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Brunel University interviews Cathy Tyson, Michelle Inniss and Cara Nolan

20/2/2015

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One of our MA students has been hugely successful in securing funding and a UK tour for her first play with her production company.

Michelle Inniss, due to complete her MA in Creative Writing: The Novel at the end of this academic year, is producing 'She Called me Mother' alongside her co-founders of 
Pitch Lake Productions, Cathy Tyson and Cara Nolan.

Overjoyed that her work is coming to life, Michelle said: "This is the first play I have ever written so it was amazing to discover that others love it as much as I do."

Cathy Tyson is a BAFTA and Golden Globe nominated actress with over three decades of experience in film, television and theatre. She will perform as the lead character with Cara directing and overseeing production.

Cathy is also associated with Brunel, having graduated in 2012 with a BA in English and Drama, but that is not where she and Michelle first encountered each other. They actually met in secondary school in Liverpool, and continued to be good friends ever since.

The protagonist of the story, Evangeline, is an elderly homeless lady from Trinidad. The play is written from her perspective, in a poetic Trinidadian vernacular, and partly inspired by a real homeless lady that Michelle came across in her travels in London.

"I wondered, where were her family, what happened to her loved ones? This play explores how she ended up in that situation. I can't imagine what it's like to not have a home, somewhere safe to live. Everyone has a right to a home."

Cathy commented: "When she sent the script to me I fell in love with the language immediately. My father is from Trinidad so I was already familiar with the speech.  

"You don't often see elderly black women on the stage, and it's such a wonderful opportunity to bring an overshadowed character to life."

Cara added: "Michelle has this amazing gift of poetry. As I was reading the play, the language inspired a roller deck of images in my mind. I just knew we had to bring it to the stage."

Black Theatre Live received over 50 applicants for the funding overall, and this is the first new play that they have supported in this way. The consortium is backed by Arts Council England, which is "committed to increasing the amount of black and ethnic minority theatre on the touring circuit". The play is hoped to be shown in eight theatres late this year.

Black Theatre Live is a partnership of Tara Arts, Derby Theatre, Queens Hall (Hexham), the Lighthouse (Poole), Theatre Royal Bury St. Edmunds, Theatre Royal Margate, Stratford Circus (London) & Key Theatre (Peterborough).

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By Lauren Shiel
Communications Officer at Brunel University

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'She Called Me Mother' on Afridiziac Theatre News

18/2/2015

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Consortium of eight venues will tour Michelle Inniss's play about an elderly, African-Caribbean homeless woman, starring Cathy Tyson

Following a tour of Tara Arts’ Macbeth which begins in February, a new work by Pitch Lake Productions founded by actress Cathy Tyson, writer Michelle Inniss and director Cara Nolan will tour during Autumn 2015. She Called Me Mother will be the second production from the consortium dedicated to touring inventive BAME theatre to venues across the country.

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Starring respected actor and Pitch Lake Productions co-founder Cathy Tyson, She Called Me Mother invites the audience into the life of Evangeline Gardner – a homeless, 70-year-old African-Caribbean woman, who finds herself living on the streets. The play brings together Evangeline and her estranged daughter Shirley and is written in poetic Trinidadian vernacular rarely heard on our stages.

Sarah Brigham, Artistic Director Derby Theatre said “I’m delighted that our consortium have selected such an exciting prospect for our first commission – the combination of experienced artists such as Cathy Tyson and Michelle Inniss, with an emerging director like Cara Nolan, signals the combination of quality and innovation which Black Theatre Live is all about. The poetry of the script blew me away and I’m looking forward to bringing our audiences an unheard voice and story told through powerful and engaging drama.”




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