We are delighted to be offering audiences a Pay What You Choose ticket option this weekend, as we welcome two of the country’s most innovative and exciting theatre makers to Tobacco Factory Theatres.
Tim Crouch and Shôn Dale-Jones are both prestigious Fringe First winners at the Edinburgh Festival, Tim Crouch for ENGLAND in 2007 and Shôn Dale-Jones for The Duke in 2016.
This weekend they grace TFT with their latest creations: Tim performing as part of Mayfest 2024 in the Factory Theatre with Truth’s a Dog Must to Kennel – King Lear meets stand up meets the metaverse – whilst Shôn brings his latest work in progress to the Spielman Theatre, Stories from an Invisible Town – an improvised, playful and comic ode to a child’s imagination running riot.
Read on to find out more.
Meet Tim Crouch
Tim is a playwright, director, performer and theatre maker based in Brighton, UK. He was an actor before he started to write, and he continues to perform much of his own work.
Tim’s plays are characterised by an attention to their audience. There is a devotion to the liveness of theatre and a recognition that the audience are the ultimate collaborators in the creation of meaning at the point of performance. His plays are meticulously scripted but engineered in such a way to ensure that no two performances are identical. From the inanimate objects donated by the audience in My Arm, to the unrehearsed second actor in An Oak Tree, to the audience writing in I, Cinna (the poet) and their reading in Total Immediate Collective Imminent Terrestrial Salvation, to the audience embodying otherness in ENGLAND and Truth’s a Dog Must to Kennel. Tim’s plays are narratively driven but pay as much attention to their form as to their story.
Tim develops ideas and writes on his own but has been helped to go further in his practice by two important collaborators, and friends, who have worked intermittently with Tim since 2004: Karl James and Andy Smith. Credited as ‘co-directors’ of many of Tim’s plays, Karl and Andy are not ‘career directors’ in the traditional sense – Andy Smith is a theatre practitioner and an academic at the University of Manchester’s Department of Drama and Karl James is founder of The Dialogue Project, working with business and education to facilitate better conversations. As a project starts to gain definition, Tim will often bring Karl and Andy into his reading and thinking, sharing pieces of writing and notes. Led always by the writing, the three then begin a collaboration to best enable a future life for the project as it forms.
There’s no ‘company’ established to support Tim’s work. Tim is freelance. His plays are commissioned by theatres and Tim is hugely grateful for their support in enabling his work. Recent commissioning theatres include the National Theatre of Scotland, the Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, the National Theatre, the Unicorn Theatre, the Royal Court Theatre and the RSC.
Meet Shôn Dale Jones
Shôn was born in Llangefni, on the Isle of Anglesey. He studied Drama & Film at the University of East Anglia (1987-1990) and trained at The Lecoq School in Paris (1990-1992) while doing street theatre and performing stand-up.
Shôn works as a writer, performer, director and producer. He creates work on stage, on radio, on screen and elsewhere. Since 1993, he has created 27 theatre shows, 5 radio plays, several films and created site-specific and outdoor pieces. His work has toured to over 20 countries, across 6 continents and translated into 7 languages and partners have included the BBC, Barbican, Royal Court, National Theatre Studios, National Theatre Wales, and Sydney Opera House.
Dale-Jones has written, directed, and performed in several productions including The Imposter, My Uncle Arly and, more recently, The Doubtful Guest. In the guise of his character Hugh Hughes, Dale-Jones created three award-winning shows; Floating, Story of a Rabbit and 360. He was also nominated for Best Male Performance/Best Production/Best Entertainment & Best Music in the Off West End Awards for The Wonderful World of Hugh Hughes.
His radio work includes two BBC Radio 4 afternoon dramas, one of which, the adaptation of Floating won Radio Comedy of the Year Award in the Audio Drama Awards. Dale-Jones also wrote and performed the June 2019 BBC Radio 4 Drama of the Week, Me and Robin Hood.
Dale-Jones last performed at Tobacco Factory Theatres earlier this year to a full house in our Factory Theatre with his completely made-up true story, Cracking – which we are happy to say will be returning in late 2024. Watch this space!
Tickets for Tim Crouch’s Truth’s a Dog Must to Kennel, which opens this Friday, are Pay What You Choose. Book here.
Tickets for Shôn Dale Jones’ Stories From an Invisible Town – A Work in Progress this Saturday, are also Pay What You Choose. Book here.
Posted on 13 May 2024
