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Celebrating East Anglia Through Theatre
An in depth Interview with Dawn Finnerty the Artistic Director of fEAST Theatre for Folk Features. Ahead of touring ‘Elephant’, a new play which is set in North Norfolk over the course of one day, Dawn explains how their work is very much rooted in celebrating East Anglia.
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Folk Features article
How Do we Stage a House Crumbling Into the Sea?
A house teetering on the edge of an eroded and crumbling Norfolk cliff is the setting of a new touring play. Elephant opened to a sellout audience in Sheringham on Thursday – the first of 12 performances in village halls and theatres across Norfolk and Suffolk, which has required some inventive staging …
An article about Elephant for the BBC by Zoe Applegate.
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BBC article on Elephant
The Hollyhock Trilogy
Review by George Norton
The Hollyhock Trilogy, the latest offering from the innovative fEast Theatre, is a trio of plays by Rob John – two monologues and a longer two-hander – all of which deal with loneliness and the search for love.
In the first, Post, we meet Sue on her fiftieth birthday as she awaits the arrival of her postman, Pat. ‘Do you have a black and white cat?’ she has asked when they first meet; Sue tells us that Pat laughed uproariously at this witticism. Still grieving the death of her domineering father and excluded from nights out with her Pilates class, Sue has developed a hierarchy of ‘potential scenarios’ about Pat (the f-word – fantasies – is not to be used in relation to him) to alleviate the lonely life she leads with Barbara, her dog. Dawn Finnerty’s sympathetic performance shows us that, very probably, Sue is only too aware of the ridiculousness of these potential scenarios with the impressively belegged, Carbonara-serving Pat, and this makes her situation all the sadder.
The second play, Gravity, tells the story of Frankie Mulligan, years ago the ‘catcher’ in an aerialist circus act. (You’d never think it to look at him now.) Although Frankie, like Sue, isn’t ‘a social animal’, he still manages to attract the attentions of Bella and Maria, his airborne co-stars. It doesn’t end at all well but a later visit to an upmarket Hoxton bakery affords us the frailest of hopes for Frankie’s romantic future (and some sharp jokes about the price of baked goods in London).
Another tentative romance between accountant-turned-gardener, Graham, and primary schoolteacher, Cath is the subject of the final piece, Hollyhocks.
As the pair come together, awkwardly and uneasily, difficult truths from their pasts are revealed and the writing takes on a much darker tone. Again, the ending has a brittle optimism but asks difficult questions about what we’re prepared to ignore when looking for love.
On the night I saw The Hollyhock Trilogy, Robin McLoughlin was a late replacement for the stricken Owen Evans, playing both Frankie Mulligan and gentle, self-effacing Graham. He was splendid in both roles, a confident but subtle stage presence; I quickly forgot he was reading his lines.
Cupcakes feature in each of these sad, funny plays but they are linked by far more than confectionary. All are meditations on the need to be loved, and the miscommunications, evasions and inevitable compromises involved in romantic relationships. All three also reflect on the nature of stories and of story-telling, and the connections between stories and romance. Together they make for a compelling and thought-provoking evening.
The Hollyhock Trilogy tours various Norfolk venues until 17 March; catch it if you can.
The Hollyhock Trilogy
fEAST Theatre one of the region’s leading touring theatre companies will be bringing a brand new show to venues across Norfolk in February and March.
Written by Rob John (The Canada Boys / Rosa Mendoza) The Hollyhock Trilogy presents three strange but poignant love stories.
A woman reveals an unrequited passion for her postman, an aging trapeze artist dreams of the beautiful woman who dropped him and a chance remark about hollyhocks changes the lives of two strangers for ever.
‘We want to take our audience on three separate but connected journeys,’ says Rob John. ‘This is a show about people in love but it’s also a show about story-telling ; the magic of sitting down in a darkened room and listening to a story.’
Starring Owen Evans (The Nimmo Twins) and Dawn Finnerty (The Canada Boys /Rosa Mendoza) fEAST Theatre promises that ‘these darkly funny tales of loneliness and lust are guaranteed to warm the coldest winter evening.’
‘It turned out that wasn’t the end of the story. In a way it was just the beginning.’
News Update: November 2023.
Three brand new fEAST shows are on the way
We may not have staged any new shows so far in 2023 but behind the scenes we have been busy. Applications for funding have been written, research and development projects have been undertaken, new plays have been commissioned and new relationships developed with artists and venues. All this effort has paid off and we are now delighted to announce an exciting programme of new work coming your way over the next few months.
