Guest Blog: Out of Joint's Kate Wasserberg On CLOSE QUARTERS

Kate Bowen's funny, filthy, heartfelt play about three young women who are the very first British female infantry soldiers was the perfect project for Out of Joint to make with our brilliant partners at Sheffield.

It deals with politics but doesn't tell you what to think, reaches out to its audience and makes them laugh, and is great night out, full of hope and fury and humour.

The physical requirements to join the British infantry are extreme, and from day one the cast have trained hard: an hour a day of circuits, movement and gun practice, plus the gruelling rehearsals themselves in which they lift, run, dive and slide on top of acting.

Now, in week four, their bodies are already transformed, they are stronger and fitter than they have ever been. The show opens with a high-powered training sequence and yesterday in rehearsals, according to our in-room thermometer, the cast raised the temperature by three degrees. It's high-adrenaline stuff.

Beyond the physical fireworks, Close Quarters is about growing up and finding your voice, about friendship and war, about challenging the status quo. Set slightly in the future, on the border between Estonia and Russia, it imagines a sudden escalation of hostilities between NATO and the Russian Federation - something that seemed more fanciful a year ago when Kate began work on this part of the story in earnest.

Four young squaddies on night patrol encounter something unexpected in the forest and all hell breaks loose. What comes next and how they deal with it makes for some fantastic drama.

Out of Joint is a national company, and that remit is a both a constant challenge and our greatest strength. It was the remit that drew me to the company in the first place, the opportunity to make shows that have enough heart and brains to work as well in Derby as they do in Bristol, to speak to people in Sheffield and Northampton and London and Bolton.

It means our work cannot be niche, or self-regarding, or led by fashion. We must tell big stories that matter, in the most joyful way we can. Rita, Sue and Bob Too, my first production for the company and an important part of Out of Joint history, is our North Star. It deals with class, sex, exploitation and poverty with a fearless, unapologetic gaze, yet audiences flocked to our 2017 tour because it is a delight.

This combination of the untrammelled, authentic voice of the writer, a dauntless engagement with the world in all its messy, horrible glory, and a show that people bring their mum or their aunt or their sister to because it is a treat, is what I want every Out of Joint show to be.

Close Quarters fits the bill. It has the tension and drama of the great war films, strong young women fighting for their place in the world, gutter-mouthed squaddies attempting to outdo each other in who can be filthiest, and some amazing young actors, raising the temperature in the room, every single night.

Close Quarters at Sheffield Theatres 25 October-10 November

Photo credit: Mark Douet

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