Stonecrabs is a theatre company based in Lewisham which provides training for young directors at the start of their career. Each year a small number of young directors go through a training programme centred around production, project management and theatre directing. Stonecrabs introduce artistic and practical management tools for the director and encourage an individual approach, fostering the director’s own vision. At the end of the programme, the participants put their training into practice by producing a festival of productions with professional actors, each participant directing a play of their choice. This popular Programme has been running since 2006.
Practical, reliable director training is thin on the ground – and unlike many other training courses for directors, Stonecrabs do not charge exorbitant fees. The production budget for Stomping Ground is raised collectively by the company of directors, giving them experience of arts funding as well as producing a festival. Furthermore, the company are given workshops from world-class theatre practitioners exploring a wide variety of methods.
This year, the festival is called Stomping Ground and runs from 15th – 17th March at the Albany Theatre. Each evening, you can see three plays chosen and directed by one of Stonecrabs’ Young Directors – you can book to see individual shows at £6 each or you can by a 3 show pass for the night which is £15, this allows you to see all the shows for one evening.
Tickets are available here from the Albany website. See below for further details of the individual productions.
Wednesday 15 March
7pm Francine Morgan directs The Shawl by David Mamet
A wannabe psychic and apprentice plan to con a client out of their money; who gets what they came for?
8pm Emily Marshall directs Counting Stars by Atiha Sen Gupta
Join Nigerian toilet attendants Sophie and Abiodun on their biggest selling night of the year: Valentine’s Day
9pm Fernanda Mandagará directs The End Of All Miracles by Paulo Santoro
A visually enticing production that approaches dementia with poetry and gusto.
Thursday 16 March
7pm Beth Kapila directs Wasted by Kate Tempest
When our time feels wasted we start to get restless. Danny, Charlotte and Ted are changing things. This is it.
8pm Chris Davis directs Passing By by Martin Sherman
When Simon and Toby spend the night together, little do they realise the impact they will have on each other’s lives.
9pm Edwina Strobl directs Boxman by Daniel Keene
Ringo, displaced from his African homeland, invites you to his cardboard home in a city park to share with you his most valuable possession…his extraordinary life.
Friday 17 March
7pm Luke Howarth directs Captain Amazing by Alistair McDowall
In the eyes of their children, aren’t all parents superheroes? Mark is inconspicuous, middle-aged, jaded- until his daughter asks him to make up a bedtime story…
8pm Sam Luffman directs After Liverpool by James Saunders
An intimate romantic comedy examining the natural patterns in relationships, questioning gender and sexual politics. What would it mean to treat the person we are closet to as a stranger?
9pm Alex Prescot directs The Open Couple by Dario Fo
‘Dario Fo’s tightly-written farce, deftly switches between comic and serious in a whirlwind 50 minutes of brilliance.’
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