Preview: Directors’ Cuts, Brewery Theatre

Every spring, the tyro directors learning their craft at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School get a moment in the sun. The four final-year directors each choose a contemporary play to stage for a week before paying audiences, with the cast and creative team also taken from the Theatre School’s current graduating class. Here’s a quick rundown of the 2015 season, which takes place at the Brewery Theatre.

Little One (to Saturday, May 2: pictured above)
Director: Laura McLean

“When I finished reading Little One I felt like I had been punched in the gut. I knew right away that I had to direct it. The playwright, Hannah Moscovitch, is a well-known playwright in my home country, Canada – but I believe this is the first UK production of her work.

“The narrative follows adopted siblings Aaron and Claire, whose relationship is complicated to say the least. They are the type of characters you both fall in love with and hate in equal measure. The play also deals with mental illness – Claire was abused as a small child before she was adopted and that trauma has a severe impact on her development. I expect that audiences will leave eager to start a conversation about what they have seen.”

For more info and to book tickets, visit www.tobaccofactorytheatres.com/shows/detail/bovts_directors_cuts_season_little_one

Treats (Tue 5-Sat 9)
Director: Josey O’Neal  

“Treats is a fantastic, infuriating play by Christopher Hampton, whose adaptation of Les Liaisons Dangereuses was made into a successful film in 1988.

“Treats was written in 1976 as a response to Ibsen’s A Doll’s House, which provoked riots on its first performance but was later adopted as part of the ‘canon’. Hampton wanted Treats to irritate and expose in the same way – and, for me, it succeeds. The play made me so angry that I vowed never to touch it, until I realised that that was the best possible reason to direct it.

“It’s a three-hander about a woman who has to choose between two men who are both equally awful to her, in remarkably different ways. I love how it fools you – on the surface, it’s a sharp, witty, domestic comedy, full of snappy one-liners. Dig deeper and it’s a play about abuse, disturbing in its accuracy. The situation is so recognisable, it feels like it was written for us last night.”

For more info and to book tickets, visit www.tobaccofactorytheatres.com/shows/detail/bovts_directors_cuts_season_treats

Woman and Scarecrow (Tue 12-Sat 16)
Director: Siobhan Cannon-Brownlie

“I chose Marina Carr’s Woman and Scarecrow as it deals with a topic pertinent to us all, in a beautiful way. Woman has prematurely come to the end of her life and attempts to reconcile herself with this. She is accompanied by lifelong companion Scarecrow, who helps her reflect on the paths not taken in her life.

“The almost fantastical elements of Carr’s script marry with the appearance of Woman’s Auntie and husband at her deathbed to create a poetic landscape in which the questions of how to live and how to die are raised – if not answered. I’m hoping it will allow an audience to acknowledge their own hopes for themselves and consider how they live. 

“There are huge challenges in this piece. It cannot be too heavy-handed, static or morbid. It must deal with such a fundamental human fear with humour, and our rehearsal room has maintained a fun atmosphere to ensure this lightness carries through to the piece.

“Essentially, Woman and Scarecrow is a play about the most basic of human and philosophical questions; how should we use the time apportioned to us?”

For more info and to book tickets, visit www.tobaccofactorytheatres.com/shows/detail/bovts_directors_cuts_season_woman_and_scarecrow

The Boy on the Swing (Tue 19-Sat 23)
Director: Laura Jasper

“Joe Harbot’s The Boy on the Swing explores our desire to believe in a greater being. It also questions the concept of faith, and what level of proof we as individuals need in order to believe.

“Faith seems to be a bit of a taboo subject that affects all of us, but our progression in science means it is rarely discussed or debated socially. Everyone on our team has different ideas and relationships with religion which is really important. This play raises so many questions without giving any answers. 

“It follows its main protagonist Earl in a series of unnerving events, after he finds a business card and calls the number. It’s so well written it feels very much like Kafka’s The Trial – the audience learns and experiences things along with Earl.”

For more info and to book tickets, visit www.tobaccofactorytheatres.com/shows/detail/bovts_directors_cuts_season_the_boy_on_the_swing

In 2013 the Directors’ Cuts Season was the first time Tobacco Factory Theatres noticed the talents of its now Director-in-Residence Nik Partridge. Ali Robertson, Director, Tobacco Factory Theatres, says: “I’m delighted that we will this month present the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School Directors’ Cuts Season for the second year.

“The same season in 2013 was the first time Nik Partridge appeared on my radar as a director with great potential. His 18 months here as a BBC Fellow in the position of Director-in-Residence has had a significant impact on our work and his development. We’re very proud to host the Directors’ Cuts here, as well as the graduating actors shows later in the season, as part of our commitment to working to nurture talent in Bristol and the regions. I look forward to seeing more emerging talent this season!”