Recovery Rises ISSUE 2 | Page 12

Tony Teardrop

12

For fiffteen nights during March 2012 audience witnessed an astonishing and insightful story of a homeless man called Tony Teardrop and his naïve but true dream of escape and freedom. Inspired by real stories Tony Teardrop is ‘a biting, humorous play about people living on the edges of society’ centered on themes of alcoholism, addiction and homelessness. As the story unfolds we get closer to each character and their experiences through an emotional time of the year, Christmas. We are taken on a ‘space ship’ creation journey with Tony and we witness a hostage situation within the ‘wet house’ as the residents fight for their dreams and for their friends. Writer Esther Wilson captured the essence of the play’s characters with street-wise slang and an understanding of people who are too often dismissed by society

"Carl worked with the group for

4 months"

.The play takes a fascinating narrative arc that concludes on an optimistic and amusing note.Tony Teardrop was not only taken to St Luke’s stage but also included other strands of the project such as a photography exhibition, writing masterclasses and extensive outreach programme and alongside The

Basement Advisory Centre and

Spider Project, Genie In The

Gutter formed a substantial part within the

outreach programme in the community. A series of workshops related to Tony Teardrop have been led by actor Carl Cockram (Marshy in the play) and delivered at Genie In The Gutter to service users and graduates. Carl has worked with the group for 4 months creating improvised pieces inspired by individual personal journeys and by the script for Tony Teardrop. Genie’s actors starred in the promotion video created with Cut to The Chase Productions company as a ‘taster’ for the performance For most of the actors it was the first time they worked on a filming set and were debuting on a camera.

D2DI learners & Genie Client in TT promo:-

Tony Teardrop & Genie In The Gutter

Tony Teardrop is set in and around a residential support centre for the homeless and is inspired by real stories - a biting, humorous play about people living on the edges of society. We follow Tony on a journey through his interior landscape looking for the true meaning of ‘home’. We see the world through his relationships with fellow ‘space cadets’ and his struggles with the manager of the centre...until things come to a head…