Award-winning physical theatre company ThickSkin (How Not to Drown, Peak Stuff, Blood Harmony) and rural touring company Pentabus (Make Good, One of Them Ones, The Silence and The Noise) team up to remount their 2023 co-production, Driftwood by Tim Foley. Originally conceived and produced for rural touring, Driftwood will be scaled up for a national tour in 2025. This striking new play perfectly balances a moving and at times funny story in a distinctive physical and cinematic production.
Driftwood follows two brothers from a northern seaside town.. Mark and Tiny go for walks along the shore. Their Dad is dying, and their town is crumbling. Family rifts and political divides try to pull them apart, while a figure made of driftwood stalks the shore at night… Driftwood is an inspiring, expansive story about hope, love, belonging and the tides within us.
Playwright Tim Foley is a bright talent and former winner of the prestigious Bruntwood Prize and was previously Pentabus’ Channel 4 Writer-in-Residence in 2016. The production also see’s ThickSkin reunite with regular collaborators including Lighting Designer, Charly Dunford (Peak Stuff, Blood Harmony). Charly was awarded the 2022 ALPD Michael Northern Award and is one of the most exciting young lighting designers in the UK right now. Equally, Sound Designer, Lee Affen has collaborated on ThickSkin’s award-nominated Walk This Way series of immersive audio plays. Lee has created a beautifully cinematic music score for Driftwood. The show includes an expansive video design by Sarah Readman, which integrates creative captions, making Driftwood a fully accessible production for those benefiting from captions/subtitles.
When first approached to write this new play, Tim knew what he wanted to write…
“I’m delighted to be heading home with my new play Driftwood. North East England has coastlines that get under your skin, and I wanted to write the kind of story that lets you taste the salt in the air and gets sand between your toes. This tale, with its bickering brothers and ancient myths and bags full of chips, is as wild and varied as the landscape that bore it – so join us in celebrating an area and confronting the forces that are working against it.”
ThickSkin’s Artistic Director, Neil Bettles said: “It’s great to be reuniting with Tim and the Pentabus team to develop Driftwood for mid-scale venues around the country. After the warm response from audiences for the 2023 tour, we wanted to share the production more widely. It’s a show that we are very proud of. Pentabus are well-known for their craft in developing new-writing and it includes all the hallmarks of a ThickSkin show – fast-paced, cinematic, dynamic quality that we hope will have broad appeal.”
Pentabus’ Artistic Director Elle While said: “It’s a pleasure to be working alongside ThickSkin again to bring Driftwood to a broader audience. This partnership allows us to take Tim’s incredible story and elevate it to new heights, keeping the heart and authenticity of the piece intact while expanding its reach. ThickSkin brings such a unique energy to the production with their cinematic and physical approach, which perfectly complements the craft of new writing that we’re known for at Pentabus. Upscaling Driftwood together with this team feels like a natural step forward, and we’re excited to share this evocative, deeply-rooted story with even more audiences.”
