Quays Life meets this year’s Directors: Annie Lunnette Deakin-Foster (Movement Director); Stef O’Driscoll (Director) and Janisè Sadik (Assistant Director):

How did you get involved with Roundabout?

Stef: I have been working with Paines Plough for the last 8 years. I started with them as assistant on Wasted, I assisted James Grieves then became associate director at Paines Plough and directed a couple of shows, so the natural progression is for me was to direct the Roundabout Season, I did my first season last year then I have come back again this year.

Janisè : I’m the trainee director at Paines Plough this year, so I’ve been put on this lovely programme, the Roundabout.

Annie: I worked on a show with James Grieves last year and this year, he connected me to Steph and then Steph put me on board for The Roundabout.

How long have you been working on these shows?

Stef: So it’s an insane process when you’re making 3 shows, we had 7 weeks in London then 4 weeks in Mold. That works out at 11 weeks in total to make 3 shows, 4 of those you’re in tech and previewing here.

What do you enjoy about Roundabout and what are the Challenges?

Stef: I love the Roundabout, the Roundabout is everything what it means to be human, it brings communities together and I think we need spaces like that more than ever with what’s happening currently in the world. So for me its community, its joy, it’s magic. It has an inbuilt lighting system, there’s no other like it. That fused with sound just creates a really magical place to grapple with what it means to be human. I don’t know what else to say other than it’s joyous.

Annie: It’s a really intimate space as well you sort of break down the relationship between audience and performer and there is nowhere to hide for the performers, which as an artist is something really exciting to work with and how you can express using your bodies, and story tell through your bodies in 360 degrees, is just really rewarding in this unique space.

Stef: yeah and it’s like the audience are a part of it, they’re the 4^th character, they’re very much a part of that space. So to have something so live where the audience are very present is everything that I think theatre should be.

How is it working with the same 3 actors across the same 3 plays?

Stef: I think each play requires a different physical language in that space, it’s really about discovering what that is to support the actors with what to do. The space is so unique so we prep them to be in that space. Its 360 degrees, in the round, so if you’re facing someone, the people behind you also need to know if you’re happy or if you’re sad. There is a physical toolkit that gets made particularly for the space its self and then looking at what is the best way to tell each story. So there is a lot of work that’s been done in terms of playing different characters, how do they walk, how do they speak, and finding distinctions. So a lot of work goes into what is needed for each play in a physical way.

Annie: Yeah and we really try to establish the different words very early on. That might shift from what we thought it was going to be in rehearsal, to what it ends up being. I think that helps land each play in a different world, or environment. But I think the basic toolkit are opening out and exploring characterisation and physicality and connecting to intention.

How important is it to take this work to local communities, like Broughton in Salford?

Stef: It is so important that the Roundabout flat packs in the back of a van and can go to anywhere on the doorstep of people that might not be able to access the arts for whatever reason; they can’t travel or its too expensive, or their only idea of theatre is in their nearest town which is like a West End musical. If you don’t have things like the Roundabout, then it will stop people accessing something that, I think is, transformative and every one should have the ability to be able to experience something to see themselves in a story to be able to understand what the world is about and grapple with what means to be human. So we need to do more of this, it’s incredibly important that people can access it on their doorstep.

Have you been to Salford before?

Stef: Yes, so we were in Salford last year with the Roundabout, and it was amazing to see a community take over the Roundabout space, it was amazing. We had Ordsall’s Got Talent which took place with lots of people from the community doing a talent show, the opening as well which was lots of different youth groups performing. It was beautiful to see how the Roundabout gets transformed by communities, so not only are we saying here is the best of the best new writing, come and enjoy and share this with us, but equally for them to have ownership of what goes on in there.

Describe each show with one sentence:

Annie: I’d describe the experience overall as like a box of chocolates, with various flavours. But Dexter and Winter is a fast paced adventure of fun and discovery.

Stef: Daughterhood is about what it means to be a daughter and we look at what two sisters and them grappling with duty and stepping into duty when their father is unwell.

Janisè: On The Other Hand we’re Happy is pure love, magic and it really touches you on social responsibility.

Roundabout is at Albert Park, Broughton from 5-8 September 2019.

Who Cares? Matt Woodhead’s play shines a light on the hidden lives of young carers

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They live in a nameless town, enclosed by a ring-road surrounded by fields. The idea is this town could be any number of places, and these teenagers could be any number of young people facing the future with fear rather than hope.

At aged 16 their dreams don’t seem impossible. They don’t aspire to being astronauts or supermodels. Rather, what they long for most is a steady job and a loving home.

Pete (Jack Wilkinson) lives with his brother’s family and has fallen head-over heels in love with his newborn nephew. Now he wants nothing more than a family of his own. Finding a girl who will go on a date with him, so far is a major stumbling block.

Sam (Charlotte O’Leary) lives with her alcoholic dad and five-year-old sister. Her life sways from resident punch bag to surrogate mother. What she wants more than anything is a flat of her own, a regular job in a supermarket and to be able to take care of her younger sister.

