Client: Slung Low
Date: 2016
Writer: John Hunter
Director: Sally Proctor
Music: Heather Fenoughty
“Signs were spotted popping up all over Holbeck; tales of Holbeck’s glorious past and magical present.
“They were part of a project Slung Low created with members of our writer’s group. Our free writer training scheme that has been running, free, for the last 18 months with Casualty writer Mark Catley and Freedom Studio’s Artistic Director Aisha Khan.
“Holbeck is a brilliant place and we are very proud of being based here. A lot of our work means we have to spend time away (our last two shows in 2016 took us to Switzerland and the RSC in Stratford Upon Avon, we’re often on the road) but where ever we go we talk proudly of our place here in Holbeck. And we want to make more work here, this sign project was part of that ambition. 72 stories, written by residents of Holbeck and wider Leeds, placed on lamp-posts. Inspired by the brilliant, complicated present and past of Holbeck. Audiences were invited to read this magic-real version of the town only if they walked through and within it.
“We work a lot with the very brilliant writer John Hunter and he created an audio play, which tied together these signs with a new narrative of his own creation. We wanted something that could be a fun way to get our guests at the HUB out into Holbeck, a dramatic introduction to the area that we love so much. Following a map designed by John Welding and listening to the music of Heather Fenoughty we thought this was the most interesting way for our various guests and visitors to the HUB to experience the place we’ve made our company home.”
