Exclusive interview with Tabitha Mortiboy on Beacons

by Lucy Moore | 16 March 2016

Tabitha Mortiboy's Beacons will have its world premiere on the Park Theatre, running from 22nd March- 16th April. We talked with her about how the concept went from page to stage and her feelings before opening night.

Beacons

Please can you tell us a little bit about Beacons for those who are new to the play?

Beacons tells the story of three people who meet at an ice cream van on the cliffs of Beachy Head. The play opens at the end of summer as the nights are beginning to draw in and ice cream sales are starting to dwindle. As the weather turns, the characters are prompted to confront the secrets that bought them each to this particular ice cream van and their relationships start to shift and transform. Put simply, though, it's a play about friendship and human connection - about the ways that we communicate hope and fear, about the ways we reach out to other people and try to bridge the space between us. There's a lot of laughter, game playing and ice cream gobbling - all against the backdrop of a stunning cliff edge and a big coastal sky.

Where did your inspiration come from for the story? Is this a tale you have wanted to tell for a while?

I began writing the script almost three years ago and the story has been through lots of alterations since then. The central theme has remained the same because all along I've wanted to write about unlikely friendships in the magical setting of Beachy Head.

I was inspired to write the story after a visit to the cliffs one summer, because I was so struck by their beauty and by the feeling that a vast, panoramic skyline can spark in you. I was also really taken by the idea of dinky ice cream vans in bubble gum pink sat in the middle of this majestic scenery. I loved that contradiction and I also loved the idea of an ice cream van becoming a beacon of hope and comfort. That's what the ice cream van represents in the play. Julie runs the van, Bernard visits almost every day and Skye, a sixteen year old from out of town, joins Julie as a summer assistant.

The van is more than a place of work, or a place to grab a coffee - it becomes a sort of make shift home and that idea excited me from the off. I'm also really interested in cross-generational friendships, of the notion of a sixteen year old girl striking up a friendship with her fifty year old boss. I love friendships that aren't shaped by age or situation but that are just about people finding an affinity regardless of all that.

What made you want to touch upon the subject of online dating?

Julie is in her mid-fifties and, like each character in the play, she's searching for connections. There was always something interesting and peculiar in the idea of a woman sitting in a van, six hundred feet above the sea, in blustery winds, with a little laptop and an online dating site. I love that idea of reaching out to other people from a very isolated spot.

I also wanted to acknowledge that online dating is just another manifestation of the human impulse to communicate and to share our lives with others. I'm interested in any example of one person reaching towards another. I think that gesture, even in its most simple guise as conversation - is always an act of sharing. It's about overcoming isolation and solitude and it's about wanting to share the strange, often painful experience of living.

Your first play Billy Through the Window was performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2015, so please can you tell us a little bit about this experience?

Billy Through the Window is a play that's bursting with energy and movement - there's a lot of splintered furniture, spilt Ribena and pulverized cornflakes by the end of it - so that was particularly challenging given the ten minutes you have to clear the stage after an Edinburgh show! Aside from that it was just a really wonderful experience taking a show to the festival and being immersed in theatre for a month. I took the show with my company Bellow Theatre and directed it alongside Maureen Lennon who is a brilliant creative powerhouse. We also had two fantastic actors - Joe O'Toole and Hector Dyer - who injected so much flare and electricity to their roles and to the show as a whole. I think that's the thing that stuck with me most through Edinburgh - making a show is such an act of teamwork and every person in the cast and crew brings their own vision and energy to the project. I love working in the theatre because it's about so much more than just writing a script. It's about handing that over to people who can breathe life into it in ways that exceed your expectations and turn your story into something really magical.

Beacons is your first commission so how excited are you for opening night?

Very, very, very! I have been so moved and amazed by the thought, care and passion of everyone involved in the show and I can't wait to see it in full swing. I've worked on the script for such a long time and as a writer you come to know the play inside out, but from a very particular perspective. So seeing it on stage will be absolutely amazing. I was in the first week of rehearsals where we did lots of table work, but I haven't seen it up and moving yet. Philip Wilson is such a sensitive and brilliant director so I know that it's in safe hands!

How did you get involved with the Attic Theatre Company?

I first encountered Attic through Playfest - a short play competition they run every year, to which I sent in a twenty minute version of Beacons. They selected the script for a rehearsed reading and then picked up the idea and suggested that I develop it into a full length show. I worked closely with Jenny Lee and Louise Hill from Attic, who were both the most fantastic mentors you could ask for as a writer. Louise and I talked through characters and themes as I redrafted and revised the full length script. Having someone to bounce ideas off is invaluable, particularly as a young writer. I feel very indebted to Attic and so grateful for the wonderful work they do in championing new writers and helping them get their work on stage.

Please tell us about your first year out of university as a writer on attachment at the Bristol Old Vic.

Bristol Old Vic run a great scheme called Open Sessions, where five writers are selected through anonymous script submissions to complete a year on attachment to the theatre. Being part of the Open Sessions group means that you get to attend a whole array of brilliant talks and workshops that range from writing for radio, to touring your own work, to collaborative writing, to a whole host of other things. Being part of a small cohort of writers also means that you get to know one another and are able to discuss ideas, projects and plans with other South West playwrights. Bristol Old Vic is a really inspiring institution and they programme really wonderful shows, so it's also just a huge vote of confidence and a huge accolade to be associated with a venue of the Old Vic's caliber.

What is your process as a writer for the theatre? How does your idea go from page to stage?

For me, an idea tends to arrive in the shape of a character, or a group of characters. Those characters will have certain traits, dilemmas and perspectives that I want to explore and I'll use them to tell a certain story. But most often, the story is born out of the characters, rather than the other way around. I get to know a character, what they're afraid of, what they hope for, what makes them tick and then start to weave a story out of that person or group of people. Once you feel that you know a character, it's a lot easier to write their lines, and to imagine what actions they might take, because you understand their motives and their individual voice. That's the first step, anyway. Then I tend to plot the story out roughly and get to work on sculpting the narrative so that the drama rises and falls in the right rhythm. The first thing I learnt at Bristol Old Vic is that playwriting is a craft that you have to work hard at - you have to hone your skills day in, day out, and there's always more to learn!

How happy are you with the choice of actors to play the characters you dreamed up?

I'm honestly over the moon. It's a really magical thing to find three actors who embody these characters so perfectly - and to see people who have existed in my imagination for such a long time suddenly become a vivid, brilliant trio in the rehearsal room. I feel honored to have three hugely talented people reading my script. There is a rawness and a warmth in the way that these actors play the roles, and I'm so excited to see them on stage.

What is next for you?

I'm working on a new script at the moment about how a couple deals with the onset of mental illness in one partner. It's about connection, compassion and finding moments of love, passion and laughter in the face of something very daunting.

Other than that, my company Bellow Theatre will be touring Billy Through the Window later this year, as well as working on lots of other projects including a brand new show at this year's Assemble Fest.