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Next Productions
there will then be performances of Otherwise at the Edinburgh
Festival fringe.
5th-15th August @ 5:15pm
City 2, Apex City Hotel, Grassmarket, Edinburgh
Otherwise was first performed in
Girton in October 2009. Earlier this year it appeared at the Brighton
fringe Festival, where it won the New Writing South Best New Play Award.
The
New Writing South website states:
Playwright Gytha Lodge has won the first New Writing South Best New
Play Award for OTHERWISE. This new annual award is in recognition of an
outstanding new play premiered at the Brighton Festival Fringe.
Chris Taylor, Director, New Writing South says ‘OTHERWISE by Gytha Lodge was original,
truly theatrical, and formally inventive - with a sensational “coup de
theatre”. All the judges agreed it was a diamond.’
Gytha says ‘I'm
absolutely delighted to receive this award. It's wonderful and rare for new
writing to be judged and rewarded in this way, and the New Writing South mark
goes a long way towards demonstrating quality.’
New Writing South and Brighton Fringe jointly designed the award to
encourage more new plays in Brighton and to help promote quality, original
pieces to the Fringe. The award differs from others in that it is given to
a playwright for an outstanding play rather than to the production as a whole.
Almost 40 plays in the Brighton Fringe were judged by a panel of seven judges
from New Writing South consisting of writers: Kefi Chadwick, Trevor Harvey,
Kicking-K, Andrew G. Marshall, Josie Melia, Louise Monaghan and Chris Taylor.
The
award winner receives £150 cash prize and New Writing South
 
From Fringe Guru, Catherine Meek says:
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This is an excellent and ambitious production – and far
better than its blurb suggests. On the face of it, this was not
going to be original; the story is set in a police cell, and the
main character, Harry, doesn’t remember why he’s there or what
happened the night before. When the play opened with Harry sat
opposite a police officer in interview, I anticipated the focus
would be on the interview itself, maybe even as a vehicle for a
statement on police powers. Wrong!
This is a story about Harry. That he ends up in a cell,
accused of his girlfriend’s murder after a drunken night out, is
not the point; the interview only provided a context for the story
to unfold. In fact, this is a play about relationships.
About friendships. About the people in our lives and the
people we encounter, and how our perception of them often reflects
our own desires or suspicions, needs and insecurities.
My attention was held throughout the 55 minutes, and this
fact alone speaks loudly for both the story and the production –
performed as it was in a hotel room in broad daylight, with only a
table and chairs as props. The actors deftly moved these without
causing distraction as the scene switched from cell to bar to
restaurant to park bench. If the company had delivered the play
less skilfully, the room would have been blatantly unsuitable; but
on the contrary, I was right there in the cell, the bar, the
restaurant, the park. It worked because the actors were at ease
with their roles, achieving an interesting balance of being both
separate from and intimate with the audience.
I have only one criticism: the actress playing Melissa
changes part way through, and though this was a clever device I
thought it was unnecessary. There is just no room for any query or
incongruity in the time or space of this intense performance.
Overall though, this was an inspired performance. Its
Brighton run is now over, but I recommend it thoroughly to anyone
in Edinburgh this August.
Well done Guys and Gals, even if she did miss the point
about changing actresses!
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Page last updated: 28 June 2010
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