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Fragments was a collective writing project which offered young writers, or would-be writers (14-25) the opportunity to participate in the process of writing a full play, from ideas inception through to full production.
The play created was inspired by Action Transport’s touring production The Bomb written by Kevin Dyer, and was performed as part of a double-bill with The Bomb at The Lockpickers’ Ball Festival and at The Chester Gateway in October 2006.
Fragments had a number of aims which included putting the young writers at the heart of Action Transport’s work and to connect them with the other creative projects of the company.
Starting in April 2006, a team of young writers from across Cheshire came together at The Chester Gateway Theatre to put together the fragments, the bits and pieces and the starting blocks for a brand new play.
Standing underneath a wellie, an apple and a plastic spoon, all suspended from a lighting rig, they may have wondered what this had to do with writing?
Louie Ingham, Projects Manager at Action Transport explains:
Writing a play is a journey in itself. An object has a life, and a journey of it’s own – The watch around your wrist, or the jumper you are wearing all have a story – This story might include many people – you, as the person wearing it, of the people who gave it to you, owned it, inherited it, made it or bought it. When we start to create stories these people become characters of this journey…
From the many different objects hung from the studio ceiling, writers started to bring together the reality of the object together with their imagination and creativity…and in only a short time, on a Friday night in Chester, came new beginnings of new plays.
The writers become a new team which created the third Action Transport collectively written play.
Working with Kevin Dyer and Louie Ingham, they came together one or twice a month over six months to work up a story, to create dialogue, scenes and characters.
From a Wellington boot comes stories of two brothers, a park and a muddy day in leather pumps……From a football comes the story of a young boy, who’s recently found himself in heaven playing football against George Best, and from a knotted piece of rope comes the story of a ship setting sail on choppy seas with drunken revellers…..
