News
“Modelling Spitfires” revival
The company was delighted to be invited by Brian Daniels to present Vanessa Rosenthal’s play “Modelling Spitfires” at the New End Theatre in Hampstead early in 2010. ‘The Times’ described it as “a fascinating study in exploitation”.
Parallel Projects by Yellow Leafers
In 2009 Alan Meadows combined with old friends Cottongrass Theatre to direct the premiere of ‘The Unknown Land’ by Caroline Small. The source material is the extraordinary events around Polar Exploration in the days long before the advent of modern equipment; indeed even before Scott and Amundsen.
In 1845 Sir John Franklin led an expedition to the northern polar regions in search of the North-West Passage. They were “splendidly equipped for seven years with silver cutlery and 1000 bound volumes of Punch.” No-one returned.
Over many years a series of rescue missions gradually unearthed remains, documents and tales from the local Inuit people that spoke of extraordinary heroism and perseverance, but also of terrible suffering and possibly even cannibalism.
These experiences, together with haunting Inuit legend and live music fashion a journey into An Unknown Land which is not only the uncompromising polar region but also the interior landscape of the human mind and spirit.
The show features live music from long-established folk singer Keith Kendrick.
‘The Unknown Land’ opened on June 29th 2009 as part of the Ashbourne Festival. For booking details and tour schedule see Cottongrass Theatre website
Sheffield actor/writer Chris Brailsford’s play “Vulcan’s View”, directed by Alan Meadows, was produced in conjunction with a number of South Yorkshire venues and Festivals with a specifically industrial connection.
Based on fact (but taking a few liberties!) ‘Vulcan’s View’ will appeal to anyone with an interest in local history, the iron, steel and cutlery industries – or just a good neet aht!
‘Vulcan’s View’ had its premiere at Sheffield Town Hall – with the original statue of the main character directly overhead – on October 19th 2009 as part of the ‘Off the Shelf’ Literature Festival.
A further performance took place at the Rotherham Arts Centre on Friday 20th November 2009.
Other performances will follow (dates tbc) to include shows at The Magna Centre; The Kelham Island Industrial Museum and the Burton Project.
Please note that this play is not suitable for children.
News from Vanessa Rosenthal
Writing the Century
Vanessa’s scripts for Week 10 of “Writing The Century” on BBC Radio 4 were transmitted in the week commencing August 31 2009.
Now the mid 1960s, Stella struggles to find her own identity as a young actress in ‘rep’ in her diaries, whilst her emerging relationship with Tom as chartered in their letters to each other meets fierce opposition.
The background is Churchill’s death, England’s victory in the World Cup in 1966, the tragedy of Aberfan and the birth of the swinging 60s – the Beatles, the mini-skirt, the Pill and the rest.
Vanessa has just been commissioned to write the final week of the series which will take us through the nineteen nineties and as far as Millenium night. So, beginning with December 31st 1899, the programmes will indeed have told the history of the the Twentieth Century.
You can read more about this at the Open University.
News from Alan Meadows
Transatlantic Snippet: One of Yellow Leaf’s very first scripts – “Face Mail” – has attracted modest attention in the USA. Professor Anne Einstein of the University of California described it as “a very Berkeley play” and asked permission to show it around there. And who are we to deny such a request?
News from Chris Wilkinson
Chris is working at the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough, where he is playing Egeus, Starveling and Moth in ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’, Salter in Caryl Churchill’s ‘A Number’ and Len Turner in James Quinn’s ‘Twenty:20’.
Last year he was involved in a highly original online film project created and directed by John Hunter that can seen at www.theendisnigel.com.