Читать книгу Chequered Flags to Chequered Futures - Mark Wheeller - Страница 7

Afterword 2020

I have been fortunate enough to witness two productions of CFTCF since its publication. Both were stunning.

The first was presented by professional director, Tim Ford, with a group from his Youth Theatre at the Hexagon Theatre in Reading. Tim had presented a number of my plays and so was a bit of an expert.

He brought a big difference to the production as he had a much more detailed setting rather than the black box space used at VSA. I remember walking into the studio theatre and being greeted by a cast dressed predominantly in overalls as would be seen on a race track or mechanics. If that wasn’t enough to throw us into the theme of the play he had a variety of car parts hanging from the rig and discarded tyres adorning the stage area. The performance, which was seen by Shelley and Jane (for the first time) was as stunning as I remember it in Hong Kong. Sadly it received no coverage, so it remains in my memory and those few others who saw it…

The second production was by The Samuel Ward School (now Academy) in Haverhill. It was outstanding. Like Tim, Matt Russell is an expert on directing my plays as he does one of mine every a year! I filmed some moments of their dress rehearsal and often feature them on my Wheellerplays Facebook and Twitter pages. The opening to their production was one of the most dynamic openings I’ve seen for any play… and I’m embarrassed to say that they ignored the opening I had in the original Zinc text, and developed one they thought should be there in a proper Wheellerplay about a successful banger racer. You can now see my version of theirs, adapted in this version of the script. Thanks, Matt for the idea! I am also delighted that Matt has agreed to write about his approach to this play as a director. (See the next page.)

Of all the plays I have written this one has most frustrated me. It has become a perpetual and needlessly well kept secret. I hope the opportunity arising from Salamander Street publishing it, along with my better known scripts, will bring it into a focus that will encourage people to explore it more fully.

Mark Wheeller