New Play SCAFFOLDING Comes To London For The Pleasance Theatre's Best Of Edinburgh Season

New play, SCAFFOLDING, developed by Award winning Devon company and Bristol Old Vic, comes to London for The Pleasance Theatre's Best of Edinburgh season, running 26-27 October, The Pleasance Downstairs.

Sheridan, played by Suzanna Hamilton, is reeling from the news that her beloved church will close, until she decides to sidestep the vicar and take matters straight to the boss: God.

In a quiet Devon village, church parishioner Sheridan climbs the scaffolding around a leaking steeple with a few questions for God, like, “Why is there suffering?” and “Does anybody really understand how to use semi-colons?”, “Actually, did the Devil invent semi-colons to make people doubt themselves hundreds of times a week?” and (seeing as God doesn't seem to be listening), “How do you make a bomb?”

Award-winning writer Lucy Bell (Kevin Elyot and Ronald Duncan Awards) brought dark, car-crash humour to the 2024 Edinburgh Fringe in a dramatic collision between religious faith, the responsibilities of caring for loved ones with disabilities and the profound loss of shared community spaces in rural areas, in the most unique of two-handers: a production that involves real time casting of the part of God. 

Pleasance Head of Theatre, Edinburgh and Best of Edinburgh programmer Jonny Patton said“We are delighted to be presenting Scaffolding as part of our Best Of Edinburgh season, giving London audiences the opportunity to see this exceptional piece of new writing back at our year-round home in Islington.”

Brought to the stage by Bristol Old Vic and Documental Productions, and part of the Pleasance Theatre Trust's Edinburgh National Partnerships, SCAFFOLDING has been built around the lived experience and sense of humour of both carers and those with cognitive disabilities, mining Bell's own experience of the privilege of parenting a daughter with severe learning disabilities who strives to connect with others despite major neurological barriers. 

Writer Lucy Bell said: “I am part of Documental's inclusive Makaton singing and signing choir for people with learning difficulties, parents and carers. We get together to make a beautiful sound, performing iconic pop set to Makaton signs. But we also share our stories of the daily hilarity, mayhem and isolation we experience as carers. 

I wanted to write SCAFFOLDING because public services and shared community spaces have been stripped away the last decade or more. In many rural villages, the community around the parish church is the only thing left. Local authorities are up to their eyes in debt and so often, genuine support is only offered at a crisis point…like when a mother and parishioner decides to blow up a church!”

Lucy and the Documental team, including producer Jessamie Edkins O'Brien and co-director Naomi Turner, found it incredibly exciting to travel from the far south west to the world's biggest arts market place, connecting with theatre industry people from all over the world. But the most exciting and rewarding aspect was receiving emails from unknown audience members who felt seen.

The founding principle of Exeter-based Documental Productions is “a rising tide raises all ships”. All the company's creative projects aim to raise the visibility and aspiration for both people with disabilities and carers. Naomi Turner, who runs the company with Lucy Bell explained more:

 “As well as touring SCAFFOLDING, and our inclusive Makaton choir, which performs at venues across the county, we are developing a new musical called UNREACHABLE written by Lucy Bell and Ben Glass. The show tells the story of child development pioneer Dr Mary Sheridan and the longstay hospitals she inspected, where disabled children were shut away. We believe you have to look under the rug of 20th century social history to understand where we are now, and what better way to do that than with a funny, compelling musical with a banging sixties-inspired soundtrack?”

Supported by Stage One and HiJinx Theatre, UNREACHABLE features Makaton signing, is steered by an advisory group of learning disabled artists, and performed by a cast of actors with and without learning disabilities. The title refers to an accepted medical term in the 1960's for children with developmental delay. Documental is striving to break new ground with their approach to inclusive processes, and the making of the musical will be captured in a film with footage of musician Ben Glass co-composing with young musicians with severe cognitive difficulties. With the right “Scaffolding”, Lucy and Naomi believe almost anything is possible.

“We are a small but far-sighted company,” Naomi Turner says. “There isn't as much arts infrastructure in the south west but that is quite freeing: you just get on with creating the world you want to see. We are closely connected to our local community and can be inclusive, ambitious and dynamic. You will hopefully be hearing a lot more about Documental”

 

Scaffolding

Venue: The Pleasance, London

Dates: 26 & 27 October @ 19.15

Review From: 26 October

Tickets: £15

Content Warnings: Death, grief, sexual references, bomb-making and stretched parental capacity in caring 

Age Guidance: 14+

Running Time:  75 Mins

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