Thrown – a play about backhold wrestling – surely one of the world’s more obscure sports, even to city-living Scots. What better topic could there be to explore the theme of Scottish identity? Town vs country, tradition vs modern life, male bastions vs female interlopers. And those frictions are just for starters in this funny and engaging play that grips you in a wrestler’s hold and never lets go.
This funny and engaging play that grips you in a wrestler’s hold and never lets go
Five contrasting Scots women get together to form a backhold wrestling team; they are all burdened by secret problems behind the appearances they present to the world. This may sound like the standard sports story formula; except Thrown has the additional layer of grappling with identity and cohesion in modern Scotland, and neither do we get a neat Hollywood ending. And besides – some formulas work!
The play has been criticised that each woman is a representative of an identity group – Helen, the timid senior citizen; Jo, the mixed-race girl, and her friend Chantelle, the white poor, wannabe social media influencer; Pamela, the control-freak New Ager; and Imogen, the treble outsider – black, rich, and born in Scotland but recently moved back from London.
In an obvious sense it’s true that they are representative, but playwright Nat McCleary has created characters first and foremost. You could immediately distinguish each one of them from any single line of dialogue – and more to the point, they remind you of human beings you know. To me, the standout is Jo, a richly complex character, who during the course of the play learns things about her own needs that she would not be able to articulate to herself (or even be aware of) at the start of the play. This is a real character, not a label.
Also, these are characters in a comedy – I can’t emphasise how much fun the play is; I doubt there is a minute without a joke, even in the most touching scenes. In fact, the scenes with the most laughs turn into the most moving.
For me, the development of the relationship between ‘senior citizen’ Helen and the team coach Pamela was the most affecting aspect of the play, as Helen, unexpectedly, becomes the most fulfilled and internally confident out of all the team members.
Not such comfortable conclusions for the other characters, however; Jo’s path creates division with her new friend Imogen and her oldest friend, Chantelle. And Chantelle pays the price with Jo for her shot at influencer fame. (Ironically, it is the outsider Imogen, who has the biggest influence on the group - impacting Jo and triggering Helen into a new engagement with the world.)
What is a Scottish identity in an evolving, hotchpotch of backgrounds, wrestling with a multitude of problems as they race through history? Thrown denies there are easy answers, but it does point to a path for holding things together.
Visit Show Website
Glasgow-based writer, actor and movement specialist Nat McCleary joins forces with director and performer Johnny McKnight to create this uniquely Scottish play.
Sweat. Opposition. Negotiation. Hold on tight.
Five wildly different women gather in the muddy fields of the Highland Games circuit to compete in the obscure art of backhold wrestling. The pearls are off, influencer videos posted, imitation Gucci bag from the Barras market set aside as the bold beginners attempt to become a team and win the championship. But nothing will prepare them for the competition that could stop them taking home the trophy – each other. Will their differences throw Imogen, Chantelle, Jo, Pamela and Helen’s chances of success in the mud?
Poignant and dynamic, Thrown gets to grips with belonging and identity in Scotland. It will be funny, it will be loud, it will be brutal.
Nat McCleary Writer
Johnny McKnight Director
Karen Tennent Set Designer
Lizzie Powell Lighting Designer
Sabrina Henry Costume Designer
Luke Sutherland Composer
Tom Penny Sound Designer
Lucy Glassbrook Movement Director
Niloo Far Khan Associate Director
Carolyn McLeod, CGD, CSA Casting Director
Cast
Efè Agwele
Maureen Carr
Lesley Hart
Chloe-Ann Tylor
Adiza Shardow
Writer's Note
I grew up storytelling – mostly to get out of trouble – but it was obvious from a young age that I loved creating imagined realities. Now, I’m buzzed to find that I can actually be paid to do that. And so here is my first story. I hope to tell stories that interrogate the messy human struggle, that allow me to wrestle out my understanding of myself and approach the perspective and experiences of others with a sense of awe. I find telling the stories of fictional people fosters in me empathy rather than disdain, curiosity rather than condemnation and a realisation that people are beautifully and painfully complex. My hope is this will be true for more than just me. I’m so humbled that you are here, willing to listen to a story that doesn’t give neat answers (a fiction in itself) nor guarantees to reinforce your perspective. Thank you. As a person in process, my stories will be too. Let the process begin.
– Nat McCleary
Director's Note
It’s an honour to present to you Thrown, written by Nat McCleary in their playwriting debut. This has been an absolute labour of love to work on. To watch Nat mould, shape and perfect the text with a forensic intensity to create a piece of work as layered as the country it’s made in. Thrown asks many questions but the ones I find myself continually coming back to are – what is ‘team’ and why does it matter?
In the case of Thrown, the team is the fantastic cast, creatives and production team who’ve come together to present the work with a wit and humour that makes it a pleasure to step into the ring every day; it’s the audiences who've given us their precious time to engage with the work.
Team is the belief that making live theatre is important. That what we do will keep the sport of theatre fit and robust, so long as we keep reimagining, growing, expanding our voices and viewpoints. I think collective experience is something we not only crave, but need. Hopefully tonight you find moments in the show that remind you why it’s important, that remind you of the unmissable experience of sitting with strangers in the dark and sharing a story. But most of all, I hope you enjoy.
– Johnny McKnight
