Stage Award for Acting Excellence – Best Ensemble
Premiered on the 7th May 2004 in The Tron Theatre, Glasgow and then toured throughout Scotland.
7th May – 30th August 2004
Venues: Macrobert Arts Centre, Stirling; Ayr Gaiety; Brunton Theatre, Musselburgh; Tron Theatre, Glasgow; Eden Court Theatre, Inverness; Carnegie Hall, Dunfermline; Cumbernauld Theatre; Howden Park Centre, Livingston; The Lemon Tree, Aberdeen; The Loch Centre, Tranent; Longmore Hall, Keith; Palace Theatre, Kilmarnock; Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh; Victoria Hall, Campbeltown, Volunteer Hall, Galashiels & Assembly Rooms during Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
AWARDS
“When I was a kid there was two things. Comic books and trains. Comics coz the world’s just tiny boxes of colour. Trains coz the speed, the sound, diesel engines, beautiful.”
A tale of housing scheme heroes, pure mental chavs* and graffiti dreams. Having become renowned for their ground breaking site-specific work while also occasionally placing work on the stage, fierce – an urban myth saw Grid Iron touring to a wide variety of conventional spaces for the very first time.
It was also the first time the company had created a musical, a process which all concerned thoroughly enjoyed.
The result of an eighteen month development process, working with young people in Muirhouse (Edinburgh), Easterhouse (Glasgow), Inverness, Keith and Livingston, the tour, which took in everywhere from the large stages of Eden Court and macrobert of the village halls of Keith and Campbeltown, culminated in a run in the Assembly Rooms Ballroom during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
Fierce is the story of fourteen year old Finlay and his journey through the subculture of urban Scotland. Born with an extraordinary gift for drawing, Finlay only finds his true self when he has a spray can in his hand.
Unable to relate to those around him, he finds release in the alter ego of his tag as his work begins to change the landscape and even the lives of those around him. Along the way Finlay is befriended by Wee Babz, a hip hop-obsessed skateboarder with a gift for self-promotion; Edie, a moody goth with the biggest attitude in Scotland and Pokey who just wants to sit on a wheelie bin smoking Lambert & Butler.
Bringing together a cast of some of Scotland’s most exciting young performers fierce asked the question – if your life is on the twenty-second floor, how can you make your mark on the world – before the rain, or the council, take it away?
The amazing illustrations, created by The 16k Design Works and projected by Fifty Nine Limited, were the visual heart of the staging of Fierce.
“I saw this train go by once wi a big painting on the side. It was the most beautiful thing I ever saw. I thought, if I could dae one o my drawings on the side of a train. Be like setting it free.”
Life can be epic wherever you are!
*Chav n: ned; radge; bam; townie; charver, scally; spide.
As in “Shut your f**kin pus, you chav b*****d”.
Containing bad language and some scenes of violence, this production was recommended for age 14+.
Performed on stages throughout Scotland.
Cast
Pokey: Ross Allan
Finlay: Mark Arends
Annie: Cora Bissett
Chav Barry: Garry Collins
Choonz: Steven Cree
Wee Babz: Tommy Mullins
Edie: Helen McAlpine
Geri: Catherine Whitefield
Production Team
Producer:
Judith Doherty
Director:
Janinie Abbott
Writer/Co-Director:
Justin Young
Composer & Sound Designer:
Philip Pinsky
Choreographer:
Allan Irvine
Production Manager:
Fiona Fraser
Technical Manager/Lighting Designer:
Paul Claydon
Deputy Stage Manager:
Shane Thom
Assistant Stage Manager:
Mairi McGregor
General Manager:
Claire Robb
Acting General Manager:
Kate Quinn
Singing Vocal Coach:
Marion McNeill
Set Designer:
Becky Minto
Projection:
59 Ltd
Costume Designer:
Jessica Brettle
Costume Assistant:
Kathryn Smith
Sound Engineer:
Joe Peat
Comic/Graffiti Projection Illustration & Print Design:
The 16K Design Works
Graffiti Artist:
Nico Major
Additional Music Arrangers/Producers:
Lophonics
Dramaturg:
Zinnie Harris
Literary Assistant:
Rachael Rayment
View Our Programme
To read more information about the show, including the Director’s Note and team biographies, have a look through our production programme.
Download our programme pdf here
Supporters
The production was kindly supported by the following…
