CityLife

Main event: Thai Brides And Teacakes

Thai Brides And Teacakes

Dancehouse - September 16 to 18, 2010

Following the success of last year’s Angels With Manky Faces, one of nearly 30 plays produced by Moston-based MaD Theatre Company since 1996, the group, with the admirably straightforward intention of being ‘a platform for the creative talents of the people of Greater Manchester’, present their latest production Thai Brides And Teacakes at Dancehouse next week before taking it out on a national tour.

A satirical commentary on the changing ethnic composition of modern Britain, Thai Brides And Teacakes opens four years to the day since bakery owners Ma and Madeira were married in north Manchester’s first same-sex civil partnership. They want a baby, but after unsuccessfully trying to adopt a Vietnamese orphan, their attentions turn to the local men as potential sperm donors.

Candidates are a letdown until the drop-dead gorgeous and charismatic politician Richard ‘Dickie’ Moseley sweeps into town. But his extreme right wing policies spell disaster. The devastated Mancunians look for a saviour.

It appears in an unlikely form. As with all MaD productions, this is a long way from being a conventional theatre production. Music and film play a big part, along with cameo appearances from local celebrities and musicians.

Writer/director Rob Lees explains there is a subplot on film, done almost in a Carry On or early British comedy style,  which weaves around the action.

He adds: “In Angels With Manky Faces, for instance, we probably had about eight films which worked almost as Victorian music videos. Sometimes they interacted with what was happening onstage and sometimes they stood alone.

“With this one we definitely wanted to use the screen to properly interact with what is happening onstage.

“In all honesty, when we first started using multi-media four or five years ago in our play ASBO, which was the one that was on at the Library Theatre, we did it because we couldn’t afford a set! I met Paul Cliff, who’s a photographer, and he suggested that he could project images of whatever location it was.”

Another production had one film within it and a subsequent one had an image for the set and films within it as well. “We’ve found a lot of our audience are not  traditional theatre-goers but they are used to cinema or comedy, and they really seemed to like it.”

He adds: “Our main score with this piece is an unsigned band from Stretford called The Naughtys. They let us use one of their songs last year in Angels With Manky Faces. Then we filmed them and they became these convict characters.”

This time more songs were used from their back catalogue and  a subplot constructed around them.

“Their stuff is quite like our stuff really. They usually tell a story, it’s quite tongue in cheek, it’s very northern, and it’s a bit cheeky. It’s quirky and uplifting, like I feel our play is.”