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Pressgang Productions Oxford's contemporary theatre specialists |
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In
1987, Robert Seatter, Richard Milbank, Neil Drury and Graham Topping started
hatching plans for a contemporary theatre group. It would produce small-cast plays, and place emphasis on imagination rather than lavish
costume and
set - partly because it
didn’t have any money!
And it would produce some
of the many
exciting
plays leaping off
the word processors in the oppositional atmosphere of Thatcher's
decade. It was a dark period for Oxford theatre. Literally. The Playhouse was dark, the Old Fire Station was not yet refurbished, the St Paul’s project on Walton Street, which had been such a promising theatre space, was being taken over by an 'Arts Café’. Even the Pegasus, which at that time was presenting extraordinary work by a little-known group called Theatre de Complicite, was shut for months for redecorating. None of the founders trusted auditions. So likely-looking recruits were sized up actually doing the job - performing in other productions - and then ‘Pressganged' quietly backstage. The most vital characteristic of the group from the start was a sense of ensemble. The first six shows used mostly the same actors, so what was learnt in one production was a firm foundation for the next. There, was also a strong thread of biography running through many of the shows, though it was never planned. The very first was about TS Eliot, Michael Hastings’ brilliant Tom and Viv (later filmed with Willem Dafoe and Miranda Richardson). Bloody Poetry tackled Byron, and the Shelleys; The Art of Success used Hogarth to illuminate the dangerous mutual fascination between satirists and politicians. After a couple of shows in al fresco theatres – Tom and Viv was set up in the chilly church hall on St Michael’s Street – the company presented a series of productions at the Pegasus in East Oxford. They included two of the earliest amateur performances in the country of plays which have become modern classics: When I was a Girl I used to Scream and Shout, and Our Country’s Good. But productions could never be planned more than one in advance, and rehearsal space was always a problem. Many evenings were spent improvising stage spaces between tottering towers of book shipments in the warehouse of Blackwell Publishers - a generous employer. The
Pegasus era finished with Dario Fo’s crazy version of Tudor history, Elizabeth,
with its unforgettable man-woman. witch-doctor Dame Grosslady trying to
beautify an ageing but childish Elizabeth I (She must have been the
inspiration for the Blackadder version of Queen Bess.) The next show was
Liz Lochhead's Adaptation of Dracula, which Pressgang put up two weeks
ahead of the cinema release of Coppola’s glitzy film. Surfing the
publicity wave, Dracula sold out the old Fire station solidly for a
week. As the company progressed, it moved
towards one of its natural goals - presenting completely new work to
Oxford audiences. Because although Oxford’s theatre scene is now far
healthier than it was back in 1987, there is still no commitment to raw
new theatre writing, rooted in the local community. Writers still feel
that only London bothers with new work. Pressgang took its first step in
1997, commissioning seven local writers for 15-minute playlets, which were
broadcast on BBC Thames Valley FM in spring 1997. The most important step, however, has
been securing residency at the Old Fire Station. At last, Pressgang can
plan a whole year’s programme, mixing tomorrow's classics with risky but
exciting new work like Marta Emmit’s Shooting in the Dark and
Enda Walsh’s Disco Pigs. And re-invigorating shows we think we
know already.
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