Cover Page

SOME EXPLICIT POLAROIDS

Mark Ravenhill

Out of Joint,
in association with Karl Sydow and Ambassador Theatre Group,
presents

SOME EXPLICIT POLAROIDS

BY MARK RAVENHILL

This production was first performed at the Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds
30 September 1999

First performed in London at the New Ambassadors Theatre
12 October 1999

Out of Joint registered charity no 1033059

OUT OF JOINT AUTUMN TOUR 1999

SOME EXPLICIT POLAROIDS

BY MARK RAVENHILL

30 September – 2 October
Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds
01284 769505

5 – 9 October
Crucible Theatre Studio, Sheffield
0114 249 6000

12 October – 20 November
New Ambassadors Theatre, London
0171 836 6111

25 – 27 November
Devonshire Park Theatre, Eastbourne
01323 412000

1 – 4 December
Grand Theatre, Blackpool
01253 290190

BY SIMON BENNETT

4 – 7 August
Cambridge Arts Theatre
01223 503333

12 – 29 August
Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh
0131 228 1404

1 September – 9 October
New Ambassadors Theatre, London
0171 836 6111

13 – 16 October
Mercury Theatre, Colchester
01206 573948

19 – 23 October
Everyman Theatre, Liverpool
0151 709 4776

29 & 30 October
Them Hawth, Crawley
01293 553636

2 – 6 Novembers
Them Drums, Plymouth Theatre Royal
01752 267222

9 – 13 November
Oxford Playhouse
01865 798600

Out of Joint was founded in 1993 by Max Stafford-Clark and Sonia Friedman to generate new writing for the stage and to tour this work nationally and internationally. Out of Joint consistently champions the work of contemporary writers, whether they are established figures such as Caryl Churchill or newcomers like Mark Ravenhill, whose first play, Shopping and Fucking, was such a remarkable success. In just over five years Out of Joint has produced a formidable body of work and has become a powerful new voice in British theatre. The company is increasingly in demand worldwide and much of its work remains in the repertoire for up to two years to enable further touring.

The plays produced have been enormously varied in style and matter. From Sue Townsend’s satire about the Royal Family’s exile to a Leicester council estate, The Queen and I, to Sebastian Barry’s poetic drama The Steward of Christendom; and from the comedy and social realism of April de Angelis’ The Positive Hour, to Caryl Churchill’s inventive Blue Heart, the productions demonstrate the diversity that is Out of Joint’s identity.

In 1997, Out of Joint’s work was rewarded by a permanent commitment from the Arts Council of England. In its short life, Out of Joint has also received 17 major awards, including the Prudential Award for Theatre, and has been nominated for a further 16.

To date, Out of Joint has played in over 44 venues nationally and in a further 35 theatres worldwide.

“BRITAIN’S MOST SUCCESSFUL TOURING COMPANY”

THE STAGE

“in rehearsals, Mark was like an artist with a palette, working on what was in front of him, so the Script changed in response to the work the actors were presenting”
Max Stafford-Clark (Director)

“in the first week, when the script was changing constantly, you realised that it could turn out with you having only half a scene… you didn’t have to fight, but you had to be concentrating all the time”
Russell Barr (Tim)

“whether the script is complete or not, there’s still a character on the page that you have to find”
Sally Rogers(Helen)

“Mark always moves forward with the newest version – every scene is a clean slate”
Joe White (Assistant Director)

“letting the audience in is always a curious moment. Sometimes the response the audience gives you provides the missing element. It completes it”
Max Stafford-Clark (Director)

“in rehearsals I am used to having the writer there at every moment”
Max Stafford-Clark (Director)

“I like to be in control of the play’s development – ideally I’d like to be in rehearsals all the time”
Mark Ravenhill (Writer)

“can you imagine the luxury for an actor to say, that doesn’t feel right, can we change it, ah yes, that feels right now – it’s rare, that”
Sally Rogers (Helen)

