. Except that today is not quite like every other day. Because today she is fleeing for her life from the animated corpses of her friends and neighbours.
Off stage, the world has ended. In the space of an afternoon, humanity is gone; an ex-species, displaced by its own dead. But we are not concerned with the fate of the world, but with that of a single couple.
Trapped in their home, Maya and her husband, Rob, try to face up to the bizarre and brutal realities of their situation. But as hopes of escape dwindle, building resentments, previously smothered by social necessity, are free to rise to the surface, bringing with them bitter accusations and deadly secrets.
And all the time, far closer than they realise, a horribly familiar nightmare is beginning to stir…
OUR GIFT Elizabeth and Dudley are two of the 200,000 grandparents raising their grandchildren in the UK. Caring can be one of the very hardest jobs in the world but for Elizabeth, looking after her 18 year old granddaughter Natalie with highly complex special needs and autism, is the singular most important thing she will ever do.
Both Elizabeth and Dudley are battling their own declining health and, with age taking hold, a husband has to convince his wife that it is time to let Natalie go. But what is the future for Natalie? Elizabeth has to decide what is the greatest threat to her granddaughter: her growing senescence, social services or her own daughter’s intentions.
With an aging population and so many grandparents tasked today with a second parenthood, Our Gift explores with humour and sadness the turmoil facing many families today in households held together by unsung heroes: carers.
THE RELUCTANT CELEBRITY After footage of his heart-attack is posted on the internet, Ian Cartwright finds himself under intense scrutiny from all sides. This straight talking, genuine, victim of the media is loved by the public and the more he rejects celebrity and fame the more he is adored. His son Ashley wants to capitalise on his fame and negotiate media appearances. Two journalists, Nadia and Curtis, also want some of the action and will stop at nothing to get it. Nobody can be this perfect, they think, and start to look for anything that will contradict his spotless image. It seems there’s nothing Ian can do wrong but an employee of his knows something, something so important that he can demand a payrise without question. Ian’s wife Samantha fears that all this stress and attention will cause another heart-attack and demands that Ashley bring an end to it. It’s all too late though as Ian is about to drop a bombshell that will stop all the cameras. This is not a story about celebrity, or reluctancy, it is a story about secrets.
A ROLE A gang leader whose memoirs are to be made into a movie comes face to face with the actor who will play him. The actor undergoes an ordeal by fire to prove that he is the right man. He steals, he deals and he toughens up.
TRULY EXOTIC Set in the twenty-first and sixteenth-century London, Truly Exotic blurs the differences between the civilised English and foreign savage. It begins with a merchant masquerade, a physician of time and space, who has a business plan connecting two different time periods. He transports a twenty-first century prostitute to the sixteenth-century as a wench for her ability to please men from all cultures. For, in the sixteenth-century, a courtier has unsuccessfully led an English army against the Irish rebels. He has returned from Ireland too early and now needs to placate Queen Elizabeth I. In a London tavern, the courtier learns from the wench about a lost map charting an island rich in gold. It is a prize he knows would please the queen and even make him king. With the intention of attending business matters at the River Thames, the courtier meets the merchant masquerade selling exotica from the New World. After the merchant has advertised his wares, the two men exchange tales of exploits in foreign lands. From the merchant, the courtier learns about Anthroposia: a mysterious island bountiful in gold that bears a striking similarity to the wench’s lost map. He realises the merchant holds the key to truly pleasing the queen, but can the courtier afford the price?
WELCOME TO PARADISE ROAD! In a society where nothing is private and no one knows who to trust this unsettling drama brings the fear of being watched, judged and condemned up close. Jane is desperate, her partner has disappeared. She is visiting Caroline her neighbour and local busybody to see if she’s heard anything about his disappearance. Will Caroline help her or is she the person Jane should be most afraid of?
It examines how in an ordinary street in this society it’s not just the State that imposes terror over its citizens, it’s also ordinary people given arbitrary power that can exert terror. As we give away more and more of our liberties and increasingly become a surveillance society, this play is a cautionary tale about how if we are to remain “free” we must stay vigilant to the calls for the removal of our rights and vigilant about our own human nature.
