Future Tense
Devised by Backstage Youth Theatre in collaboration with Backstage Theatre, facilitated by Liam Halligan
Age range
16 +
Cast size
10 – 15
Approx. running time
60 – 90 mins
Gender breakdown
Male: 3
Female: 7
Female: 7
Setting
Two interiors, one exterior, screen for projection.
Note
A contemporary, site-specific drama for a medium sized group.
First performance
First performed by Backstage Youth Theatre in collaboration with Backstage Theatre
Longford, September 2020.
Longford, September 2020.
Synopsis
This piece evolved after the first Lockdown in 2020 as a response to the word ‘confinement’.
It consists of three text-based pieces, each of them roughly twelve minutes long. The fourth piece is essentially a video installation and can be used as an additional resource and/or a prologue/appendix to the other sections. Depending on the skills of the group live music can be used wherever possible. The sections are: -
Miriam evolved from an exploration of historical ‘confinement’ and was influenced by Hannah Greally’s book Birds Nest Soup. Hannah spent twenty years, against her will, in St. Loman’s Mental Asylum Mullingar in the 1950s/60s. This is not intended to be a period piece, it is timeless.
Longford Lockdown grew out of improvisations by two couples and reflects contrasting aspects of the effect of lockdown on close family relationships.
After Party takes place at the end of an outdoor party when the last stragglers are the worse for wear. A mysterious girl called Miriam joins in. It is a fast moving, comic piece expressing the frustrations of young people during lockdown.
Film Fleadh can be used as a prologue or appendix to the main text pieces. It consists of short videos made by individual YT members simply using the camera on their phones.
Working within the Government restrictions around physical distancing, audiences, in small groups, were ushered from space to space on a one-way system.
These intimate pieces can be performed in any kind of space and provide an exciting challenge for groups hoping to perform ‘ live’ theatre safely in 2021 and beyond.
It consists of three text-based pieces, each of them roughly twelve minutes long. The fourth piece is essentially a video installation and can be used as an additional resource and/or a prologue/appendix to the other sections. Depending on the skills of the group live music can be used wherever possible. The sections are: -
Miriam evolved from an exploration of historical ‘confinement’ and was influenced by Hannah Greally’s book Birds Nest Soup. Hannah spent twenty years, against her will, in St. Loman’s Mental Asylum Mullingar in the 1950s/60s. This is not intended to be a period piece, it is timeless.
Longford Lockdown grew out of improvisations by two couples and reflects contrasting aspects of the effect of lockdown on close family relationships.
After Party takes place at the end of an outdoor party when the last stragglers are the worse for wear. A mysterious girl called Miriam joins in. It is a fast moving, comic piece expressing the frustrations of young people during lockdown.
Film Fleadh can be used as a prologue or appendix to the main text pieces. It consists of short videos made by individual YT members simply using the camera on their phones.
Working within the Government restrictions around physical distancing, audiences, in small groups, were ushered from space to space on a one-way system.
These intimate pieces can be performed in any kind of space and provide an exciting challenge for groups hoping to perform ‘ live’ theatre safely in 2021 and beyond.