I just thought I'd write a little piece on the play I'm producing for Smoke & Oakum Theatre which opens this weekend at the Brighton Fringe. It's a three hander written by Ed Harris and it's called The Cow Play. It tells the story of a couple, Owen and Holly, and how their relationship is affected by Holly's depression. Owen is slowly turning into Holly's carer while his best friend Thom is the voice of reason, trying to remind Owen to live for himself and his prior ambitions rather than his shell of a girlfriend. We see this not as an 'issues' play per se but certainly one about the ethics of saving those you love versus protecting your own needs. Though it uses the imagery of Holly turning into a cow to express the alienation and transformation of her person this is really a play that was written as a response to the playwright caring for a depressive ex-girlfriend. He said recently in an interview that 'I couldn't handle the fact that I couldn't help or save this woman I loved...and that the single-mindedness of her depression meant I sometimes wanted to kill her'. At the time he believed that was a sign of his inadequacy as a person but now knows is a recognised issue known as compassion fatigue.
So, that's the play. My involvement is, in part, due to the enthusiasm of the director Ross Drury who turned up to meet me with the passionate announcement that this might be the best script he'd ever read. It's very different to other plays I have worked on and that was a conscious decision I made. To work on something with a different aim, feel and process to what I'd done so far. Although, ultimately, I think we should probably all, at this early stage of our careers, really be working on developing our own voices and styles of theatre, I also think there's plenty to learn from seeing how other productions and people work.
It's an interesting team to be working with as well. Everyone is interlinked in some way and many have worked together before, in different roles and on different projects. So I feel we have quite a unique dynamic. Most excitingly however is the young, eager, proactive vibe we've got. Everything about the production from the source of the play's inspiration, to the playwright, the cast and crew is new, youthful, hard working and hopeful of being an important part of the next generation of theatre makers. It feels like we're all developing all the time at the moment - Ross and my Brighton shows last year were both successful and pointed out as 'ones to watch', the actors have been auditioning and creating other projects at the same time and Ed won a Gold Sony Award last week! Our trailer was made by and up-and-coming filmmaker, our set and lighting designers are working on multiple projects simultaneously and our Stage Managers are the most organised and in demand people I've met!
I say proactive because there was no external force or construct that pulled us all together - this show was sown from the seed of our actress Holly being proactive and approaching Ed for permission to do the show. From there everyone else has got involved in the same hands on manner and we've been able to workshop and develop the script with Ed all the way down the line.
All that remains to be seen is if all this hard work and dedication translates to the stage. Having seen the technical rehearsal I'd say it does but it's the audience who decides! Hope to see you there!
Watch our trailer: http://vimeo.com/65265589
THE WARREN
FRINGE VENUE 58
25th - 27th May
17:45
£11/£9.50
Tickets: http://bit.ly/cowplay
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