White Open Spaces | Pentabus Theatre

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 won a prestigous South Bank Show Award in 2006.

Dates	Venue	Show Times	Tickets
29 Jul 2006 -30 Jul 2006	The Edge Arts Centre
08 Aug 2006 -27 Aug 2006	Pleasance King Dome, Edinburgh	5.15pm	£9, £7 conc.
26 Sep 2006 -14 Oct 2006	Soho Theatre, London	7.30pm	£10, £8
10 Nov 2006 -15 Nov 2006	Rikstearn Theatre, Sweden

Writer

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Cast

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Creative Team

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White Open Spaces had a long development period. In November 2005, 9 writers, 2 actors, 2 directors and representatives from BBC Radion Drama, The Arvon Centre and from the Arts Council in the Midlands came together to workshop ideas and meet peeople 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.