We'll be seeing some of the finest playwriting talent heading to Nottingham very soon thanks to this dandy little festival...
Momentum was devised by the Nottingham-based Theatre Writing Partnership in 2004 when they realised that there didn’t seem to be enough young writers around for the young writers’ programme they’d just started. ‘Having existed for several years and encountered very few writers under thirty, we decided to actively seek out and support new playwrights from our region,’ says festival producer Sarah Françoise. “There’s now a healthy, inspiring infrastructure here with professional playwrights helping to discover and nurture the next generation of theatre writers. The festival is all about giving a platform to voices from the East Midlands and what you will find if you come to see the work is that these voices are unexpected, bold and most of all, entertaining.”
We spoke to Momentum veteran Declan Keen, whose play The Execution of Damiens is on throughout the festival, and Swedish-born, Notts-based Ivar Waldermarson, whose Felicia Fallecido is being shown as a work in progress performance on Thursday 23 August:
How did you get involved with the Festival?
Ivar: By joining a playwriting group led by the Theatre Writing Partnership.
Declan: My first short play, Samuel’s Head On My Table headlined in 2005, I’ve been a regular ever since.
What was the first piece of writing that made a real impact on you?
Declan: George Orwell’s Animal Farm which my dad made me read when I was eleven, then continued to ask if I ‘got it,’ then spent the day telling me about the Russian Revolution. It was the first moment I realised how many different ways writing can be looked at. It’s an important moment in my life, after which I went forth and read more than I ever used to.
Ivar: It’s hard to say what was the first. It might have been the The Phantom of the Opera, which I was completely obsessed with at the age of nine.
What are your plays this year about?
Declan: The Execution of Damiens is literally that: the execution of Robert Francois Damiens, the man who attempted to kill King Louis XV. Though it’s not quite historically correct. Throw in a handful of musical lepers akin to a traditional Greek chorus and you’ll begin to get the picture.
Ivar: Felicia Fallecido is about waking up and realising that reality is not what you want it to be. Have you ever woken up and wished you were back in your dreams? In the play a man tries to escape reality to live in his dreams, but reality catches up with him.
Felicia Fallecido is one of the plays being presented as a work in progress. Why show them before they’re finished?
Ivar: Receiving feedback is an important part of the writing progress. I had a play presented this way on last year’s festival and seeing the play come to life in the hands of actors and a director and hearing the audience’s response helped me see what I needed to develop.
Is there anything particularly ‘Nottinghamian’ about your work?
Ivar: I don’t think so. I’ve been influenced by the way of thinking about playwriting over here, but I think that’s more English culture than ‘Nottinghamian’.
Declan: Well, I was born and bred in Leicester where I still reside so I’d like to think some of the ‘Midlandians’ has rubbed off on me. How does Momentum fit into Nottingham’s theatreland?
Declan: Momentum is fantastic, there’s no other way of describing it. If it wasn’t for them I’d never have this beginning of a career that I have. It complements the fact that Nottingham has a refreshing and diverse theatre scene unlike some parts of the Midlands, where more theatres would always be welcome.
Ivar: Momentum opens up change in the theatrical scene of Nottingham by exploring new forms and new voices.
Are there any other events at the festival you’re particularly looking forward to?
Ivar: In last year’s festival I enjoyed more or less everything. I’m looking forward to seeing a lot of new writing and working with inspiring people in the workshops.
Declan: The workshops, they’re always intriguing. If you had to choose, DH Lawrence or Lord Byron?
Declan: Give me Kafka or Conrad. Anything else you’d like to say?
Declan: Other than everyone should go to Momentum because it’s brilliant with a real high class of exciting work?’ No.
If you had to choose, DH Lawrence or Lord Byron?
Declan: Give me Kafka or Conrad.
Anything else you’d like to say?
Declan: Other than everyone should go to Momentum because it’s brilliant with a real high class of exciting work?’ No.
Momentum runs all day, August 21-25 at the Lakeside Arts Centre.
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