Frantic Assembly, in association with TEA films, have announced a week of streamed performances of I Think We Are Alone by Sally Abbott (The Coroner; Vera), the tour of which was cut short in March 2020 by the global pandemic.
This specially commissioned version for the screen, captured by TEA films and directed by Frantic Assembly Artistic Director Scott Graham, will be streamed on stream.theatre for one week only from Monday 29th November to Saturday 4th December as part of a ‘digital tour’.
Scott Graham said, When the pandemic put a halt to our tour of I Think We Are Alone, it felt cruel and unnatural. We were left with a feeling of disconnect and unfinished business. I Think We Are Alone was originally created through a fascination with our desires and difficulties to connect, how we alienate the ones we long to hold close. That has only been pulled into greater focus through numerous lockdowns. I Think We Are Alone is an opportunity to take the work in a new form to the venues and regions that missed out when the tour was halted and potentially to new audiences across the UK. We are building towards presenting work in theatres in the near future, but this project reflects our ache and desire to connect with our audience at a time when we need each other more than ever.
I Think We Are Alone was commissioned as Frantic Assembly’s 25th Anniversary production and premiered at Theatre Royal Plymouth in February 2020. It was on a 15-week tour and playing to full houses at Theatre Royal Stratford East when the tour was cut short due to the global pandemic. Now embarking on a ‘digital tour’, Frantic Assembly are working with venues whose dates had to be cancelled last year to reach audiences who missed out on seeing the show. These venues are Theatre Royal Plymouth, MAST Studios Southampton, Theatre Royal Stratford East, Oxford Playhouse, Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Curve Leicester and The Lowry.
The production was remounted and filmed at MAST Southampton, where Frantic Assembly is an Associate Company. Originally co-directed by Kathy Burke and Scott Graham, Graham directed the digital capture, which has been supported by an Arts Council England Project Grant and funding from The Garfield Weston Cultural Fund. The production was designed by Morgan Large with lighting by Paul Keogan, sound by Ella Wahlstrom and casting by Will Burton, filmed for digital release by TEA films.
Original cast members Charlotte Bate (On The Other Hand We’re Happy, Daughterhood) and Andrew Turner (Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, Coronation Street) are joined by new casting Diveen Henry (Hamlet; Barbican, Manhunt: Night Stalker), Khai Shaw (Little Baby Jesus, Decades), Kirsty Stuart (Gut, Painted People) and Elexi Walker (The Witches, Europa) for the digital version.
The delicate and uplifting play is about our fragility, resilience and need for love and forgiveness.
Two sisters (Charlotte Bate and Kirsty Stuart) are estranged and bicker over text. Their brittle and aggressive language is pushing them further apart when what they really want is to meet, clear the air and talk about the events that happened when they were young girls and haunt them still. Josie (Diveen Henry) is not allowing grief to get in the way. All her focus is on what is best for her son, Manny (Khai Shaw). She desperately wants him to fly but can she let him go? There is a person shaped hole in Graham’s heart (Andrew Turner) and it is driving him to some dark places. When a stranger returns an act of kindness both find themselves opening up and connecting in a way that might just bring a bit of light in.
I Think We Are Alone is a bittersweet and funny take on our ache to connect with those voices we need to hear again, those arms we need to feel around us and those faces we need to see again. It is about letting go and holding on to what we love the most.