First up is Little Red Riding Hood another co-production with Well Maltings. Think you know this classic fairy tale? Think again! Written by acclaimed children’s dramatist Nick Lane (T’was the Night Before Christmas / Hansel and Gretel) this is a fast moving, rib tickling show for all the family. Full of silly stories, madcap songs and ridiculous rhymes this is Little Red Riding Hood like you’ve never seen it before. The show opens at Wells Maltings on 15th December and runs there until Christmas Eve.
In February the second production in our new programme takes to the road heading for venues across the region. Written by Rob John (The Canada Boys / Rosa Mendoza) The Hollyhock Trilogy presents three strange and poignant love stories. A woman reveals an unrequited passion for her postman, an aging trapeze artist dreams of the beautiful woman who dropped him and a chance remark about hollyhocks changes the lives of two strangers for ever.
Starring Owen Evans and Dawn Finnerty these darkly funny tales of loneliness and lust are guaranteed to warm the coldest winter evening.
Finally we are proud to announce the world premier of Jeremy Page’s new play Elephant which will be touring in June. Commissioned by fEAST and supported by Arts Council England this production has been underpinned by a very successful research and development project which was generously funded by The Seagull Theatre Lowestoft. Set in a house balancing on an eroding cliff in North Norfolk Jeremy’s beautiful play tells the story of four damaged characters brought together under bizarre circumstances. As the house begins to collapse the truths that have brought these characters together and the lies that they’ve told each other become exposed.
We can’t wait to get these brilliant new shows onto stages across the region. Please come and see us!
We are aware that this exciting programme would not have been possible without the help of our many fEAST supporters. In the last few months we have been particularly grateful to Debbie Thompson at Sheringham Little Theatre, Des Reynolds at The Seagull Theatre Lowestoft and Simon Daykin at Wells Maltings.
Elephant: Research and Development
On Friday 2nd June 2023 fEAST presented extracts from Elephant at The Seagull Theatre.
In a project funded by a bursary from The Seagull four actors, (Mark Finbow, Henri Merriam, Ben Elder, Anna Buttery) director Dawn Finnerty, designer Fern Blevins and sound designer Mark Fawcett began to explore the characters, dynamics and the technical challenges of a story set in a house which is falling into the North Sea.
THEATRE AWARD NOMINATION FOR FEAST
We’re pleased as punch to announce that our 10th anniversary season has been nominated for THE DICK CONDON THEATRE AWARD 2022 by Norfolk Arts Awards.
The winners will be announced at a ceremony in Norwich on 5th November.
You can read more in this article here:
https://www.edp24.co.uk/things-to-do/days-out/norfolk-arts-awards-2022-nominees-announced-9094486
FEAST THEATRE. TEN YEARS ON.
Ten years ago, when Mandy McKenna and Rob John first discussed the idea of creating a professional theatre company based in rural Norfolk, the idea seemed far-fetched. The two former Paston College drama tutors wanted to start a company committed to presenting new plays performed by professional actors from our region, telling stories from and about Norfolk. But would they be able to find that new writing? Were there actors out there who could give their characters authentic Norfolk voices? And, most importantly, even if they could make this new ‘theatre from the East’ would anyone want to come and see it? In 2010 they decided to find out. Mandy and Rob formed fEAST Theatre and took their first show out on the road.In the past decade the company has staged seven new plays and undertaken eight regional tours.
fEAST has travelled thousands of miles and has performed in theatres, schools, dozens of village halls and once in a world famous mustard factory. And yes those audiences did come. The company has slowly won a loyal and enthusiastic following and many of their recent shows have been sell-outs. In addition to touring and performing fEAST is proud of the work they have done in helping writers new develop new work, in mentoring young actors at the start of their careers and in running educational workshops with students in schools and colleges across the region. The company has recently completed its first residency, a Christmas show which ran for 18 performances at the newly refurbished Maltings theatre at Wells. In 2019 the company were nominated for the Norfolk Arts Award for theatre.
In 2018 Mandy and Rob stepped down as co-directors of the company and handed over the reins to Artistic Director Dawn Finnerty and Associate Director Robin McLoughlin. Plans were developed for an ambitious programme of productions in 2020 to mark fEAST’s first ten years.