Play at Arts Centre Washington explores lives of people with disabilities

A cast of professional disabled actors, Andrew Mclay and Philippa Cole, have joined forces with award-winning playwright and director, Vici Wreford-Sinnott, to take a brand new play, Another England, on a national tour.
By Katy Wheeler
Published 19th Jun 2019, 16:45 BST
Updated 19th Jun 2019, 16:48 BST
A scene from Another EnglandA scene from Another England
A scene from Another England

Following the critical success and audience response to the premiere of the piece at ARC Stockton, Vici, who has carved a successful career in ground-breaking theatre, said: “In a rapidly changing England, which appears to be having a bit of an identity crisis, I have responded with a play from the perspective of disabled people trying to navigate their way through stressful territory.”

Set in a near-distant future, England 2024, Rat and Murphy are two disabled people who find themselves fleeing for their lives, with the odds against them. Murphy, a 55-year-old veteran of the welfare state, and his younger companion Rat, who believes she can change the world, would normally go to the ends of the earth to avoid each other.

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They’re thrown together as they both take refuge in an empty house to avoid being sent to holding camps by the state.

Vici continued, “These two colourful characters are interesting opposites but once we scratch the surface, we realise they may have more in common than they first think.”

In this story the worlds of two weird and wonderful characters collide as they try to find a way to survive in a deserted house on the outskirts of town.

Award-winning television and stage actor Andrew Mclay says of Rat and Murphy, “Rat realises that Murphy is a troubled soul and she tries to bring him out of his thinking and to get him to think about his life in a different way.”

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Actor Philippa Cole, who performed at the National Theatre and has been in Armchair Detectives and The Four O’Clock Club for the BBC, said: “This is a compelling story which will leave the audience feeling like they’ve been on a journey with the characters, they will feel welcome, and they will laugh and be moved and it will leave them thinking about the world of the play for weeks to come.”

*Award-winning playwright and director Vici Wreford-Sinnott’s Another England is being performed to Arts Centre Washington on Thursday at 7.30pm. Tickets for the performance are available from the website at www.artscentrewashington.co.uk or the centre’s Box Office by calling 0191 561 3455.

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