Falling Knives & Runaround Wives, Stand ‘n’ Tan and Tonic
After Her Death (AHD) could have been a one-off success, we were told by funders many years later. They had invested and needed (or wanted) to see if we could do it again.
It was during the tour of AHD when we were approached by survivors of domestic violence and abuse, they asked if we could make a play about their direct experience, the same style as AHD (popular theatre, accessible, funny and thought provoking). We said yes.
It was 2000 and we trained with DIVA (Don’t Ignore Violence & Abuse) to ensure we could facilitate the workshops with sensitivity and skill. We ran workshops with approximately 10 groups of women and girls throughout the region (100 women in total were involved).
As with AHD and the 25yrs to follow, we didn’t and don’t lead with an issue. We arrive with a blank sheet of paper, introduce a character via a stimulus. With this project it was the voice of a woman talking about being in debt, struggling to buy a school uniform (if I remember correctly). The same voice was used with each group. Each group pulled on their lived experiences to create one character, they worked creatively up on their feet, the process democratic and building power.
We stepped each week, them leading and us supporting. The police response to their characters, ‘calls for help’ was the focus, the officer arriving and unable to find the right words, instead he talks about the cat. And our second show- Falling Knives & Runaround Wives was created. Many years later when we retoured Falling Knives, in 2002 and then again 2006 I remember the police contacting me (they may have been in the audience) and they said, ‘things have changed’ and ‘we wouldn’t leave without logging this incident’ and ‘can you change the narrative?’ I rang Women’s Aid and other groups, asking do the police respond differently, they all said no, the narrative is the same.
I’ve been reading the Annual Reviews, turning pages and finding memories.
‘Set in the North East of England“‘Falling Knives & Runaround Wives’ isa sensitive, thought provoking and compelling comedy that looks at the lives of four women as they not only prepare for, live through and survive Christmas, but also a roller coaster of a New Year full of revelations and Abba Songs.”
As with our first tour we opened at Live Theatre, toured throughout the North East to youth and community centres, along with a mini tour to working class communities in Glasgow via Impact Arts. Our tours had a pattern, opening and then finishing at Live Theatre, us bringing audiences into theatres, like a rock and rolling moss. As I read, I see that for our final performance at Live Theatre we’d fundraised to give 100 free tickets to our co-creators and their guests.
Our audiences were and are the furthest from the arts, the tours created theatre in communities and bought communities into theatre venues.
I’m reading quotes captured during the first tour of FK 2001:
‘Judith and I normally go the bingo on a Saturday but it was well worth missing’.
‘Not something I would do very often but tonight’s performance will definitely encourage me to see a live show more often. A great show. There was something in it for every woman’
‘Brilliant – so very many thanks for telling our stories with such sensitivity and humour. A special thought for the women who planned to come tonight, but who in the end weren’t allowed to’
‘I laughed and cried as did the rest of the audience. A fantastic play on its own but also issue based youth work at its best’ Jan Vincet – Bridge Project
‘Brilliant as ever – wonderful to see working-class women stories brought to life in such a real and enjoyable way =- made me laugh and cry, and recognise peoples lives’
Meet the Characters: Tricia is a single mother whose 15yr old daughter Gemma is 9 months pregnant, Michelle runs the Christmas Hamper Club and is a woman in debt. Her husband Peter is having an affair. Gillian recently left her husband for a woman called Sara. Susan has been married to Jim for 7 years and they have a 3yr daughter, Candese. Susan is a victim of domestic violence.
The Hartlepool Mail said – ‘A hard hitting play has kicked off a tough crack down on domestic violence’ (2001)
This was the first production that held the voices of victims/survivors of domestic violence/abuse but it wasn’t our last. Over the past 25yrs, 9 times out of 10 we have come out with domestic abuse. When I reflect back, the ask of officers in 2006 to change the narrative because their approach had changed and then think about Rattle Snake in 2015, a production about coercive controlling behaviours and used by trainers, communities and charities globally to the current day Then Rupture which will tour in Spring 2025, telling the story of women/mothers and the journey that led to time in prison, domestic violence, abuse and trauma – I wonder, like many of us do, has anything changed?
Humour
Falling Knives is funny, it doesn’t (as with all the shows) ask our audiences to feel sorry for the women on stage, the humour lifts you out of moments that could lead to this ending and helps you stay in your thinking head, to ask why and how can we change the world.
Groups: Avenues, Bridge, West End Women & Girls Centre, Hexham Youth Initiative, NECA (North East Council on Addictions), Riverside Community Health project Benwell, Meadows (what about me?) in North Shields, Unified Group of Lesbians Tyne & Wear. Wansbeck Initiative. Gateshead Young’s Outreach Project
Stand n Tan 2003/04 and 2009
Another pattern woven into the DNA of Open Clasp is our response to the needs of our communities. During our tour of Falling Knives we asked ‘what else?’. Racism against those seeking asylum was an issue our communities said needed highlighting. It was the time when people where fed fear about ‘those running down the tunnel’ coming from Kosovo and eating our dogs. Not unlike today, it’s another issue (like domestic violence) that just shape shifts but never goes away, is ever present or getting worse. There have been many reports, reviews and calls for change but when we retoured Stand n Tan in 2009, and then with a new production in 2012, the Space Between Us, with each tour and production made we noted a severe decline in support and empathy, leaving many seeking asylum dehumanised and destitute.
