Documental Productions and award winning Bristol Old Vic bring their new play Scaffolding to The Hearth Arts Centre on Sunday 27th April 2025, after an acclaimed run at Edinburgh Fringe in 2024.
SCAFFOLDING has been built around the lived experience and sense of humour of both carers and those with cognitive disabilities, mining Bell’s own experience of the privilege of parenting a daughter with severe learning disabilities who strives to connect with others despite major neurological barriers.
Sheridan, played by Kerry Norton, is reeling from the news that her beloved church will close, until she decides to sidestep the vicar and take matters straight to the boss: God.
In a quiet Devon village, church parishioner Sheridan climbs the scaffolding around a leaking steeple with a few questions for God, like, “Why is there suffering?” and “Does anybody really understand how to use semi-colons?”, “Actually, did the Devil invent semi-colons to make people doubt themselves hundreds of times a week?” and (seeing as God doesn't seem to be listening), “How do you make a bomb?”
Award-winning writer Lucy Bell (Kevin Elyot and Ronald Duncan Awards) brought dark, car-crash humour to the 2024 Edinburgh Fringe in a dramatic collision between religious faith, the responsibilities of caring for loved ones with disabilities and the profound loss of shared community spaces in rural areas, in the most unique of two-handers: a production that involves real time casting of the part of God.
Writer Lucy Bell said: “I am part of Documental’s inclusive Makaton singing and signing choir for people with learning difficulties, parents and carers. We get together to make a beautiful sound but we also share our stories of the daily hilarity, mayhem and isolation we experience as carers.
I wanted to write SCAFFOLDING because public services and shared community spaces have been stripped away the last decade or more. In many rural villages, the community around the parish church is the only thing left. Local authorities are up to their eyes in debt and so often, genuine support is only offered at a crisis point…like when a mother and parishioner decides to blow up a church!”
Kate Lynch, Artistic Director of Highlights Rural Touring Scheme said, “We are delighted to be presenting Scaffolding as part of our Spring 2025 season, giving rural audiences the opportunity to see this exceptional piece of new writing”
Highlights Rural Touring Scheme works with volunteer promoters from over 70 village halls and community venues across Cumbria, County Durham and Northumberland to bring high quality performances and great value live events into the hearts of rural communities.
This performance is only one in a series of creative events and performances taking place this Spring in village halls and community venues across Cumbria, County Durham and Northumberland. Visit the Highlights Rural Touring Scheme website for the full programme at www.highlightsnorth.co.uk
Comments