BAREBONES PRODUCTIONS
These are the "bare bones" of the website-in-progress
Plays by David Wilson & Anne Aylor
The Trainer (with contributions from Keith Burstein)
Rehearsed readings at Oxford House (6 March 09) & Hackney Empire (21 May 09). The cast included Tim Piggot-Smith, Corin Redgrave, Roger Lloyd Pack & Jana Zeineddine.
Spitting Into the Sky
2004 Dylan Thomas Festival, Swansea, Wales, with Sion Probert & Liz Morgan.
Plays by David Wilson
Simple Writings
Duke of Cambridge, 1988
The Old Master
(reading) Lyric Hammersmith, 1990
Plays by Anne Aylor
Children of the Dust
Gate Theatre, London. First reading directed by
Katie Mitchell. Winner of the 1987 International Playwriting Festival competition and co-produced
by the Soho Theatre and the Theatre Warehouse, Croydon, director: Terry Johnson
The M & M Café
Published in New Plays 2, editor: Peter Terson, Oxford
Univesity Press
Happiness is North of Here
Gate Theatre, London. A reading of this play about the Russian poet, Marina Tsvetaeva, was directed by Katie Mitchell.
Play Reviews
"David Wilson & Anne Aylor's play, The Trainer, makes a surreal case for less government interference in our lives & an emotional plea for peace, love & understanding." Tim Pigott-Smith
"The Trainer takes the scandal of an artist bankrupted by the state - the composer Keith Burstein - and brilliantly exposes the threat to our freedoms and civil liberties." Corin Redgrave
"[Spitting into the Sky is] A powerful and beautifully written piece of theatre, and I have to say that
your mastery of language isn't far off Thomas' himself. I thought you did an excellent job of
interweaving the world of the plays and the poems . . . adding the Marx Brothers into the brew lent
a wonderfully surreal tone." John Yorke , Head of Drama, BBC TV
"I read Spitting Into the Sky and I loved its imaginative spiralling. I loved the setting and the theatrical
gifts it allows you to indulge. I love the idea of the Marx Brothers taking us through the play: I think
the language is grand, and worthy of the man." Terry Johnson, director and playwright,
"It brings Dylan Thomas to life, warts and all, particularly his relationship to Caitlin. A very
original piece of work." Stephen Hearst, ex Head of Arts, BBC
"David Wilson’s Simple Writings comes to the stage with a cast of 10 who give themselves ably and
ebulliently to the task of peopling Grimmelshausen’s world: it is witty, bawdy, and as profound as
anyone cares to consider it." Financial Times
"David Wilson unfurls a sprawling, vibrant, bustling canvas of seventeenth-century German peasant
life in the Thirty Years War . . . the play at times works like a painting by Breughel, in its juxtaposition
of the ingeniously fanciful and the gruesomely horrific. Time Out
"David Wilson’s Simple Writings brings to often uproarious life a 17th century German novel with
overtones of Fielding and Rabelais, but with its own contemplative force." Ham & High
* * *
David is a playwright and political activist. He teaches playwriting courses. Anne is a playwight,
novelist and runs her own creative writing courses. See: www.anneaylor.co.uk
"This course, and I'm sure any course with Anne, will be the same. It's not just about writing. It's about a spiritual journey from which writing is just one end product. Anne is empathetic, warm and wise and opened all sorts of possibilities to me."
Caroline Walker
“I just loved this beginners' course for playwriting. It was interactive and thought-provoking, refreshing and entertaining. David was very supportive and constructively critical. It has inspired me to write with a passion and a purpose. Try it and you’ll feel as liberated as I do.”
Carole Vincent, Big Brother 8
Contacting David or Anne david.wilson@talktalk.net
T: +44 (0)7951 579 064
Barebones Productions Ltd organised the Two Plays for Gaza benefit at the Hackney Empire; a major success for them as both writers of one of the plays featured at the benefit and as promoters of the event.