Kate (Katherine Pearce) is a young carer for her dying father. Except she doesn’t seem to care very much for him or anyone else. Every word is spat out in rage, and her puffa-jacket is often half-on and half-off as if she doesn’t know if she’s coming or going.

From Kate’s point of view the ring-road is like a prison wall from which they need the courage to escape. She dreams of taking her dad’s car and driving along any road that will lead them out of this small island town. The main problem is she doesn’t want to do it alone. She wants to take her friends, exploding what she feels are their small-minded dreams into something bigger in the process. Until then, she numbs herself with booze and drugs, and at several points begs to be struck in the face so that the taste of blood will help her feel something.

Simon Longman’s dialogue spatters like bullets between the characters. There are also elements of lyrical beauty as the characters talk of a world beyond the horizon. But just like the characters, his story has nowhere to go. It is a bleak picture of youth and spiralling hopelessness, trapping people in a repeated cycle for generations.

The tight, bare space of Roundabout’s pop-up theatre gives added intensity to the themes. The emotional energy of the cast makes for compelling performances all round. But like the characters, at the end I’m left with an emptiness that strips me of caring.

The anger of youth is an age-old theme. As a society we should rightly be concerned that this narrative has recently become woven with one of hopelessness. But watching Island Town I can’t help wondering if rather than simply mirroring a truth, plays like this are fueling it.

Island Town is a Paines Plough and Theatr Clwyd production as part of the Roundabout season. It’s at Roundabout, Ordsall Park from 6-9 September 2018.

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“It’s like a horror film,’ says Barbara as she races around in the dark, chasing one side of the crowd and then the other at the call of ‘Dinner Time!’

It certainly feels like we’ve stepped into an alternative world – and the rush of excitement and adrenaline has everyone leaving on a high. It’s genius.

Comedienne, Janice Connolly, known to Phoenix Night’s fans as Holy Mary, originally created her alter-ego, Barbara Nice to inject a bit more kindness into the comedy circuit. While most comics faced a rowdy crowd with an armour of choice language, blue jokes and turning their sharp wit against the audience, Barbara Nice kept it clean – winning them over with idle chit-chat, silly games and a sing-song.

Billed as an ordinary housewife, mother of five, keen Take A Break reader and occasional stage-diver, Barbara Nice is the woman who starts chatting to you on a bus and you’re quite happy to listen.

Dressed in a sleeveless leopard print dress, she tells us about her TKMaxx bargains, gives out big hugs to those who take to the stage with her, and steps back for just the right time to let an audience member take the shine of the spotlight. The effect is a party atmosphere of camaraderie that feels spontaneous and playful. At the same time this is clearly a tight and well-timed act, and for the audience the evening goes by in a flash.

At the Roundabout pop-up theatre there is a mix of ages and everyone is up for joining in from the start, with the whole theatre standing up for a mimed game of curling, before bursting into a chorus of Spandau Ballet’s ‘Gold’.

The show is called Raffle, and as it suggests there is a free raffle at the centre of it. Barbara spins us right round like a raffle and the stakes are high – the top prize is a tinned pie.

She later wields her comedy magic wand to turn us all into squirrels and asks whose seen her slide belly first down the stairs on a tea tray?

It sounds like an apocryphal tale, but when Barbara tells it, we all want to believe it’s true. At the Roundabout one audience member claims to know someone who had seen her do just that during a show at Sale Waterside. Whether she did or didn’t, it’s now the stuff of legend – and we can’t wait for Barbara Nice to stop off this way again to see what she does next.

Barbara Nice: Raffle was at Roundabout, Ordsall Park in conjunction with The Lowry, Salford Quays on 6 September 2018.

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Over four days the travelling venue will showcase three plays from Paines Plough, as well as hosting comedy from Barbara Nice, community events and church services.

Actor, Katherine Pearce recently received a highly acclaimed ‘The Stage Edinburgh Award’ for her performance in ‘Island Town’ at the 2018 Edinburgh Fringe.

She reprises her award-winning role in the play by Simon Longman, a bittersweet story about friendship, hope and dreams of an escape. Playing 8 characters across the three plays, Katherine can also be seen in ‘Sticks and Stones’ by Vinay Patel, a satire about what happens when the wrong word just slips out; and ‘How to Spot an Alien’ by Georgia Christou, about one confused alien, two brave kids and a busted spaceship.

As well as high quality acts the portable venue promises the full-theatre experience with cutting edge sound and lighting, comfortable seats and a great view of the stage. It is also fully wheelchair accessible, with four wheelchair spaces available and located on a step-free site. There is also space to store buggies.

Roundabout has a built in T-Loop available for every performance and personal assistants are entitled to a free ticket.

Previously Roundabout has popped-up at Little Hulton Goes Large festival (2017), Love Eccles Festival (2016) and The Lowry Plaza (2015).
Tickets to all plays are £5 and many of the community events are free.

Roundabout is at Ordsall Park from Thu 6 – Sun 9 September 2018. Visit The Lowry website for full details.

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