Chocs away as city actors go to war

As the 100th anniversary of the beginning of the First World War approaches, preparations are underway for an exciting theatrical event taking place for three weeks in York this autumn.

Following on from last year’s hugely successful Mystery Plays, the city is once again hosting a large-scale community production. A collaboration between Pilot Theatre, York Theatre Royal and Leeds-based Slung Low, Blood and Chocolate tells the stories of the workers and owners of York’s chocolate factories during the Great War alongside those of the young men involved in the terrible conflict across the Channel.

Written by Olivier Award winning playwright Mike Kenny, author of The Railway Children and the Mystery Plays, Blood and Chocolate will take place on the streets of York in October, using Slung Low’s headphone technology which directly connects each audience member with the performance as they follow the action.

“It will start outside the theatre and will then play through the whole of York city centre,” explains Alan Lane, artistic director of Slung Low, who is also directing the production. “It’s quite exciting and not like anything we have done before – we have a company of 220 actors.”

The response to the call for auditions was overwhelming and Lane says that he has been impressed by the level of interest in the project and the commitment that the unpaid community actors are prepared to make. They will be expected to attend workshops over the summer – they have already been drilled by a regimental sergeant major from the York battalion – then rehearsals all through September, prior to three weeks of performances.

“I have been inspired,” says Lane. “There is a real passion for theatre and the arts. Actors were selected on the basis of who would be best as a member of a company of 200 – they still don’t know which parts they will be playing.”

The project has been a year in the making. Marcus Romer, artistic director of Pilot Theatre, contacted Slung Low after seeing the company’s production Mapping the City which took place in the streets of Hull. “This is not only bigger than anything we have done before, it’s also right in the middle of town,” says Lane. “Sometimes we have produced work that’s brilliant for those who find it, but with this you aren’t really going to be able to miss it.”

Audiences will follow the story through the streets of York watching events unfold in and around some of the city’s landmark buildings. Among the highlights of the show will be a French cafe on the High Street and a recreation of the Somme.

“The story will focus on the ordinary men and women of York and the pressures they came under,” says Lane. “When you look at the transformations that took place in the lives of women in particular at that time... there were incredible difficulties to be overcome by the people who were left behind.”

During Christmas of 1914 the Lord Mayor of York sent out a chocolate tin, designed and made at the Rowntree’s factory, to every soldier from York who was fighting at the Front.

As it became apparent that many of those young men would not be returning, the women of the city stepped into the jobs at the factories and the landscape of the city began to change.

As part of the Blood and Chocolate project, Pilot Theatre have teamed up with the University of York and Script Yorkshire to bring to life stories of people who worked in the chocolate industry from the 18th century up to the modern day. The result entitled Clocking In: Life in the Chocolate City, will be shown this month at York Cocoa House during York’s Festival of Ideas.

Blood and Chocolate, Oct 3-20, Clocking In: Life in the Chocolate City, June 25-29. www.pilot-theatre.com

ART THAT’S GOING UNDERGROUND

Pilot Theatre was founded in 1981 by students from Bretton Hall College. The company moved to York in 2001 and is now based at York Theatre Royal. Artistic Director Marcus Romer has written and directed work for the company since 1995. They won the Manchester Evening News Award for best production for their tour of Lord of the Flies.

Slung Low creates immersive pieces outside of conventional theatre spaces. Their home is in the Holbeck Underground Ballroom (the HUB) in Leeds. As many of their shows as possible are ‘pay what you decide’ – audience members give an appropriate amount of money after the show.