"Powered by its own fury and sense of injustice... if you are looking for political theatre, this is the real thing." The Guardian
"O’Connell’s new play has urgency and intelligence, and Matt Aston’s sweaty, hard-edged production grips." The Times
ZERO, written by Chris O'Connell, was co-produced with Warwick Arts Centre, and directed by Matt Aston (director and producer from Lakeside Arts Centre, Nottingham). The play premiered in September 2008.
The genesis of the play began through a commission from a sexily titled Arts Council New Writing Consortium. This was made up of five venues; Lakeside Arts Centre, Nottingham, Brewery Arts Centre, Kendal, Theatre Royal, Bury St. Edmunds, Brewhouse Theatre, Taunton, Black Country Touring, and Wakefield Theatres. The play was developed in workshop under the direction of Matt Aston, (programmer at Lakeside Arts Centre, Nottingham) and in May 2007, embarked on a two week rehearsed reading tour. Following the later tour, it was here that Theatre Absolute decided that they wanted to produce Zero, and so planning for a national tour, and regional and London premiere began. It was to be directed by Matt. And it was. Very nicely thank you!
But..back to Zero...
Zero was a departure for the company creatively. Having spent several fruitful years exploring the extreme and chaotic world of crime and punishment, (see Street Trilogy - Car, Raw, Kid) Chris began to look beyond the domestic and explore the demands and rigours of current 21st century living on a larger more global scale. Yet the current times were more of a lift off to project the play into a future context. Here's how some of the blurb went:
"ZERO is chaotic, fast, and furious. The play takes an explosive and anarchic stare at the ethics of torture, and the curse of censorship. Set twenty years from now, in the face of unabated nihilism, hundreds of torture camps have been created to extract information - at any cost - from those who aim to blow apart a world that is wealthy beyond its dreams. Alex, a translator at Camp Zero, wants to tell the world of the brutal regime within the walls of the camp, but as a consequence his life is suddenly in danger. Survival is of course paramount, death may be inevitable, but the truth has to be told."
And in the preface to the script, published by Oberon Books, Chris wrote: "In ZERO, the audience are thrown into a nightmare world in which the relentless pursuit of profit, and the politics of envy sit centre stage. I wanted to write a play that imagines the next crisis that we as a human race will stumble into, (although it feels like it’s already there rubbing its hands in anticipation). But we choose to ignore it. No one wants to debate the downside of capitalism because there are so many benefits, yet it is slowly ripping the heart out of us, and reducing us to savages.
If people are angry now in 2008 at British Petroleum making 16 billion dollars annual profit, if we are angry at soaring food prices, if we feel stretched now, ZERO asks the audience to imagine a world 20, 30 years from now when the world’s assets have been stripped beyond recognition, and the pockets of the rich lined ever deeper. How will people feel, and how will they act?"
The play was excellently received by critics and audiences alike.
"Imaginative, fearless theatre.." ArtsHub
"In this tightly wound production, scenes chop violently back and forth while the sounds of helicopter and ceiling blades slice at the atmosphere like knives." Time Out
"Theatre Absolute continues to produce excellent work well into their second decade. This production demonstrates that strong characterisation and energetic performance combine to present excellent, though-provoking theatre for their audiences." Daily Info, Oxford
"A powerful and thought-provoking play, as brilliantly performed as it is directed." What's On Stage - Manchester
“The play was a really exciting experience. It showed me the different ways of portraying character as I had not imagined Tom and Syrah to be played the way they were at all. My GCSE performance will be really helped by watching the performance mainly due to the interesting structure and the power shifts between characters.” - Drama GCSE student - Coventry
“Zero was a really influential and powerful piece of drama that stayed with me long after the performance. The concept of censorship was so strong that it has heavily affected my GCSE drama performance.” - Drama GCSE student - Coventry
Cast and Creative Team as follows:
Major played by Adeel Akhtar
Tom played by Daniel Hoffmann-Gill
Alex played by Stephen Hudson
Demissie played by Damian Lynch
Syrah played by Kate Ambler
Writer - Chris O'Connell
Director - Matt Aston
Design - Laura McEwen
Lighting Design - James Farncombe
Soundscape - Andy Garbi
CSM - Jo James
Technician - Natalie Davies
Producer - Julia Negus
Tour dates:
September 29th-4th October
Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry
7-8th October
Lakeside Arts Centre, Nottingham
10th-11th October
York Theatre Royal
14th October
Brewery Arts Centre, Kendal
16th-17th October
The North Wall, Oxford
21st-22nd October
Contact, Manchester
23rd October
Corn Exchange, Newbury
28th-29th October
Lincoln Performing Arts Centre, Lincoln
31st October
Brewhouse, Taunton
4th November
Arena Theatre, Wolverhampton
6th-8th November
Citizens Theatre, Glasgow
11th-29th November
Tristan Bates Theatre, London
THE LAMPLIGHT READINGS -
A CHRISTMAS CAROL, by Charles Dickens, read by John Flitcroft
A truly unique Christmas experience. Do you remember the magic of having a story read aloud to you? The lights dimmed low, the shadows of a nearby lamplight as you listen and imagine?
