VAULT 2022: Five shows that should have been.
The productions, the artists behind them, and what they are up to instead.
Hello, and welcome to The Crush Bar, a weekly newsletter about theatre written by me, Fergus Morgan.
Each issue usually features an interview with an exciting, emerging theatremaker - and gives them a chance to be explicit about where they want to go and what help they need to get there. This issue is slightly different, though.
The cancellation of VAULT Festival for the second successive year is a devastating blow for hundreds of artists and companies. The eight-week event has become a cornerstone of the theatre industry, an engine of the fringe scene, and its absence will be sorely felt.
I wanted to do what little I could to offer some support to people that were planning on performing at VAULT this year - so over the next two months, several issues of this newsletter will be dedicated to the shows that should have been.
It will find out about the show, the artists behind it, what they were hoping to achieve at VAULT Festival, what they are planning on doing instead. To receive future issues featuring more shows that should have been, you can subscribe to The Crush Bar below.
1. My Life As A Cowboy - Nikhil Vyas and Hugo Timbrell
Who are you?
We are Hugo Timbrell and Nikhil Vyas, a writer-director duo from London. We’re drawn towards making theatre that grapples with how communities are formed, how individuals relate to popular culture, and the granular details of everyday life.
What was your show at VAULT 2022?
My Life As A Cowboy is a coming-of-age comedy set in Croydon, focusing on Conor, a gay 17-year-old facing big questions about what to do next in his life. He decides to take part in Croydon People’s Day with an all-singing, all-dancing country & western tribute act.
Gay stories are often about struggling with sexuality, love, sex, drugs, loneliness or the AIDS epidemic. Hugo decided to write a play about a gay teenager who doesn't struggle with being gay. Our aim for the show was to create a communal, electric tribute to the weirdness of being a teenager, with singing, dancing, Shania Twain, and big laughs.
What were you hoping to achieve at VAULT 2022?
We’ve been developing the play since the beginning of 2020. We had VAULT as an aim early on, and by summer 2021, we’d teamed up with producer Grace Dickson to start actively planning. VAULT is one of the few contexts for fringe artists in London in which your art can be seen by an audience receptive to new work, without completely bankrupting you.
Where can people find out more about you?
We’re undertaking some R&D from late January to February, exploring the text with a brilliant cast, cultivating design languages, and doing lots of line dancing. From there, we’re actively looking for a home for the work in London theatres. To stay updated, please follow our respective Twitters - here, here, and here.
2. Dry Season - Kat Lyons
Who are you?
My name is Kat Lyons, and I'm a Queer, nonbinary writer and performer based in Bristol, working mainly in spoken word poetry and performance storytelling.
What was your show at VAULT 2022?
My cancelled show is called Dry Season and it's a solo spoken word theatre show. I was diagnosed with premature menopause at 38 and the show takes my experience of that first year – the hormonal chaos, mental health issues, chronic insomnia, shifting sense of identity – and uses it to explore societal expectations around age and gender.
What were you hoping to achieve at VAULT 2022?
I was hoping to get good reviews to take with me to Edinburgh, and maybe even a place on one of the supported schemes with the Pleasance, but I'm not sure I'll go up now, as it feels like too much of a financial risk.
Performing Dry Season is also a way for me to raise awareness of the symptoms and possible effects of menopause. Despite it being something that affects half of humanity, it's not something that's really talked about publicly due to systemic ageism and misogyny. I wanted to do something to counter that.
Where can people find out more about you?
Luckily, the show will go on. I'll be performing at a few other venues in February and March, including Verve Poetry Festival in Birmingham and Trinity Arts Centre in Bristol. The full text for Dry Season is also included as part of my poetry collection. You can find out what I'm doing, where I'm performing, and how to buy my book on my website, and I can also be found oversharing on Twitter.
3. I Miss Amy Winehouse - Suchandrika Chakrabarti
Who are you?
