BOX OF TRICKS

A Manchester-based new writing company committed to developing and producing the best new work around; discovering, nurturing and promoting the next generation of playwrights.

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Happy New Year from Box of Tricks!

SEASONS GREETINGS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM ALL OF US AT BOX OF TRICKS!!!

New Year, new start...

We may not have had a production on in 2014, but we've been extremely busy behind-the-scenes this year. With support from Arts Council England, we've been gearing up for a new start through our organisational development which has enabled us to improve our infrastructure and future sustainability. We'll be kicking off early next year with a new board, new website and new branding from Holden & Sons. More on this soon...

Through our New Tricks programme, we've developed three new plays with support from leading North West theatres: Plastic Figurines by Ella Carmen Greenhill (supported by the Lowry), Chip Shop Chips by Becky Prestwich (developed at the Octagon Theatre, Bolton) and Narvik by Lizzie Nunnery (in association with Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse). These plays will form the backbone of our 2015-16 season. Watch this space! We've also supported three Manchester playwrights through the pilot of PlayBox, a writer-on-attachment scheme developing new plays with promising local writers. 

We've hit the road in 2014: heading on various road trips across the country and a cultural sojourn to Edinburgh for the Fringe Festival. We also got an early Christmas present in the shape of Amy Fisher, a trainee Associate Producer, who will be joining us part-time from January thanks to being awarded a prestigious BBC Performing Arts Fund Fellowship.

Thank you so much for your support this year. Keep your eyes peeled for more exciting announcements in 2015!

Have a fantastic New Year's Eve and a wonderful start to the year.

All best wishes,

Adam, Hannah and Amy  Box of Tricks

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BBC Performing Arts Fellowship: Amy Fisher

We're hugely excited to announce that emerging producer Amy Fisher will be joining Box of Tricks next year as an Associate Producer, supported by the BBC Performing Arts Fund's Fellowship scheme.

Offering bespoke placements within existing organisations, the BBC Performing Arts Fellowship scheme is designed to support individuals through the early stages of their performing arts careers.

Covering dance, theatre, music and anything in-between, through this scheme the BBC Performing Arts Fund hopes to identify the next generation of performing arts talent, whether they are directors, choreographers, composers, playwrights, dancers, actors, musicians, producers or any other creative working in the sector.

The Fellowship scheme aims to support individuals through the early stages of their performing arts career; helping them to establish themselves in the professional world through bespoke placements within existing organisations. The Fellowship will lead to an exciting new creative network in the performing arts sector, supported, developed and ready to launch their professional careers.

“Thirty-two amazing talents from across the UK will benefit from a year of sustained support from wonderful arts organisations, enabling them to really build on their talent and reach their potential. The diversity of the Fellows, from opera to spoken word, theatre to dance, from Northern Ireland to Southampton, shows a real commitment by the BBC Performing Arts Fund to support the sector.” - Miriam O’Keeffe, Director of the BBC Performing Arts Fund

Read the BBC Performing Arts Fund's announcement here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2014/paf-32onestowatch 

Amy has said: "The PAF Fellowship will enable me to make the difficult transition between the individual projects I have produced at the start of my career to producing a season of work for a company. I am too far on in my career to just be shadowing or assisting on projects but I’m not yet experienced enough to take an in-house role. The BBC PAF gives me professional credits as a producer with a company based in my home city whose work particularly inspires me. It will allow me to work on a varied and exciting season of plays in a range of contexts. The balance of responsibility and support is what I hope will take me to the next stage of my career."

Box of Tricks welcomes Amy to the team part-time from January, when she'll be focused on our upcoming tour of new play Plastic Figurines and our new season launch. Joint Artistic Director Adam Quayle said: "We're thrilled that Amy will be joining our small core team at this hugely exciting time for the company. Following organisational development this year, without any productions, we're ready to launch our most ambitious season to date in 2015 and hit the ground running. Originally from Wigan, Amy is a hugely promising local producer and one to watch. We'd like to thank the BBC Performing Arts Fund for supporting Amy and the company through this brilliant and vital fellowship scheme."