“what you hope is that writers can act as spokesmen for a generation, that they will provide the pleasure of recognition, so that the audience will find themselves thinking, ’oh yes, that’s what I’ve been thinking all the time, but I’ve never been able to articulate it”
Max Stafford-Clark (Director)

“when you’re on tour, the difference between audiences all over the world is much less than people think – the difference always lies more in the architecture than the audience”
Max Stafford-Clark (Director)

“when you take a play abroad, whichever country you’re in, what translates is story”
Mark Ravenhill (Writer)

“Some Explicit Polaroids is a political play; it looks at the values people had twenty years ago and the absence of them now, and asks whether this is a loss or an improvement”
Max Stafford-Clark (Director)

“my character asks the question: ‘how did we get from there to here? How did we let this happen?’ Maybe the play is suggesting we ask that question now”
Sally Rogers (Helen)

“what’s surprising and interesting is how well, some of the more shocking parts of my writing have been received. I don’t think the English are as prudish or as easily shocked as we think”
Mark Ravenhill (Writer)

“Mark’s able to give a tiny glimmer of hope, a feeling that something’s beginning to change – I think it has to”
Russell Barr (Tim)

INTERVIEWS WITH THE COMPANY COMPILED BY ALICE LASCELLES

Out of Joint’s Productions

1994

Out of Joint’s inaugural production paired a revival of Road, Jim Cartwright’s mid- 80’s classic, with Sue Townsend’s adaptation of her own hilarious novel, The Queen and I, The plays toured to packed houses and The Queen and I played for twelve weeks at the Royal Court Theatre before it transferred to the West End. The company’s second tour yoked The Libertine, Stephen Jeffreys’ new biographical play about the Earl of Rochester, with a revival of his friend George Etherege’s ground-breaking Restoration comedy The Man of Mode.

1995

Timberlake Wertenbaker wrote The Break of Day specifically to accompany Chekhov’s Three Sisters and the two productions played at the Royal Court and on tour with the same company of actors. Out of Joint toured India with Three Sisters which also played a memorable season at Rossway Park, a large country house outside London. The Steward of Christendom won much praise for writer Sebastian Barry, actor Donal McCann and director Max Stafford-Clark. It ran for two seasons at both the Royal Court Theatre and The Gate Theatre in Dublin and toured internationally including a highly successful season at BAM in New York.

1996

Mark Ravenhill’s Shopping and Fucking began life at the tiny Royal Court Theatre Upstairs where it was hailed as a serious and remarkable debut. It has since completed sell-out runs at the Royal Court and in the West End as well as touring nationally and internationally.

1997

Out of Joint co-produced April de Angelis’ witty and astute social comedy The Positive Hour with Hampstead Theatre and toured it to Leeds, Cambridge, Liverpool, Watford, Warwick and Newcastle. Caryl Churchill’s Blue Heart, marked the company’s ninth co-production with the Royal Court Theatre. The play won a coveted Fringe First Award at the Edinburgh Festival before playing in London, across the country and in Egypt,

1998

In Out of Joint’s busiest year to date, the company toured Blue Heart internationally whilst Shopping and Fucking undertook a further UK tour. Out of Joint commissioned Sebastian Barry to write Our Lady of Sligo for the company and this poetic memory play about the life of Mai O’Hara (Sinéad Cusack) played to full houses at the Royal National Theatre, at the Gate Theatre Dublin and on tour. Max Stafford-Clark’s revival of Our Country’s Good by Timberlake Wertenbaker was co-produced with the Young Vic Theatre and was enthusiastically received by critics and a very appreciative young audience.

1999

After Blue Heart’s New York premiere, Out of Joint embarked on a further tour of Our Country’s Good, taking the company from Cambridge to Brazil, Israel, Bulgaria and Lithuania. In addition to Some Explicit Polaroids by Mark Ravenhill, Out of Joint has also premiered Drummers by new writer Simon Bennett, in a production which has received critical acclaim at this year’s Edinburgh Festival and in the West End.