Two Plays for Gaza was an evening of olives & matzohs introduced by TONY BENN
with Corin Redgrave, Roger Lloyd Pack, Janie Dee, Jana Zeineddine, Paul Herzberg, David Mildon, Lisa Came, Jim Fish, Daisy Lewis, Ruth Posner, Jennie Stoller, Anna Gilbert, Michael Culver, Rory Feeney, Joanna Watt & others
Also appearing on the bill were Reem Kelani, Palestinian singer, rap poet Lowkey and ex-SAS soldier Ben Griffin who read from the Winter Soldier hearings into the Iraq war
+ Freylekh Klezmer Dance Band
The evening was a benefit for rebuilding the Gaza Music School & Stop the War Coalition directed by Tom Platten, Co-Artistic Director of Gilt & Grime
Camden New Journal review of Two Plays for Gaza
Michael Mann
Brave Acts for Victims of War
IT’S not often a stranger grabs your hand and starts crying. But last Thursday at the Hackney Empire a silver-haired woman sitting next to me did just that. The theatre was packed for Two Plays for Gaza, an evening organised by the Stop the War Coalition to raise money for a Palestinian music school destroyed during Israel’s bombardment of Gaza earlier this year. As the theatre echoed to the voice of Palestinian singer Reem Kelani, singing about refugees and broken hearts, I felt the woman’s hand slip into mine as she sobbed. The centre-piece of the evening was the reading of two controversial plays by stars, including Corin Redgrave and Roger Lloyd Pack. Caryl Churchill’s Seven Jewish Children depicts the transformation of mainstream Israeli Jews from tragic Holocaust victims to supporters of genocide against Palestinians. The BBC decided it was too hot to handle and it was hounded off Broadway by Israel supporters. Here it received an ovation. The Trainer by David Wilson and Anne Aylor is a story of love and revenge based on composer Keith Burstein’s legal battle with the London Evening Standard. The Standard wrote that Burstein’s opera about a suicide bomber, Manifest Destiny, glorified terrorism. Burstein sued, but lost his case before a bench of judges. The rights to his music and plays were seized by government receivers. Burstein, played by Paul Herzberg, quips that the court ruling meant the government became his “publisher and agent”, and handed the copyright of the opera to his chief tormentor, the Standard. What a Dickensian twist!
(Michael Mann, 28/05/09)
Saudi Gazette review of Two Plays for Gaza
Susannah Tarbush
Legendary London theater hosts ‘Two Plays for Gaza’
The Hackney Empire in East London is one of the British capital’s most famous entertainment and music venues. Built in 1901, it has hosted great entertainers from the past such as Charlie Chaplin and Marie Lloyd, as well as leading figures from the contemporary music and comedy scenes. Last Thursday evening the theatre’s 1,300 seats were packed full for “Two Plays for Gaza”. The event was a fundraiser for both the Stop the War Campaign and for the Gaza Music School, which was destroyed in the Israeli offensive in Gaza at the turn of the year. The music school is a project of the A. M. Qattan Foundation, and is co-financed by the Swedish International Development Agency. It was originally launched last July to meet a growing demand for music education from children and parents attending the Qattan Center for the Child in Gaza organization.The school occupied rented space at the Palestinian Red Crescent Society building in the Tel Al-Hawwa neighborhood of Gaza. Classes began in October, and on Dec. 23 the school held its first public concert. Just four days later it was damaged by Israeli bombardments, and when Israel invaded the area in mid-January, the building took a direct hit and the school was completely destroyed.Thanks to campaigns of support around the world, the Qattan Foundation was able to report that some $69,000 had flowed in and that the school reopened in new premises in mid-April. However, more funds are required to rehabilitate and develop a facility which is not only a cultural asset, but which also brings the therapeutic benefits of music in helping children express themselves and overcome trauma.The veteran Labor politician and former cabinet minister Tony Benn [pictured] introduced the evening. Israel’s supporters often try to dismiss criticism of Israel as anti-Semitism, but Benn received sustained applause when he declared, “This idea - that in taking the stand we do we are actually anti-Semitic - is an absolute lie.” The evening revealed the high degree of support for the Palestinians among artists in Britain. In addition to the direct participation of actors, writers, directors and others in staging the event, there were numerous messages of support on the printed program from the likes of comedian and author Alexei Sayle, political satirist Mark Thomas, writer and documentary maker John Pilger, actors Timothy West, Prunella Scales, Terry Jones and Janet Suzman, and novelists A.L. Kennedy and Iain Banks. The first play staged during the evening was Caryl Churchill’s powerful 10-minute drama “Seven Jewish Children”, which the acclaimed playwright wrote in response to Israel’s onslaught on Gaza. There was an outcry in some quarters when the play was first staged at the Royal Court Theatre in February and the BBC had refused to broadcast it. According to the Guardian newspaper, BBC Radio 4’s drama commissioning editor Jeremy Howe said in an e-mail that he and Radio 4 controller Mark Damazer thought the play was a “brilliant piece” but that they had decided, after debating long and hard, “we cannot run with it on the grounds of impartiality”. The second play was “The Trainer”, by David Wilson and Anne Aylor. The focus of the play is the