Nottingham Playhouse’s summer readings series has proven a massive hit with the play going public. Opening with the sell out UK premier of Laura Forti’s The Clouds Go Back Home and culminating in Stasiland, directed by Playhouse Artistic Director Giles Croft, four days later, excited and interested audiences have flocked to see and hear new work at an early stage.
The Clouds Go Back Home tells the story of an Italian student and the Albanian migrant sex worker she befriends one university summer whilst cleaning flats in Florence. The play looks at both the root and consequences of girls coming to the bright Western lights with stark and clinical results. Expertly directed by Susannah Tresilian it shows why the piece has such wide acclaim in Europe and hopefully will achieve the same here.
The next event, Come To Where I’m From, curated by Paines Plough’s new artistic team James Grieve & George Perrin - founders of the award winning Nabokov Theatre Company – was of a different style but packed no less punch. With 5 young regional playwrights - James Graham, Leah Chillery, Laura Lomas, Mufaro Makubika & Beth Steel - performing and premiering their work this was certainly a night for firsts. For Mufaro it was his first public airing of any of his writing whilst others, most notably Laura Lomas, were Playhouse veterans. All the pieces went down a storm in a packed Playroom which had to have more chairs added to accommodate those eager to hear these new voices.
The final offering in this series was Stasiland adapted by Nick Drake from Anna Funder’s book of the same name. The play looks closely at stories from either side of the wall in the late ‘90s when the Stasi’s brutal tactics and coercive methods were coming to light. It is a compelling if gruelling account and whilst it certainly had great moments of pathos and drama, there is work still to be done.
However, to rate the works presented in their current form in terms of stars would be missing the point, these are developing ideas, whilst the plays, playwrights, performers and the relationship established with an audience were a triumph in showing new work and benefitting all involved. The great hope is that a similar summer event will be held next year and, I’m sure, all that attended this look forward to Michael Pinchbeck’s reading of The Ashes in the autumn.
Image courtesy of Drew Baumhol
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