"Inside the Wire" gives a behind-the-scenes look at creatives' perspectives and their creative process, providing an intimate and authentic experience of their journey in their own words
First we have “Shortbread” written and directed by Rachel Louise Clark & Sab Muthari, fresh off their success together penning ‘They Don’t Really Care About Us. Shortbread is a dark horror comedy, 3 friends go off on a stag weekend in North Berwick, a small coastal town in Scotland. There, they read about an old folklore about a witch who preys on outsiders. What could all go wrong on those highlands? And who is Betzy the Dinosaur?
Read MoreIt was May 2014. I was 22 and just under a year out of university. I remember I was meeting some school friends in the pub; I knew it was going to be a good day but never expected it to be a life changing one. In the pub for about 2PM, all going well. Fast forward several hours and I am being spoken to by two police officers. They want to know where I’d been, what I’d been up to, who I’d been with. Apparently, there was an altercation in a pub, but I hadn’t been anywhere near it.
Read MoreWith only just over two weeks to go until The Thrill of Love opens for its 2 night run at Liverpool Arts Bar:Studio 3 it’s safe to say we are all absolutely buzzing with excitement to show our audiences this dramatisation of the life of Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be hung in Britain for the murder of her lover. Looking at the woman behind the crime and what drove her to do what she did.
Read MoreGrin Theatre has now been a part of the Liverpool’s LGBTQ+ community for nearly 17 years and we keep on getting stronger as our voices are heard. It has been my pleasure to work with so many brilliant creative people during my time with Grin Theatre, always thrilling, always such a positive experience and always true to its spirit as a leading LGBT fringe theatre company.
Read MoreSo you can imagine the trepidation I felt when offered the role of mum. I didn’t know how I was going to find the character, or tell her story as authentically as possible. I needn't have worried. our cast is fantastic, our director wonderful, and Shaun’s words were a beautiful inspiration. I am so grateful that Shaun allowed us to take inspiration from his original book and develop the script together telling the story of a family devastated by the events of Hillsborough and the immediate aftermath.
Read MoreAs a teenager I went to see Blood Brothers on stage and it blew me away. Not only could I relate to the characters because they were talking like I do, but because I could see myself, my family and friends on stage being portrayed by the actors. I felt a part of their journey, the happy and sad experiences that were unfolding before me. That performance has stayed with me forever.
Read MoreWith just over a fortnight until opening night of ‘Happiness: The Ken Dodd Story’, we are deep into the process of running the show in its entirety twice a week. As a result, we are constantly discovering new and inventive ways to make this performance the punchiest it can be. Selling out our three night run just five days after tickets came on sale has only strengthened our commitment to getting absolutely everything right. It’s one of those things I don’t think I will ever process, until maybe opening night as I watch the audience take their seats, ready to be spellbound by Doddy’s incredible life all over again.
Read MoreImagine this, it’s a warm sunny day in September. You’re gonna enjoy these last few days of summer before the rain comes and you’re forced to become a shell of yourself for the next four months. You decide to take a walk, maybe get an iced coffee, perhaps you’ll sit on a bench and read; you would really like to finish your book before the seasonal depression sets in. You head to the park and as you’re walking along, smiling at dogs and dodging wayward seagulls, you spot a group of people sitting on the grass.
Read MoreI first got involved with They Don’t Really Care About Us after hearing that Sab was looking for another writer to collaborate with. I’d read great reviews about the projects he and the 4AM Productions team had worked on so decided to get in touch.
Sab had written the first 20 pages and after an initial chat and we organised a Zoom call to map it all out. We bounced ideas off each other for over three hours and I knew straight away this play was going to be something special.
Read MoreMalion is Tired Horses Theatre’s (THT) first original production, written by our Artistic Director Joseph Meardon who reimagines the myth of Pygmalion, a sculpture who falls in love with his own creation which is brought to life by the goddess Aphrodite for him to love, it is a tale of devotion and true love. However, there is a much darker and unsettling reding of this myth which Meardon highlights, focusing on harmful masculine behaviours and how they harm women today.
Read MoreIn just four weeks, the play I’ve been working on for months will grace the stage at the capstone theatre. The rehearsal process has been both unusual and incredibly rewarding. We're delving into a project deeply rooted in the hearts of Liverpool's people, inspired by Shaun Millea's children's book, "When Will Dad Be Home." Profits from this production will be dedicated to spreading awareness about Hillsborough across schools in Merseyside.
Read MoreIn just four weeks, the play I’ve been working on for months will grace the stage at the capstone theatre. The rehearsal process has been both unusual and incredibly rewarding. We're delving into a project deeply rooted in the hearts of Liverpool's people, inspired by Shaun Millea's children's book, "When Will Dad Be Home." Profits from this production will be dedicated to spreading awareness about Hillsborough across schools in Merseyside.
Read MoreOver the past few years, I have worked as an emerging director across the northwest, helping to get new writing off the page and onto the stage. For me, this has been extremely rewarding as it has helped me gain more experience directing, but it has also been amazing to get scripts off the shelf for the writers.
Read MoreThe idea for the show came early this year while we were working on our last show, ‘Murder At Cadberry Manor’. When I was in university, we did a one-act festival, which was basically 8 short plays in one night, and I was interested in doing something similar again at 4AM! Our project director, Phil Halfpenny, who directed our last show and our next two, thought the concept would work in a horror setting. He had long had the idea to work with short horror plays, and thus the seeds were planted! Our goal, in a nutshell, was simple: to scare the hell out of an audience!
Read MoreThe creative process begins as soon as I get a little flicker of inspiration. That might be from something I’ve experienced, something in the media, a line of dialogue or the premise of an idea. It’s usually a bit of a snowball effect from there. I’ll mull it over in my head for a few days and then get it mapped out before I get into it.
Read MoreWriting and reading playscripts is a pastime I adore, but I am never truly switched off from reading like a director, and as a result there isn’t a distinct moment that my creative process begins. If a script doesn’t hold my attention enough to be read in one sitting, then there is something lacking. I read The Incident Room four times in one afternoon. I was totally mesmerized by the writing of Olivia Hirst & David Byrne, by the history, and by the sheer human emotion that oozed from the page, ultimately gearing the creative wheels greased to direct this powerhouse production.
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