The BBC Performing Arts Fund is a charity committed to developing new performing arts talent from across the UK. Since its inception in 2003 the Fund has awarded over £4m to aspiring musicians and talented performing arts individuals and community groups. To learn more about what the Fund does and how to apply please visit the website www.bbc.co.uk/performingartsfund

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New Tricks: Getting chippy...

As the year draws to a close, we hear from playwright Becky Prestwich about her experiences developing her play CHIP SHOP CHIPS through our New Tricks initiative...

This year, New Tricks has developed three new plays from North West playwrights with support from leading local theatres. CHIP SHOP CHIPS was developed at the Octagon Theatre, Bolton.

Image from Becky Prestwich's Chopping Onions (from Word:Play 2)

New Tricks: Developing CHIP SHOP CHIPS by Becky Prestwich

I have been lucky enough to collaborate with Box of Tricks on several projects before this one. On one occasion I remember Adam turning to me and saying, somewhat despairingly, "there's a lot of food on stage in your plays, Becky". And he's right, there is. A mother and daughter arguing over how to cook chicken soup.  Cheese and pickle sandwiches for a funeral party. A boy and a girl sharing a bag of chips and almost kissing. Food is important. We use food to comfort ourselves, to punish ourselves, to express our love. What we eat says something about who we are. So, that's why I wanted to write a play about chips (that and the fact that I was pregnant and craving nothing else at the time).

More than 250 million portions of fish and chips are sold in the UK every year and I wanted to write a play exploring why. Is it about nostalgia? tradition? comfort? Or just value for money? The inspiration for the play came at the Olympus Fish and Chip Shop opposite Bolton Octagon theatre - a massive Art Deco chip shop, with a grand piano in the corner. It's a brilliant place for mushy peas - and for people watching. It struck me that this could be a great space for a site specific performance, with the audience eating a chippy tea as they watched. 

I approached Box of Tricks and they were interested in the project and excited by the idea of engaging with community groups to collect their own chip shop love stories. We met with the Octagon's Art Beat group (a theatre group for over 50s), a woman only community group based in Bolton and the Young Company from the Royal Exchange Theatre. Everyone we met had a story about fish and chips - they were surprising, touching, funny. Themes of romance and family came up again and again. We heard about the childhood excitement of being allowed chips in front of the tele and the unexpected romance of eating a fish supper on a bench instead of going to a fancy restaurant. People shared their rituals - fish on a Friday, scraps on the way home from swimming lessons. We talked a lot about community too - many of the older people we spoke to remembered the name of the local chip shop owner - from the glorious Lily Ricketts to the dubious Greasy Doreen. We talked about how what we ate had changed - how no one has a deep fat fryer at home any more and how expectations of dining out had become an every day occurrence.

The more we talked, the clearer it became that this should be an intergenerational story - exploring how the world has changed (and how it's stayed the same). We developed ideas for two interwoven love stories - one about a couple on the brink of adulthood, who may or may not kiss for the first time and another about an older couple seeing each other again for the first time after many years apart. Once the first draft was written, Adam and I spent a week workshopping the play with actors. The actors shared their own chip shop stories too (one of which involved a knife chase, but then that's actors for you...) Alongside doing dramaturgical work on the characters and structure, we explored how the setting might serve the story - we wanted to play with with how heightened we could be within such a real space. It was fantastic to see the characters brought so skilfully to life and to start to see the possibilities - and the obstacles - of setting the play in actual chip shops. 

The main challenge for the next draft is to capture something magical and theatrical, so that the audience feel as though they have stumbled upon a love story which is both everyday and extraordinary. We also to want find space for the audience to relive their own memories of fish and chips. While I write the next draft, Box of Tricks will be exploring possibilities for a tour. I'm excited about the next stage of the adventure for Chip Shop Chips - after all 250 million people can't be wrong about the simple joy of a chippy tea!

- Becky Prestwich

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New Tricks: A Nordic adventure...

As Box of Tricks' organisational development continues, our NEW TRICKS initiative develops new plays from North West playwrights with support from leading local theatres.

Here we hear from playwright Lizzie Nunnery about NARVIK, which she is developing at Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse with Box of Tricks' Artistic Director Hannah Tyrrell-Pinder...

What's 'Narvik' about and what was the inspiration for the piece?

