White Open Spaces

A collection of monologues written in response to Trevor Phillips assertion that there was 'a cultural apartheid' in the countryside.

Pentabus, supported by the BBC and The Arvon Centre, invited a group of writers to spend some time with us in the countryside to talk to people and explore whether the statement was true, and if so, what it meant in rural England. The writers all came from different disciplines - novels, plays, poetry. They each wrote a piece in response to the provocation, and White Open Spaces was born.

White Open Spaces had a long development period. In November 2005, 9 writers, 2 actors, 2 directors and representatives from BBC Radio Drama, The Arvon Centre and from the Arts Council in the Midlands came together to workshop ideas and meet people in Shropshire. These included writers Sonia Hughes and Yasmin Whittaker-Khan, and actors Mo Sesay and Kesty Morrison.

The writers produced short plays. These were then developed and script-in-hand readings of the plays took place at the Upstix festival in Suffolk on 30 and 31 March 2006. Seven plays then became the scripts that make up White Open Spaces. After rehearsals and a preview performance, the show went to Edinbugh and then onto London and Sweden. BBC Radio 4 broadcast the work as in the Woman's Hour drama slot in February 2007.

And finally, the production went on a village hall tour later that year.

For the Soho run, the cast were joined by Jimmy Akingbola, Jean Boht and Rob Cameron.