Between the 10th and 22nd July, The King’s Head Theatre will be opening its doors to Festival 47, three weeks of new writing from “the UK’s most exciting, bold and ambitious emerging companies”. One of those companies is Off The Middle who will be showcasing their new spoof murder-mystery, Lead Suspect. We asked writer and director Stephanie Withers about the show and about Off The Middle’s plans for “exciting, playful and relevant new writing” …
As a company we are really interested in playing with the audience and performer relationship. We want the audience to be more actively engaged, to have a more personal connection to the performers and story.
Celeste Dodwell and Matthew Seager in the company’s critically acclaimed ‘In Other Words’ (Photo – Alex Fine)
For ‘In Other Words’ we did this in an intimate way; the audience were lit during the show, actors spoke to them frankly and openly, and they sat so close to the actors it made them feel like they were in our characters front room. For ‘Lead Suspect’ it is a more playful dynamic, where the audience are referenced throughout, and often lend a helping hand to our actors onstage.
Lead Suspect – Rehearsals
Though the two subject matters couldn’t be further apart; a moving love story concerning a couple’s experience of Alzheimer’s disease, and a spoof murder-mystery where actors play dogs who solve the crime, we know both shows are rooted in playfulness, creative storytelling, and celebrate the live-ness of theatre.
At the moment telling stories through creative means is something that really interests us, whether that’s through actors playing dogs, or doing a play that spans a 50 year timeframe within an hour, we want to make theatre that provokes creativity and sparks an audiences imagination.
Lead Suspect is a show inspired by the curious case of the 2015 Crufts dog show poisoning. In this unique comedy dog murder mystery actors tell us the story through the eyes of the canine competitors, and solve the crime. Join unlikely hero Scott the Scottish Terrier as he investigates and asks the age old question, was it the Pug or the Poodle?
LEAD SUSPECT
is at the King’s Head Theatre from the 17th to 20th July
To get your paws on limited £10 tickets add code ‘doggystyle’ if you have a valid student card, or upload a picture of yourself and a canine friend to @OTM_Theatre with #leadsuspect, for a separate £10 code
“Attic is an emotional tennis match, a back and forth between a deep love and an intense loathing”
No one can deny that human relationships can be complex, often unconventional and sometimes dangerous. This work, written by Meriel Hinsching, explores the fractious and fragile way in which two people can’t be with or without each other.
From the very first scene, it is apparent that our characters share a lot of history as they each perform their soliloquy full of longing and reminiscence. However, only fragments of information are relayed to the audience – why did their relationship fall apart? What brought them back together again? Can they make this work somehow?
Ed Theakston (award winning director, Best Play award for Bit of Sunshine, LOST Theatre Festival 2016 & Theatre503) has created such a tense atmosphere, which leaves us on the edge of our seats, and yet there are still moments of humour, which break through in the most refreshing way. Sharing a sneaky bottle of whiskey, tripping over their jeans in an attempt to get out of them, acting like a couple of teenagers, reliving carefree days.
These moments are suddenly juxtaposed with erratic episodes, often triggered by Leonie (played by Phoebe Stapleton) who is seemingly unable to stay within the confines of happiness and begins to question everything all over again.
Hinsching wants the audience to ponder over this because haven’t we all been there at one time or another? Floating along in a bubble of happiness but so afraid that the whole thing may come crashing down, so we retreat back into our safety net?
Attic is an emotional tennis match, a back and forth between a deep love and an intense loathing. The real darkness to the play is the connotations of the concept of death, from Leonie threatening to fall from the open window, to her screaming at Bay (Connor Harris) to make her feel ‘more alive’ – are they so tormented by their individual lives? Is the idea of a life together absolute heaven or sheer hell?
In Attic, this changes from one moment to the next.
Reviewed by Stephanie Legg
Attic
is at the King’s Head Theatre for a further two performances on 2nd and 3rd July
Celeste Dodwell and Matthew Seager in the company’s critically acclaimed ‘In Other Words’ (Photo – Alex Fine)
Lead Suspect – Rehearsals
