Not long now till Promises Promises…
February 17, 2010 1 Comment
Promises Promises is almost upon us (Friday 19th Feb 8pm), and we are very excited. This friday night Random Accomplice bring us Douglas Maxwell’s new monologue and if the reviews are anything to go by, then it’s going to be fantastic.
Here is an exert from an interview with Douglas Maxwell in The List:
“The narrator of Maxwell’s play is an older woman, a Scot living in London. Her surname, Brodie, acts as a curse, given her profession. ‘She’s a retired, disgraced teacher who’s been brought in to cover a teacher on sick leave at her school,’ explains Maxwell. ‘It’s based on a true story, which a teacher friend of mine in London told me. One of her students was a Somalian girl who was an elective mute – that is, there was no physiological reason that she couldn’t speak, but she didn’t. The school brought in community leaders to exorcise her, because they believed she had a devil inside her. So they came and did their ceremonies in the classroom in front of this six-year-old girl.
‘I asked my friend to tell me that story time and again, and I knew I wanted to write about it from a long time back.’
The tale, from which Maxwell has created a fictional central character and story, is worth the telling. ‘To be honest, my first response was, “What the (bleep) was the school doing, allowing that situation to arise in a school?” But I guess they had their reasons,’ Maxwell says. ‘That said, I’m not really interested in a straight down the line piece of fact, I like story, I like fiction, so this character, the teacher, her personal story had to overtake the story of the girl being exorcised.’”
For the full article click here.

The floating head likes the quiet
Thoroughly enjoyed Promises Promises. After visiting the Macrobert Centre for the first time last month, for a coffee, I left some time later, after booking a couple of films and this monologue. I was most looking forward to Promises Promises, and was not disappointed. Joanna Tope’s performance was first class. The monologue was highly entertaining, funny and thought provoking with the beautiful music composition and clever stage set enhancing the performance.
It was a shame that the theatre was not full. I have recommended it to everyone at work and have left details in each of the schools I work in, as I know that there are still a few local dates remaining.
I look forward to future Random Accomplice productions at the Macrobert.