We invited Charlie MacGechan to tell the tale of a wonderful woman, a tragedy and the phoenix that rose out of the ashes. His moving story is told here for the first time in public.
Losing my mum, Frances, at 17 was a devastating blow. I was consumed with grief. My life went downhill; I ended up penniless and unable to find a job. However, my friend rallied round and I was lifter out of the abyss just before lockdown hit the country. A friend at the time said, “Is there anything you could do that gives service and helps people?” I thought of my mother and how she had devoted her life to helping others and decided that I could continue her work, especially by furthering the project that had been so close to her heart. She had left a remarkable legacy and I felt that it was up to me to perpetuate it.
My mother had created a drama group in 1999 called Run At It Shouting in Haverhill, Suffolk. The name came from a line in Bruce Robinson's Withnail and I. It was no ordinary amdram group. The company put on plays, as would be expected, but my mother worked passionately and tirelessly with members of the community, producing theatre and performing arts courses. She also realised that drama was a vehicle that could improve and maybe even transform the lives of others. She began to work with deprived children, adults in difficult situations and prisoners. She realised that many of these people had difficulty in expressing themselves and were too self-conscious to simply talk about their predicaments. She knew that through drama they could find an outlet, a release mechanism for often years of pent-up trauma.
Consequently, her death in February 2007 left a huge void, not only in the lives of family and friends but in a much wider circle of people whose key supporter had been taken from them. With her passing everything stopped for Run At It Shouting; a loss piled on top of a loss.
With my head cleared and my hope and vision restored, I decided there could be no finer tribute to my mother than to resurrect the company she had founded. The lockdown gave me the space and time to embark on this journey, but I was unsure where to start. I knew I would need help and guidance to make a success of it.
My mother's favourite director was Mike Leigh; she raised me on his films. He didn’t know me from Adam and I didn’t think for one second he would respond to my brazen approach, but he replied immediately and went on to host one of my very first events! With that confidence boost and believing now that anything was possible I approached Philip Ridley, whom I’d admired for many years. Similarly, Phil got back to me straight away. We subsequently became good friends, and I went on to produce the world premiere of his play The Poltergeist. This production was a remarkable success, with Joseph Potter winning the 2023 OFFIE for Best Solo Performance.
I’m now 35, and very proud of what I’ve achieved in my mother's memory. To my amazement it’s become one of the top hubs for actors in the industry and a leading platform for creating and producing industry workshops, entertainment and events. Bruce Robinson is now our patron.
As an arts organisation we offer affordable training for professional actors and currently have workshops available with Mark Ravenhill, Jez Bond (The Park Theatre Artistic Director) and Mehmet Ergen (Arcola Theatre Artistic Director) as well as TV/Film workshops with many of the top Directors and Casting Directors in the country. Featured events have also included Amma Asante, Eve Best, David Bradley, David Castaneda, Charlie Cox, Douglas Hodge, Mike Leigh, Lesley Manville, Stacy Martin, and Bruce Robinson, who is now our patron, to name but a few…
As well as workshops, RAIS has a free platform devoted to actor-focused podcasts recorded live in a Q&A format. In addition to interviews with actors, directors, writers and casting directors, they include a Working with Pinter series hosted by the playwright’s close friend and collaborator Harry Burton.
With locations in London and Manchester and a host of online workshops and community members from around the world. Run At It Shouting has come a long way since my mother created it and I maintain my ties to Haverhill and like to think that she would be proud of what she started.
Website: https://runatitshouting.co.uk/
