Dramaturgy 9

 

Screen 9 

Pleasance @ EICC (Lomond), 150 Morrison Street, Edinburgh, EH3 8EE Tuesday 10th – Sunday 29th August 2021 (not 16th, 23rd) 

At the Colorado premiere of The Dark Knight Rises, gun violence turned a celebration of cinema  to tragedy. Devastated by one man’s actions, a community refused to be torn apart. This hard 

hitting verbatim piece follows the survivors’ remarkable testimonies of the infamous Batman  

Shootings, as they attempted to respond and recover from the tragedy.  

Bold new company Piccolo Theatre - this year’s recipient of the Pleasance’s Charlie Hartill  

Theatre Reserve - are striving to create cutting-edge and thought-provoking theatre. Exploring  

the life-altering impact of a mass shooting, their first production Screen 9 reclaims the story of  

the survivors to interrogate the debate around gun violence. It explores how such a horrific  

event could take place at a beloved institution like a cinema and looks at our relationship with  

watching movies. As we approach the ten year anniversary of the massacre, Piccolo Theatre  

have spoken with those connected to the shootings and spent time spent in America, in order to  gain a much greater understanding of American culture and the gun crisis. 

Screen 9 brings to life four fictional characters based on real people and their very real  

experiences: a parent; a survivor who is also a first responder; a woman who watched her  

boyfriend die; and someone who simply came to a movie with life-altering consequences. 

This is their story and every line comes from an actual survivor’s words, whether in testimony, 

news accounts, social media or conversation. The production does not seek to glorify violence,  

but instead focuses sensitively on a tragedy that could have been prevented and how the  

individuals respond and create a community.  

Writer and director Kate Barton comments:

In a time where so much press attention is on the  politics, violence and devastation, this show is taking some time out to focus on the very real people affected the most by mass shootings in America. It’s a story of survival, community and  hope in the wake of unimaginable tragedy in a place you would usually consider safe. This is an  exciting debut for Piccolo and we can’t wait to share their stories with Edinburgh and the world. 

And for the first predictable question: what was the inspiration for your show?

I went to the Cinema in Huddersfield the day the film opened in the UK, and I couldn’t believe that across the world something so awful had happened in a place I love. Aurora is a typical case where all of the media attention was on the shooter with their face being splashed across the TV.  I knew I that there was something much more important that I wanted to share about the lives of the survivors and what happened after the media had left.

I think living through an event as tragic as this mass shooting is something that a lot of people around the world can’t comprehend. I certainly couldn’t! How could a space I love like the cinema suddenly be one of fear and death? But that is the reality for Americans right now and it is something I wanted to highlight. We as Europeans are getting so used to it happening across the Atlantic that a shooting which took place ONLY TWO WEEKS ago in a cinema in California, where people died, didn’t even make BBC homepage news…
 
How far does it fit within your usual work, and do you have a particular dramaturgical approach to creating a production?

Well…. this is my first script so I’m still working out what my usual work will be …

I often say that I didn’t write this script – I researched and dramaturgically compiled it. It’s very much a collage of sorts. There is no one source I spoke to or took information from. Blogs, interviews, news coverage, documentaries – anything in the public domain or text from anyone who had spoken to me directly was taken as direct quotes and compiled together into four character sketches, anonymising details into amalgamated characters. It’s all made from their words and not mine.

Do you see your work within any particular tradition?

I would say this pieces falls within the verbatim and slightly immersive tradition. To be honest when I set about writing, devising and staging it, I thought of the script and staging as whatever would best suit the story and would generate as much empathy from the audience and truth from the situation as possible. When handling real stories and real words, you have to be so careful about how they come across, and so I wanted to present them with the care and respect they deserve.

What are you hoping that the audience will experience?

Empathy and compassion for those who lived and continue to live through the effects of such a tragic event on their lives. As well as greater international understanding of the wider conversation around gun control in America.

What made you decide to come to the fringe this year?

We are the 2021 recipients of the Charlie Hartill Theatre Reserve and so are very fortunate to be supported by the Pleasance who have been instrumental in our development as an emerging company. Offering feedback, rehearsal space, advice and mentorship – we are so grateful for their continued encouragement and support.

This year also marks the 9th anniversary of the massacre, something we touch upon in the play. It feels important and right to look to tour it in 2022 with the view to share this story with a national and maybe even an international audience.

I have always asked about the role of theatre in public debate, but this now seems even more relevant. In the current landscape, what does theatre or performance have to give to the public sphere?

Ooooohhh – that is a great question. I think because theatre is inherently live, it is a place where you can communicate and engage with people in a really personal way – not through a screen. In the last year we’ve endured everything being forced to go digital. I think that has allowed further polarisation of opinion and a rise of the radical right. Live performance is an interesting way of capturing conversation. In our case, it’s a way of humanising individuals who you may disagree with - but through discussion, can move us all together to a more collaborative community and conversation.

Title Screen 9 

Performance Dates Tuesday 10th – 29th August (not 16th, 23rd) 

10th- 15th August, 24th – 29th August – 20:40 

17th – 22nd August – 14:30 

22nd August – captioned performance 

Running Time 55 minutes 

Location Pleasance @ EICC (Lomond), 150 Morrison Street, Edinburgh, EH3 8EE 

Katy Sabrina Wu 

Mary Hannah Schunk-Hockings 

Jonny George Rexstrew 

Alex David Austin-Barnes 

Writer/Director Kate Barton 

Assistant Director Jennifer Baker 

Designer Matthew Jennings 

Accent Coach/Voice over Madeline Edwards