Stage is set for a disused factory to host the production called MAD
Back in the day… Brown Brothers’ factory as it was when it opened, left, and the playbill for Factory Productions’ MAD that will be performed there(Image: supplied image)
Two local writers have chosen an unconventional venue to stage their new play. Set in Hull of the near future, MAD deals with themes of tidal-surge devastation and a shocking health diagnosis.
Playwrights Janet Musil and Sue Wilsea believe a disused factory in Hull’s Francis Street is the ideal backdrop for the drama. MAD will be performed from Thursday to Saturday, May 28 to 30, at 7.30pm nightly, at 25 Francis Street, HU2 8DT – the former premises of Browns Brothers.
The writers described it as “a setting which puts at the forefront of this production the rawness of the play’s content”. They said: “Dispensing with any high tech theatrical effects, MAD invites the audience to be at the centre of the action.”
The “challenging” play, being brought to audiences by Factory Productions, will feature mainly Hull actors. MAD is set in Hull of 2050, with local places referenced, and addresses climate change – with particular reference to flooding in Hull and the East Riding – and the fact “time is running out, for one woman, for all of us”.
The play focuses on a city devastated by tidal surges. The protagonist is Holly, CEO of a maritime conservation charity, who lives a privileged life while the dispossessed live in resettlement camps, where Eva, Holly’s estranged daughter, works as an activist.
Holly’s comfortable existence is about to change, however, when a shocking diagnosis confronts her with a terrible decision to make. Janet and Sue said: “Why choose to put on a play somewhere that has none of the resources generally considered helpful for a production? Things like lighting and sound, a box office and, at the very least, seats?”
They explained that the disused factory was built in 1949 for the Brown Brothers, selling car parts, tools, bicycles and all sorts of hardware. Before this the Hull branch of Browns was in Portland Street, near to where Hull Truck Theatre is now, but it was bombed during the Second World War.
“At some stage, probably the Sixties, the building was taken over by Bridge County Ltd which produced joinery products and toilet cubicles. It was last working as a factory in 2014 and was empty for just over two years before being bought by the current owner, Seb Musil, in 2016,” they said.
Now 25, Francis Street is home to artists and artist organisations who all work across various disciplines from fashion, textiles, photography and printing, to visual design and music. “It offers a unique space ideally suited to this new and challenging play, MAD.”
Janet and Sue, who also direct the play, are keen to point out that there will be light and sound, provided by Hinterland Creative, and of course plenty of seating. Tickets cost £12 and are available via ticketsource.com/factory-productions