CityLife

Moving Pictures And Other Work

Moving Pictures And Other Work
Lowry Studio
July 4, 2010

I'm often asked how a fledgling playwright gets work seen? My response usually is that you can emulate famous playwrights like Harold Pinter and John Osborne and simply send your scripts into producing theatres or, as in the case of local writer Cathy Crabb,  provide your own showcase.

Crabb who has already submitted work in the annual 24.7 Theatre Festival, was winner in 2005 of the Manchester Evening News Drama Award for Best Fringe Production for Moving Pictures. Her work has already been seen at the Royal Exchange Studio, Oldham Coliseum, the Library Theatre, Studio Salford and now she presents a collection of unfinished pieces at the Lowry Studio.

This is a very brave thing to do and while Crabb should be applauded for taking the risk some pieces were unfortunately less successful than others.

Tuesday's August Class tops and tails the first half of Other Works. At the start we see a group of women in the early stages of pregnancy attending pre-natal classes. At the end of the first half we see them again, with their partners this time, as their waters break and birth pangs start. There's some funny lines and presumably there's a middle section still to be written.

I particularly liked Elizabeth Poole's performance as Isabella on the School Run and Clayton Whitter and Danny Stewart in Fag Ends.

But the highlight of the evening was undoubtedly Moving Pictures, a tender story of two women who turn out to be sisters. There are terrific performances from both Denice Hope and Sue Jaynes who were the original
cast.

When the whole gamut of Crabb's work is viewed you can see why she's already benefited from Arts Council as well as other sources of funding enabling her to continue her work.

While new writing should be encouraged - after all new playwrights are the life-blood of theatre - of all the pieces seen at The Studio, Moving Pictures is the one with most potential to be developed into a full- length play with more characters fleshing out the story. Now I'd like to see that one.