The novel was read over a period of 3 days, and repeated a week later.
Reading dates for ‘A Christmas Carol’:
Part 1 will be read on 15th and 22nd December
Part 2 will be read on 16th and 23rd December
Part 3 will be read on 17th and 24th December (Christmas Eve)
It's the beginning of a new year, a new you and perhaps a new chapter. Do you have a story to tell, but can't get started? Come to the Writing Gyms at Theatre Absolute's Shop Front Theatre and burn off those creative calories! These are writing workshops for beginners, led by award winning writer Chris O'Connell. There will be 3 one hour sessions. Dates are 26th, 27th and 28th January 2010. Cost £3.00 per session or £8 for all three booked at once. Times 1.00pm - 2.00pm approx. - call 024 76158340 to book or info@theatreabsolute.co.uk
The second in our series of 'Lamplight Readings' at the Shop Front Theatre will be the fabulous 'Stig of the Dump' by Clive King. Read aloud in three parts over 3 lunchtimes, this is a truly imaginative story for both young and old! Readings are on 17, 18 & 19 February and start at 12.30pm for approx. 35 mins each day. Tickets are £3 per reading or £8.00 for all three dates. Suitable for ages 8 years and up. Children must be accompanied by adults. Contact box office on 024 7615 8340 or info@theatreabsolute.co.uk. N.B EARLY BOOKING ADVISED DUE TO HALF TERM.
The Writing Gym returns!
Following January's sold out sessions, we're doing it all over again in March!
Do you have a story to tell, but can't get started? Come to the
‘Writing Gym’ at Theatre Absolute's Shop Front Theatre and
burn off those creative calories.
Led by award winning writer Chris O'Connell, these are writing
workshops for beginners. There will be 3 one hour sessions.
Dates: 3rd, 4th & 5th March 2010
Times 1pm - 2pm approx
Cost £3 per session or £8 for all three booked at once.
Booking: 024 7615 8341 or info@theatreabsolute.co.uk
Numbers are limited to 10 per session so please contact Theatre Absolute to book a place.
Age: unlimited. Bring your lunch and a pen!
Following the sell out success of our January Writing Gyms, we are pleased to announce new dates. 3, 4 & 5 March from 1pm - 2pm led by Theatre Absolute's award winning writer Chris O'Connell. These creative writing 'workouts' are for beginners. £3 per day or £8 for all 3 sessions.
E-mail info@theatreabsolute.co.uk for more information.
Supported by Arts Council funding, Hang Lenny Pope was the company's second co-production with Warwick Arts Centre, in Coventry.
It was the first full length piece to follow Street Trilogy, and alongside 2005's cloud:burst, was the second installment in a new body of work, that at the time of writing this page is ongoing. An important production for Theatre Absolute, HLP proved to be a high quality production, which although lacking in national coverage due to not playing in London, won many new fans and opened the door to new relationships in high quality venues such as Northern Stage, and Plymouth Theatre Royal.
