Wine, Chips and Funerals is a written work of 20,000 words but its story is to be told through multi disciplines. It merges text with dance, projected images, film and score. Set in Soho, London, in 1987, 1997 and 2007, and against a backdrop of nature, it is a tender tribute to what’s lost. Three eras are contrasted and interwoven, with humour, compassion and poetry, as the past crashes into the present, via dancers, drug abuse and death. Memories, grief and fears erupt to distort and threaten the current quest for happiness as two women fall in love at forty, hurling their lives at each other. It is a play about life for those still here, with pleasure, pain and irony.                                                                                                                                

Wine, Chips and Funerals is study of the frailty and the strength of humanity, and ultimately a celebration of beauty, love and life.

It received its First Reading in May 2008. The cast included:

Lizzie Wort, Rosalind Knight, Andrew Bridgmont, Tasha Bertram, Thea Bennett, Amanda Ray King and Thomas Brodie Sangster.

Written by Antony Bertram as a radio play. Produced by his grand daughter, Tasha Bertram and Thomas Sangster for Brodie Films, as a 20 minute film on 16mm.

Premiered at The Hospital Club, Soho. 2008

See BlueGreen Gallery for Video clip and production stills.

Directed by Alex Sesma

EPK by Thomas Sangster

Lead Cast – Tasha Bertram, Claire Porter

Director’s Cut trailer on:

http://www.imdb.com/video/wab/vi2361262617/

http://www.brodiefilms.com

Written by Nicholas Earls and adapted by Claire Porter into a multi-media piece, THE DROWNING POINT is a poignant study of an ordinary life made unbearable.

Beth is an attractive intelligent school teacher, with a happy successful life. This illusion of suburban bliss is shattered, when her husband and best friend are discovered dead together after a yachting accident.Both are naked. We see Beth dealing with both loss and betrayal. Can a sense of self, a sense of humour, keep her alive?

The striking and evocative images have been created by photographer Claude Fisicaro and Film Maker Katherine Shannon. The visuals are wrapped in a haunting soundscape, commissioned from Mike Willox. Movement by Lucie Pankhurst complements the hi-tech elements in this physical theatre experience, directed by Scott Williams.

Known from our television screens as Miss Drill from ITV’s The Worst Witch and to Edinburgh audiences from the previous sell-out show, Fringe First Winner 100, Claire Porter’s solo debut is a physical tour-de-force.

Darkly comic, intimate and compelling.
45 minutes of high tech and high energy, compounded with rage.

Download PDF: Drowning Point Flyer

Download PDF: Press Images The Drowning Point

Reviews

‘The charismatic Claire Porter – like a dramatic haiku. Maximum effect’
The Scotsman*****

‘Claire Porter… thrilling sexual allure’
The Stage

‘Like seeing someone flailing themselves alive. Performed with energy, commitment and sheer passion’
Edinburgh Evening News

‘An absolutely gripping performance from the excellent Claire Porter.’
What´s On

100 won the Fringe First Award in Edinburgh 2002. Claire Porter was a member of the original co-devising cast with The Imaginary Body Theatre Company. 

In 2003 the show transferred to a sell out run at The Soho Theatre London, then toured to the Toronto International Theatre Festival, Australia and Brazil in association with Glynis Henderson Productions Ltd.

100 was created by Christopher Heimann, Diene Petterle and co-written by Neil Monaghan.
It was devised by the company.

‘The worlds we create are as fragile – and beautiful – as soap bubbles: one wrong movement, one actor who is not fully connected with the image and the bubble bursts, leaving us only with an actor holding a stick. The demands of this work – its need for mutual awareness and co-operation, for care and humility – are in themselves crucial to the meaning of the piece.’
Christopher Heimann. Director.

Get the Text: The play text is printed by Nick Hern Books.

Reviews

Fascinating. A theatre show that actually makes you think about your own life.
The Guardian ****

“Touched me in places I didn’t even know I had…”
The Scotsman*****

Arresting – your heart and mind dilate.
The Independant

Extraordinary, resourceful and unforgettable.
Hoje em Dia Brazil

“A reminder that a single gesture can speak volumes.”
The Australian

Stunning – a gem.
The List *****

Inventive, intriguing…One of the Top 5 Shows at the Fringe.
Evening Standard

“Breathtaking. Spare, powerful, insightful…Moved me more profoundly than anything I can remember seeing in theatre.”
The Scotsman*****