Welcome to the first in a series of blog posts where we take a trip down memory lane by diving into our archives at Nottingham University and tell you all about the past New Perspectives productions which are part of our NP50 Postcard Collection.

 

Where else better to start than looking at plays that focus on our East Midlands Roots! Since the beginning, New Perspectives have been based in the region and have been dedicated to creating work that resonates with and tours to East Midlands communities. From plays inspired by local people and local stories, to working with other regional organisations, find out more below…

 

The Golden Opportunity Show (1978)

 

Founded by graduates from Bretton Hall College, Key Perspectives (as the company was called back then) was originally based in Peterborough and played on their strong East Midlands connections by creating work in and for the region.

 

This early Perspectives production, The Golden Opportunity Show, explores new towns in the region and used real life people and stories from Peterborough, Milton Keynes and Northampton as research.

 

The Golden Opportunity Show was a lively devised play full of songs, sketches, jokes, stunts and illusions. Key Perspectives director at the time, Sue Hill said: “We want to bring out the positive and negative aspects of new town life – coupled with lots of jokes, of course!”

 

Never On Our Knees (1983)

 

In 1983, New Perspectives travelled back in time by interweaving the memories  and experiences of local people who lived and worked in the East Midlands in the 1930s with Never On Our Knees. The production followed Nora, an elderly woman who is prompted by the effects of the her current depression to look back at an earlier slump which dominated her youth.

 

In the press release, the company commented: “Although a time of extreme poverty for many, the strength and humour that people acquired are as fascinating to recall as the hardships they suffered.”

 

In Search of Pontiflunk (2008) by Phil Smith

 

Touring from February to March 2008, In Search of Pontiflunk was a “delightful, eccentric, thought-provoking new one-man show […] a unique blend of theatre, travelogue and manifesto.”

 

Discovering Charles Hurst’s journey in his book ‘The Book of the English Oak’, Phil followed in the footsteps of the Edwardian man-on-a-mission, who went on a walking adventure from Manchester deep into the Midlands planting acorns as he went, to see how the English countryside has changed which then became the basis for In Search of Pontiflunk.

 

The play was a hit on the rural circuit and brought nature to the theatre – one audience member from Tealby, Lincolnshire wrote in the production’s comment book: “I feel as if I have been on a journey down the history of the English countryside. Thank you for bringing it to life!”

 

And we couldn’t not mention a very special comment which was also left in the comment book: “Really enjoyable and very well presented. Maybe we may be a little biased as Phil Smith is my son.”

 

The Honey Man (2012) by Tyrone Huggins

 

In addition to producing work about the East Midlands, New Perspectives also has a history of working with theatres and other producing companies in the region. One of which being The Honey Man by Tyrone Huggins which was produced in partnership with Derby Live and told the story of the unlikely friendship between Misty, a 15-year-old girl, and Honey Man.

 

When coming up with the premise for the play, Tyrone, who also appeared in the title role, was inspired by a man he has met on St Kitts-Nevis where he was born, saying: “This man fascinated me, as he attracted local people and would collect herbs for them and give advice on treatments for their ailments.”

 

Talking about the play, he added: “It is the responsibility of the old to put a restraining hand on the recklessness of the young. It is the inevitability of the young to drag the old kicking and screaming into the future.”

 

Piece At Any Price (1984) by Julie Wilkinson

 

Performed at the third ever Nottingham Women’s Festival, Piece At Any Price told the story of hosiery outworkers, “the East Midlands women who slave at home to help keep the nation clothed”. At the time, the hosiery and knitwear industry was one of the largest in the East Midlands employing over 60,000 people, 70% of which were women.

 

The play explored two different sides of the same story as it followed Jean, a young white woman who has lived in the East Midlands all her life and is hoping to marry soon so that she can leave the work behind, and Meena, a woman of Ugandan-Asian origin who was forced into outwork as she is a widow with no one to look after her children.

 

During the writing of the play, writer Julie Wilkinson worked closely with the Leicester Outwork Campaign to undertake intensive research and the Moat Women’s Council sponsored a free performance of the play so that New Perspectives could “take drama to people instead of waiting for people to come to it” (Outworkers Own, March 1984).

 

Tales from the English Coast (2001) by Mike Kenny and Chris Fogg

 

In 2001 with plays written by Mike Kenny and Chris Fogg, New Perspectives took audiences on an East Midlands coastal holiday with Tales from the English Coast. Subtitled ‘An evening of sea and sand, donkeys and ice cream’, Tales from the English Coast consisted of 2 plays: ‘Your Name is Harry Kipper and I Claim My 5 Pounds’ which is set in Skegness in the 60s and ‘Walking the Tightrope’ which was about the relationship between a grandfather and a granddaughter.

 

Full of nostalgia and warmth, Tales from the English Coast was a hit with all rural audiences from 6 – 92 years old, according to one promoter at Trumpton Village Hall.

 

New Perspectives Artistic Director at the time, Gavin Stride wrote in the programme about how he was inspired by Chicken Run which was heavily influenced by creator Nick Park’s Lancashire upbringing: “In many ways, New Perspectives shares those same ambitions – to create theatre that is both local and universal”.

 

We also noted that the programme included a recipe for Bread and Butter Pudding – wonder if anyone gave that recipe a go!

 

First Impressions (1987) by Michael McMillan

 

Written by Michael McMillan, a playwright of Caribbean descent who had previously written two plays for the Royal Court, First Impressions was set during the long hot summer of 1976 in St Anns, Nottingham where a mixed-heritage Black young woman, who meets her Black father for the first time, when he turns up at her 18th Birthday party.

 

Intercut with flashbacks to the 1958 Nottingham Race Riots, the play begins with a BBC recording from 24 August 1958: “Good evening, today Nottingham has woken up to some of the worst rioting seen on the British mainland this century. Police made 19 arrests, ten of them ‘coloured’ men.”

 

Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (2006) by Alan Sillitoe, adapted by Amanda Whittington

 

Adapted by Amanda Whittington, Saturday Night and Sunday Morning was based on the novel of the same name by Alan Sillitoe and the 1960 movie filmed in Nottingham. Following working class hero Arthur, the play was described in the flyer as “classic kitchen sink drama blended with high-energy action and a toe-tapping 1950s-fuelled soundtrack”.

 

In a letter to the company after seeing the show Alan Sillitoe wrote: “I can honestly say that I haven’t seen such a good production of ‘Sat Night Sun Morn’ before.”

 

Of course, the rural tour had its own quirks with one of the post-performance reports from Maycliffe Hall in Stapleford saying: “In the middle of [the abortion] scene, one of the little old ladies remembered she has a packet full of sweets in really noisy crinkly wrappers and opened them really slowly so as not to annoy anyone.”