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| Cathy Crabb - learning from Ayckbourn and Beckett to give working people a voice | Cathy Crabb - learning from Ayckbourn and Beckett to give working people a voice |
| (12 months later) | |
| Cathy Crabb's latest play, The Bubbler, which has just had an initial run at Salford's King's Arms, is her response to the riots in August 2011. It is a simple story of two men talking in a pub and the rage felt by one of the characters at his own downfall from a good job in banking to the managing the local Cash Generator shop. | Cathy Crabb's latest play, The Bubbler, which has just had an initial run at Salford's King's Arms, is her response to the riots in August 2011. It is a simple story of two men talking in a pub and the rage felt by one of the characters at his own downfall from a good job in banking to the managing the local Cash Generator shop. |
| He takes a Daily Mail viewpoint on the riots, one that Cathy wanted to challenge: | He takes a Daily Mail viewpoint on the riots, one that Cathy wanted to challenge: |
| I didn't agree with all this hatred, it was just demonising people and not getting down to what was really happening. It's so hard to stand up for the person who doesn't have a voice. | I didn't agree with all this hatred, it was just demonising people and not getting down to what was really happening. It's so hard to stand up for the person who doesn't have a voice. |
| In the play, through the character of the bartender, she challenges the negativity towards young working-class men and shows them to be complex and humane. | In the play, through the character of the bartender, she challenges the negativity towards young working-class men and shows them to be complex and humane. |
| Cathy Crabb is a working class writer originally from north Manchester. Her late father was a pipefitter and Communist who had an influence on her writing: | Cathy Crabb is a working class writer originally from north Manchester. Her late father was a pipefitter and Communist who had an influence on her writing: |
| He was a big handed man who was really creative. Outside he had this tough exterior, but he was a really sensitive man. | He was a big handed man who was really creative. Outside he had this tough exterior, but he was a really sensitive man. |
| Many of her characters are working class with complex characters and this is deliberate: | Many of her characters are working class with complex characters and this is deliberate: |
| I write from my own life and see where it takes me. | I write from my own life and see where it takes me. |
| Her family had a pub and Cathy took over the business for a time after her father died. But she has spent most of her adult life working in the theatre, not just performing but also doing a variety of jobs, including dresser and front of house manager. After leaving school she trained at the Oldham Workshop and then went on to study drama at a Salford college, followed by a degree and masters at Manchester University. | Her family had a pub and Cathy took over the business for a time after her father died. But she has spent most of her adult life working in the theatre, not just performing but also doing a variety of jobs, including dresser and front of house manager. After leaving school she trained at the Oldham Workshop and then went on to study drama at a Salford college, followed by a degree and masters at Manchester University. |
| She studied Alan Ayckbourn and Samuel Beckett on her course and these playwrights have shaped her writing: | She studied Alan Ayckbourn and Samuel Beckett on her course and these playwrights have shaped her writing: |
| I like the kitchen sink drama of Ayckbourn and the many layered themes of Beckett's plays. I am interested in life-changing moments in people's lives. | I like the kitchen sink drama of Ayckbourn and the many layered themes of Beckett's plays. I am interested in life-changing moments in people's lives. |
Cathy has built up a wide range of work from poetry to performance pieces, working with established actors and also community groups. She has won several awards for her plays. In 2004 she set up her own company, Media Medea, which is based in the King's Arms in Salford. Co-run with playwright, Mike Heath, it is one of the companies funded by Studio Salford, an umbrella organisation which promotes and represents a number of theatre companies and is a beacon for new and upcoming artists and writers in the region. | Cathy has built up a wide range of work from poetry to performance pieces, working with established actors and also community groups. She has won several awards for her plays. In 2004 she set up her own company, Media Medea, which is based in the King's Arms in Salford. Co-run with playwright, Mike Heath, it is one of the companies funded by Studio Salford, an umbrella organisation which promotes and represents a number of theatre companies and is a beacon for new and upcoming artists and writers in the region. |
| Whilst Cathy sees Studio Salford as her spiritual home, her plays have been performed at many venues across the north west, including the Royal Exchange, The Lowry and the Library Theatre. She has also been involved in local history projects with the Pump House Museum where she wrote about the slave trade. | Whilst Cathy sees Studio Salford as her spiritual home, her plays have been performed at many venues across the north west, including the Royal Exchange, The Lowry and the Library Theatre. She has also been involved in local history projects with the Pump House Museum where she wrote about the slave trade. |
| Being a mother of teenage children is a challenge to her work: | Being a mother of teenage children is a challenge to her work: |
| I don't expect peace and quiet. I have trained myself to talk and type at the same time. | I don't expect peace and quiet. I have trained myself to talk and type at the same time. |
| She sees her own children as an inspiration for her work, but writing is an essential part of her life: | She sees her own children as an inspiration for her work, but writing is an essential part of her life: |
| I think its important people sort this out at the beginning of a relationship. My partner and I agreed early on that writing was important to me but I do a fair share of my domestic work! | I think its important people sort this out at the beginning of a relationship. My partner and I agreed early on that writing was important to me but I do a fair share of my domestic work! |
| In her next project she is working with a local writers group, looking at the lives of working class people in her home area of Failsworth in Oldham. The play centres on the Rochdale canal and she has trawled local archives such as the Failsworth and Oldham Libraries as well as the Working Class Movement Library in Salford to find photos and maps about the area: | In her next project she is working with a local writers group, looking at the lives of working class people in her home area of Failsworth in Oldham. The play centres on the Rochdale canal and she has trawled local archives such as the Failsworth and Oldham Libraries as well as the Working Class Movement Library in Salford to find photos and maps about the area: |
| I want to look at the lives of the people who use the canal, the drinkers, the men who fish, and look at the reasons why that part of the canal is almost erased from the map. | I want to look at the lives of the people who use the canal, the drinkers, the men who fish, and look at the reasons why that part of the canal is almost erased from the map. |
For Cathy Crabb putting working class people on the map is one of the reasons why she writes as is creating drama that is topical and questioning. | For Cathy Crabb putting working class people on the map is one of the reasons why she writes as is creating drama that is topical and questioning. |
| Check out the King's Arms for constant surprises. The Guardian last year called it 'Britain's most bohemian back street boozer' and there is a heck of a lot going off there. | Check out the King's Arms for constant surprises. The Guardian last year called it 'Britain's most bohemian back street boozer' and there is a heck of a lot going off there. |
| Bernadette Hyland is a freelance writer and blogger. She is active in her trade union, Unite and volunteers at the Working Class Movement Library in Salford. | Bernadette Hyland is a freelance writer and blogger. She is active in her trade union, Unite and volunteers at the Working Class Movement Library in Salford. |
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