Play Pretend

24th & 25th November 2023 | Traverse Theatre

“Say, could that lass be I?”

Day 1 in the rehearsal room for Amy’s dream job, working with theatre legend Greg on a new play about Bonnie Prince Charlie’s escape to Skye. However, as the process disintegrates Amy begins to question how much we know about this iconic story and what she knows about the people she works with.

Framework Theatre is excited to present the world premiere of Play Pretend by Katie Fraser. Directed by Laura Valerie Walker, this feminist play challenges historical fiction and reclaims our narrative.

This production is entirely staffed by emerging and early-career theatre-makers and is funded by the National Lottery via Creative Scotland with support from the Traverse Theatre.

Photography @ Framework Theatre

Reviews

Every element of [the] production is a reminder of the fabricated nature of it all, and it does so with adept skill. Much is down to Laura Valerie Walker’s direction, which magnifies the meta-nature of Fraser’s story. They manipulate the very time which the production takes, shifting the audiences from ‘scene’ to ‘scene’ which makes for a terrific […] reminder of how much of a ‘performance’ this all is.
Dominic Corr – Corr Blimey

Read the full review here.

With its artfully-woven historical and contemporary strands, Play Pretend is a thought-provoking and insightful piece about the struggles we face as we try to move towards a more egalitarian society. When you’re used to privilege, as the saying goes, equality feels like oppression.
Susan Singfield – Bouquets & Brickbats

Read the full review here.

Also, check out this interview with Katie by Olivia Fischer of The Student.

Directing Play Pretend

For me, this has been a 2-and-a-half year journey, starting with a rehearsed reading in 2021. I have had the pleasure of seeing Katie’s play in multiple evolutions and loved it more each time. Because I’ve been following this play throughout my whole professional life, the landmarks of this project have been a valuable point to check in with my creative development, reflecting in the learning I had experienced to date.

With the R&D in July 2022, I had started to embed consent and play into my directing practice. These are two things that have stayed in a big way. The R&D had no public events attached, so what we did in the room was all about exploring the text and Katie getting the chance to see the play in the hands of a director live in the room. Our task for this stage was finding the nuance in Greg’s character. He became much softer in the final draft to allow for this, and in July 2022, we spent a lot of time trying to dig into the motivations of Greg’s character and Amy’s response to him in the effort to discover a Greg who wasn’t immediately a villain. The drama games and process of play in the rehearsal room were also elements that made it to the final piece.

The R&D was performed by Catriona Feint, and Fraser Sivewright.

By the time we reached production this year (2023), having worked on other Feminist performance developments, I was feeling extremely clear about what the play was about. What we (the design team and I) were excited about going in, was the layers of narrative; we had. a lot of fun decided how to situate the audience in different layers to remind them that this was a performance and they should reflect on their own circumstances. Adi and Izzy did amazing work bringing the piece to life – it was breathtaking seeing the design come together during tech.

The big word of the production was ‘vulnerability’. We spent a lot of time talking about Greg as a vulnerable person, and the most interesting parts of the play during rehearsals were the moments that Greg offers vulnerability but Amy isn’t equipped to hold him in this – and it certainly shouldn’t be expected of her! Vulnerability was also a huge part of this process as a team of emerging theatre-makers, and with my work in consent and care.

As devising is at the heart of my practice, I hold a collaborative space and try to be really responsive to the creative influence of the room – Clare and Gerry were extremely generous with their creative contributions, and Adi and Izzy brought brilliant ideas to the room. This has been an affirming experience, solidifying the way that I work and the benefits of it. In particular, spending the first week in play and discovery meant that we landed in some great depth early on which was easy to apply to a blocking process (rather than trying to find insight after the piece has been blocked).

I am so thankful to the whole team for the brilliant work we managed to make together.

Photography @ Framework Theatre