Theatre N16's First Credit scheme, giving an opportunity for actors to gain their first credit in the industry, continues in 2017 with Last Man Standing, performed entirely by new graduates, which tackles the Great War as we head towards the final year of the centenary and was originally written by y11 GCSE English students from Wales High School - a comprehensive school near Sheffield - and collated by Jude Cole.
"The First Credit programme is certainly one to follow for new talent" Laura Kressly, The Play's The Thing
The heart is torn from a sleepy English village by the tragic events of the first day of the Somme. This play explores the fine line which divides loyalty and duty; love and obsession. A haunting tale which asks the question: could you make the ultimate sacrifice for a brother in arms?
Last Man Standing was originally devised, written and directed by students on a field trip to Derbyshire. Scenes were improvised outside in 'trenches', and the relationships between the friends reflect the real friendships of those who participated. As such, this piece rings very true, as many of those who entered the war were of the students' age.
Now Theatre N16's Deputy Artistic Director, Courtney Larkin, will be using this script to create a physical and dynamic production, focusing on the universal stories of friendship, enmity, courage, cowardice, guilt, innocence, love and hate, all against the backdrop of the first day in the Battle of the Somme.
First Credit, produced by Theatre N16, provides new actors with a first theatre credit, as well as on-the-job training and advice from industry mentors through workshops and constant support, as well as a fee and sustenance for their involvement.
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AFTERSHOCK - THEATRE N16'S MILITARY SEASON
November 6th - 25th, Theatre N16
In November, Theatre N16 presents an entire season of military themed plays in remembrance of wars past, discussion of current conflicts and warning of those which may yet come to pass. Three core plays deals with a different side of what it means to go to war and how it changes us in the process, alongside many other short plays, one night runs and other pieces. Tickets will be available to all core shows in a £30 season pass.
The first core piece in the festival will be Martin Mcnamara's I.E.D., which confronts the treatment of women in the military, and is set during the recent conflict in Afghanistan. Captain Agnes Bennett is an army notification officer, informing the family back home when a soldier dies in the field. A raw young Private, Iain Maginnis, joins Agnes as she sets out to visit the parents of one of his platoon mates, killed in an I.E.D. attack. Martin's piece Your Ever Loving, which dramatized the treatment of Irish prisoner
Paul Hill, was first produced at Theatre N16, and the same production transferred to the Edinburgh Fringe 2017.
The second core piece, Last Man Standing, was devised, written and directed by GCSE students, and is now staged in a kinetic production by Theatre N16 deputy artistic director Courtney Larkin. The heart is torn from a sleepy English village by the tragic events of the first day of the Somme. This play explores the fine line which divides loyalty and duty; love and obsession. This production is part of Theatre N16's First Credit scheme, giving a company of fresh graduates a first paid stage credit.
Finally, Tree in the Sky tackles post-traumatic stress and the threat of nuclear war. As a pilot in the US air squadron which dropped the A-Bomb on Hiroshima, Claude Eatherly is consumed by guilt. Accomplished and decorated for bombing missions over Tokyo, he seeks to destroy any heroic perception of himself upon returning to America.
Theatre N16 is a trailblazing London fringe venue, focused on producing and programming top quality new writing and selected existing works. Theatre N16 is proud of their commitment to the welfare and development of creatives, operating under an Equity Fringe Agreement. This promoting and nurturing of talent means that Theatre N16 is a bastion for development within the context of a society in which the arts are increasingly struggling to stay afloat.
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