In 2015, the students at CLIP in Gainsborough joined us once again to create that year’s Literacy Project. Several ideas were thrown into the mix, but the one that gained traction amongst the group was a theme about how far you’d be willing to go to achieve your dreams. The group were no doubt inspired by the avalanche of talent shows on television in 2014, and ‘Back Story’, like ‘Arabeska’, was selected from a photograph by one of the group at home.
The picture showed a young contestant from one of Simon Cowell’s talent shows in the midst of his ‘fifteen minutes of fame’. It generated a discussion around the importance of having a ‘back story’ – the more moving or interesting the contestant’s story, the more popularity they seemed to gain with the audience. Neil Edwards, our professional writer and Emily Bignell, director, worked with the group to develop that idea. Asking the group how much of those backstories they actually believed, and the group agreed that most of them were probably invented, this became our central plot point, and Back Story was born.

Synopsis

Execs at Niggle Productions are thrilled when teen sensation Ronan Stingmore is crowned winner of the hugely successful TV talent show: ‘Sing for your Supper’. He has the looks, the talent, but above all, the perfect back-story, around which a media frenzy (and a great deal of cash) can be whipped up. It’s all Ronan has ever dreamed of doing: a chance to write and perform his own music, to live the celebrity lifestyle and be loved by millions of adoring fans around the world. But with pressure from Niggle mounting daily, and an increasing number of sacrifices being demanded of him, Ronan must assess whether being famous is all it is cracked up to be, and just how far he’s willing to go in order to achieve his dream of becoming the world’s biggest-selling pop star.

The group worked with Neil to explore scenarios and consequences of the lies Ronan would have to tell to maintain the illusion, and as they took shape, the young people felt there were lots of funny possibilities, and Shooting Fish’s first ever satirical comedy was born!

Young people were involved in every aspect of production, from set design to attending rehearsals to give our professional actors critical feedback.

The evening was another double-bill, with the curtain-raiser called ‘Flutterby’ devised and performed by another group of young people from Gainsborough. The piece was a powerful and heroic play based on the true story of 19-year-old Steven Sutton, who made the decision to fight his cancer diagnosis with positivity and the time he had left to make a difference to others. He raised £1m by the time of his passing, and the play was a wonderful tribute to his achievements and attitude.