"This is theatre at its best. There are no gimmicks, no cheap shots, just wonderful words and glorious actors. The strong cast of four are thoroughly outstanding and completely grounded in O'Connell's compelling language, frantically dancing in and out of past and present with urgency for absolution. At just over an hour, Hang Lenny Pope is a reminder that it is quality, not quantity that can transport us to another world and leave us
breathless." British Theatre Guide
Continuing a dedication to creating heightened and highly imagined worlds, Hang Lenny Pope appealed to established audiences, and to those who may not have been to the theatre before. It is a play about a family, seen from the perspective of the parents.
"A gripping, emotionally raw hour of theatre." Plymouth Herald
A rarity in modern day life, Ray makes bespoke coffins for Brewer's Funeral Directors. He’s done it for the last twenty-five years. As the play begins, he has just made his son’s coffin. Lenny’s death, we learn, is not just tragic, but seemingly inevitable. In his short 21 years, both charming and violent, Lenny Pope has caused havoc in the lives of Ray and Caroline, and across the town. It is the death of nineteen year old Mia, Lenny’s girlfriend, that has brought about Lenny’s own death. People in the town believe he killed her. Did he? It is this perceived injustice on Lenny’s part that brings him to appear to his dad on this evening before his funeral. In a race against time, Lenny tries to dissuade his dad from making the lid of the coffin; if he makes the lid then that means it’s all over, without a lid, there’s always a chance of escape. The play combines many layers: loss, love and hate, to create a moving, morally ambiguous, and provocative piece of theatre that takes a hard stare at urban UK, where lives can be lost in the scramble to be seen, where anonymity allows tragedy to breed, and where families are rocked by the seismic struggles of identity.
"A punchy new production...we experience a raw emotion that surfaces in an unsentimental and honest way." The Stage
The production maintained many of the long term artistic collaborations that the company has made since 1999, when Street Trilogy first emerged. Composer Andy Garbi, lighting designer James Farncombe and set designer Janet Vaughan have become central to the theatrical aesthetic of the company, which embraces the twin notions of simplicity and clarity. Like previous work, Hang Lenny Pope eschewed fussiness and over-elaboration in favour of clear and passionate storytelling where character and narrative are sent out to do the work.
"Pulls no punches...quality performances...well worth checking out." Coventry Evening Telegraph
Tour dates, 2007.
Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry
12 – 17 March
Drum Theatre, Plymouth
20-24 March
The Point, Eastleigh
27-28 March
Corn Exchange, Newbury
29-30 March
MAC, Birmingham
17-18 April
Lakeside Arts Centre, Nottingham
19-21 April
Northern Stage, Newcastle
24-28 April
Tobacco Factory, Bristol
3-5 May
Reviews of Hang Lenny Pope 2007
Royal Opera House, London, and New York City, USA 2006
Written by Chris O'Connell, cloud:burst premiered in autumn 2005, and was revived in 2006. It is a play for one voice. Following the epic qualities of Street Trilogy, the company's instinct with its next piece of work was to cut everything back. Chris went to extremes and decided not just on cutting back in terms of design, but cast also! Having always wanted to create a play for one voice, Chris started to write cloud:burst in October 2004. It was given its first airing, with ten minutes (and that's all there was at that stage!) performed at BAC's Oktoberfest scratch night, in London.
The actor mad enough and daft enough to work with Chris was Graeme Hawley, a Theatre Absolute stalwart who has appeared in Raw and Street Trilogy. The two of them pledged there should be more to come from the ten minutes; they'd tasted a tangible and moving story and were eager to find the key to the bigger story.
The company was invited to take part in in the Firsts Festival, held in October/November 2005, at the Royal Opera House, London, and so Chris went away to write the rest of cloud:burst. What emerged was a play/poem, driven by stunning imagery and a rhythmic text. cloud:burst had become a 45 minute piece, which, coupled with a soundscape from Andy Garbi that took inspiration from the text and both complimented and deepened the meaning of the play, a wonderful set by Janet Vaughan that somehow floated in the space when captured by James Farncombe's lights, Theatre Absolute opened cloud:burst to a full house in the Linbury Studio, Royal Opera House, London, on 31st October, 2005.
