All a twitter at Village Pub Theatre
Records look set to broken for most plays performed in an evening
Some 170 play-in-a-tweets formatted, printed and laid out ready for performance. Photo © Village Pub Theatre
Village Pub Theatre
Friday 10 May 2013
By Thom Dibdin
Theatrical records look set to be broken down at the Village Pub Theatre’s twitter-themed show at the Village on South Fort Street tonight, Friday, with the performance of over 100 plays in one evening.
Having set its followers the challenge of writing a play in a tweet, with the hashtag #vpt, over 170 individual plays have been submitted. These include new works, if they are long enough to call them that, by the likes of David Greig and Linda McLean as well as works by unknown writers who simply like a challenge.
Playwright Sophie Good of the Village Pub Theatre told the Annals: “I don’t think we will get all 170 performed tonight – we’ll just get through as many as we can in the time – and will try and include some that come in today. Or even tonight during the performance, if possible, which will be read off an iPad.”
No matter how many plays are performed, it is likely that it will far exceed the number performed at the Traverse’s 50 Plays for Edinburgh evenings at the launch of the Traverse 50 season.
The idea has caught the imagination of more than just playwrights. Andrew Eaton-Lewis used his Scotsman column yesterday to look at what makes the form work, asking whether a twitter play has to have dialogue or whether it is enought to be a simple set of stage instructions. It is a play, so long as it has emotional depth and resonance, he concludes.
And there was an appearance on Radio Scotland’s culture show today for Sophie Good and fellow playwright James Ley. Janice Forsyth, confessing herself completely cynical and bamboozled before hearing them, was audibly moved – and moved to say that she was so – by a play-in-a-tweet from George Docherty.
This evening’s show will be performed, scripts in hand, by Andy Rothney, Keith Macpherson and Kim Gerard, who will be directed by Caitlin Skinner. It will include four new plays written for the evening with a twitter theme, an extract from a longer work and as many play-in-a-tweets as the performers can fit in.
The running order is:
(Doors: 7.30pm for curtain up at 8pm.)
A selection of tweet plays
An extract from Buffers by Alan Gordon
Walking on walls by Morna Pearson
Eat shit and die by James Ley
A selection of tweet plays
(Interval)
Feck full followers by Clare Duffy
#nom by Sophie Good
A selection of tweet plays
All the plays can be seen on twitter by searching for the hashtag #vpt. Village Pub Theatre’s twitter handle is @pubtheatre and Facebook page is at Facebook.com/pubtheatre
Village Pub Theatre will also be appearing as part of the leith festival on June 8,11,12,13,14 & 15. Further details through twitter and facebook.
The Village Pub Theatre
The Village Pub, South Fort Street, Leith.
Friday 10 May 2013. 7.30pm for 8pm. Entry £3.
ENDS
