Nigh Journal

Thursday, October 8th, 2009

Beyond the Front Line at The Lowry.

Slung Low Theatre Co’s Beyond the Front Line is on at the Lowry now. Buy tickets. Now! Sorry…got a bit miltaristic there. I went to see the show’s preview on Monday and the effect still hasn’t worn off. But, in all seriousness, the show definitely leaves it mark on you.

If you’ve somehow managed to avoid me blabbing on about it in recent blog posts, tweets and facebook statuses there’s an in-depth interview with artistic director Alan Lane here as well as an interview with Dave Toole, one of the central performers, here.

Monday was also the first time I saw the chapter I wrote brought to life. As this is my theatrical writing debut, I really couldn’t be happier as the amazingly talented Dom Finch (above) and director Alan have created an amazing sequence that really delivers a powerful, emotional punch.

As the audience you will follow one of four different paths providing different experiences (so there’s a 75% chance you’ll steer clear of my writing altogether ) so I was very pleased to see the other three paths by the other three brilliant writers - Matthew Scott, Joel Horwood and Chris Thorpe - on Monday as well. Considering we all had the same brief, it’s amazing how different yet equally engrossing each story has turned out.

I’ve learned a great deal contributing to this show, not only from working with Slung Low on something so original but researching the subject matter and trying to do it justice. So if you are able to get to Salford and see a performance, I would strongly recommend you ready yourself with a steady mindset and sensible footwear. It’s a show unlike any I’ve seen before.

It’s also Press Night tonight so I want to wish the entire cast and crew all the very best for another powerful performance!