The National Theatre Of Scotland have been reaching out to a young audience this week with tfd, a season of three new plays by three top writers.
There’s a brand new play by Douglas Maxwell, the first play by novelist Cathy Forde and a new play written live on stage every night by Rob Drummond.
They are taking over the Tron this week until Saturday with exclusive performances for under 21s, with food, drink, DJs. and backstage tours and chances to meet cast and crew informally,
Don’t worry if you’re too old to attend – for the plays are open to all next week.
Cathy Forde’s play Empty explores the world of the teenager.
“When you’re only sixteen, could the events of one night really shape the course of your life? Divert you from becoming the man you might have become, stunt you, burden you, trap you, destroy you, change the very core of you?
“Leave you empty? Here’s to Col’s numpty maw and paw for leaving him home alone and expecting everything to stay the way it was. Suckas!”
Cathy Forde is a leading Scottish novelist (Fat Boy Swim, Skarrs) and this is her first play.
“It’s fast, furious, and like a piece of music, grows and swells to a mind-altering crescendo,” says a Tron spokesman.
The same cast also perform in Douglas Maxwell’s The Miracle Man.
Holding on to your virginity, getting a ring for your pains and something to believe in, that’s what Dawn, Rob and Fawziya want. Ozzy, their loser PE teacher needs to believe in something too. It will all be fine when the Miracle Man gets here. Won’t it?
Indeed. Here’s a sample: ‘I was thinking of going out into the playground, walking up to Fiona Grant, shoving my ring right into her wee pig-cow face and saying “Get this up ye, ya hacket wee dog! The Miracle Man’s coming and now everyone hates you ‘cos you’re a slag and we’re not. Spread that about ya minging bitch!”
Gosh. Writer Douglas Maxwell says: “My plays are for my friends. They’re intelligent people, clued up and skilled, they just don’t go to the theatre. Films, music, novels, sport, yes of course, but theatre’s not for them. But I keep them in mind when I write because should they go to a play, I’d hope to God they’d go to see one of mine.”
The third part of the trilogy is written and performed by Rob Drummond. Mr Write, however, is a play that’s not written yet and doesn’t have a name.
Mr Write, aka Rob Drummond, will choose the cast, the story and the title on the night. It’s not written because it will be one of your stories and Rob hasn’t met you yet. Can he persuade one of you to take part?
“I want you to feel like I do when I’m writing,” says Drummond to his potential audience. “Excited. Alive. Frustrated. Scared. Anything can happen and that’s not always a good thing. But when it works, it can illuminate life itself and lend insight into the small matter of everything.
“I want to connect with you for real. I don’t want to move you with my words, I want you to move me with yours. There is nothing you can say that I will not understand. We are all the same.”
- For info on this week’s events, log on to www.tron.co.uk/whatson/tfd, and for next week the schedule is: Empty, March 16-17, 7.30pm (£10.50/£6.50); Mr Write March 16-20, 7.45pm (£8.50/£6.50); Miracle Man March 18-20, 7.30pm (£14.50/£10.50).
