BILL BRAY introduces an author new to the GWT stage
Abi Morgan may not be a familiar name to you but if you saw the two-part TV drama about the devastating wave, Tsunami: The Aftermath you have experienced her work.
As has happened to so many young, upcoming playwrights (she is now 38) Abi Morgan has been siphoned off to television work where there is more opportunity and better financial reward. She has not been lost to theatre completely, however, and a commission from the Almeida Theatre in Islington should reach the stage this year. 2007 will also bring her film adaptation of Sebastian Faulkes' powerful First World War novel, Birdsong.
She is best known in theatre for her plays Splendour - described by Lyn Gardner as "the most beautiful, baffling play of the Edinburgh Fringe" - Tiny Dynamite and a play presented at Hampstead Theatre in 2002 winning her an Olivier award for Most Promising Playwright, Tender.
She comes from a theatrical family with her father a director and her mother an actress. But Abi knew as a child that neither of those professions was for her. Nor was she a child writing prodigy but, "I was a big liar", she says. "My dad's a policeman with a big Alsatian," she'd tell her class at school, "And we've got a swimming pool and you wouldn't believe what happened last night ..." She may not then have been writing, but her imagination was essentially dramatic. She claims that chaos is her natural habitat and she writes to make sense of her experience. Tiny Dynamite brings a new writing talent to GWT audiences and the opportunity to enjoy an unusual love story.
SUE HIGGINSON introduces her production
I'd like to think that it's either an accident or fate that I'm directing Tiny Dynamite it would suit the play! I had suggested two plays for the GWT's 2006-7 season. Splendour another play by Abi Morgan, was my safe option, the one where I wouldn't have to go too far outside my comfort zone to direct. Tiny Dynamite was my wild card suggestion. It is a play which almost explodes from the first page with a series of bizarre accidents and some near impossible stage directions.
Splendour was out of print, so I posted my library copy to the GWT Drama Committee for them to read. I might as well have sent it second class via Australia because, by the time it arrived, Tiny Dynamite had already made its impact!
It didn't surprise me. It is a really good play. Its style is fresh and different. It reads more like a television script than a stage play. The action shifts speedily through different settings: a restaurant, a house, a deck, a lake, a cave, a cinema. The actors have to drive, swim, catch flying forks, bees and sandwiches, and even glow with fireflies! (Well, that's what the stage directions say; we're still working on it!) It's an adult play with the odd four-letter word, but there is nothing which deliberately sets out to shock or offend. Gentle humour pervades the dialogue.
Most importantly, the play has an unexpected and touching story to tell. Two friends, Lucien and Anthony, have known each other since they were six, when Anthony was struck by lightning and survived. The event affects them in different ways. Lucien becomes fascinated by explaining and understanding freak accidents. Anthony, on the other hand, becomes convinced that he is immune to danger, that he can live his life "at the edge" in total safety. Their lives take very different paths, but their friendship endures and every year they meet up for a holiday together. This year, they meet Madeleine, a local girl who comes to deliver their groceries. She reminds them of someone they once knew. Is that simple coincidence or something else? Will lightning strike twice?
Peter Griffin and Paul Redfern take on the roles of Lucien and Anthony respectively, with Kellie Risby as Madeleine.
Originally Commissioned by Paines Plough. Premiered at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh in 2001 and remounted at the Lyric Studio, Hammersmith in 2003 |