50 Years of Groundbreaking Theatre: Paines Plough’s Anniversary

It began over a pint in a Bedford pub. Fifty years later, Paines Plough has emerged as a beacon of theatrical innovation. Specialized in new plays, the company has showcased the works of influential playwrights like David Pownall, Sarah Kane, James Graham, Kae Tempest, and Mike Bartlett, among others. Actors such as Harriet Walter, Peter Capaldi, Claire Foy, Ben Whishaw, and Andrew Scott have all embarked on tours with the company. As it celebrates its half-century milestone, key figures recall the organization’s spirited history.

John Adams (founding artistic director): We all met in Bedford, where I was living, and went for a drink at a pub called the Plough, where the beer was brewed by a St Neots company called Paines, in 1974. A wonderful actor called Chris Crooks had asked the playwright David Pownall to write him a one-man play. Andrew Leigh, the general manager at the Edinburgh Lyceum, said we could use the studio for three performances in the 1975 fringe. The play, “Crates on Barrels,” was about a disciple of Diogenes the Cynic who lived in a barrel, so we drove up to Edinburgh pulling a trailer with an eight-foot barrel and had to cut it in two to fit it into certain places.

One night, there were four people in the audience, one of whom was Irving Wardle, who wrote a very good review in the Times. I used that positive review to sell our next project. We went back in 1976 with “Music to Murder By,” which won a Fringe First award, making it hard to get a ticket. It toured for 18 months. There would be no Paines Plough without the Edinburgh fringe.

We didn’t have a stage manager, and when we arrived at a place, we’d all lump everything out of the Ford Transit. The actor Fiona Victory would handle the costumes and her Renaissance hair, Diana Kyle, another actor, would set up the sound, and I would do the lighting. The deal was to be out of the theatre before the pubs shut at 10.30pm, it was guerrilla theatre.

Donna Franceschild (playwright): “Songs for Stray Cats and Other Living Creatures” was the 10th anniversary production in 1985. Pip Broughton directed it, and the cast was extraordinary: Josie Lawrence played the lead, alongside John McGlynn, Peter Capaldi, George Rossi, and Elaine Collins.

Peter Capaldi was naturally funny and humane, a genuinely lovely person. During rehearsals, he and Elaine started dating. One afternoon before a performance, Elaine’s previous boyfriend walked into the Tron bar in Glasgow and punched Peter hard enough to knock him off his chair. In the second act, Peter’s character attempts to beat someone up. Peter had bruises on his face during the show, but they were there from the very beginning!

Katie Posner (current co-artistic director): The writers Paines Plough has produced are some of the greatest we have in Britain. We found the second draft of Sarah Kane’s “Crave” with notes from Vicky Featherstone during a cleanup upstairs.

Vicky Featherstone (former artistic director): When I arrived at Paines Plough in 1997, Mark Ravenhill was the literary manager, and Sarah Kane became writer-in-residence. Her theory was that no writer ever really wanted to write because it was too lonely; you had to lock them in a space. Thus, she started the Lock In: six writers were secluded with no external contact. We brought them food, they wrote, went home, came back the next day, and wrote again. Only a writer would dare to suggest such a thing.

Dennis Kelly (playwright): During the Lock In, I wrote the first two acts of “Osama the Hero,” which eventually went on to Hampstead Theatre in 2005. It was instrumental for me.

VF: Sarah was running our Wild Lunch writers’ group. She wrote “Crave” in 1998 because the intended play by Rebecca Prichard got picked up by the Royal Court. So, I asked Sarah if she would write something under a pseudonym, which she did in four days.

DK: I remember going in for a meeting with Vicky Featherstone and John Tiffany. I was really surprised to come out as their writer-in-residence. I stayed quiet and let them do all the talking. By the end, they even commissioned my play “After the End.”

JA: Because we had no money, I lived in David Pownall’s house, sleeping in a cupboard for a year. We were subsidized by the unemployment benefit system, which allowed us to focus on our art without business distractions. We just did the work.

VF: Back then, people could afford to have space to exist. Today, artists have to set out their outcomes before even starting.

DK: Being a writer-in-residence, I felt I should be doing something more. They just wanted me to hang around and chat, which felt surreal.

Somebody Jones (playwright fellow): Becoming the playwright fellow in 2023 was more intensive than I expected, but immensely rewarding. It felt great to be more involved and have a fresh perspective to offer the theatre.

DK: Being in the same building with big names like Mark Ravenhill and Abi Morgan boosts your confidence. It made me feel like I could do it too.

SJ: On my first day, everyone offered me plays to read, which helped me understand the 50-year history of the company.

Charlotte Bennett (current co-artistic director): Part of the company’s survival lies in its constant innovation. There is always another way to approach storytelling.

KP: We empower writers to be who they are. We prefer a bespoke approach rather than following a rigid formula.

CB: Founding the Women’s Prize for Playwriting with Ellie Keel within our first two months felt aligned with the company’s ethos.

DK: Paines Plough was essential for developing my voice. It provided the right environment before moving on to larger projects like “Matilda the Musical” and TV shows like “Utopia.” It was invaluable to first be able to express the things I really wanted to say.

JA: The lifestyle of walking in the hills and staging plays in the evening was ideal for us. This non-metropolitan approach was refreshing.

CB: I grew up near Selby, not a glamorous place. Touring “Reasons You Should(n’t) Love Me” to Selby town hall, where I hung out as a teenager, was incredible. This play, successful in London, held the same significance in a smaller venue.

Our predecessors invented the Roundabout, a 167-seater portable pop-up theatre we tour with. Regardless of the location, the experience remains magical.

KB: Seeing everyone around you in the Roundabout creates a unique, shared experience. Daniel Kitson’s 2023 play “First Thing” involved the audience in a special way, heightening the sense of community.

VF: Paines Plough’s mission is incredibly pure. Focused on the writer and constantly moving, it endures because it was founded for the right reasons.

Source: The Guardian