collector of tears & other monologues

sean burn

• Publisher: Aurora Metro Books
• ISBN:
  9781906582166
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: European Drama
• Index: Literature

An epic love story for our times. Unable to age until she has cried, Tanya must collect the tears of others in glass bottles down through the centuries – and through her stories, bear witness to the pain and suffering of the people.Taking both male and female lovers, Tanya is an outcast, hunted by those who misunderstand her until the day comes when she finally stands up to be counted – and learns how to cry.Also part of this collection: 'ghost-tag', 'ryan yr tits are leakin', 'widescream', 'chair held aloft', 'when i return as lenin' and 'cocoon'.

gobscure

collector of tears by sean burn will first be performed by gobscure at the customs house, south shields on 15th and 16th october 2014 before setting out on a national tour:

caedmon hall, gateshead central library (17th october)

key theatre, peterborough (23rd october)

the place, bedford (27th october)

arts centre washington (30th october)

ilkley playhouse studio (1st november)

marlborough theatre, brighton (5th november)

bristol bierkeller (6th november)

arena theatre wolverhampton (7th november)

Creative Team

Alison Ashton	set designer
Annie Brotherton (at Gateshead)	bsl signer
sean burn	playwright
Effie Burns	glass artist (designed the collection of tear-bottles)
Jackie Fielding	director
James Henshaw	lighting designer
Anne Hornsby (at Mind’s Eye)	audio introduction
Madeleine MacMahon	playing tanya sealt
Ken Patterson	live music
John Robinson	stage manager

This script is being published before the play tours so might vary slightly from the performed version.

This play was funded by Arts Council England Grants for the Arts

Biographies

Alison Ashton, set designer

Alison has designed a wide range of productions for touring companies throughout the country. Her favourite design has to be the lavish restoration comedy ‘The Way of the World’ by Congreve for the Royal Theatre, Northampton. She has designed plays which have toured churches, playgrounds, fire stations, shopping centres and even theatres! Earlier this year she designed ‘Get up and Tie your Fingers’ which is currently being staged alongside a community exhibition in each of twelve towns down the east coast of England and celebrates the fishing heritage. Alison also works as an Arts Practitioner and has made the worlds largest Dreamcatcher and more recently a large scale piece of suspended artwork for the headquarters of the Newcastle Building Society.

Effie Burns, glass artist

Effie has been working with glass for over eighteen years now. It has taken her on many different journeys. She has exhibited her sculptural work internationally including shows with Contemporary Applied Arts in London and the Crafts Council in Tokyo. Collaboration has also been an important part of her practice and has led to the creation of films, gardens and even a mobile museum. She has also worked with playwrights and poets on projects with New Writing North and the British Library.

Jackie Fielding, director

Having directed Next Swan Down the River Might Be Black, Jackie is delighted to once again team up with Sean for Collector of Tears. Jackie trained at Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art, having gained a degree in drama from Manchester University. She has directed freelance with a wide variety of companies. Productions include Death at Dawn with Cloud Nine; The Fifteen Streets with Ion Productions; Robin Hood, Heaven’s Got Talent and God’s Day Off – Durham Mysteries for Gala Theatre Durham; The Man and the Donkey, Keep Calm and Carry On, Talking Tom, Nothing Like The Wooden Horse, Jump You Bastard, Writing Wrong, Cuddy’s Miles, Lucky Numbers, Son of Samurai, The Revengers, Waiting For Gateaux, Good To Firm, Raising The Stakes and Photo Finish, for Customs House Theatre, South Shields; Next Swan Down The River Might Be Black for Gobscure; Alf Ramsay Knew My Grandfather at Darlington Civic Theatre; Steel Town, Kelly and The Dream also at The Customs House; Don Quixote for Pocket Theatre Cumbria which toured to venues throughout England.

James Henshaw, lighting designer

James is delighted to be working with Jackie again this time on collector of tears, following The Fifteen Streets earlier in the year. In January 2008 James launched ‘Snap to Black’ a company offering production, project and event management to a range of clients from theatrical productions to large scale corporate events throughout the UK and internationally. James also works extensively in the UK and abroad on a freelance basis both as a Production Manager and Lighting Designer, splitting most of his time between London and home in Yorkshire. In recent weeks James has developed a penchant for good soup and Lego.

Madeleine MacMahon, (playing tanya sealt)

Originally from Gloucestershire, Madeleine studied Drama at Hull University before moving to London, where she now lives. She has performed in a wide range of styles as an actress and singer and is particularly proud to be part of this fascinating new play and exploring the depths of its themes and relevance to our lives today. Theatre includes: Cider With Rosie; Great Expectations (Cheltenham Everyman), Cinderella; Jason and the Argonauts; Dick Whittington; Sleeping Beauty (Hereford Courtyard), Kubrick3; The Dark Room (PIT, New Diorama Theatre, Time Out Critics’ Choice), Just Beyond The Breeze (Forward Theatre Project), A Day in the Death of Joe Egg (Anthony Minghella Theatre).

Ken Patterson, live music

Ken coordinated ‘Making Music On the Line’, a millennium project with Channel 4, Oxfam, Folkworks and others, involving 10,000 children in Shetland, Northumberland, Gascony, Catalunya and Burkina Faso. This took the form of a musical conversation between each of ten professional musicians who travelled to the five different countries on the meridian line. He co-directs 4 Corners World Music Network (www.4cornersmusic.co.uk) with Richard Scott of Grand Union Orchestra. 4 Corners have worked in collaboration with Creative Partnerships and many other initiatives since 1999. He continues to act and writes the music in a number of Théâtre sans Frontières productions and collaborated with storyteller Chris Bostock in ‘Tales for the Turning Year’.

John Robinson, stage manager

Working as a technician, stage manager and producer, John has taken shows, from acoustic music concerts to a zombie invasion of Nottingham, into theatres, pubs, arts centres, city streets, public parks, and fields. Personal highlights include working in the wings whilst a sell out crowd raised the rafters at The Lowry, joining the curtain call at Buxton Opera House on Stage Management Day, touring the country with wonderful musician Julie Ellison, and driving a 1950s electric milk float for The Dukes Theatre, Lancaster. There is no place he would rather be. In theatre that is, although the milk float is fun.

collector of tears

an earlier draft of collector of tears was given development time and two performances at the queens hall arts centre, hexham, spring 2009.

shelley o’brien was directed by geof keys.

sean burn received a peggy ramsay foundation grant, 2012, for further development of this script

gobscure will tour collector of tears nationally autumn 2014 thanks to arts council funding

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