In 2013 we ran Finding Words, a competition to find promising new young playwrights and offer them script development support and production.
As a company we look for young writers interested in articulating challenging and difficult aspects of our contemporary society and particularly those which affect the lives and experiences of young people. Laura Turner's play does just that.
We were impressed by the balanced and compassionate way that she interrogates a sensitive subject and the tension her writing exerts on its audience.
The play is set on the eastern fringes of Cumbria, high up in the Pennines. It takes place in real time and examines an explosive hour in the lives of a group of teenage cadets. Peregrine asks uncomfortable questions about personal responsibility and sexuality.
It is summer. Three army cadets are on manoeuvres high on the bleak and isolated moorland plateaux in the North Pennine region of Cumbria.
They think no one knows where they are.
But Craig does.
He is on his way, fuelled by anger and pain, with a dangerous secret which will blow their lives apart.
‘It didn’t make me see red, didn’t make my blood boil or my skin scratch. It made me feel calm. Calmer than I’d felt for weeks, calmer maybe than ever. . . I can feel it in every bit of me and look. Steady as a rock’.
Peregrine toured to The Box, Kendal; The Dukes DT3, Lancaster; The Beggar’s Theatre, Millom; Theatre by the Lake, Keswick; The Cooke’s Studios, Barrow-in-Furness; The Continental, Preston; Ivegill Village Hall
Jess Imogen Berry-Henshaw
Craig Jonny Hunter
Charley Connie Svatins
Olli James Lowis
Directors Rachel Ashton and Chris Loveless
Set Design Kate Unwin
Lighting Design Andrew Barrow
Composer Phill Gregg
Sound Operator Damian Rose
Stage Manager Gary Bridgens
Company Manager George Floyd
Jess Imogen Berry-Henshaw
Craig Jonny Hunter
Charley Connie Svatins
Olli James Lowis
Directors Rachel Ashton and Chris Loveless
Set Design Kate Unwin
Lighting Design Andrew Barrow
Composer Phill Gregg
Sound Operator Damian Rose
Stage Manager Gary Bridgens
Company Manager George Floyd