Soho Theatre and nabokov
in association with Escalator East to Edinburgh
present the World Premiere of
by Phil Porter
Blink had its world premiere on 2 August 2012 at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh with original cast Harry McEntire and Rosie Wyatt.
Soho Theatre is supported by Arts Council England and
Westminster Council.
Registered Charity No: 267234
nabokov is supported by Arts Council England through the Escalator programme.
CAST
Harry McEntire
Rosie Wyatt
CREATIVE & PRODUCTION TEAM
| Phil Porter | Writer |
| Joe Murphy | Director |
| Hannah Clark | Designer |
| Jack Knowles | Lighting Designer |
| Isobel Waller-Bridge | Music and Sound |
| Nicholas Benjamin | Production Manager |
| Sarah Stott | Stage Manager |
| Josh Roche | Assistant Director |
A WORD FROM THE WRITER
The basic story of Blink popped into my head one night a couple of years ago. Normally, it takes me a long time to invent a story that makes passable sense from beginning to end, but this one appeared pretty much fully formed. In the weeks that followed, however, I became wary of my idea. When I told people the story it sounded like a psychological thriller – a genre perhaps more suited to a film or novel than a play (in theatre ‘genre’ itself can be a dirty word). And the story’s suspenseful nature seemed ill-suited to the skew-whiffness that tends to pervade my work whether I like it or not. I filed the idea away in my head under ‘Stuff To Maybe Come Back To’.
A few months later I became a member of The Soho Six – a group of six commissioned writers that meet up at Soho Theatre every couple of weeks. For one of our early meetings we each prepared a presentation addressing, among other things, what kind of theatre excited us most. I decided (never having thought about it so directly before) that I was most excited by small, detailed theatre about big, philosophical themes. And I realised that most of my favourite theatre is quite silly and quite serious at the same time, daring to flirt with ridicule. I went back to the Blink idea. I began to think the apparent mismatch of story and style might actually become the play’s strength and lead to something pleasingly semi-ridiculous.
In the past, I’ve shied away from writing plays that require actors to address the audience directly. It always seemed too easy a way of telling a story somehow. But as part of the Soho Six experience we were encouraged to look at the entire programme of the theatre, including as it does a great deal of comedy, cabaret and other types of live performance, and to allow ourselves to be influenced by that work. In particular, I’ve been influenced by the brilliant Stewart Lee, whose comedy is a powerful testament to the potential complexity of direct address. His ability to make an audience laugh at him for sneering at them for laughing at themselves for laughing at a joke that isn’t even supposed to be funny is nothing if not complex.
So here it is. A small, big, silly, serious, semi-ridiculous play. I hope you like it.
Phil Porter
CAST
HARRY MCENTIRE JONAH
Theatre credits include: Scarberia (York Theatre Royal); Winterlong (Manchester Royal Exchange/Soho Theatre); Macbeth (Open Air Theatre, Regent’s Park); A Thousand Stars Explode in the Sky (Lyric Hammersmith); Punk Rock (Manchester Royal Exchange/Lyric Hammersmith); Spring Awakening (West End/Lyric Hammersmith) and Treasure Island (Rose Theatre, Kingston).
Television credits include: Episodes, Prisoners Wives, Eric and Ernie, Doctors, Clay.
Film credits include: Tower Block, Child, Unconditional, John Carter of Mars.
Radio credits include:The Pickerskill Reports (BBC Radio 4); The Leopard (BBC Radio 3); A Prayer for Owen Meanie (BBC Radio 4).
ROSIE WYATT SOPHIE
Rosie graduated from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in 2010. She is about to go on the UK and International tour of the National Theatre production of One Man, Two Guvnors.
Theatre credits include: Mogadishu (UK tour/Lyric Hammersmith); nabokov’s Bunny (Edinburgh Festival Fringe/UK tour/Soho Theatre/59e59 Brits Off Broadway Season) and Paines Plough’s Love Love Love (original cast, UK tour, Galway International Festival).
Television credits include: Doctors.
CREATIVE & PRODUCTION TEAM
PHIL PORTER WRITER
Theatre credits include: The Cracks In My Skin (Manchester Royal Exchange, winner of a Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting); Here Lies Mary Spindler (Royal Shakespeare Company/Latitude Festival); Stealing Sweets And Punching People (Theatre503/Off-Broadway) and a translation of Janos Hay’s The Stonewatcher (National Theatre). He has written extensively for young audiences, with original plays including The Flying Machine (Unicorn Theatre) and Smashed Eggs (Pentabus Theatre, winner of the Arts Council Children’s Award) and numerous adaptations. Phil has also written several opera libretti including Doctor Quimpugh’s Compendium Of Peculiar Afflictions (Petersham Playhouse); Skitterbang Island (Polka Theatre/Little Angel Theatre); The Whale Savers (W11 Opera) and Pinocchio (Royal Opera House).
JOE MURPHY DIRECTOR
Joe is the Artistic Director of nabokov. Theatre as Director includes: Symphony (Outdoor Festivals tour); Young Pretender (Edinburgh Festival Fringe and UK tour); Bunny (Edinburgh festival Fringe/UK tour/Soho Theatre/59e59 Brits Off Broadway Season); The Boy on the Swing (Arcola Theatre). Theatre as Associate Director includes: Henry V (Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre); Punk Rock (Lyric Hammersmith/Manchester Royal Exchange/UK tour) and The Laws of War (Royal Court). Theatre as Resident Director includes: Ghost Stories (Duke of York’s, West End). Theatre as Assistant Director includes: Much Ado About Nothing (Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre); The