Andrew Finnigan in Drip by Tom Wells with music by Matthew Robins and designed by Russ Henry © Sam Taylor
Liam is 15 and he’s just signed up for Bev Road Baths’ first ever synchronised swimming team. It’s for his best mate Caz really. She needs to get a team together to win the annual Project Prize at school. She tries every year. She always loses. But Liam’s an optimist, he’s determined to help. There’s just one problem. Liam can’t swim.
The original production was supported by Hull City Council and Hull UK City of Culture. It had its London premiere at the Bush Theatre in November 2017.
Boundless Theatre creates exhilarating, relevant and shareable theatre with and for teenagers, young adults and curious others, responding to a vibrant and diverse global culture. We promote conversation, collaboration and exchange across the UK, Europe and internationally.
The company has continued to push the boundaries of work for this audience since it was established 15 years ago. Under Rob Drummer’s new artistic direction, the company has a bold new brand that celebrates the unlimited potential of our young adult audience. Their most recent production, Natives by Glenn Waldron, was highly acclaimed by critics and audiences alike.
“The best play I’ve seen this year to articulate an urgent contemporary moment.” (Metro 4*)
Beyond their work on stage they empower and inspire teenagers and young adults through a range of opportunities across the UK. Through their Associates programme and artistic development initiatives they invest in future artists now, and empower a new generation of artists to be extraordinary.
Jane Fallowfield’s directing credits include: Germ Free Adolescent (Script Club Medway); Bird (Derby Theatre, Hackney Showroom and UK tour); Fingertips (Clean Break); Cosmic (Script Club Hull) and Spacewang (Hull Truck); The Only Way is Chelsea’s (York Theatre Royal and Soho Theatre) and Lagan by Stacey Gregg (Ovalhouse). She is the Literary Associate at Talawa Theatre Company and previously Director on Attachment at Clean Break and Birmingham Rep (John Fernald Award). Other projects include co-running BBC London Voices, dance dramaturgy for Breakin’ Convention, sitting on panels and awards, and teaching at East 15 and Goldsmiths.
Matthew is a multi-disciplinary artist from the West Country. His work includes animation, puppetry, short films, sculpture, and music, and he regularly tours with his band, performing stories about animals, death, monsters, the ocean, and love. Drip is Matthew’s second song-writing collaboration with Tom Wells; they previously worked together on Tom’s play Broken Biscuits in 2016. As a film-maker Matthew has recently made stop-motion music videos for Passenger, Sivu, and Led Bib, as well as animations for the Barbican, Opera North, Dumbworld (Peter, Lily and the Nose, winner of the audience choice award at the Capital Irish Film Festival), Tori Amos (The Light Princess at the National Theatre) and Phil Collins (Tomorrow is Always Too Long, for the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games).
Matthew’s recent work for theatre includes writing and performing Flyboy is alone again this Christmas, and Lullaby – both for the Barbican, and designing and making puppets for Something Very Far Away for the Unicorn Theatre, A Most Peculiar Wintry Thing for the Ark in Dublin, and Laila – a new musical at Watford Palace Theatre. Matthew recently directed and designed an adaption of Ted Hughes’ The Iron Man for the Unicorn Theatre in Southwark and a collection of Matthew’s animations, songs and mechanical puppet installations is on permanent display at the Science Museum in London in the Information Age gallery.
Script Club (the new name for Root Theatre) discover, develop and make new work. Work that combines theatre and activism. Work that is political in the stories it tells and the way it is made. That’s what gets them out of bed in the morning.
Tom Wells lives in Hull. His previous plays at the Bush Theatre include: The Kitchen Sink (which won the Critics Circle Award for Most Promising Playwright and the George Devine Award) and Jumpers For Goalposts (Paines Plough / Hull Truck / Watford Palace).
Other plays include: Me, As A Penguin (West Yorkshire Playhouse / Arcola Theatre); Cosmic (Script Club); Folk (Birmingham Rep / Hull Truck / Watford Palace); and Broken Biscuits (Live Theatre / Paines Plough).
Other credits include: Ben & Lump (Channel 4); Jonesy (BBC Radio 4); and pantos for Middle Child, Hull and the Lyric, Hammersmith.
He is currently under commission to the Royal Court and the National Theatre, and is an Associate Artist of Middle Child.
