Owls
Loosely Based Theatre Company presents a new play written by Jayne Woodhouse, directed by Calum Robshaw.
One rooftop — two lives on the edge
‘Owls’ unflinchingly confronts the challenging, and often unspoken, issues of mental illness and suicide. It draws on humour to illuminate these dark concerns facing so many young people today.
About the play
One night, on the roof of a multi-storey car park, two strangers collide: Anna, who is about to jump, and Steve, the hapless security guard who finds her. As they begin the search for some connection, Steve discovers that if he wants to save Anna’s life, he must first save his own. ‘Owls’ uses humour to create a bold and unflinching view of the challenging issues surrounding attempted suicide and mental illness. It builds the hope that, eventually, everyone can fly.
Previous performance
‘Owls’ began as a short 15 minute play, which was performed in November 2016 at ‘Mental Health Night’, a scratch night for Actor Awareness at Spotlight Studios, London. Audience feedback commented that it was ‘Well written, well performed, the contrast of humour and characters was very effective.’
Review of the performance 18/5/2018
“Owls is a powerful exploration of issues around truth, lies, mental health and suicide. If that sounds gloomy, it is anything but. These important, difficult topics are handled with deep sensitivity and are made approachable by touches of humour under Calum Robshaw’s inspired direction. Chatty security man Steve, played with great verve and feeling by David House, is doing his nightly round when he discovers Anna, a profoundly depressed young woman, about to throw herself off the roof. Anna’s vulnerability and despair are most movingly portrayed by Kate Austen. Steve’s life has hit the skids and in his desperation to save Anna and give her hope, he re-invents his own story for her – and there is hope for both of them in the end, after the truths are told. Neil Gardner plays the supporting roles of Pavel (with an utterly convincing Romanian accent!) and Darren, changing impressively from older man to teenager before our very eyes. This is an important and thought-provoking new play, strongly and compellingly written, which deserves to be widely known.”
Sandra Horn