The Writing On The Wall

A play to celebrate the 400th anniversay of the Gunpowder Plot of 1605, and a Northamptonshire family's involvement in the subterfuge and mayhem.

The play was performed by BIG IDEA PRODUCTIONS at Lyveden New Bield, a stunning National Trust Property, July 1st-3rd, 2005.

Cloud Cuckoo Land

A mystical journey into the surreal world of rapping foxes and singing swans

Travel with the Grubb Children, and their wacky imaginary friends, on a journey through Cloud-Cuckoo-Land as they try to find the mother who abandoned them. With show-stopping songs, quirky characters, and sensational storytelling, the already acclaimed Shed MK will take you on a roller-coaster adventure of laughter and tears

Some of the comments received:

"Absolutely fabulous, brilliant, marvellous, inspiring, magical
funny, sad, awesome, spectacular show."

"We all left the theatre with aching faces from all the smiling,
on a complete high."

"They triumphed by producing a piece of theatre which delighted every single person in the room."

"Thought it might be mawkish, but not at all, and we still left with a feel good factor!"

"An emotionally and spiritually uplifting experience."

"A highly visual fluid peice of theatre with an overt request for all of us to stop judging people by ability and appearance."

"I found the writing refreshing and inviting and would love to see the play published and performed elsewhere."

Spunk

A black comedy which explores the themes of inheritance, reproduction and apples.

They do things differently in the Pearmain family. When the cantankerous father, and owner of the stately pile and acres of apple orchards, dies, all his family gather for the reading of the will. In it he states that whoever is the first of the family to produce a male heir before the next apple harvest shall inherit the lot. The only problem is, his son is gay, his daughter a virgin, his nephew has 4 girls, and his niece is infertile. But do you think any of that is going to stop them? Is it heck. But who is the mysterious character living in the old tree house? And what has she got to do with the Pearmains? 

Dates performed:

June 1999, Allardyce Nicoll Studio, University of Birmingham.

April 2000, Maddermarket Theatre Norwich Rehearsed reading.

Hotseat

Charlie and Becky are scientists.

Steve and Sarah love animals.

Together they could really put scientists in the hot seat - make them see sense, couldn't they?

Is the exploitation of animals too high a price to pay for advances in modern science?

A controversial, witty and powerful drama.

Review: Cambridge Evening News.

This multi-layered play by Cate Sweeney centres on the issues and morals behind animal testing.  We are asked "whose side are you on?" and the arguments for both sides are put throughout the play. But this is no attempt at cheap propaganda - the deft hand of director Steve Attmore and the performance of the cast of six make sure of that.

The action revolves around a couple who split up when Becky takes a job at a drugs company which uses animals. Her partner Steve is disgusted, walks out on Becky and moves in with animal rights extremist Sarah.  Meanwhile Becky starts going out with ultra-smooth animal testing scientist Charlie. But both Becky and Steve soon find their new partners are a bit too fanatical.  Sarah, quite happy to maim people who mistreat animals, is equally cruel to pets she keeps at home in dirty and cramped conditions.  And Charlie, immutable in his belief that if humans benefit from the suffering of animals then everything is OK, has sneering contempt for the people he creates drugs for. Steve is perhaps the most interesting of them all.  Like many people, he knows he hates animal testing but cannot decide how far he can morally go to prevent it. Overall, the timing and movement between scenes is seamless, the lighting and music is inspired. Only 20-odd people came last night. A few more should come along and ask themselves "whose side are you on?"

Dates Performed:

3rd-5th July 1997, Cambridge Drama Centre

Monochrome Days

Review; Cambridge Evening News 25th July 1996.

Sparkling one liners glittered the stage as the drama centre in Cate Sweeney's hilarious and thought provoking play, that throws an unsuspecting couple into the happy go lucky problem free lives of a stereotypical all-American movie family. The young couple Peter and Jane enter the cinema late and are lambasted by an abrasive usherette.  Only this particular cinema employee also happens to be the reluctant Peter's guardian angel.  Recognising the hole in Peter's life, she invites him to spend a short time with the family on the screen.  Their jovial lifestyle appeals to the world weary nineties divorcee. And thus begins Peter's voyage of discovery and disappointment. At first unsure of this whacky new situation, he is gradually drawn into the everyday is Christmas day lifestyle of Mom and Pop and their zany kids. Having always been a huge film bore,  I was delighted when I saw the format of the play, the bucket loads of movie clichés and Frank Capra style dialogue and scenarios, the family's almost obsessive delight in watching over and over It's a Wonderful Life in Pop's home made basement cinema.  The gags are thrown to the audience with casual abundance, the Christmas tree scene being the most memorable, nearly had me on the floor, as Pop's cavalier approach to electronics goes terribly wrong.

The understated comic performance of Andrew Allsworth worked especially well with the script, when asked by Ellen what he does for a living for a living, he says with pride: "Oh, I'm a scientist" "You invent life saving drugs," Ellen says.  "Er....no...shampoo," he replies. Director Brian Marshall brought the cast together well and kept things to the point, making it, despite all the big laughs, a powerful piece of work. The performances of Denis Bartlett and Lisa Felstead have to be pointed out as their brilliant portrayals of classic 1940s over-exuberant screen stars playing the common man, really were uncannily accurate, and to shine among a cast that was really glowing with enthusiasm made it all the more excellent.

Darned if we didn't have a good time.

Gareth Roberts

Dates performed:

22nd-27th July 1996, Cambridge Drama Centre.

Performing Dogs

Drury Lane is bankrupt.
Can the owner, the playwright Sheridan save it?

 If Mrs Siddons forgets money.
 If Mr Kemble forgets Hamlet
 If Sheridan books the performing dog
 Or if only Shakespeare could write a new play.

A comedy about the theatre for the theatre, exploring Shakespeare forgeries and the issue of whether a popular money-making spectacle is always better than a proper play.

Dates performed:

27th September 1995 Theatre Museum, Covent Garden