The play was brilliantly received.
It didn't end there. The reception to the play was so good that we wanted more for it. Creating a piece for two nights only is both exciting, yet somehow dissatisfying. Shortly afterwards, cloud:burst was invited to perform for three weeks as part of the Brits Off Broadway Festival, at 59E59 Theatre, in New York City. Supported by the Arts Council of England, Coventry City Council and The Helen Hamlyn Trust, we opened there on 24th May 2006. Another great experience was had by all, and Graeme delivered a performance of great skill and discipline, diving into his sphere of concentration all alone on a stage in a distant American city for three weeks, (altho' a very exciting place it was to be for three weeks). Plans are being made to take cloud:burst on the road again, subject to everyone's availability, and funds, in 2008.
Reviews of cloud:burst 2005/06
Written by Chris O'Connell, and published by Oberon Books, Street Trilogy is both poetic and brutal. The three plays, Car, Raw and Kid, brought together under one title, toured the UK from March to May, 2005. Each play was directed by Mark Babych and produced individually from 1999 to 2003. (See the individual pages on Car, Raw and Kid below.) Then came the masterplan! It had always been the company's ambition to put all three plays together, and tour them. Big pots of money were raised, and the plan began.
Rehearsals started in Coventry on 4th January 2005. A cast of ten actors played sixteen roles between them, and the show was manned by three crew. The trilogy opened at Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry on 8th February. The idea was to allow audiences a chance to see all three plays in one sitting, or to cherry pick the plays over the period of a week. On tour, Theatre Absolute spent a week at each venue visited, and surrounded the plays with an intensive workshop programme. Young audiences in particular loved the trilogy, and were revelatory in their patience and appreciation as huge groups from schools, youth offending teams and individual carers groups, (mothers, fathers etc) sat through six hours of theatre. Of course there were breaks in between each play!
And our regular audiences, those who enjoy uncompromising storytelling coupled with new urban writing for the stage, was just as appreciative.
Feedback and responses were fantastic, it was a truly amazing piece to tour. Huge, epic and passionate. We're very proud of it. (See reviews of Street Trilogy)
So what was it about?
Street Trilogy deals with the possibility of change, and with worlds and atmospheres in which people on the edges of society, survive pressure. Each play starts at a crisis point: emotion, physicality, violence. Notions of crime and punishment sit heavily at the heart of the trilogy. Those who perpetrate and those who suffer from crime, are brought together in heightened and dramatic situations which push the narrative to an edge, blowing into a maelstrom the relationship between conventional, privileged society, and the chaotic rituals of the criminal and the alienated.
"O’Connell’s talent is to capture the frenetic semi-articulate speech patterns and desperate lunges for excitement that evoke his character’s insecure, dispossessed existences. They do not inhabit a society; they live in a constant state of urban guerilla warfare." London Evening Standard.
Mark Babych, the director of all three plays, talks of the "strange and haunting worlds" and the "burning heat of emotional and psychological intensity." The internal landscape of the plays are huge, so that no one is ever just a car thief, no one is ever just a mugger, no one is ever just a victim.
Produced by Julia Negus, Car and Raw and Kid have won awards and played to sell out audiences on national and international tours. Inexperienced and young, as well as initiated and established audiences, have consistently responded to the intensity of their experience. It is this one aspect, the intensity of any given moment, that defines a Theatre Absolute play.
Performing the plays as a trilogy offered a unique opportunity for an audience to absorb the full impact of the work, seeing the progression not only from one play to another, but also the artistic and creative journey Theatre Absolute has been on. It also marked the completion of a body of work, which in turn has signalled the beginning of a new creative phase, seen in new productions like cloud:burst, and Hang Lenny Pope.
"Impressively visceral." Independent on Sunday
Tour dates, 2005.
Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry
8th-12th February
bac, London
15th February-5th March
Brewery Arts Centre, Kendal
9th March-12th March
Library Theatre, Manchester
15th-19th March
Lawrence Batley Theatre, Huddersfield
28th March-1st April
Coneygre Arts Centre, Tipton
4th April-9th April
The Y, Leicester
11th April-16th April
Pegasus Theatre, Oxford
21st April- 23rd April
Tobacco Factory, Bristol
3rd May-7th May
mac, Birmingham
10th May-14th May
Lakeside Arts Centre, Nottingham
18th-21st May
Reviews of Street Trilogy 2005
"A triumph" The List
"...theatre from the gut - for the heart." Metro
"Another brilliant play." The Sunday Times
Work began on Kid after the completion of the Raw Tour, in May 2002, and the play was workshopped through our Writing House process. The first workshop was in September 2002, and then again in April 2003. The Writing House provided a great platform for Chris to go on and produce new and improved drafts, and saw the continuing development of Theatre Absolute's process for developing new work. The ensemble feel of the company also grew as people who had worked on, or appeared in Car and Raw, were involved again in Kid.
The play previewed for five nights at the Belgrade Theatre, 15th-19th July, 2003, opening on what at the time was the hottest day of the year. The reaction was fantastic and sent the play off to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, where it performed at the Pleasance Cavern all through the August.
Reaction to Kid was incredible. Audiences were blown away again by the intensive demands of the play, commenting on the power of its narrative, how according to one it was "the most authentic and real show I've seen in Edinburgh, and I've seen a lot of shows." The critical reaction was also good, seeing the show listed consistently in Critics Choice and Pick of The Day for various broadsheet papers, but it also felt that a mindset had prevailed for some people - born out of the shift in world order since Sept 2001 - that meant some critics were dominated by thoughts of global politics, by 'theatre's' need to address these issues. Kid and the Street Trilogy operates not wholly in this world, although some might argue that domestic and global strifes are all interelated, and there was a sense that our work during this particular year was 'outside' the circle.
As the third instalment in Street Trilogy, Kid certainly feels very different to the other two plays. Delivering a combination of the high octane blast of Car, and the aching intensity of Raw, the play is drawn through a bullish humour and hardened by a heightened fear of retribution and punishment; it's about, although not literally, the characters from Car and Raw who have become adults, and who are trying to engineer change in their lives and forge a family life that eschews the temptations and ills of their past. It is ultimately about justice, and being responsible for one's actions, about going backwards to face demons before being able to go forward and find a personal redemption.
A matured and purer play than both Car and Raw, Kid has proved itself to be a truly exciting last play in Theatre Absolute's Street Trilogy.
"Gripping drama.." Guardian
"Brilliantly staged.." Time Out
"High energy..makes you want to lie down in a darkened room." Guardian
There were eighteen months between Car and Raw. Crucial development time in which the writer and the creative team found time to breathe, and build relationships. Like its predecessor, Raw went through two detailed and extensive workshops sessions in The Writing House, testing its narrative potential and the physical world of the play.
Raw pointed towards a softer and more ambient approach than Car, yet beneath it lay something far darker and excruciating in its intensity.
Co-produced with the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry, Raw is the story of a girl gang led by Lex, and their freefall into chaos and violence after a young boy is attacked by Lex on a train.
Its first preview was in Coventry on July 17th, 2001, and it premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival the next month. Excitement and anticipation was high for the play; things started differently to Car, the buzz was different, but it grew, and the play fulfilled its potential and sent audiences out of the Pleasance Cavern gasping for air.
Critical reaction was more varied than Car; some loved it, some hated it. The uncompromising intensity of the play left audience members to fend for themselves; emotionally, the narrative changed hands many times, some of it was morally ambiguous, especially as the character of Rueben was introduced, a man with a suspect culture, infiltrating the world of Lex and her friends, seemingly bringing good, yet potentially as dangerous as the people he was seeking to change.
In the second week of the festival, Raw was awarded a Fringe First for Innovation and Outstanding New Work. It meant a lot, it was the next play after the massive success of Car. It was second album syndrome. So Raw, understandably, was important.
