By Saskia Wesnigk, writer and director, founder of SwanWing Productions
The play “Love in the Time of Lockdown” was created during the lockdown of February 2021. I was taking part in “The Literal Challenge” where you write a short play every day for a whole month. This challenge comes highly recommended to those writers who believe in the mantra: Don’t get it right, get it written! You can edit afterwards. At the same time, many of my friends were struggling with being alone at home or not finding any time to themselves. Others were desperate to date again, afraid of the vaccination or even considering suicide. The mental health toll of the lockdown turned out to be immense. While these worries filled my every waking thoughts, it is not surprising they also showed up in my writing.
The resulting play is not all doom and gloom, some of the situations are absolutely hilarious, too. When you miss your lover, perhaps your car can be a substitute. When someone finally touches you again after a year of lonesome dinners, you might fall instantly in love – even if it’s just the doctor giving you an injection. And how will poor Lady Macbeth cope with the ironing when she should be on stage at the National?!
The resulting play is not all doom and gloom, some of the situations are absolutely hilarious, too. When you miss your lover, perhaps your car can be a substitute. When someone finally touches you again after a year of lonesome dinners, you might fall instantly in love – even if it’s just the doctor giving you an injection. And how will poor Lady Macbeth cope with the ironing when she should be on stage at the National?!
This play was first read on many zooms, as that is where actors met during lockdown, reading scripts together and dreaming of performing in public again. Especially the women recognised themselves in the various parts. Myself and five actors decided in March to try and put the play on at the Brighton Fringe that June, hoping with all our might that by then the theatres would allow at least a small audience in again. But how to rehearse in person? Eventually, an outdoor space was found where the actors tentatively approached each other without hugging (which is very strange for thespians, we all hug a lot!).
The team founded SwanWing Productions and everyone helped with producing, advertising and accounting. The performances in Brighton were a lovely success and the company then bravely took the play to the Edinburgh Fringe where it was shown nine times to sold out houses in August. Turned out many people wanted to find out what sort of love there had been during lockdown.
This play will speak to all ages – we all suffered during lockdown and probably know people who had it worse than us. Someone wrote after seeing the show: “I left just wanting to go home and hug my whole family and tell them how much I loved them.”
At times the language and the subject matter can be rather rude and triggering which is why we advise that this play is not suitable for the under 16s.
After performing in Brighton and Edinburgh the team really wanted to take the show to London, so we started hunting for a nice venue and The Bread and Roses perfectly fit the bill and has made us feel very welcome!
We are very pleased that this play received so many good reviews as well as personal comments from those who saw it and recommended it to their friends. As more lockdown stories of how people coped, or didn’t, are being told, more scenes are being written, so “Love in the Time of Lockdown –The New Variant” will be performed in Edinburgh this August.
Myself and SwanWing Productions in the meantime have been invited to write and perform a completely new play for the Battle Medieval Festival in June 2022. The play, “BATTLE, a modern mystery play” is also going to the Edinburgh Fringe in August. It is a new look at women in times of war and what happens when a Harry and a William are fighting for the throne through the centuries.
New writing for theatre will always have a place in everyone’s hearts, stories need to be told, be it realism, magic or both and we are excited to share the stories of Love in the Time of Lockdown at the Bread and Roses Theatre this June.
LOVE IN THE TIME OF LOCKDOWN runs 9th - 11th June 2022. Tickets available here.
The team founded SwanWing Productions and everyone helped with producing, advertising and accounting. The performances in Brighton were a lovely success and the company then bravely took the play to the Edinburgh Fringe where it was shown nine times to sold out houses in August. Turned out many people wanted to find out what sort of love there had been during lockdown.
This play will speak to all ages – we all suffered during lockdown and probably know people who had it worse than us. Someone wrote after seeing the show: “I left just wanting to go home and hug my whole family and tell them how much I loved them.”
At times the language and the subject matter can be rather rude and triggering which is why we advise that this play is not suitable for the under 16s.
After performing in Brighton and Edinburgh the team really wanted to take the show to London, so we started hunting for a nice venue and The Bread and Roses perfectly fit the bill and has made us feel very welcome!
We are very pleased that this play received so many good reviews as well as personal comments from those who saw it and recommended it to their friends. As more lockdown stories of how people coped, or didn’t, are being told, more scenes are being written, so “Love in the Time of Lockdown –The New Variant” will be performed in Edinburgh this August.
Myself and SwanWing Productions in the meantime have been invited to write and perform a completely new play for the Battle Medieval Festival in June 2022. The play, “BATTLE, a modern mystery play” is also going to the Edinburgh Fringe in August. It is a new look at women in times of war and what happens when a Harry and a William are fighting for the throne through the centuries.
New writing for theatre will always have a place in everyone’s hearts, stories need to be told, be it realism, magic or both and we are excited to share the stories of Love in the Time of Lockdown at the Bread and Roses Theatre this June.
LOVE IN THE TIME OF LOCKDOWN runs 9th - 11th June 2022. Tickets available here.
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