Pursued By A Bear | Foundry Festival 2018

Friday 18th May, marking the move of new writing company Pursued By A Bear to Trestle Arts Base.

Foundry 2018 Festival Readings 7.30 pm on Friday 18th followed by Q and A with directors, writers and cast.

All Tickets £5

Research and development of two new plays by exciting women writers, in celebration of the Suffragette Centenary, honouring Heroines, historical and contemporary, local and global.

Nothing on Earth (working title) by local writer Anna Reynolds, (of her opera, Push, The Guardian wrote ‘brilliant, celebratory, painful, tremendous’) inspired by Trestle’s Heritage Lottery funded Hertfordshire Hidden Heroines project, and The Wake (working title) by Afia Nkrumah, (on the BBC Talent Hot List 2017), developed from her short film The Trousseau.

Nothing in Earth honours ground-breaking local women, weaving together the stories of five rule breakers, risk takers and daredevils, real women who fought for suffrage, made astonishing scientific advances, travelled the globe & performed breath taking aerial feats. We follow these women through time and space where they connect with a lonely and confused but curious young millennial.

The Wake is a contemporary psychological drama that takes place during the vibrant rituals of a Ghanaian funeral. It tells the story of Yaa, a young British Ghanaian woman, who returns home after her mother’s sudden death. Yaa is expected to take her mother’s place as the head of the family, despite her lack of familiarity with her tribe’s rituals. Caught in a net of secrets and mendacious relatives, Yaa navigates through bereavement and finding her place. Set in a female Ghanaian household, The Wake is an intense and funny story of loss, betrayal and family expectations.

‘I am delighted to be developing new work by two wonderful playwrights at Trestle Arts Base and celebrating the power of women’s writing. It’s 100 years since women won the vote and there’s a lot to celebrate on this May weekend, besides that historic victory. New writing company Pursued by a Bear is moving to St Albans and beginning a rich collaboration with the Trestle team. Local writer Anna Reynolds is spinning a glorious tale of Hertfordshire heroines, including the brave suffragette Constance Lytton, and Afia Nkrumah’s piece will take us to the heart of Africa, sharing the age-old predicament of what happens to a family when a much loved matriarch dies. Fearless and fascinating, the women featured in these two plays, whether they lived 100 years ago or in the present, are inspirational figures on the march towards an equal world’. – Rosamunde Hutt, Artistic Director Pursued by a Bear

For more information visit http://www.trestle.org.uk/whats-on/the-arts-base/pursued-by-a-bear-foundry-festival-2018/