After the success of Edinburgh, supported by the Arts Council’s National Touring Programme, Raw began a tour of the UK, beginning at bac, London. There were many triumphs, notably Belfast at the Old Museum Arts Centre where over a three night period at least 80% of the audience were aged between fourteen and eighteen; at times it was hard to tell the audience from the cast, baseball caps and tracksuits everywhere.
The Raw experience finished on May 18th 2002, at the Royal Exchange, Manchester, playing over three nights to a sell out audience.
"If anyone asks: ‘What can theatre do that television and film can’t?’ the answer is: ‘See Raw’. " Clive Barker.
"Raw comes at you hard. A riveting portrait of young lives on the edge: refusing to be controlled by society, but struggling to keep control themselves. Words are hissed and truncated, whispered and desperate. Quiet impassiveness alternates with explosions of decision and violence. This is a production of haunting sounds." The Scotsman
"Real gold" The Scotsman
"Searing script...something close to poetry." Guardian
"Hardcore entertainment." The Independent.
Car began life in 1999. Co-produced with the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry, it is the story of four joyriders and the man whose car they steal.
The play premiered in Coventry on June 22nd 1999, at the city’s Transport Museum. Transferring to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in the August, Car became one of the must see plays of that year. It was a huge hit, winning a Fringe First for Outstanding New Work and Innovation in the festival’s first week, and playing to sell out audiences at the Pleasance Cavern for the rest of its run.
After Edinburgh, Car went straight to the Pleasance Theatre, London. Again the impact was fantastic, and Theatre Absolute was awarded a Time Out Live Award for Best New Play on the London Fringe, 1999.
People wanted Car. And so Car toured. Twelve weeks of pain and lots of gain, as it dragged itself across the UK, thrilling audiences and venues alike. In March 2000, supported by the British Council, Car performed as part of the Londres Sur Scene festival in Paris, Theaterszene Europa in Cologne, and the Fresh From Britain tour of Ireland, playing in Letterkenny, Galway, Cork, and Dublin.
After two cast changes, and a fest of fundraising by Julia Negus, Car closed its garage doors in June of 2000.
"An unforgettable piece of theatre." Manchester Evening News.
"...desperate energy, like a dance of death." The Observer
For a bit anyway...
Until October 2000 actually, when, supported by the British Council, Mark Babych and Chris O’Connell went to Tartu in Estonia to produce Car in association with the Vanemuine Theatre. Re-translated as Auto, the play opened in December the same year, and played as a part of the theatre’s repertory.
In the years since Car's original creation and recent revival as part of the Street Trilogy project in 2005, the play has been used on serveal occasions in workshop and introductory sessions to drama for young offenders, to prisoners in Pentonville Prison, and most recently in December 2006, Theatre Absolute, in association with Creative Partnerships, rehearsed scenes from Car with a group of year 10 students from Centre 4, a Pupil Referral Unit in the north of Coventry, which resulted in a performance by the students to an invited audience.
"We could draw a comparison between Car and the repertory of Artaud’s theatre of cruelty - shocking pictures of extreme violence, frightful brutality..The danger that emotions cannot be kept under control and will cause "mighty explosions of the human matter", is constantly looming." Andrus Org 'Sirp' (Estonia) December 2000
Written by Chris O’Connell
Co-produced with the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry.
Premiered at Coventry’s Arts Alive Festival, Belgrade Studio, May 1997.
Written by Chris O’Connell
Premiered Belgrade Studio, Coventry, June 1996
Edinburgh Festival, August 1st-26th
Written by Mahmood Shoaibi
Premiered Belgrade Studio, Coventry, May 1995
Regional and national tour
Written by Chris O’Connell
Premiered Brewery Arts Centre, Burton on Trent, October 1994
Regional and national tour
Written by Peter Wynne-Wilson
Premiered Belgrade Studio, Coventry, June 1994
Regional and national tour
Written by Chris O'Connell
Premiered Belgrade Studio, Coventry, May 1993
Written by Chris O'Connell
Premiered Belgrade Studio, Coventry, August 1992