It began with an interest in a lesser told version of World War II. I'm married to a Norwegian and my grandfather served in the Navy in Norway during the war, so I was keen to unearth that experience of war fought at sea and in the freezing climates of Norway and the Arctic. I'm also fascinated by the experience of the Norwegians under Nazi occupation and the very harsh reaction to traitors after the war, so we began to weave that in through the character of Else.

The starting point for the story came from the true tales my Grandy has told me over the years but as I started to write it quickly morphed in to fiction. However, that didn't stop us doing lots of research! Hannah and I have been reading true accounts of sailors and researching movements of war ships to make sure our story is possible and plausible. So at this point it's the fictionalised composite of many men's tales, and ultimately the story of one man's war: how he survives it and how he is unable to understand it. I'm keen to pull apart the notion of heroism and show the tremendous fear the Arctic sailors felt- not of action but of inaction. What if when the moment came they just couldn't live up to it?

Why combine music and text in a play, isn't that just a musical?

I think live music on stage brings an immediate energy to a show. Writers are always trying to make things happen on stage - and with live music you've got something audio, visual and physical happening in the moment. For that reason I've been keen for a long time to work music in to a play but wanted to find a way to root it in the storytelling. We want to move away from characters breaking out of dramatic action to sing songs directly to the audience and instead find a more unusual form. As soon as we began thinking about life on board ship we realised that we were in a very percussive, immersive audio world: the sailors tapping code, receiving radio signals, listening to the clang of metal and the whir of the engine... and that we could draw this in to the performance, blurring the lines of actor/musician. We're keen to find a way for the text to interact with the music, one explaining or illuminating the other, rather than simply providing a live soundtrack or adding a bit of atmosphere. It's a tall order but the workshop week was a big step in the right direction. And of course we'll have a few songs as well... the best moments in musicals are when a song cuts to the heart of a character's experience in a way that dialogue can't... so we'll try and do some of that. What's the point of an R&D week, can't you just write the play on your own?

There's an awful lot a writer can do in a room on their own and some projects are best served that way. But with 'Narvik' I feel I've got a chance to be a key part of the making of a show, not just a play - to test out the elements and the possibilities and happily throw away what doesn't work. It was an idea that came out of conversation with Hannah so from the start it was a collaboration, and as we drew live music and visual ideas in to the discussion it made perfect sense to open up that collaboration: to get more voices and more ideas in the room and test out what worked on stage. I'm sure that the show we arrive at will be uniquely marked by the making process. What we get to will undoubtedly be something I could never have come up with in isolation.

What did you achieve during the week?

So much! More than I ever expected we would. We started the week with some musical ideas and a handful of fairly rough scenes and came out with fifty minutes of music and text covering the whole period of the war. We also arrived at some very firm ideas about what we liked and disliked within that material: what worked and what didn't quite make the mark. I'm a writer that loves throwing things away. Working out what you don't want to do is half the battle.

Hearing actors read the work and getting their input is always invaluable: it sets off alarms, highlights gaps, guides you to the work you need to do. And I did a lot of that script work during the week, writing over dinner hour and at the end of the day. I was also darting in and out of the 'musician's room' working with Vidar Norheim and Martin Heslop on creating melodies, adapting lyrics and giving thoughts on their compositions. When we got to Thursday we started rehearsing for our showing of work on the Saturday. It was a strange and unique experience being a musician and a writer in the room at once but really exhilarating to feel the response of the audience from up on the stage. I certainly couldn't avoid knowing the moments that hit and the ones that missed.

What's next for you and the project?

A full first draft is next... so it's back to me alone in a room. But of course the creative conversations are ongoing between myself and Hannah, the other musicians and also the dramaturg Lindsay Rodden. As I'm writing I'll continue to meet with Martin and Vidar to make sure the music evolves alongside the script and to hear new compositions or songs. I feel like we've made some brilliant broad brush strokes: big bright bold exciting ones... and now I have to get my magnifying glass out and check all the detail,make sure I'm serving the characters well, serving the subject matter well, that we're saying something surprising and illuminating- something worth hearing.

