Charlotte East’s debut play, The King Stone – a haunted love story, is a two hander cracker. The play was developed with the support of the National Theatre’s Generate Programme and with support from Nottingham Playhouse, Mansfield Palace and Curve in Leicester. With new plays it is common for the playwright, production team and director to use the services of a dramaturg to further shape the written word and staging.
The combination of talents in creating the piece with Charlotte East and director Hannah Stone is knock out good. And the acting is solidly accomplished. There a good blend of serious subjects and some humour. Each character occupies and demonstrates their acting energies throughout as we see the friends grow from ten year-old Scouts and schoolkids to adults harbouring all the difficulties that being a young adult can experience. Charlotte East plays Kristen and Calum Lil is Philip.
This play marries the realities of life and the complexities of frail relationships with an ethereal supernatural force tracking the Derbyshire based storyline. The set is by Hazel Low and it’s symbolic, one might even say, abstract, nature serves the piece exceptionally well. Megan Lucas’ lighting adds greatly to the atmospheres and time slips and the mysterious figure is hinted at as a silhouette behind the arc of the curtains. The talented composer and sound designer is Ellie Isherwood. The whole theatrical amalgamation fuses into a decidedly impressive debut for Charlotte East, Hannah Stone, Calum Lil and the creative team.
The theatrical tale is played out with great believability and intimacy by East and Lil. The key themes of sexual abuse and the fact that young men can quietly suffer with extreme poor mental health which can lead to suicide are adroitly illustrated on stage.
In the online programme, East, the writer, tells us that “I grew up in a Derbyshire mining community built around the steelworks industry. I often noticed (and still do) that men weren’t discussing how they truly felt. They were learning quickly how to hide their raw emotions behind a quiet badge of honour…” Director Hannah Stone adds that she hopes the show will inspire you to look again at the people in your life and notice when they at not okay, to encourage them to talk and seek help.
The King Stone runs at Nottingham Playhouse Neville Studio until 28th Feb and then at Chesterfield Studios Rose Theatre on 6th March and Derby Normanton Library on 8th March. Do try and get to see this new play and be supportive of new playwrights like Charlotte East who has brought troubled contemporary young lives and placed them centre stage.
Photography: Jonathan Pryke
