Underneath All the Noise Somebody was Singing was our first piece of end-on studio theatre made as a company. We made it throughout 2003, rehearsing on Monday evenings to fit around our jobs, and it was first shown in 2004. It went on to tour the UK, showing at venues such as greenroom, Bristol Old Vic, NOW Festival, Leeds Met Studio Theatre and others.

This show was made as we were beginning to find our feet in the post-university ‘real world’. We’d all made a commitment to making work with the company, but to pay the bills were doing various full and part-time jobs. We were also making some quite big life changes; splitting up, getting together, sleeping around, figuring out who we were as adults, and Underneath reflects some of those feelings.

The show itself is centred around the relationships between a group of ‘friends’, and the relationship between them and the audience. It’s a show about acceptance and rejection. There’s the eating of a packed lunch together, the communal activity of skipping, a mimed romantic dinner. It’s all accompanied by Dionne Warwick and Threnody Ensemble. It’s theatrical, but very aware of that. It’s funny and tender. And a bit sad.

At its heart, it’s a show about friendship, love, desire and the need to feel needed. It’s about us wanting the audience to like us, about us as a group of ‘friends’ on stage. In hindsight it feels much more delicate than it did at the time. There’s a sense of melancholia and loneliness about it, but it has this real warmness to it as well. We look back on this show with a huge fondness.

2003
24-25 October: eXpo, Nottingham
1 November: Wickham Theatre, Bristol

2004
28 May: Mayfest, Bristol Old Vic Studio
8-9 November: Bristol Old Vic Studio
10 December: greenroom, Manchester

2005
27 January: Toynbee Studios, London
15 June: Camden People’s Theatre, London

“Expectation-defying, genre-busting theatre” Venue

Supported by Bristol Old Vic. Funded by Arts Council England.