PERFORMING THE BENEFIT

 

 

On the4th and 5th  March 2025 I performed The Benefit at the Alma Tavern Theatre in Clifton, Bristol.  I was pleased I accomplished this, not least by delivering a script without fluffing anything for about  1 hour 15 minutes. 

The question is did my audiences get their money’s worth?  I sincerely hope so.  Was the whole story of my overcoat meaningful in a way that individual extracts at various scratch nights and fundraisers seemed to be?  Feedback from the Bristol Old Vic Artists’ Forum Scratch Night last July was encouraging, eg:-

A brilliantly written one person play exploring people and place, spun together by the journey of a coat. The characterisations of Michael and the young woman are important to punctuate the narrative so more of that! Loved the rhythm of the writing, brilliantly performed. I want to see it in production.

The journey of a coat, from place to place, owner to owner and the encounters.  I loved Jo’s descriptions, past & present details.  Hooked all the way. The romantic in me wants Micheal and the young girl to meet again….and the coat stays with him… Loved it.

Then feedback from the Alma Theatre performance of The Benefit

I enjoyed a captivating evening watching the solo show of The Benefit.  The star of the play is a bespoke black overcoat and the content is the various situations and personas that inhabit said coat.  The stories are expertly written and told by Jo Cross, occasionally accompanied by a violin. I was transported to different places, times and situations and the play will stay with me for a long time.

And this comment mattered:-

The audience were really captivated. The writing was so well crafted as was Jo’s performance. Well done and thank you.

 

Thank heavens the audience were captivated (considering they paid £12 a ticket and  the Alma Theatre was a quite cramped, stuffy venue!  Thankfully they have recently  installed air conditioning).

 It was great working with Anneka Sutcliffe, the violinist who accompanied me.  My inexperience in identifying the right music showed, but Anneka’s choice of work by Kreisler and  Ravel did the trick as did her improvisations around  tense passages in the text.   The value of Anneka’s presence was invaluable; I didn’t feel alone and she was a very calming influence in the run up to each performance.  Also I was so grateful for the kindness of the Alma Tavern Theatre staff: Oli the artistic director and Calin who stepped in lighting the show.  

 

What next for The Benefit?  Two possibilities present themselves:-

I could research and tap into non-European traditions in tailoring and garment construction, drawing on the origin of sartoriality and how it plays out physically and emotionally in other cultures.

Develop the stories of the two poets: Marlon the wartime flaneuse following in the footsteps of Baudelaire in her exquisitely tailored suit,  channelling the movie star, Marlene Dietrich.   Then there’s  Marlene, the 1980’s poet up for poetry slams in her second-hand tonic suit.   

LA LOTTA

 

December 2024 I was lucky to support new writing from Viola Bruni, a Bristol based  theatre maker, dancer and circus arts specialist. This took the form of a Scratch Theatre performance of some scenes from  a play she is  working on:  “La Lotta” ( meaning the Fight or Struggle). 

(Myself and Constantine Caruso.  Image: Nick Vidal-Hall)

Viola is lucky to have two Mums, Rosa and Nina.   La Lotta tells the story of their  fight for women’s and workers’ rights in Italy during the 1980’s and their subsequent incarceration for supporting a militant left wing organization.  It was a privilege to play Nina and realise, through Viola’s writing,  how much Nina’s  and Rosa’s  activism in Italy in those days reflected our political struggles here in Britain. 

Firstly Nina and Rosa, like  myself,  felt the need to escape the repressive conventions of the communities we grew up in:  family expectations of a simple job and inevitable marriage and community traditions based on religion and respectability. Effectively small town narrow mindedness! 

I think our struggles and desire for change were often the same, particularly in term of women’s and workers rights and freedoms.   As a drama teacher and trade union member in East London we all supported the Miners’ Strike in 1984 and made up food parcels to send to their families.  We were strong on anti-racism campaigns and we stewarded the ‘Rock Against Racism’ Concert in April 1978 in nearby Victoria Park organised by the Anti-Nazi League.  This did not put mine or my colleagues in direct danger from the authorities as Nina and Rosa found themselves. But what we became aware of was the extent that the security services, known as MI5 in the U.K.,  spied on, phone tapped and photographed anyone on the political left  or supportive of Irish Nationalism.    The police, particularly the Special Patrol Group, were known for their violence towards black and South Asian communities, gay and lesbian communities, workers on strike and anti-racist activists. 

Exploring Viola’s work on La Lotta has given me insights into the Italian experience of protest and resistance at that time.   We all knew about civil rights in the 1960’s in the U.S.A.and the 1968 student protests in France but the activism in other European countries was not well reported unless bombs were involved.  We all knew and loved the work of playwright Dario Fo but that was about it within my arts-orientated community. 

In my play “Age Queer”  (2021)  I foregrounded the political activism of my two protagonists, Alan and Norma in the 1980’s and how this is institutionally suppressed in later life.  So it has been a real pleasure to engage with Viola’s work focussing on the desire for freedom and respect people of my generation fought for.