For updated information on our future plans, join our mailing list.

SOME EXPLICIT POLAROIDS

BY MARK RAVENHILL

Cast in alphabetical order:

Tim

Russell Barr

Nick

Nick Dunning

Nadia

Fritha Goodey

Helen

Sally Rogers

Jonathan

David Sibley

Victor

Matthew Wait

Director

Max Stafford-Clark

Designer

Julian McGowan

Lighting Designer

Johanna Town

Sound Designer

Paul Arditti

Dialect Coach

Jeanette Nelson

Assistant Director

Joe White.

Casting Director

Toby Whale

Choreographer

Jeremy James

With special thanks to

Ann Pennington

Stephen Beresford

Pearce Quigley

Production Management

Phil Cameron

for Background Production Limited

Company and Stage Manager

Richard Blacksell

Deputy Stage Manager

Graham Michael

Assistant Stage Manager

Katherine Grant

Production Electricians

Matthew O’Connor, Tim Bray

Costume Supervisor

Sue Coates

Wardrobe Mistress

Lesley Huckstepp

Production Photography

John Haynes

Rehearsal Photography

Charlie Crane

Poster Design

Sightlines

For Out of Joint

Producer

Graham Cowley

Tour Marketing

Margred Pryce

for Mollison Consulting

London Marketing

Guy Chapman Associates

Press

Cameron Duncan PR

Administrator

Suzannah Bedford

Admin and Marketing Assistant

Alice Lascelles

Production credits: GB Lucky Bag Co. Ltd, Addison Ward – Guys Hospital, In the Lap of the Gods, Love Muscle @ The Fridge, Astral Club, Sainsburys, JVC Electronics, Jessops Photographic.

With thanks to: Rema Horton

MARK RAVENHILL (Writer)

Mark Ravenhill’s first full-length play, Shopping and Fucking, was produced by Out of Joint and the Royal Court Theatre and opened at the Theatre Upstairs at The Ambassador’s in September 1996 prior to a national tour. It transferred to the West End in June 1997 prior to an international tour, and opened in New York in January 1998. It has subsequently been produced all over the world. Other works include Faust is Dead (Actors Touring Company), Sleeping Around (Paines Plough) and Handbag (Actors Touring Company) for which he won an Evening Standard Award.

PAUL ARDITTI (Sound Designer)

Paul has been designing for theatre since 1983. He currently combines his post as Head of Sound at the Royal Court Theatre in London (for whom he has designed more than forty productions) with regular freelance projects. For the Royal Court Theatre, Paul’s designs include: Some Voices, Pale Horse, Mojo, The Weir, The Kitchen, Rat in the Skull, Hysteria, Attempts On Her Life, Never Land, Blasted, Cleansed, Real Classy Affair, The Glory of Living, Toast and Lift Off. Out of Joint work includes: The Steward of Christendom, Shopping and Fucking, Blue Heart and Our Lady of Sligo (co-production with the Royal National Theatre). Other recent work includes: Hamlet and The Tempest (Royal Shakespeare Company); The Weir, Via Dolorosa and Lonesome West (Broadway); Doctor Dolittle and Hay Fever (West End). Paul won a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Sound Design in 1992 for Four Baboons Adoring the Sun at the Lincoln Center, New York, and was nominated again last year for his work on Simon McBurney’s acclaimed production of The Chairs.

RUSSELL BARR (Tim)

Trained at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. Theatre work includes: the Out of Joint world tour and West End production of Shopping and Fucking; The Trial directed by Robin Wilson; The Barber of Seville directed by Caroline Hall; The Night I Grooved (Citizens Theatre); Stiff directed by Caroline Hall. Also: Voices From Spain at the Royal Court Theatre Upstairs. Film work includes: The Slab Boys (Skreba Films); Regeneration (Shellshocked Films); Land Girls (Skreba Films) and The Match (Propaganda Films). Other work includes Casualty for BBC television and Confessions of a Justified Sinner for Radio Four.

