No Brave World (1997)

Devised and written by The Company

“No Brave World is absorbing, the mood of often savage introspection relieved by moments of humour and an astute awareness of balance and rhythm in the staging.” The Stage

The stories of five disparate characters collide to form a compelling, funny and moving journey through their memories and experience. Less of a story, more of a place, ‘No Brave World’ is a suspension of the rules of engagement and a time to tell the truth with knives, needles, soft toys and spotlights. Normal service may never be resumed.

NO BRAVE WORLD was the first show we made together after graduating from The Workshop Theatre and deciding to Be A Theatre Company. It used John Osborne’s “Look Back in Anger” to explore themes of anger, entrapment and frustration, ideal at the time as this was how we were all feeling. The process was long with Paul facilitating the rest of us to generate material for a piece which featured Method acting from hand puppets, Sixties surf pop and teddy bears being administered lethal injections.

The Company were invited to perform ‘No Brave World’ at the International Theatre Festival hosted by The Theatre Academy in Shanghai, China in October 1998.

First performed at the Workshop Theatre, University of Leeds

Wednesday 1st October 1997

Original Cast:

Louisa Ashley

Clare Duffy

Liz Margree

Jon Spooner

Chris Thorpe

Directed by Paul Warwick

Stage Management by Ed Collier

Original music by Chris Thorpe

What we wrote about it at the time…

“Not enough people saw this piece of theatre. It bashed you around the head and battered you a bit – but it was worth it.” LOUISA

“This show was like birth (I imagine). The gestation period made us grumpy and a bit sick, very excited and extremely nervous. The birth itself was quite difficult (first child and all that) but we learnt a lot and afterwards we had big time baby blues because we weren’t sure what to do with ourselves. But is was worth it because of the shared experience and what our work has and will become. Also the bear’s arms were definitely too long. And how do squirrels dance? Do do be do.” LIZ

“Scary, scary scary. I still feel a bit odd when I think about No Brave World. Cruelty and affection again describe it the best. I think we were trying to put Honesty on stage. She appeared with jokes, sex, murder and fear.” CLARE

“We previewed this show as a work in progress at Tension ’98, a forum for new work by young companies organised by the Open Performance Centre in Sheffield (unfortunately it hasn’t happened again). It had been a dark, dark year for all of us leading up to the process which at times was even darker. I will never forget watching Chris hang himself from the rig while Radiohead’s No Surprises played on the PA, or the extraordinary experience of a long improvising session where a beautiful and truly amazing actor Cesario ‘jammed’ with us. Other memories will be Russian-speaking teddy bears, Ice Magic (do *you* remember?) and the panic at the Square Chapel in Halifax when it became clear that there was no power going into the record player that was on stage which was supposed to play and we were all supposed to dance to, bumping into Chris at the side of the stage in the blackout who was also trying to make it work and then covering the lack of music by screaming – the 8 audience members seemed to like it ‘tho. People who saw the show either hated or loved it. I also know that none of us are prepared to work with Chris’s trainers again.” JON

“Like the teenage son that you’re secretly proud of, despite the fact he embarrasses himself in public by picking his nose and wiping it on his Metallica t-shirt, and speaks in a squeaky underdeveloped voice.” CHRIS

“The show was hard as f–k, the process was harder. Plenty of staring off bridges on this one. I really suffered, and I think everyone else did too. We weren’t in love with the world in 1997 and thought hard about really nasty things. Extraordinary bonds exist between us as a result of working on No Brave World. Jimmy the Fish will always be remembered as a very welcome light moment. I stand by this show with pride, we meant it. It’s easy to call something immature because you no longer have the courage to think about it any more. Is anyone out there angry?” PAUL