- Lizzie Nunnery

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Adventures on the Fringe

It cannot have escaped your attention that there’s a little bit of theatre happening in Edinburgh at the moment. Lured by the promise of over 3000 #unboring shows, Box of Tricks packed a bag and headed over the border.

With only three days in Edinburgh, we decided to pack in as much as possible, squeezing in 13 shows across the city. Having trawled through Facebook, Twitter, e-mail invites, websites and the Fringe’s brochure we created a watertight schedule of new writing, comedy, physical theatre and children's theatre.

Arriving in Edinburgh on Wednesday afternoon as the festival was only just cranking into gear we hit the Pleasance Courtyard for a double bill of hilarious Beasts: Solo and Kill The Beast’s League-of-Gentlemanly He Had Hairy Hands.

Thursday’s packed schedule had a very civilised midday start with Not Too Tame’s brilliant site-specific immersive piece Early Doors at The Jingling Geordie pub. A short stroll took us to Luke Barnes’ powerful monologue Bottleneck at the Underbelly.  Momentum increasing, we then caught Anna Jordan’s bold and brave Freak, Rob Hayes’ Awkward Conversations with Animals I've F*cked and sprinted across town to end the day with Chris Goode’s thought-provoking solo show Men In The Cities.

Waking to grey skies on Friday we started our day (suitably fortified by a full Scottish breakfast, well it’d be rude not to!) with Dirty Protest’s moving Last Christmas, followed by Manchester’s own Square Peg and their visually-striking new show Icarus. After a quick coffee stop, we then caught nabokov’s theatre-cum-gig Symphony before ending the day with some foul-mouthed Balkan puppets at Boris and Sergey’s fun-packed Astonishing Freakatorium.

The heavens opened on our final day at the festival, but damp spirits were lifted by Unlimited’s playful PlayDough at Northern Stage (King’s Hall) and our visit ended on a high at Paines Plough’s wonderful Roundabout space with Duncan McMillan’s superb two-hander Lungs.

A whirlwind visit, we packed in some top quality shows. Check out our Storify below for more of a flavour of our experiences North of the border…

Hannah and Adam Box of Tricks

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New Tricks: It started with a word...

We realise it's all been a bit quiet on the (North) Western front, as we approach the half-way mark in our organisational development this year, so we thought we'd give you an insight into the new plays we're developing under our NEW TRICKS initiative.

First up, meet playwright Ella Carmen Greenhill, who is developing PLASTIC FIGURINES with Artistic Director Adam Quayle...

It started with a word… "Division".

When I was asked to be one of the writers for Word:Play I was really excited as I’m a writer who enjoys working to a brief. I like limitations and exploring how to work within the parameters that have been set. Saying that though, there’s the obvious question that occurs (and probably does for most writers!): “Am I doing it right?” That one word, Division, can mean a variety of things and can evoke so many different feelings depending on the person. I had to spend some time digging, in an effort to out what the heart of that word was for me. Eventually this led to the creation of Plastic Figurines as a short play. It was a story that spanned months, crammed into about 17 minutes. It was personal, fast paced and, at times, a bit mental; as soon as I saw it on stage I knew that I couldn’t keep this play constrained forever, it needed to expand and grow. I needed to keep writing. And luckily enough, Adam and Hannah felt the same.

In the R&D week at the Lowry this April, I began to think of the play in a much more visual way than previously, it really began to come to life. I was happy to find that the script, the words that I’d agonised over for months, finally had the meaning and resonances I’d hoped for. It was during this week that I realised that being a working playwright isn’t just about the words on the page, that is a third of it, a quarter, an eighth. Writing theatre is creating, collaborating, arguing and finally finding the “Yes! That’s it!” moments, until it becomes a “Yes! That’s it!” for the entire play.

Adam and I have worked really closely on the script and this has been one of the greatest experiences within the process. Writing something in the knowledge that it will go on has been a very different experience to writing something and then sending it out with fingers crossed. There has been a lot less pressure on getting the script ‘right’ first time as Adam has been there to help me explore and define what we mean when we say ‘right’. Even now we are still exploring; looking for those moments that makes us both go “Yes! That’s it!” Knowing the play will be performed has changed my responsibilities as a writer, I’m not writing in the hope that people will see it, the responsibility I have to those audiences who will see it. I’m also very aware that I have created a character in Michael that people will scrutinise and may have experienced his condition, autism, within their own lives. These people, like myself, may know someone who is on the autistic spectrum and will know the beauty of it, the sadness of it and, sometimes, the hilarity of it as well. I have a responsibility to my audience, to my family and to myself to make these characters real. For me, they are real, I know them as well as I know myself and I’ve grown to love them. And I suppose that’s all I want for my audience really; to love Rose and Michael as much as I do.

