CityLife

Why Fireflies took so much to take off

Paul Simpson in rehearsal

FOR a writer, getting to see your work performed on stage is a truly special moment.

For Kevin Fegan, the writer of Fireflies, seeing this particular play reach The Lowry’s Quay Theatre will be even more of an achievement, given the particularly winding path it has taken to the stage.

Originally scheduled to appear in 2008’s programme, Fireflies was postponed for a year. Then, earlier this summer, former Coronation Street star Suranne Jones had to leave the project. She was due to take the lead role of Leigh, but left with the producers’ best wishes when a big TV role came up.

Luckily, another familiar face from Weatherfield was able to step in. Naomi Radcliffe, who played troubled Alison Wakefield in Coronation Street for two years, joined the cast of Fireflies in August. Last month, however, her male counterpart Brian McCardle had to leave his role due to family commitments, with north west theatre regular Paul Simpson stepping into his shoes.

Strong ties to Salford

Fegan, an experienced and celebrated playwright based in the region, is frank in admitting that at times he was worried that Fireflies would make it to the opening night.

“Being commissioned is wonderful, but it’s not why you write – you do it so you can see your work on stage,” he explains. “So to write something and to find that it might not be performed is really gutting.

At times it’s seemed like a disaster waiting to happen, but The Lowry have stuck by it, so hopefully it’s now going to see the light of day.”

A play with strong ties to Salford and the north west as a whole, Fireflies is a frank story about the realities of love, brought to life by film and computer graphics alongside the darkly comic script.

Director Noreen Kershaw has been involved from the start, and was equally keen to see the ambitious project come to life.

'Different sides'

“It’s been like a particularly long birth – not that I’ve ever had children!” laughs Kershaw. “This is only the second set of work that The Lowry has created itself, so it’s really exciting to be involved in that, and really important for new writing to be performed in these spaces.”

With only two actors in the play, Fireflies might initially seem rather sparse, but there is actually one other key character – Salford itself. For the director, getting an accurate idea of the city in the film that accompanies the onstage action was a vital component to the story.

“I thought it was really important to show all the different sides of Salford,” explains Kershaw, “otherwise you’d feel that you’re letting people down, if you just use the same stereotypical terraced streets.

We’re showing the upside-down houses, showing the bits that are getting demolished. We went up to Rivington Pike, so we’re looking down on the whole city, from the outside looking in.”

'Intriguing'

Both the actors who play lonely hearts Leigh and Nelson have tough roles in Fireflies, but for Paul Simpson, who won a Best Supporting Actor trophy at last year’s MEN Theatre Awards, this is particularly tricky.

He was drafted into the show just last week, but had no qualms about taking the role. I trust Noreen as I’ve worked with her before,” explains the actor, “so I knew I could accept it without looking at the script. Then I got home and read it and thought, ‘well that’s a bonus, it’s actually pretty good!’

“There’s a lot of pathos, and it’s very intriguing, jumping backwards and forwards, so it’s a straightforward story but told in a very un-straightforward way.”

For the Oswaldtwistle-born actor, working on a project with strong ties to the north west was very appealing.

“I do think that when we’re doing a project such as this, it should be northerners doing it, because there’s so much talent around here.

“There’s such a richness to the northern language and to northern writers.”

Human truth

Indeed, behind the technological wizardry and the struggles to get it to stage, what makes Fireflies stand out is its story and how it’s tied into its surroundings.

As the writer Kevin Fegan explains, there’s a very human truth at the heart of his story of missed opportunities and hidden connections.

“I wanted to capture the sense that, as creatures, we’re destined to fall in love, even though we know it hurts,” he explains. “Relationships do break down, but we want to go back there. Hopefully that isn’t cynical, it’s more optimistic and romantic.”

After surviving all it has been through to get here, you can understand why there is so much optimism and enthusiasm for this particularly special piece of theatre.

Fireflies is at The Lowry from Friday, October 16, until Saturday, October 31, 2009. £10 to £20. Call 0870 787 5780.