Output details

In Basildon

Was voted the Guardian Theatre Critics and Arts Writers “No. 1 Best Theatre of 2012"

The four act form is a familiar one, especially characteristic of the work of Chekhov. In his four major plays, the four act structure has become a much loved and familiar experience for post-war British audiences. But the narratives of the working or blue collar classes are rarely ennobled by this form, with its sustained dramatic actions, and its ability to describe the minutiae of domestic spaces, and the passage of time. I wanted to turn the audiences’ expectations of this form on its head by using it to depict and question a representation of a defiantly raucous and colourful Essex life. I also wanted to subvert the Chekhovian last act, which is usually a move forwards in time, by using flashback instead while retaining the bathetic denoument often employed by Chekhov in the final movement of his plays. Narrative cause is explored after effect, but the emotional impact for the audience is retained in the final movement. The play was commissioned by the Royal court and it also draws on the theatre’s traditions of the working-class play, which has recently seen a demise in favour of middle class drama; giving voice to a community which rarely has one on our stages, and is often represented in clichéd form in long running drama series such as Eastenders. The mining plays of D.H. Lawrence and the work of Arnold Wesker were an important influence, even while the subject matter remained urgently contemporary by taking place in Basildon in 2010.