00:00Good afternoon, my name is Phil Hewitt, group arts editor at Sussex News-Metwoods.
00:06Now, Eastbourne's going to be the place to be as ever this summer, isn't it?
00:09It's a fabulous season of plays, three plays in six weeks, brought to us by Phil and Ben
00:15through their own production company.
00:17Now, the season started with Strangers on a Train, you then go into Bedroom Farce, classic
00:22Akebourne, and then into Murder by Misadventure, which, Ben, you were saying is probably the
00:28best thriller written in the last 20-odd years.
00:31So, Phil, just talk me through, how do you decide on the three?
00:35What do you look for?
00:36Because you've got a lovely, balanced thriller, comedy, thriller this year.
00:40Is that the kind of thing you go for?
00:41Yeah, we kind of think, what do they want to see?
00:43We're a company that likes to provide, give the audience what they want, and we know full
00:48well thrillers get people in.
00:50Anything with Murder in the title is of interest.
00:52And then we balance it off with, we do a lot of Akebourne because we think he's the funniest
00:57writer around, and he's written an awful lot of funny plays, and we go through plays
01:02because we do three a year.
01:03So, we like to do an Akebourne, and then find something, so Strangers on a Train is a classic
01:08thriller, the Hitchcock film show, it's an adaptation of the book, isn't it, Ben?
01:14Yes, it is, yeah.
01:14An adaptation of the book, so it's not quite the same as the film.
01:17Then we've got the classic Akebourne, which Eastbourne audiences love, and then we did the
01:22slightly quirky one at the end, which we like to, so it's funny and thriller-ish, is
01:26Murder by Miss Adventure.
01:28So, it's kind of a balance between classic, what people expect, and then something we
01:33often try and twist one of them a little bit, squeeze the lemon juice on it, just to
01:37give them something a little bit different without alienating anyone who would normally
01:40come along to the deadline.
01:41That sounds great.
01:42Ben, you're in charge of the Akebourne, and it's down to you to take us back to this
01:46weird world of the 1970s, no natural fibres, ghastly flares, it's quite a creation you've
01:52got going on there, isn't it?
01:53Oh, yeah, it's our designer, when I tell him we're doing bedroom farts, he goes, oh,
01:58great.
01:59Like, he can't, you know, I think the, you know, yeah, I say, no natural fibres have
02:06been harmed in the making of this production.
02:08It is an, it's going to be a glorious symphony of garish colours and massive collars.
02:13Absolutely, but set in another era, but no less relevant for that in terms of the things.
02:20Well, that's what's so brilliant about Akebourne, is that, you know, we're still essentially
02:23the same as we always were, and his 70s plays, his kind of, his observation of the
02:29way we British people behave with each other is hilarious, heartbreaking.
02:33I mean, it's terrifyingly recognisable from your own family, I always think.
02:38You know, so he's, yeah, he's a genius.
02:41He's our most prolific ever playwright.
02:44That's a phenomenal number of plays he's written, isn't it?
02:46No, you know, we, he should be, I mean, he's a, he is a hero, and he should be, there should
02:52be statues of him.
02:53He's genuinely, he's written so much brilliant work, and, you know, and, but because it's
02:59light, and because it's funny, people don't often, you know, I think that he's not quite
03:04in the same category as some of the real heavyweights, but actually he's a heavyweight.
03:07He's great.
03:08We're always delighted to do one of his shows.
03:10And then, Phil, you round off the season with, well, comedy, but scares as well.
03:15That's quite a different type of road, isn't it?
03:17Well, they're surprisingly close.
03:19Comedy and fear are very close emotions, actually.
03:22So they're quite easy to jump from one to the other.
03:24Once, once you've let the audience understand that they're allowed to laugh, they then,
03:28they then feel allowed to feel any emotion so they can get scared very quickly.
03:32They can, you know, feel sad, happy.
03:35But once you let, early on in a play, I always let the audience to know they're allowed to
03:38be involved, sometimes more than others.
03:42And it gives them license to literally physically enjoy the play.
03:47So laughs, screams of fear, you know, shock, gasps, horror.
03:52If you let them know early enough that, yeah, it's all right, that's what we're doing here,
03:56then everyone goes along with it for the ride and it's much more enjoyable for everyone.
03:59And Ben, it sounds great, the whole thing, isn't it?
04:01It's almost like a throwback.
04:03Three plays from largely the same company across six weeks.
04:06This is how it used to be, isn't it, to some extent?
04:09So we, we, we, we love it.
04:11We love the form.
04:12We believe in the form of a rep, don't we?
04:14We think that it's lovely for a theatre.
04:17It's really traditional.
04:18Every, every, every theatre in the country had one, you know, 40 years ago.
04:23And now there's relatively few.
04:25So we believe it's a particularly British celebration of theatre and plays and acting.
04:31And, and, and it becomes a kind of dialogue between the audience and the company that
04:38they come and see us every week in a different production, put on by the same gang.
04:42It's, it's Eastbourne's rep.
04:44It's Eastbourne audience's rep, more than ours, really.
04:47Three plays in six weeks is a big ask, but is that the right size?
04:50Would you think of expanding?
04:52Would you press for four plays over eight?
04:54Or is it right as it is?
04:57I think three's quite a big ask.
05:00I think the actors might not thank us for saying, oh, you've got to learn another one.
05:03Although in the, back in the day, don't tell anyone.
05:06I used to do seven, I did seven plays in seven weeks at the Theatre Royal in Nottingham,
05:11who've got very well-established reps.
05:13So it is possible.
05:15It is possible.
05:16I don't think we're going to make them do that.
05:17I don't think we're going to make them do that.
05:19I think three, but three, you know, are, we don't want to compromise on quality.
05:24So I think three plays, a two-week cycle, it gives people a chance to see them.
05:28And it also means that the standard is high, because, you know, we take more care of it.
05:35That sounds really intriguing, spot-on mix, the comedy, thriller, comedy.
05:41Absolutely.
05:41No, thriller, comedy, thriller.
05:43Yeah.
05:45Brilliant.
05:47Good luck with it all.
05:49Lovely to speak to you.
05:50Take care, and thank you.
05:51Thank you so much, Phil.
05:52All the best.
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