GRAHAM COWLEY (Producer)

Out of Joint’s Producer since 1998. His long collaboration with Max Stafford-Clark began as Joint Stock Theatre Group’s first General Manager for seven years in the 1970s. He was General Manager of the Royal Court Theatre for eight years, and on their behalf transferred a string of hit plays to the West End. Before the Royal Court he was General Manager of the Half Moon Theatre in Stepney for five years. His career has spanned the full range of theatre production, from small fringe companies to major West End shows and large scale commercial tours. Most recently transferred the Royal Court’s production of The Weir to the West End and produced A Kind of Alaska at the Edinburgh Festival and in the USA.

NICK DUNNING (Nick)

Theatre includes; Our Country’s Good; The Recruiting Officer; Beside Herself; Glasshouses (Royal Court Theatre); Handful of Dust; Marriage; The Wandering Jew; Country Mania (Shared Experience / Royal National Theatre); The Taming of the Shrew and Happy End (Royal Shakespeare Company); The Last Ones and The Marriage of Figaro (Abbey Theatre, Dublin); No Man’s Land (International Pinter Festival, Gate Theatre, Dublin). Television and film work includes: The Firm; Medics; Casualty; The Young Ones; Drop the Dead Donkey; Rory Bremner; Into the Blue; Remembrance; Way Upstream; Dangerfield; London Kills Me; Supergrass; The Fifth Province; Vanity Fair.

FRITHA GOOOEY (Nadia)

Fritha trained at LAMDA where her lead theatre roles included Dora in David Copperfield, Helena in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Yelena in Uncle Vanya and Cornelia in The White Devil. Since graduating her television work has included Roger Roger for BBC, Randall & Hopkirk Dec’d for Working Title and the regular role of Moira in Dr Willoughby, a new series for Thames Television. She has also participated in staged readings of The Inn at Lydda and The Puritan at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. Radio work includes After the Funeral, an Agatha Christie play.

JULIAN MCGOWAN (Designer)

Theatre designs include Our Lady of Sligo; Shopping and Fucking; The Steward of Christendom (Out of Joint / Royal Court); The Positive Hour (Out of Joint/ Hampstead Theatre). Designs for the Royal Court Theatre: The Censor; Blood; American Bagpipes; The Treatment; Downfall; Women Laughing (and Manchester Royal Exchange). Other theatre designs include: Translations (Abbey Theatre, Dublin); The Possibilites; The LA Plays; Venice Preserved (Almeida); Don Juan; The Lodger; Experiments with an Air Pump (Royal Exchange); Heart Throb (Bush Theatre); Surgeon of Honour (Cheek by Jowl); Prin (Lyric Hammersmith and West End); Imagine Drowning; Hamlet (Greenwich); The Changeling (RSC – set only); The Cavalcaders (Theatr Clwyd); The Wives’ Excuse (RSC); Torquatto Tasso (Edinburgh Festival); Experiments with and Airpump (Royal Exchange). Opera includes: Cosi Fan Tutte (New Israeli Opera); Eugene Onegin (Scottish Opera) and Siren Song (Almeida Opera Festival).

SALLY ROGERS (Helen)

Trained at Webber Douglas. Most recently, Sally has completed a major international tour of Our Country’s Good for Out of Joint. Other theatre includes: Blue Heart (Out of Joint), Uganda and Killing the Cat (Royal Court Theatre Upstairs); Blithe Spirit and Oliver Twist (Bristol Old Vic); Billy Liar, Murmuring Judges, Arturo Ui and Black Snow (Royal National Theatre); Midsummer Night’s Dream (Chester Gateway). Television credits include: The Lakes; Casualty; Beyond Fear; A Touch of Frost; Dangerfield; Seaforth; Paul Calf’s Video Diary; 3 Fights; Three Weddings and a Funeral; Get Calf; EastEnders; Out of Hours.

