 esperate
Improvisations is a new, vibrant and incredibly imaginative play by
Jan Hendrik Verstraten. On the 5th October 2005 Magic Factory
and its collaborators had an opportunity to present extracts from it
at the Cockpit Theatre, London. This play challenges both the actors and
the audience by its unusual approach to acting. It raises uncomfortable
questions regarding the creative process and how our fantasies can
rule and dominate our lives, sometimes in a totally unpredictable way.
Who is in charge—the writer, or his characters? As we discover
through this play, quite often it's the latter.
With friendly assistance
from the staff of the theatre and the playwright himself this short
project became a very enjoyable and highly productive time for all
people involved.
With the sponsorship of the Royal
Dutch Embassy, and in association with Act
Provocateur International,
Magic Factory took this play to the 2006 Edinburgh Fringe
Festival. This was preceded by a short run at the Lion & Unicorn
pub theatre in London.
What the press said...
A writer
(Tim Metcalfe-Wood) invites three friends, Greg, a young American
sci-fi writer (Kevin Sherwani), Maurice, a fantasy writer (Charles
Delaney) and Vera, an eccentric artiste (brilliantly portrayed
by Frederic D'Amore). Together they will come up with the idea
for a new play, but soon, the question arises: who is in charge,
the writer or the characters?
When the four friends involve also two actors , Maureen (Natalie
Louka) and Emanuel (Shaun Nethercott) into their creative
process, the situation appears to get out of hand and devolps
on its own in a totally unpredictable way. This bitter-sweet
story, written by the Dutch
playwright Jan Hendrik Verstraten and directed by the talented
Georgian director Dimitry Devdariani is a must see! A beautiful,
dream like story, full of surprises and sudden turns, that
never looses its relation to reality however and a brilliant
cast - don't miss it!
Scene 4 Magazine
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