Mudlarks

HighTide Upstairs, The Cut

Friday, May 4, 2012 - Sunday, May 13, 2012

A World Premiere by Vickie Donoghue

A HighTide Festival Theatre / Lucy Jackson Production

Tickets from £11.50 (And book tickets for two or more events and receive 25% off all tickets).

The water looks sort of angry, don’t it? Racing across the mud. Like it’s coming for us! Haven’t got long. We have to move soon.

Mudlarks is supported by We Fund, find out more about this partnership at: http://www.wefund.com/project/mudlarks.

Overview

On the muddy banks of the River Thames, downstream from the bright lights of London, three boys hide from the police after a night of recklessness. Over the course of the freezing night their fears, secrets and dreams emerge, collide and combust revealing the desperate frustration of lives barely led but already ravaged.

Essex-born Vickie Donoghue’s powerful debut exposes the culture she grew up with and sees on a daily basis. With brutal honesty she explores how the impulse to dream is futile in the context of a reality that has no space for dreamers. Mudlarks heralds the arrival of an urgent new voice in British theatre.

Mudlarks has been developed through HighTide’s literary programme Escalator Plays. Will Wrightson, a former HighTide Resident Assistant Director, directs as part of HighTide’s commitment to championing new artists. Richard Hammarton provides sound and Joshua Carr returns to HighTide to light.

Running time: 1 hour 15 mins

Mudlarks would not have been possible without the generous support of Arts Council England, The Arts Patrons' Trust, The Bacon Charitable Trust, The Mackintosh Foundation and The Unity Theatre Trust.

Cast/Creative

Written by Vickie Donoghue

Directed by Will Wrightson

Lighting by Joshua Carr

Sound by Richard Hammarton

Casting Hayley Kaimakliotis

Cast

Scott Hazell, James Marchant, Mike Noble.

	Scott Hazell’s credits include Days of Significance for the RSC, and Flyboys, staring James Franco.
	James Marchant’s credits include Gregory Burke’s The Straits for Paines Plough / Hampstead Theatre and Lake Placid 3.
	Mike Noble’s credits include Punk Rock at the Lyric Hammersmith and the forthcoming film World War Z, directed by Marc Forster.

Meet the Playwright

Tell us in a sentence why we should see Mudlarks.

To experience a gripping snapshot of the definitive night in three boys’ lives.

Why did you decide to become a writer?

Because I love telling stories!

What inspired you to write this play?

The idea of how the snap decisions we make in our youth can affect the rest of our lives.

Who inspires you and how do they inform your work?

Enda Walsh, Harold Pinter and Jack Thorne inspire me (and many other writers obviously). I especially love the form in which the stories are told in their plays. Edward Hopper’s paintings, how he captures a moment of someone’s life and makes us feel like we are spying on them. I'm inspired to try and do this in the plays I write.