- Ella Carmen Greenhill

PLASTIC FIGURINES embarks on a national tour next Spring. Watch this space!

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Box of Tricks hits the road: 3 days, 5 cities, 6 theatres

As part of this year's organisational development, Box of Tricks has been getting back to our vagabond roots: hitting the road and making some new friends! Last week, we visited a number of theatres in Yorkshire and the North East.

First stop on our theatrical road trip was Hull and a trip down memory lane for AD Adam who got to revisit his heady student days. We met Kate Denby and Nick Lane at Hull Truck, who gave us a tour of the theatre spaces and chatted about their programme, our plans and the state of theatre in general.

Thursday we stepped up a gear; waking up in Hull; breakfasting in the shadow of York Minster ahead of a meeting with our lovely PR representative Duncan Clarke in the yellow and tricolore-bedecked York Theatre Royal; and ending the day in Newcastle with meetings with Jo Cundall and Katie Catling at Northern Stage and Graeme Thompson at Live Theatre. Our jam-packed day was rounded off by an energetic and entertaining preview performance of The Letter Room’s Bonenkai back at Northern Stage – catch it in Edinburgh if you're heading up!

Inspired by York’s new yellow hue we decided to check out other preparations for Le Tour and breakfasted in Harrogate (gorgeously arrayed in yellow bunting, bicycles and mini knitted maillots jaunes) before having a lovely chat and tour of Harrogate Theatre with Kevin Jamieson. To finish the day we headed down to Leeds for a look at Slung Low’s HUB and a catch-up with Porl Cooper. While at Holbeck, we were also treated to a scratch sharing of Displace Yourself’s dystopian love story Eden so got to see the space in action.

Arriving back in Manchester relieved to have survived pre-Tour traffic we reflected on a very productive trip, and here’s what we learnt:

Theatre in the North is thriving.

There are some beautiful spaces and lovely people in Yorkshire and the North East, and we’re very lucky to have them.

There’s nothing like touring theatres to get the creative juices flowing; so many spaces we’d love to make work in!

Brunch is an excellent meal over which to discuss creative ideas and plans for world domination.

One can never have too much yellow bunting!

Huge thanks to everybody for their hospitality!

Hannah Tyrrell-Pinder Joint Artistic Director, Box of Tricks

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Box of Tricks - BBC Performing Arts Fellowship

BBC PERFORMING ARTS FELLOWSHIP CALLOUT

Box of Tricks is seeking expressions of interest from individuals to become a BBC Performing Arts Fellow with the company and support the delivery of our 2015-16 programme of work.

Box of Tricks is a Manchester-based new writing company committed to developing and producing the best new work around; discovering, nurturing and promoting the next generation of playwrights. 

During 2015-16 we will be producing an ambitious season of new plays from North West writers in partnership with North West venues, performing work in the region and nationally. For more information about the company please visit www.boxoftrickstheatre.co.uk.  

BBC Performing Arts Fund Fellowship scheme is designed to identify and support the next generation of talent. Organisations taking part in the Fellowship scheme will offer bespoke paid placements to individuals interested in pursuing a career in the performing arts. www.bbc.co.uk/performingartsfund

Box of Tricks is looking for an individual with a passion for new writing, an interest in developing and producing small-scale theatre in a professional setting, and a proven commitment to working in the performing arts. If successful, the associate will work with the company on a part-time basis for a twelve-month placement (dates and hours to be agreed with the successful applicant).

Application Process

Applicants should send a CV and covering letter (stating why you’re interested in working with Box of Tricks and what you would bring to the company) to Hannah Tyrrell-Pinder at [email protected]. Feel free to contact Hannah with any queries ahead of applying.

The deadline for applications is Monday 14th July at 5pm.

