Down to Zero is an emotionally explosive, darkly funny new play by Lizi Patch about two people, furiously in love, struggling to stay afloat as the past threatens to sink their future.
“In the eyes of evolution I am now a pointless person.”
As Steph hits the menopause, she feels she is becoming a bystander in her own bewildering decline. Her partner Sam plans a surprise weekend away for her 50th birthday, but their determined idyll is ripped away by the arrival of a surprise visitor…
“I’m slipping away and I don’t know what to do…”
THE RESPONSE PIECES
Tuesday – Friday performances of Down to Zero are followed by the response pieces, which are included in the same ticket.
Production Notes: Women in Theatre
For this production Coracle have chosen to produce a selection of work by women over the age of 40 – a group underrepresented in the world of theatre.
“Writing plays is, on the whole, a young person’s art, and the young are mostly interested in themselves”
Work by women playwrights made up only 8% of staged productions in 2014 (research by Tonic Theatre) – and the first play written by a woman to appear on stage at the National Theatre was in 2008. And the National have come under fire in 2019 for their announcement of a season which has only male writers and directors, despite a ‘commitment’ to changing the balance (you can follow the twitter thread here)
“It is somehow harder for people to embrace a play written by a woman, whatever its quality. There is something slightly unseemly about filling stages with our voices, whereas men have a sense of filling Chekhov’s or Ibsen’s shoes. The woman who raises her voice becomes shrill and hectoring; the man becomes authoritative”
As an underrepresented demographic both on & off stage we feel this will be an important challenge to people’s perceptions. Not just in terms of the visibility of ‘older’ female characters on stage, but also in terms of writers and creatives in this demographic having their work produced.
DOWN TO YOU
I’m hosting a series of writing workshops for up to ten writers to create a short piece of theatre in response to DOWN TO ZERO.
Thurs 20 June (early eve), Sat 29 June (day), Tues 9 July (early eve)
Cost £20 incl all workshops
Followed by a showcase / rehearsed reading of all the pieces on
FRIDAY 12 JULY AT APHABETTI at 9pm.
I’ll mentor you through a series of 3 x 2 hour workshops using Down to Zero as the springboard for you to write a 5-10 minute drama. Expect discussion, exploration of style, story, structure, character and dialogue, and focused writing exercises with deadlines both in the room and between workshops. You will be given the opportunity to hear each other’s work, giving and receiving feedback over the course of the 3 workshops which will culminate in a rehearsed reading of each short play by professional actors on 12 July. Some of the sessions may include opportunities for Q&A with other creatives and writers involved in the production of Down to Zero.
Down To You is for writers at any stage who are excited by the prospect of sharing and honing ideas from the page to performance. You need to welcome the opportunity to work in a vibrant and collaborative atmosphere with time alone to develop work between the sessions.
The cost of the workshops is £20 in total, covering the three sessions and the showcase. Tickets for the showcase are available to the public on a pay what you feel basis so you can invite anyone you’d like to hear your work.
If you are interested in attending, send us an email to coracletheatre@gmail.com with the word “WORKSHOP” in the title.
…
‘An Accident Of Birth’
Writer.
Directed by Matt Jamie as part of an evening of new short plays celebrating the fight for women’s votes, alongside readings of Suffrage Plays written at the time of the Suffragette movement.
Two siblings try to understand human relationships and gender roles through overheard conversations from inside the womb.
Cast Jude Nelson and Adam Jordan Donaldson
When: Thursday 17th – Saturday 19th May 2018 Show Begins: 7.30pm Tickets: Pay What You Feel Age Recommendation: 16+
working in collaboration with musician/sound designer Aron Kyne.
Small Venue Network Scratch Night, Seven Arts, LEEDS (March ’07).
Now in development.
‘CONSUMED’ is a new play with 2 actors and 2 musicians/sound designers creating the story together live onstage.
“Running parallel to advances in the games industry are huge advances in music technology which give such creative potential to seduce and manipulate the audiences senses and fuel their imagination. We want to make and tell stories that help us experience the world from each other’s perspectives sometimes, across the generational divide. We need to stop talking about the way the world was and understand the world that our sons and daughters are inhabiting now and are shaping every day.”
Gervais (15) is consumed with and brilliant at computer games. Sara (49), his mum, is fucked off. The all-too-familiar real life ‘screen-time’ battle between parent and child reverses when Sara creates ‘Leto’ (Oblivion/The Hidden One) and goes into direct battle with Gervais’s onscreen character ‘Yuudai’ (‘Great Hero’).
We see Sara/Leto rise from derided ‘noob’ to decorated warrior as it dawns on Gervais that this virtual arse is getting kicked by his mother who has become obsessed with ‘CONSUMED’ herself.
As the play progresses we learn that this is for real. Every death is happening and has consequences, but in another world just out of reach.
The two musician/sound designers will be live-scoring the play/creating the game with a combination of pre-composed music and interactive improvisations involving all 4 performers.
“The trauma inherent in the subject matter is addressed with a perfectly pitched amount of humour and smart delivery. At a time when internet censorship, monitoring and surveillance are daily headline news, this vital piece of work is more relevant than ever”.