My name is Suchandrika Chakrabarti. I started in comedy in January 2020, an incredibly cursed time to begin a career in performance. My background is in journalism, but I've always wanted to try stand-up. I embraced online gigs as much as I could, and I did write my debut hour in May 2021, so it wasn't all bad.
What was your show at VAULT 2022?
It's called I Miss Amy Winehouse. It's a solo show featuring me with a projector and some slides. We take a dive into the 2000s, reliving the glory years of Camden when I was partying hard and it seemed as though Amy was always a step ahead of me in the next pub. It's about losing people too soon, celebrity, journalism, what we do with grief, and the hologram of Kim Kardashian's late father, Robert.
What were you hoping to achieve at VAULT 2022?
Attention? Is that a good enough reason? I guess I'm taking this show to Edinburgh in August, so I'd quite like confirmation from audiences that this is a good idea.
Where can people find out more about you?
I'm taking the show to Leicester Comedy Festival on February 10, then I've got a week-long run at The Lion & Unicorn Theatre in Kentish Town from March 22-26, and then some dates to be announced. All upcoming shows and dates and links can be found on my Twitter and Instagram.
4. Your Progress Will Be Saved - Shepard Tone Theatre
Who are you?
We are Shepard Tone, a company making experimental theatre your mum can still enjoy.
What was your show at VAULT 2022?
Our show is Your Progress Will Be Saved, an interactive escape-room-style game that explores inheritance and the intergenerational ethics of the climate crisis. We’ve tried to create something unique where whatever one audience does in one show directly affects the next, and every audience after that.
What were you hoping to achieve at VAULT 2022?
It was going to be our first work-in-progress showing of the piece to figure out all the logistical nightmares that come with an immersive show. We wanted to use it as a chance to connect with theatres who might be interested in helping us develop it further. We’re continuing to develop the show and have some work-in-progress dates at Camden People’s Theatre in April.
Where can people find out more about you?
Our website! We’re all about being open and transparent about our practice and helping other theatremakers. You can find out about the entire process of making the show on our website, including every bad idea along the way and every application, both successful and unsuccessful.
5. Please, Feel Free to Share/DOXXX - Scatterjam
Who are you?
Scatterjam is a performance company founded by writer Rachel Causer and performer Róisín Bevan. We are committed to creating exciting female-led work that is socially and politically engaged whilst being structurally explorative.
What was your show at VAULT 2022?
We were very excited to be programmed for a double-bill at VAULT, which would have been Please, Feel Free to Share and the premiere of new show, DOXXX, both written by Rachel Causer.
Please, Feel Free to Share is a dynamic, darkly comic one-woman show – directed by Liam Blain and starring Rachel – about our personal addictions, the never-ending pursuit of likes, and our growing desire to share all. DOXXX is a three-hander, directed by Nadia Papachronopoulou, exploring the risky world of cancel culture and the theme of personal shame.
What were you hoping to achieve at VAULT 2022?
With the double-bill at VAULT, we were hoping to build some momentum for the company by presenting a more established show alongside a brand new one that was exploring similar themes but using a totally new form. We value VAULT very highly, so the programming felt like less of a stepping stone and more of a chance to present our work in a professional but flexible environment.
Where can people find out more about you?
We are taking Please, Feel Free to Share to Edinburgh Fringe for a full run at Pleasance Courtyard. In the meantime, we plan to develop DOXXX by applying for R&D opportunities and funding. We are also currently producing our first short film, Stalemate, which is shooting in March and is an exciting avenue for us to start exploring. For more information on what we’re up to, people can go to our website.
The Crush Bar is totally free and unfunded at present, so anything you can do to support it is hugely appreciated. There are three helpful things in particular: you can subscribe using the button above, you can share it, either on social media or by forwarding it to anyone who might be interested, and you can donate to my Ko-Fi account using the button below.
If you want to get in touch with me to ask about anything, or to suggest someone who deserves a shout-out in this newsletter, you can reach me on Twitter - I’m @FergusMorgan - or by simply replying to this email. That’s all for now. Back in a week. Thanks for reading.
Fergus Morgan