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A heart to heart with... designer Rachel Wingate

1. If you could have anyone’s heart, whose would it be and why?

I’m alright as I am, thanks. My heart and my heart have been through a fair amount so far, it’d be rude to ditch it.

2. What is your role on In Doggerland? How did you get involved?

I’m the set and costume designer on the show, and have carried out the same roles on a couple of other past projects with Box of Tricks and enjoy working with the company. I also saw a short piece of Tom’s as part of Invertigo’s Senses, and thought it was pretty ace so was interested to see what a longer play of his was like.

3. What does home mean to you?

Home to me is a place where you feel calm, and at ease and you don’t really get bothered by much and, no matter how short the time is, you feel safe and peaceful. Obviously the house I grew up in is my literal home, with my parents and all the memories, but now I have a sense of comfort and belonging in various other places and these are my favourite hiding spots.

4. Who is your favourite character and why?

If I had to plump for one it would probably be Marnie. At points she can seem quite juvenile, but out of all the characters she seems most at ease within her situation and never really comes across as a jerk, whilst the others teeter on this line. However I like how all the characters have a progression through the piece, so that their initial appearances can be deceptive.

5. What was the last photo you took? 

Other than screen shots of receipts/ work images that I don’t really think I should share here is one of the most recent pictures I took, and it relates to the play quite well. I just thought this man’s outfit was very strong, and liked how confident he was. Plus knew I could never do justice to his style through words and needed to share him with my friends, if not the world!

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Final week of IN DOGGERLAND...

★★★★ "A touching and funny play" - What's On Stage

★★★★ "Subtle, incisive and thoughtful" - The Skinny

★★★★ "A strong production" - Public Reviews

★★★★★ "A fine play, see it if you can" - Remote Goat

★★★ "Tyrrell-Pinder's impressively spare production" - The Guardian

"A theatre company to watch" - The Stage

"Excellent cast of four" - Exeunt

"A smart and engaging new play" - Manchester Theatre Awards

After two-and-a-half weeks on the road, we enter the final week of the tour at Exeter Phoenix, Square Chapel Halifax and Clwyd Theatr Cymru. We've been bowled over by the fantastic response to the play so far. We hope you can join us at one of our last five performances!

Check out www.boxoftrickstheatre.co.uk.

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A heart to heart with... sound designer Chris James

1. If you could have anyone’s heart, whose would it be and why?

I am very happy with my own. We have been through a lot together.

2. What is your role on In Doggerland? How did you get involved?

I am the sound designer for the production. After meeting Adam and Hannah at Mountview Academy I started working with Box of Tricks in 2005 and have been an Associate Artist of the company since 2006.

3. What does home mean to you?

This is something that I have thought a lot about recently. I grew up in South Africa, spent most of my adult life in the UK and now live in Oman. But it is hard to pin point what home means to me because I have spent so much of my life on the move. I suppose home is where my wonderfully understanding girlfriend is. When I'm with her, not matter where in the world, that feels like home. Not sure if I answered the question.....

4. Who is your favourite character and why?

Linus. He put his life on hold for his sister. When she needed someone to help her and support her he was there. That is love. Love makes us better humans.

5. What was the last photo you took? 

Backstage at the Royal Opera House Muscat. This is the rear view of a giant mirror used in a production of La Traviata.

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No rest for the wicked: IN DOGGERLAND on the road...

We have a busy couple of weeks ahead on our In Doggerland tour. We're off to Wigan, York, Preston and Liverpool this week and Exeter, Halifax and Mold next. No rest for the wicked!

It's been a fun journey on the road so far with the production picking up praise from critics and audiences alike...

"Poetic and philosophical... In Doggerland is a touching and funny play" ★★★★ What's On Stage

"A theatre company to watch and a writer in ascendance" The Stage

"Hannah Tyrrell-Pinder’s impressively spare production for Box of Tricks contains some affecting performances" ★★★ The Guardian

"A fine play, see it if you can" ★★★★★ Remote Goat

Here are just a few comments from Twitter...

"Great show tonight with excellent writing and acting"

" #indoggerland Terrific performances, great story. Best drama I've seen in #Derby for some time."

