theatreVOICE

It finally dawned on us this week, why over the course of the last year, when we’d told people of our intentions to produce four full-length theatre productions simultaneously, the general response had been wry smiles and raised eyebrows. Unlike every other festival we know of, HighTide is not a forum of curated art. We source, develop and produce all our own work. Whilst there is nothing unusual for a production company to create one show, or theatres like the National to have three shows in rehearsals, four seems to raising the gambit of madness. And that madness is compounded in the fact that all four open the same day. Well, we’ve always said HighTide exists to take risks…

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Between October 2007 and January this year, we received 500 submissions of plays that had yet to be produced. Furthermore, a new strand to HighTide’s artistic remit this year is devised theatre, for which over 50 companies pitched to scratch for us. We’re always amazed by the naysayers that assert there’s not enough quality new work to sustain new writing producers. In planning this year’s festival, we had no set number of shows we felt obligated to produce. The four that are now in rehearsals, we chose to make because we unequivocally felt that they were of the quality to demand a professional production. 

Passion aside, the logistics of mounting these four productions are enormous. Director Mike Longhurst’s vision for “Stovepipe” is site specific, transforming an atmospheric loft in a converted maltings into a middle-eastern world of war zones and luxury hotels. Kate Wasserberg’s production of “Switzerland” finds the four characters dwarfed by a West-End sized set of memories, through which they wander from past to present. Lucy Kerbel’s “I Caught Crabs In Walberwick” covers 80 different locations through that number of lighting states and twice as many sound cues. And You Need Me’s “Certain Dark Things”? We don’t know - so far all we’ve seen is a five minute scratch at the Old Vic back in February. That it happened to be the most amazing scratch, and furthermore, most engaging piece of devised theatre we’ve ever seen, makes us slightly more confident. Indeed, the proof of all our puddings will be on Sunday when we start the get in of these four shows, two of which are happening in spaces that first must be transformed into theatres.   

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That work aside, we’ve also got shorts by Owen McCafferty, Laura Wade, Gary Owen, Chloe Moss, David Eldridge and Rebecca Lenkiewicz to rehearse and perform. A film festival, including Michael Palin talking after his feature “East of Ipswich” and Ed Blum after “Scenes of a Sexual Nature”. And then to top it off, a candid retrospective with Tom Stoppard interviewed by Mark Lawson.

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We’ve certainly our work cut out for us over the next fortnight.

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Watch this space…  

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Steven & Sam

Artistic Directors - HighTide