The Party [2025]
Production Blurb:
It’s 1985. The class of 1955 reunite for the 3rd time - in the pressures of love, loss and regret, they relive the confusion and grief that led to them losing two of their classmates, 30 years before.
Location/Company: York St John University, Dance Studio
Roles in Production: Co-director / Actor / Stage Design
Cast & Co:
Module Leader: David Richmond
BSL Support: Dave Wycherley
Poster Credit: Imogen Lisle-Clark (Imogen_lisle-clarke)
Photography credit: Amelia Annear
Thank you to all who were involved in this module, without all of your ideas and passion this would not have been the same piece!
REHEARSAL theory & perfomance Snapshots How do you bear testimony to an event you did not witness? - This production is borne out of the experiences, explorations and independent research of 20 Drama Degree students studying at York St John, who chose the Artist as Witness module.
Picture above: Francesca’s role passed out or dead on the stage
We grappled with who we are; when we love, when we hate, how we come to terms with the history before us - and how to present these complex ideas in an incredibly relational way, to an audience without relying on direct dialogue.
Picture below: Francesca’s role is controlled by another cast member’s narrative [played by Tessa Tuominen]
When do collective and individual memories become reliable or unreliable - does it make the memory any less “real”?
how lived and non-lived experiences weave into our testimonies (stories we tell about ourselves)
unpack the ethics of how we represent stories using research and extracts from The Holocaust, Romeo and Juliet, and the Italian Partisan movement during WW2.
In the rehearsal room, we each attempted to unpack:
Picture below: Francesca’s role explaining the importance of Bella Ciao in BSL
Picture above: the Collective of Partygoers are witnessing the stage’s events
Picture below & Left: Headshots of Francesca’s role in different lighting as the emotion changes