Five tales inspired from the crossroad of Cov
This open-air performance provides five short plays for the price of one and forms part of the Plumline Festival celebrating 100 years of Coventry Cathedral through a variety of grassroots projects involving local people. The plays are written by local writers Ola Animashawun, Marcia Layne, Alan Pollock, Paven Virk and Nick Walker, and they feature fixed points over the last 100 years when people have been in the grounds of the cathedral as they have reached a crossroads in their lives and face important life choices. The stories are neatly linked together with the cast hauntingly singing the famous hymn Abide with Me, and cover such topics as teenage pregnancy, tales of war, immigration, and survival from a terrorist bombing. Produced in association with the Belgrade Theatre, a talented and youthful cast of five show remarkable versatility and reflect the multi-cultural nature of the city. The old cathedral provides an extremely atmospheric set and the actors make good use of all the available space and the simple props. Performing outdoors always presents a challenge with background noise particularly when taking place in a city centre. However with the aid of microphones the actors are able to project themselves effectively and do full justice to thoughtful and entertaining scripts with the audience particularly appreciating the references to local people, places and events. The production achieves its aim of telling some of the story of the cathedral and its historical context across the decades, and makes a significant contribution to the Plumline festival. Meet me in the Ruins is 65 minutes of strong and diverse theatre and is time very well spent. However, it was announced at the beginning that the actors would, quite correctly, be very reluctant to move the production indoors in the event of rain. You are therefore strongly advised to check the weather forecast and possibly take your brolly with you!
For tickets go to: http://www.belgrade.co.uk
