In 2011 we developed plays by Mike Coleman, Jaki McCarrick, Roy Endean, William Patterson and James McAnespy, being performed in the Ulster Hall Group Space, with one reading a month from July to November. We were very proud to be showcasing the work of these talented writers and performers for the second year running and the first under the new Biscuit Tin Readings title.
Photography by Twy Miller
Robots in Disguise
by Mike Coleman
Thursday 20th July // 7pm
The government's Transformation Team have revolutionised the Welfare and Education sectors. Now they're turning their attention to the least evolved part of society: the family. Barry and Sheila have been chosen to lead a Beacon Family; they'll become the pinnacle of efficiency and grace - if they survive the process.
Director Gayle Dennison
Cast: James McAnespy, Ed Boyd, Emma Little, Kim Moylan and Chris McCurry
The American Hotel
by Jaki McCarrick
Thursday 17th August // 7pm
A single hotel room in a lonely town might hold the secret to time travel - tunnels that can lead people back to that mythical point in their lives where everything went wrong ... at least that’s what Joe and Malone have heard. But they’ve got a dead body to deal with before they can dig their way out of past follies. Jaki McCarrick’s play The American Hotel twists the idea of what’s before us and what’s behind us.
Director Emily DeDakis
Cast: Chris McCurry, Jason McLaughlin and Chris Grant
The Portrait Keeper
by Roy Endean
Thursday 20th September // 7pm
Driven by mesmerising language, The Portrait Keeper examines an odd relationship between a wealthy art collector and the artist he has hired to paint his portrait. The painting of the portrait is at the foreground of a dance-like power struggle between the two men, one cantankerous servant, and the portraitist’s seductive wife.
Director Mary-Frances Doherty
Cast: Matthew Faris, Jason McLaughlin, Susan Davey and James McAnespy
Stumpergasse 31
by William Patterson
Thursday 19th October // 7pm
1908. Gustl (a young musician) arrives in Vienna to live with his friend Adolf (a would-be art student). Gustl is looking forward to a simple sort of success - time at the conservatory, teaching music, settling down with a wife. But Adolf wants him to “think a little higher than that”. He predicts the artistic pair will flourish, building “cities of marble and gold” and restoring honour to the German nation ... if they can just win the lottery.
Director Gayle Dennison
Cast: James McAnespy. Matthew Faris, Ariel Killick and Susan Davey
Sitting Up for Michael
by James McAnespy
Thursday 16th November // 7pm
Michael’s children and grandchildren have gathered for his wake. James McAnespy’s inter-generational comedy-drama (fueled by half-eaten sandwiches, colourful friends and neighbours, and plenty of booze) shows that life keeps ticking on - funeral or no - and that there’s more than one way, place and time to sit up for the dead.
Director Helen Donnelly
Cast: Jason McLaughlin, Charmaine McBride, Mary Lindsay, David Bell, Chris Grant, Victoria Gleason and Tom Dart