DAVID SIBLEY (Jonathan)

Trained at the Drama Centre. Theatre includes: Naked (Almeida Theatre and Playhouse); The Positive Hour (Out of Joint / Hampstead Theatre); The Marriage of Mr Mississippi (New End Theatre); Ripped (Soho Theatre Company); The Great Highway (Gate Theatre); Lion in the Streets (Hampstead Theatre); The Last Elephant and Turning Over (Bush Theatre); Hamlet (Royal Court Theatre); Arturo Ui (Half Moon Theatre); Cocks and Hens (Soho Poly Theatre). Television includes: Drovers Gold; Frontier; The Big One; Middlemarch; Redemption; Traitors; The Manageress, Wilderness Road; An Inspector Calls; The Kitchen; Minder; The Nightmare Years; Stars of the Roller State Disco; The Fatal Spring; Voyage of the Beagle. Films include: Guest House Paradiso; Incognito; Princess Cariboo; Ultimate City; Willow; Gandhi; Yanks.

MAX STAFFORD-CLARK (Director)

Educated at Trinity College, Dublin. Founded Joint Stock Theatre group in 1974 following his Artistic Directorship of the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh. From 1979 to 1993 he was Artistic Director of the Royal Court Theatre. In 1993 he founded Out of Joint. His work as a Director has been overwhelmingly with new writing, and he has commissioned and directed first productions by many of the country’s leading writers.

JOHANNA TOWN (Lighting Designer)

Johanna has been Head of Lighting for the Royal Court Theatre since 1990 and has designed extensively for the company during this time. Productions include: The Kitchen, Faith Healer, Pale Horse, Search & Destroy, Women Laughing and Neverland. Theatre credits over the past year include: Drummers (Out of Joint); Rose (Royal National Theatre); Little Malcolm and His Struggle Against the Eunuchs (Hampstead and West End); Our Country’s Good (Young Vic / Out of Joint); Our Lady of Sligo (Royal National Theatre / Out of Joint); Blue Heart (New York / Out of Joint); Choice and Toast (Royal Court Theatre Upstairs), Opera credits include: Tobias & The Angel (Almeida Opera Festival); La Boheme and Die Fiedermaus (MTL). Johanna is currently working on the refurbishment of the Royal Court Theatre in Sloane Square.

MATTHEW WAIT (Victor)

Trained at Rotherham College of Arts and Dance and Rose Bruford College. Theatre includes: Cool Water Murder (Belgrade Theatre); Certain Young Men (Almeida); Down Red Lane and Rough (Birmingham Repertory); Tartuffe (PW Productions Mobil Tour); Orpheus (Actors Touring Company); Pitchfork Disney and Marowitz Hamlet (Glasgow Citizens); Weldon Rising (Royal Court Theatre); Birdy (Lyric Theatre Hammersmith) and comedy theatre (West End). Television includes: Wing and a Prayer; Where the Heart Is; Crocodile Shoes; 99-1; Sam Saturday; Out of the Blue; Peak Practice; Clarissa and The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles.

JOE WHITE (Assistant Director)

Most recently, Joe assisted Drummers and Our Country’s Good, both for Out of Joint During his thirteen years of imprisonment he was involved in the production and promotion of theatre as both director and performer. Prison productions include: East, The Love of a Good Man, Our Country’s Good, Crime and Punishment, Death and the Maiden and The Possibilities. He has assisted Steven Pimlott’s Vieux Carre (Nottingham Playhouse) and Nicholas de Jongh’s Traveller Without Luggage (Battersea Arts Centre). He has also contributed a chapter, ’The Prisoner’s Voice’, to the publication Prison Theatre: Perspectives and Practice.

CO-PRODUCERS

Some Explicit Polaroids is co-produced with Karl Sydow and the Ambassador Theatre Group.