Writer
with response pieces from
Allison Davies, Claire Tustin, Degna Stone & Beccy Owen
and podcast radio plays by Wendy Errington
18 – 29 June 2019 (Not Sundays or Mondays) at Alphabetti
Pay what you feel – Ages 14+
RESERVE TICKETS ONLINE HERE
PRESS:
BRITISH THEATRE GUIDE
NARC MAGAZINE
Down to Zero is an emotionally explosive, darkly funny new play by Lizi Patch about two people, furiously in love, struggling to stay afloat as the past threatens to sink their future.
“In the eyes of evolution I am now a pointless person.”
As Steph hits the menopause, she feels she is becoming a bystander in her own bewildering decline. Her partner Sam plans a surprise weekend away for her 50th birthday, but their determined idyll is ripped away by the arrival of a surprise visitor…
“I’m slipping away and I don’t know what to do…”
THE RESPONSE PIECES
Tuesday – Friday performances of Down to Zero are followed by the response pieces, which are included in the same ticket.
Production Notes: Women in Theatre
For this production Coracle have chosen to produce a selection of work by women over the age of 40 – a group underrepresented in the world of theatre.
“Writing plays is, on the whole, a young person’s art, and the young are mostly interested in themselves”
Lynn Gardener, 2009 (link).
Work by women playwrights made up only 8% of staged productions in 2014 (research by Tonic Theatre) – and the first play written by a woman to appear on stage at the National Theatre was in 2008. And the National have come under fire in 2019 for their announcement of a season which has only male writers and directors, despite a ‘commitment’ to changing the balance (you can follow the twitter thread here)
“It is somehow harder for people to embrace a play written by a woman, whatever its quality. There is something slightly unseemly about filling stages with our voices, whereas men have a sense of filling Chekhov’s or Ibsen’s shoes. The woman who raises her voice becomes shrill and hectoring; the man becomes authoritative”
(Zinnie Harris) (link)
“I think older women are regarded as not valuable, they’ve always been thought of in that way, as something to laugh at.”
(Marianne Elliott). (link)
As an underrepresented demographic both on & off stage we feel this will be an important challenge to people’s perceptions. Not just in terms of the visibility of ‘older’ female characters on stage, but also in terms of writers and creatives in this demographic having their work produced.
DOWN TO YOU
I’m hosting a series of writing workshops for up to ten writers to create a short piece of theatre in response to DOWN TO ZERO.
Thurs 20 June (early eve), Sat 29 June (day), Tues 9 July (early eve)
Cost £20 incl all workshops
Followed by a showcase / rehearsed reading of all the pieces on
FRIDAY 12 JULY AT APHABETTI at 9pm.
I’ll mentor you through a series of 3 x 2 hour workshops using Down to Zero as the springboard for you to write a 5-10 minute drama. Expect discussion, exploration of style, story, structure, character and dialogue, and focused writing exercises with deadlines both in the room and between workshops. You will be given the opportunity to hear each other’s work, giving and receiving feedback over the course of the 3 workshops which will culminate in a rehearsed reading of each short play by professional actors on 12 July. Some of the sessions may include opportunities for Q&A with other creatives and writers involved in the production of Down to Zero.
Down To You is for writers at any stage who are excited by the prospect of sharing and honing ideas from the page to performance. You need to welcome the opportunity to work in a vibrant and collaborative atmosphere with time alone to develop work between the sessions.
The cost of the workshops is £20 in total, covering the three sessions and the showcase. Tickets for the showcase are available to the public on a pay what you feel basis so you can invite anyone you’d like to hear your work.
If you are interested in attending, send us an email to coracletheatre@gmail.com with the word “WORKSHOP” in the title.
…
‘An Accident Of Birth’
Writer.
Directed by Matt Jamie as part of an evening of new short plays celebrating the fight for women’s votes, alongside readings of Suffrage Plays written at the time of the Suffragette movement.
Two siblings try to understand human relationships and gender roles through overheard conversations from inside the womb.
Cast Jude Nelson and Adam Jordan Donaldson
When: Thursday 17th – Saturday 19th May 2018
Show Begins: 7.30pm
Tickets: Pay What You Feel
Age Recommendation: 16+
TICKETS HERE
…
CONSUMED
writer/performer
working in collaboration with musician/sound designer Aron Kyne.
Small Venue Network Scratch Night, Seven Arts, LEEDS (March ’07).
Now in development.
‘CONSUMED’ is a new play with 2 actors and 2 musicians/sound designers creating the story together live onstage.
Gervais (15) is consumed with and brilliant at computer games. Sara (49), his mum, is fucked off. The all-too-familiar real life ‘screen-time’ battle between parent and child reverses when Sara creates ‘Leto’ (Oblivion/The Hidden One) and goes into direct battle with Gervais’s onscreen character ‘Yuudai’ (‘Great Hero’).
We see Sara/Leto rise from derided ‘noob’ to decorated warrior as it dawns on Gervais that this virtual arse is getting kicked by his mother who has become obsessed with ‘CONSUMED’ herself.
As the play progresses we learn that this is for real. Every death is happening and has consequences, but in another world just out of reach.
The two musician/sound designers will be live-scoring the play/creating the game with a combination of pre-composed music and interactive improvisations involving all 4 performers.
…
Punching The Sky
WRITER/PRODUCER/PERFORMER
Northern Tour and Soho Theatre as part of A NATION’S THEATRE 2016
Lowry, Live Theatre, Hull Truck, Cast, The Civic (Barnsley), Square Chapel, Harrogate Theatre, Derby Studio, Carriageworks, Seven Arts, Soho Theatre.
supported with public funding from Arts Council, England
www.artscouncil.org.uk