"In Doggerland was so beautiful. Can't remember the last time I cried at the theatre."

"If you get a chance go & see #InDoggerland by @bottc on tour now. Great performances"

"Watched @bottc #InDoggerland @newdiorama last night. Fantastic piece of new writing. Beautifully written, staged and performed. A must see!"

"Amazing amazing show! Beautiful characters, thought my heart was going to break x wow!"

Hope you can catch us on the road! For videos and full details, head over to www.boxoftrickstheatre.co.uk.

Mill at the Pier, Wigan 19th November 7:30pm millatthepier.co.uk York Theatre Royal Studio 20th November 7:45pm yorktheatreroyal.co.uk The Continental, Preston 21st November 7:50pm newcontinental.net Lantern Theatre, Liverpool 22nd-23rd November 8pm lanterntheatreliverpool.co.uk Exeter Phoenix 26th November 8pm exeterphoenix.org.uk Square Chapel, Halifax 27th November 8pm squarechapel.co.uk Clwyd Theatr Cymru, Mold 28th-30th November 7:45pm clwyd-theatr-cymru.co.uk

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IN DOGGERLAND tour opens to great reviews...

"Manchester-based company Box of Tricks know how to pick their writers; Tom Morton-Smith’s script is both poetic and philosophical, a thoughtful meditation on the impact of loss… There are some really heart-wrenching moments… In Doggerland is a touching and funny play that explores the lives of four people bought together by tragedy and hope.” What’s On Stage ★★★★

"A lyrical study of loss... Such emotive subject matter could easily feel sensational or prurient, but Morton-Smith's careful handling gives rise to a lyrical character study of ordinary people burdened by exceptional circumstances. Hannah Tyrrell-Pinder's impressively spare production for Box of Tricks contains some affecting performances... The heart may be only a pump, but Morton-Smith's play suggests that the most skilful surgeon on Earth will never be able to replace a soul." The Guardian ★★★

"It’s a sensitive and emotive subject matter but it’s handled here with careful sincerity and honest characters. Beneath the sober subjects of loss and mourning there’s a light sprinkling of humour and some snappy dialogue... The play’s greatest strength is that all of the characters boast the rare quality of being truly relatable... The standard of acting is very high and the pacey direction from Hannah Tyrrell-Pinder keeps a natural flow... You have to applaud playwright Morton-Smith for the subtle, incisive and thoughtful skill with which he’s rendered relationships between characters." The Skinny ★★★★

"Morton-Smith displays admirable restraint as he charts the choppy waters of love, loss and guilt without resorting to histrionics... Morton-Smith ignores the more obvious narrative paths to focus instead on a subtler and more emotionally resonant tale highlighting how people connect with and impact on each other... Morton-Smith’s uncanny ear for dialogue, perfectly capturing the randomness of everyday speech as well as the way people reveal information about themselves, and a touching, unshowy denouement, demonstrate that this is a theatre company to watch and a writer in ascendance." The Stage

“In Doggerland is a mature, thoughtful drama about loss, responsibility and relationships, sensitively directed by Hannah Tyrrell-Pinder. Its central themes could have been treated sensationally, but here are handled with intelligence and genuine emotional resonance. A fine play, see it if you can.” Remote Goat ★★★★★

"The seeming simplicity of Morton-Smith’s dialogue belies a rich, poetic meditation on loss, identity and the complexity of care. Hannah Tyrrell-Pinder, co-artistic director of Box of Tricks, handles the play with appropriate attentiveness and an evident talent for finding the delicate, the intimate and the personal. This generates sensitive performances from the excellent cast of four... Where Tyrrell-Pinder excels is in the powerful rendering of character in her universally strong cast, with stand-out performances from Clive Moore and Natalie Grady as the alienated father and daughter, and sensitive work by Benjamin Blyth and Jennifer Tan as the curious siblings." Exeunt ★★★

“A smart and engaging new play… An intricate and intriguing story is peeled away with extreme delicacy. Morton-Smith and director Hannah Tyrrell-Pinder create four concise and credible characters” Manchester Theatre Awards “Hannah Tyrrell-Pinder directs with an impressive sense of pace, allowing the scenes to unfold naturally without fear of silences… It’s an intriguing piece with some clever ideas, likeable characters and even some nice flashes of humour and certainly worth a look.”  British Theatre Guide

"In Doggerland is well-executed by Box of Tricks... Philosophical, attentive and poetic, Morton-Smith has set up a complex tale of the fragility of identity and the burden of loss... An absorbing production" A Younger Theatre

For full details, including production videos, check out at www.boxoftrickstheatre.co.uk.

