A Celebration of STORYSWAP!
STORYSWAP was an outreach project: Levy Little theatre reached out to everyone and anyone who had an idea for a story, sketch, drama, monologue, poem and invited them to film their story and send it over to LLT.
Well, what a brilliant array of submissions from wonderful writers and performers. We had eight stories in total and all of which were so different, celebrating new talent and also the talents of established and well known writers.
First off we had Peter Gardiner's Stacks which took look at a man who was quarantined in his flat, reminiscing about his grandmother. It was a moving and mesmerising film, beautifully shot and put together.
Next was a piece called Stuck Inside, Looking Out by Claire Lever. This piece saw a middle-class mum discussing Lockdown with her friend on Zoom. She hilariously describes her observations and feelings of Lockdown and it is a piece that I am sure many parents can relate to.
Next we had a poem written by L.Byron and performed by Phoebe Cross. This was called Lock and Key and saw a woman desperately trying to find the key to unlock how trapped she feels in the current pandemic. She realises that her business is the one constant thing in her life and so the one thing to give her comfort and hope - her key.
The fourth STORYSWAP was from Rosina Carbone who wrote and performed in a piece called Unprecedented Times. This piece sees Ruth sharing her experience of Lockdown in her first Vlog. Her revelations take a somewhat sinister twist.
Next we had Samuel Smith's deadpan humour in a piece called Coronavirus 2064. It imagines a world in the future where the Coronavirus strikes again and Sam compares the situation now (2064) with back in 2020.
Our sixth piece was from Rachael McGuinness whose character was video-calling her friend back home to reveal the real reason why she moved out to the Costa Del Sol. Gonzalo is a brilliant character-piece with some surprises along the way.
The penultimate piece was written by Aisling Caffrey and Verity Henry and performed by Verity Henry. Pink Lady was about a woman who was desperately trying to make the perfect apple pie during Lockdown. Again, a great comedy character-piece with a darker side.
Last up we had a piece written by well-known TV writer Peter Bowker (The A Word, World on Fire, Flesh & Blood) - a master writer of our time and whose piece called Jenny's Story was performed by Levy Little Theatre's founder Gemma North. Jenny finds five minutes to herself in the bathroom and unfurls her unusual situation in Lockdown.
Thank you to all those who submitted and thank you to all of you who watched, commented and shared. If you haven't watched them yet, all of the videos are available to view at levylittletheatre.com/storyswap.