Last week, Rocket Box Theatre Company completed a tour of Gentle Things! They called at loads of beautiful venues, including the Knee High Barns- a Cornish institution of the arts. It was a massive honour to see my play there. It's such a cosy space, filled to the brim with memorabilia from previous Knee High shows (I remember seeing their production of Dead Dog in a Suitcase years ago, and it was one of the shows that sparked my interest in writing for theatre. It felt very cyclical).
Gentle Things was full of pomegranate bashing, candle wax dripping, lemon spinning, microphone yelling, body distorting, multi-rolling, gender-bending chaos and power.
Eggy Ray, who played Kass, is a very, very special performer. They learnt 37 pages of A4 script (sorry about that, Eggy) within three weeks. Eggy appeared to us in a time of need, and their stage presence, acting chops and charisma is just a joy to witness. Harry Brewer, the director, looped sound live on stage, as well as carried this entire production process on his shoulders. Mischa Jones created some beautiful promo material and worked her socks off.
I was in Leeds during the three week rehearsal period, which took place in a gorgeous little studio in Cornwall. While I sat at my desk job and did copious amounts of admin, Harry and Eggy were throwing themselves around a rehearsal room, dissecting the play, creating sounds, images, set, costumes- their updates gave me so much joy. Every video, photo and joke they sent my way was met with me getting too excited and bouncing around for the rest of the day. For the last year, we have been collaborating through emails, slack messages and chat, and getting to be in the same room as them felt so very special. The atmosphere was magical, and we shook lots of hands and had lots of hugs.
It was also a great excuse for a holiday. Myself, my fiance and my dearest mates climbed into a little car and beep beeped down the M5 for eight hours to arrive at the most beautiful part of the UK. It absolutely astounds me that Cornwall is even classed as part of the UK- it seems worlds away from my hometown of Leeds. We ran around in what was essentially a tropical rainforest (Penjerrick Garden), body boarded in the sea (and got knocked out by waves that crashed taller and louder than any I've ever seen), consumed ice cream, pointed excitedly at boats, played board games, drank pints of Jubel and celebrated with Rocket Box at two of the shows (Cornwall is a big place. The general rule is that everywhere takes an hour to get to. Makes the fact that they did six shows in six days even more impressive).
This production meant a lot to all of us. This was the first show that Rocket Box were able to create after four years, and this was my first piece of written work that I have seen reach full production. Writing can feel lonely, sometimes. I still struggle with sharing it, which is the antithesis to what theatre is; sharing a story. Rocket Box held my hand every step of the way, with feedback, praise, notes and suggestions.
It was such a privilege to be able to create a piece which combined gender, queerness and faith.
Thank you to the venues for having us, thank you to Mike Shepherd at the barns for being so welcoming and thank you to the audience members who came- your feedback is glowing, and we couldn't be happier. One piece of feedback has really stuck with me. The final section of the play explores the idea of a queer utopia, and an audience member told me that we need this utopia now more than ever.
Hopefully, this won't be the end of Gentle Things. Or my last visit to Cornwall. I'm keeping an eye on the housing market. Maybe I'll live on a farm, or a boat, or in a tree.
Find out more about Rocket Box here.
Find Eggy on instagram: @99eggy
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