KARL SYDOW

Formerly Chief Executive of First Call plc. Has produced / co-produced: Drummers, Macbeth, A Swell Party, Our Country’s Good (which was nominated for six Tony Awards and received the New York Critics’ Award for Best Foreign Play), Hysteria Pest Comedy, Olivier Awards), The Quern and I, Karl is a Board member of Out of Joint.

AMBASSADOR THEATRE GROUP

Ambassador Theatre Group Ltd (ATG) has three main areas of activity: the ownership and management of theatre buildings, theatre production (in the West End but also nationally and internationally) and the development of new productions. ATG currently owns and operates the following arts buildings: The Duke of Yorks and the New Ambassadors in London, The New Victoria Theatre and Ambassaaors Cinemas in Woking, The Victoria Hall and Regent Theatre in Stoke-on-Trent, The Milton Keynes Theatre and the historic Theatre Royal Brighton. It is also in the process of developing and acquiring other regional and London theatres.

ATG and its management company the Turnstyle Group Ltd, have a considerable track record in producing and co-producing for the West End and on national and International tours. Recent productions include: Carmen Jones, The Rocky Horror Show, Smokey Joe’s Cafe, The Royal Court Classics Season, Slava’s Snow Show, The Late Middle Classes, Last Dance at Dum Dum, Drummers and the Royal Court’s Olivier Award winning play The Weir in London and on Broadway. They are about to produce a major new production of the classic musical The Pajama Game directed by Simon Callow.

In 1998 Sonia Friedman joined ATG as Producer where she is responsible for initiating, developing and producing a wide range of work for theatre across the West End, UK and internationally. From 1989 - 1993, Sonia was head of Mobile Productions and Theatre for Young People at the RNT where she was responsible for producing over 30 productions and projects. In 1993 Sonia co-founded Out of Joint with Max Stafford-Clark and has co-produced many productions with the Royal Court, RNT and Hampstead. In 1994 Sonia also produced Maria Friedman by Special Arrangement at the Donmar Warehouse.

OUT OF JOINT EDUCATION

Out of Joint is committed to providing educational work to complement its productions. Max Stafford-Clark has led over a hundred workshops and seminars for the Company, with positive feedback from students and teachers alike:

“Max Stafford-Clark was really great. I was wrong that he’d be a rich, upper-class, posh talking man who’d make me feel extremely intimidated. He appeared very down to earth and very dedicated to directing. He was very helpful and made us feel very comfortable.”

“At the beginning of the workshop I felt very nervous…but I became more confident due to the activities. I would definitely like to do it again”

“Enormous value - we were able to see inside the world of the director from a professional and creative point of view…the level of work was demanding which was excellent”

“First class: I cannot imagine how the workshop could have been improved”

“Thank you so much for an inspiring day. The students were thrilled to have taken part in the workshop and were awe-struck by the power of the production”

SOME EXPLICIT POLAROIDS EDUCATION PROGRAMME

Out of Joint is offering an exciting and challenging education programme to accompany the production, including workshops and free post-show discussions. For more Information please contact Out of Joint on 0171 609 0207.

SOME EXPLICIT POLAROIDS PLAYTEXT

From November 1st 1999, a playtext for Some Explicit Polaroids will be available from Out of Joint for £3.00 (including postage and packaging) - in bookshops the text costs £6.99. To buy your copy, please write to Out of Joint, 20 - 24 Eden Grove, London N7 8EA with your name, address, daytime phone number and enclosing a cheque/postal order for £3.00 per copy. The cheque should be made payable to Out of Joint.

The Story Continues on BooksBarbecue!

Enjoyed this preview? ❤️ Do not stop here!

Read the complete book free online → 🔗

Continue reading now on BooksBarbecue and discover every page!

Love reading? Bookmark BooksBarbecue.com for more amazing books!

Happy Reading!