Rosehill, Whitehaven 14th November 7:30pm rosehilltheatre.co.uk Derby Theatre Studio 15th November 8pm derbytheatre.co.uk Mill at the Pier, Wigan 19th November 7:30pm millatthepier.co.uk  York Theatre Royal Studio 20th November 7:45pm yorktheatreroyal.co.uk The Continental, Preston 21st November 7:50pm newcontinental.net Lantern Theatre, Liverpool 22nd-23rd November 8pm lanterntheatreliverpool.co.uk Exeter Phoenix 26th November 8pm exeterphoenix.org.uk Square Chapel, Halifax 27th November 8pm squarechapel.co.uk Clwyd Theatr Cymru, Mold 28th-30th November 7:45pm clwyd-theatr-cymru.co.uk

[boxoftrickstheatre]

IN DOGGERLAND Dress Photos, a set on Flickr.

(c) Devin Ainslie

[boxoftrickstheatre]

Early reviews for IN DOGGERLAND are good...

Benjamin Blyth and Jennifer Tan - (c) Devin Ainslie

"Manchester-based company Box of Tricks know how to pick their writers; Tom Morton-Smith's script is both poetic and philosophical, a thoughtful meditation on the impact of loss... There are some really heart-wrenching moments... In Doggerland is a touching and funny play that explores the lives of four people bought together by tragedy and hope." What's On Stage ★★★★

"In Doggerland is a mature, thoughtful drama about loss, responsibility and relationships, sensitively directed by Hannah Tyrrell-Pinder. Its central themes could have been treated sensationally, but here are handled with intelligence and genuine emotional resonance. A fine play, see it if you can." Remote Goat ★★★★★ "A smart and engaging new play... An intricate and intriguing story is peeled away with extreme delicacy. Morton-Smith and director Hannah Tyrrell-Pinder create four concise and credible characters" Manchester Theatre Awards "Hannah Tyrrell-Pinder directs with an impressive sense of pace, allowing the scenes to unfold naturally without fear of silences... It's an intriguing piece with some clever ideas, likeable characters and even some nice flashes of humour and certainly worth a look." British Theatre Guide

Touring nationwide until 30th November. Full details and videos at www.boxoftrickstheatre.co.uk.

[boxoftrickstheatre]

#InDoggerland opens at the Lowry tonight!

The wait is over. Our touring production of new play In Doggerland by award-winning playwright Tom Morton-Smith kicks off at the Lowry for three nights only. 

For more information, and videos, visit boxoftrickstheatre.co.uk.

Buy your tickets here: thelowry.com/event/in-doggerland.

[boxoftrickstheatre]

In Doggerland tour kicks off at the Lowry this week!

Watch our brand new Rehearsal Diary...

Tour kicks off this week...

After months of planning and weeks of rehearsal, the time has come to unleash In Doggerland on the world. We're opening at The Lowry from Thursday 7th to Saturday 9th November, before heading back to London with our first show in the capital since relocating nearly two years ago: we're at the New Diorama this Sunday 10th and Monday 11th November.

We've attracted a lot of press attention so far. Did you see us recommended by lyn Gardner in the Guardian Guide on Saturday (left)? Or playwright Tom Morton-Smith's Brief Encounter withWhat's On Stage or interview in The Skinny (where we also featured as one of their Top Ten Picks o' The Week)? Or did you catch director Hannah Tyrrell-Pinder's interviews with Manchester's Finest or Lancashire Life? Or tune into the British Theatre Guide podcast about the production?

  You can also catch up with our cast and company by reading their Heart to Heart questionnaires on our blog. So, we're ready for action and raring to go. Over the next three weeks, we're coming to a theatre near you! So check out the full details on our website and book now...

  For more information visit boxoftrickstheatre.co.uk.