Two plays performed in combination. Two Plays, Two Directors - Fairytaleheart (directed by SIYT Artistic director Jonathan Salt) was presented as the first act with Sparkleshark to follow and directed by SIYT Founder member Christian Lockwood.

"Fairytaleheart" is the story of two 15 year olds and how they deal with ruptured families and homelessness by embracing their hopes and fears in a derelict community centre.

In "Sparkleshark", a young boy on top of a council tower block tells stories like a modern day Scheherazade to stop a gang beating him up.

Production Photographs

Background

The Storyteller Sequence is a series of one act dramas written for young people by Philip Ridley. To date there are five plays in the sequence, although Ridley has intimated there will eventually be seven. The five written to date are Karamazoo, Fairytaleheart, Moonfleece, Sparkleshark and Brokenville.

In Fairytaleheart two 15 year old youths deal with ruptured families and homelessness by embracing their hopes and fears in a derelict community centre. Kirsty's mother passed away three years ago, but she is still grieving whilst watching her father announce his engagement to her 'stepmother' she flees her own birthday party and sits alone in the community centre that was once her mother's 'kingdom', where she then meets Giddion: the complete opposite to popular, pretty, pretentious Kirsty. He's a scruffy boy with 'rat tails' for hair. Together by the cathasis of storytelling they entre the magic world of karamazoo and search for the 'luminous butterfly'. Finally finding it in themselves to see their problems in a new light. The story ends seeming as though they are about to kiss.

Sparkleshark is funny, poignant and had an acclaimed run at the Royal National Theatre followed by a tour in 2001. High up on a tower block roof, Jake writes magical and fantastic stories in secret. The boys think he's a wimp. But to the girls Jake's almost one of them. When the gang of boys actually arrive, though, everyone's in for a great surprise. To save himself, Jake weaves his best story yet. It is so good that the gang drop their tough trendy act and demand starring roles in the unfolding drama of mystery, danger, love... and the final encounter with Sparkleshark. Eventually they make a pact to meet up every week as a group and tell stories together.

The Writer

Philip Ridley had his own theatre group when he was six, completed his first novel at the age of seven and had his first solo art exhibition at the age of 14. At 17, he began a degree in Fine Art at St. Martin's School of Art. The pace of Philip Ridley's life has not noticeably slackened since. A Renaissance Man for the multimedia age, Philip juggles artistic endeavours in many areas. He has written plays for radio and stage and screenplays (including the acclaimed and controversial The Krays). His first film as writer and director, The Reflecting Skin, won eleven international awards and prompted Rolling Stone magazine to describe Ridley as "a visionary". He has also written fiction for adults and, of course, children. Far from simply getting on the bandwagon of children's literature, Philip sees his children's books as "the backbone of everything that I do". His bestselling, award-winning novels have proved as popular with literary critics as with young readers. Ridley confronts contemporary issues like bullying, family breakdown and homelessness from a child's point of view. The themes of childhood anxiety and fantasy give his novels a strong contemporary agenda which is reflected in their style. Philip has said that his children's books are influenced as much by movies, computer games, comics and pop lyrics as by traditional concepts of the novel. The result is a swiftly paced, humorous and poetically arresting style which - together with Ridley's distinctive and dramatic take on magical realism - is both timeless, yet thoroughly of our time.