Stand n Tan had a project name, the process title was Participation in the Creation of a Performance Piece. It had three phases.
Phase One
We worked with 180 women and girls, running 59 drama workshops with multiple characters created. One of the groups was the Iranian Women’s Group based in the Angelou Centre, West End. Working with interpreters the women shared stories of their journeys to England to seek safety. Stories of women crossing rivers, holding their children high, a slip and silent scream as a baby is lost to the river. Other groups involved were:
Ashlyn’s Young Mothers Unit, The United Black Youth Association (UBYA), Quality Protects (young women in the Looked After System), Walker Technological College, Women 4 Women, Tyneside Women’s Health – Women of the Third Age, West End Women & Girls Centre (Women’s Group, Young Mothers & Older Girls). St Chads in Bensham, Sure Start East, St Mary’s High School, West Walk Family Centre, St Martins, Byker Sands projects. Organisations consulted NECA (Northeast Council on Addictions). Tyneside Young Lesbian Project.
Phase Two was when I worked on a script in response to the workshops and the creative team produced the play to tour.
Stand n Tan – The Story
‘Set in a local ‘Stand n Tan’ single mam Joanne is preparing for her imminent wedding but like most weddings, things aren’t running smoothly… When Joanne’s dressmaker loses the tips of her fingers serving Brie at the cheese counter in Fenwick’s, Maryam, a woman seeking asylum from Iran saves the day by agreeing to take over the pearl trim. But Joanne’s mam Teresa is far from pleased’ and ‘Amidst the hilarity of duty free tabs and an impromptu false tan session, Stand n Tan explores prejudice and fear and what happens to people when they’re faced with the loss of life, love, youth, land, liberty, and a gold ring and a neighbours’ dog’.
In those days we (creative/touring team) would all set up the stage, act and then deliver an hour long workshop with our audiences, often improvised, them joining us on stage. We would then take down the set, pack the van and drive home. It was hard core, physically and emotionally at times. One of our actors, it was her first professional contract and the experience of seeking asylum a reality.
The project had a Phase Three, this involved four of our groups worked with in the process to create, performing a piece of theatre themselves. UBYA, Iranian Women’s Group, St Chads and West End Women & Girls Centre. Our venue was the Baltic, it was International Women’s Day 2005, the Baltic had been open three years and none of our women had ever been through the door. They performed and shared creative writing, then we danced. Bringing communities together and into a creative high art space for the first time.
Tonic – 2006- 2007
Our fourth production Tonic was created in response to our communities asking us to highlight the impact of mental ill health on women and girls. We returned to old and met new groups and organisations. As with our previous shows we didn’t have a sense of what would be shared but the standout was that of post separation domestic violence, childhood sexual abuse and obsessive compulsive disorder. Now I know that sounds heavy, but if you put a group of women together in a room, including our staff and board of trustees, along with our creative teams, we all know it, it’s part of our life story too. So yes, it sounds heavy but as one woman said to me recently just because this is part of our life story doesn’t mean we walk around with our heads down looking at our feet. We laugh, play, feel happy, dance and love, have children, are good enough parents and strive to work with each other and stand in solidarity (in our worlds). The issues have stayed in the plays, but so has the laughter.
A Writer – At this point in my journey with Open Clasp I had never up until now called myself a writer, though I was responsible for the previous scripts. I fell into writing during my degree (returning to education after leaving school at 16). I was 33 and did a creative writing module and started to get celebrated, and then write for/with Open Clasp. Fiona MacPherson was our director to this point and with the next show Twist of Lemon. I worked with her, and the team to create the script. Tonic however was written at a time when I was doing my Masters in Creative Writing at Newcastle University. Here I honed my skills and learnt the craft of playwrighting and short story, the latter I loved. Tonic, like After Her Death, Falling Knives and Stand n Tan is a two-act play (as was the tradition then). First scene is the setup, something goes array and then the characters have to chase, the plot twist, with rollercoaster rides, reveals and change happens. A formulaic structure and I followed it to the letter.
Tonic was the first play I didn’t act in, my focus was on the pen and words placed. It was set at the time of the World Cup and four women wanting to get away. They find themselves on a caravan site – an unexpected guest arrives (a little sister of one) with a suitcase of money stolen from her gangster/perpetrator boyfriend. They and their families are in danger – they have to go and put the money back in the boyfriend’s attic – but the only way is for them to disguise themselves as men and play football.
It was hilarious. Fiona Macpherson has funny bones and as with all the rehearsals before we laughed, loads and together created a piece of pure genius on stage, well they did.
The ask from our communities was to make a play about mental health and we highlighted what impacts on our mental health. When football is played, the sport/league it’s one of the most dangerous times for women with regards to domestic violence, win or lose.
The play ends with a huge win for the women, they get to keep the money stolen. The women think the money is back in the attic, the perpetrator thinks the money is still in the attic, there is a fire, everyone thinks the money has gone up in flames BUT it wasn’t put back. I had to rewrite the ending, so if you saw the play you saw the edited version, the fire an accident. My board had concerns that if it was to leave you thinking one of the women set fire to the flat, we are condoning arson. I’ll leave that there and move on to the next production, Twist of Lemon, a play about lesbians was the next …
Catrina
Open Clasp's Blog 