Pitlochry Festival Theatre has announced that after the success of the opening season of its new audio-digital venture Sound Stage, it will be premiering two new audio plays over the Autumn – the first being, in association with the leading independent audio production company Naked Productions, award-winning novelist and playwright Cathy Forde’s new play Helping Hands.
Directed by Pitlochry Festival Theatre’s Associate Director Ben Occhipinti, Helping Hands will premiere on Sound Stage from 26-28 November.
Helping Hands tells the story of Rose, an agency support worker, who gives care to the elderly and vulnerable in her community. Hilda is one of those clients. One day when both women find themselves in crisis, a relationship develops that neither woman expected but both desperately needed.
Whilst Rose battles to understand Hilda’s determination to stay at home no matter how physically frail she becomes, Hilda is determined not to allow Rose to take the same path in life as she has, stifled by expectation and compromise.
However, whilst the relationship is developing, Hilda is choosing to make a decision that will change everything.
Helping Hands exciting cast will feature Maureen Beattie (Deadwater Fell, ITV, Yerma, Young Vic and The Ferryman, Gielgud Theatre) and Charlene Boyd (Annika, ITV; River City, BBC; The Trial of Christine Keener, BBC; The Macbeths, Traverse Theatre).
Playwright Cathy Forde said: “Helping Hands is a play which gives voice to characters who are often overlooked: the incredibly old and professional caregivers. The play was born from a pre-pandemic conversation with my friend and colleague Charlene Boyd – an actor for whom I have always wanted to create a character. We traded anecdotes about my elderly, ailing mother and Charlene’s grandmother. Both women would rather remain independent in their homes, if possible, rather than be admitted to hospital for investigations or treatment, even if it meant suffering and discomfort.
I wrote a draft of this play just before the first COVID 19 struck. Thanks to a bursary from Playwrights’ Studio, I was able to develop the script over Zoom with Charlene (as Rose) and Keith Fleming (as Hilda). I am absolutely delighted it has found its way to Pitlochry Festival Theatre to premiere on Sound Stage.”
Helping Hands, which is being produced in association with Naked Productions and has received initial script development support from the Playwrights’ Studio, Scotland, will premiere on Sound Stage from 26-28 November. For tickets and further information visit www.pitlochryfestivaltheatre.com
