Shandyland by Gareth Farr

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Farr, Gareth ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9629-4899 (2019) Shandyland by Gareth Farr. [Performance] (Submitted)

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Item Type:	Performance
Event Summary:	Shandyland/Northern Stage, Liverpool Everyman, Oldham Coliseum, York Theatre Royal /May 12th 2020 - July 4th 2020
Creators:	Farr, Gareth
Corporate Creators:	Northern Stage, Echo Presents, Greyscale Theatre Co.
Abstract / Summary:	Shandyland is a play that will receive full production and publication in Spring/Summer 2020. It was developed and is supported by Old Vic Theatre in London and funded by Arts Council England and Northern Stage. Spanning twenty-one years Shandyland is a scream of frustration from a working-class community. It charts the demise of one small, northern family run pub and deals with the stories of the folk that are born, live, die and drink there. It deals with the divisions of a community and shines a light on what is happening within our often-overlooked working class towns. It celebrates a cast of lively, loveable and recognisable working-class characters and asks what has happened over the past twenty years to make them feel so angry, unheard and forgotten. On average 27 pubs close each week in the UK, predominantly in working-class towns and cities. Shandyland is a play that deals with the effects of this, it shows us what we once had and addresses what we are now facing.
Date:	9 September 2019
Funders:	Arts Council of England, Northern Stage, Echo Presents
Additional Information:	(300 word statement) This is a performance-based output produced by Northern Stage and five supporting partner venues across the UK in 2020. It was developed and is supported by The Old Vic, London. The research will work to engage a predominantly non-theatre going audience within the white working class of Great Britain by thematically addressing issues that directly impact on this community. Focussing on the statistic that on average 27 pubs per week close within working class communities in the UK and including further research around the demise of other significant cultural venues within working class areas the play proposes that the cultural landscape of Britain is changing. Using sociological research provided by Dr Lisa McKenzie the project aims to explore the multitude of connotations and repercussions of this demise. Loneliness, lack of cultural identity, belonging, alienation, loss of exceptional conversation and a radical political swing from a overwhelming Labour left majority to an emerging and increasingly established UKIP right. Through targeted outreach and ‘pub politics’ events the play will aim to break down the misconception that exists within working class areas that theatre does not accurately represent the events and lives that exist there. Using the work and structural tone of playwrights such as Connor McPherson and Jez Butterworth, Shandyland will use local mythology and social heritage to offer a cultural representation to northern communities in a similar way that Jerusalem did for the traveling communities of Britain and The Weir did for Irish communities. To date this has not been seen on stage for the mining communities of the Lancashire. Underpinning the drama are the core themes of identity within the white working class and how misrepresented this section of society has felt over the past twenty years.
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Theatre production, Live Performance, The working class, demise of social spaces.
Subjects:	Writing & Journalism > Literature Performance > Theatre
Courses by Department:	Academy of Music & Theatre Arts > Theatre
Depositing User:	Gareth Farr
Date Deposited:	31 Oct 2019 15:55
Last Modified:	23 Nov 2023 18:25
URI:	https://falmouth-test.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/3564

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