disaster that befell the English composer Keith Burstein over his opera on the war on terror, “Manifest Destiny”. In 2005, a reviewer of the opera wrote in London’s Evening Standard newspaper that “the idea that there is anything heroic about suicide bombers is, frankly, a grievous insult.” Burstein issued a writ for libel against the newspaper’s publisher, Associated Newspapers, on the grounds that the reviewer had portrayed him as glorifying terrorism, thereby laying him open to prosecution under anti-terror legislation. A High Court judge granted Burstein the opportunity to take the case to trial by jury, but the Court of Appeal overturned this decision, in favor of Associated Newspapers. The publisher’s costs of around £70,000 were awarded against Burstein, who was declared bankrupt. Burstein was refused leave to appeal to the House of Lords and the case is currently being taken to the European Court of Human Rights. “The Trainer” is set in an upmarket gym in the basement of a gentlemen’s club where a young Palestinian woman Taghreed (played by Jana Zeineddine) is a fitness trainer. She trains three middle-aged men, played by Corin Redgrave, Paul Herzberg and Roger Lloyd Pack, who turn out to be Appeal Court judges. Taghreed finds a DVD of “Manifest Destiny” in the gym and plays excerpts on a large screen. She is engaged to a British Jew, Josh (David Mildon), who travels to help Palestinians with their olive harvest in the face of attacks from Israeli settlers. “The Trainer” interweaves Taghreed and Josh’s story with the storyline of “Manifest Destiny”. The evening featured a strong Palestinian musical element in the form of a performance by the renowned singer and musician Reem Kelani [pictured]. She was accompanied by young violinists Noemi Rubio and Laia Serra whom she described as “my two adopted nieces from Catalonia”. Kelani delivered her performance with characteristic humor and brio. She began with a lively 19th century Palestinian wedding song, complete with stamping and clapping, which exhibited her impressive vocal range. Her second number was a meditative, soulful composition for which the keening violins of the Catalan musicians were a perfect accompaniment. The song came from a Palestinian refugee survivor who lives in Syria. “This woman comes from the Khadra family of Safad. There isn’t one Arab left in Safad, but the songs remain. She is a third generation refugee, and in this song she is begging her eyes not to cry,” remarked Kelani. Her last song was “Zourouni”, by the legendary Egyptian composer Sheikh Sayyid Darwish. She recalled that in one of his most famous songs he had written, “‘Never tell me that you are a Muslim, Christian or Jew: if your homeland unites you, your religion should never ever divide you’. He said this in 1919, and I think we still need to learn it”. Another vocal performer was the rapper, poet and political activist Lowkey [pictured], born to an Iraqi mother and English father in 1986. He engaged the audience with his rapid-fire rap numbers such as “Long Live Gaza”. “I came back from the West Bank in February and the people there are aware of all the things that the Stop the War Coalition does in this country,” said Lowkey. “Please continue your support for Stop the War because it is important to let people in Palestine know that we - the British people - have not forgotten them.”
The evening received many messages of support ...
I am wishing you a terrific evening, wish I could be there. Here, in Melbourne, we're reading Seven Jewish Children on May 18, my 68th birthday. It's up to Jews who know the truth to tell the truth. Thank you for all you're doing. Love, Miriam Margolyes
Our best wishes for Two Plays for Gaza - I hope you reach a great crowd at Hackney.
Have a wonderful evening. You're doing a great job. Timothy West & Prunella Scales
I'm sorry not to be with you on the night. The plight of the Palestinian people has always been unique in that not only are they oppressed, but they are portrayed endlessly as the evil ones, as if the black people of Apartheid South Africa had brought their subjugation on themselves. Those who argue the case of the Palestinians also suffer from enormous discrimination and intimidation so well done on the benefit and I hope everything goes well. Alexei Sayle
Good luck with Two Plays for Gaza! I hope they will help people to understand what is going on in Israel. Terry Jones
The refusal of the BBC to broadcast Caryl Churchill’s play or the DEC appeal for Gaza shows how wholly biased in favour of Israelthe BBC has become. Well done to all those involved in putting on this evening as a welcome expression of solidarity with the people of Palestine. Andy de la Tour
I am disappointed that owing to a previous commitment I am unable to take part tonight. Not only is this an opportunity to show solidarity with the people of Gaza, it is an opportunity to raise hopes through music. John Williams
I wish you all success with The Trainer and all power to everything you do. John Pilger
I regret that I have not seen or read Seven Jewish Children, so 21 May will be an unimpeded first view of it for me. Even so, anything that raises the stakes of debate, and provokes people to worry about the ethical dimensions of any act, is fine by me … So I support tonight's airing and wish the evening well. Janet Suzman
I'm very sorry I can't attend an event that opens communication between communities tortured by political manipulation and distorted fantasies. Glimpses of truth are all the more needed when our media culture is in collapse and the humanity the media shows grows less and less human. A.L. Kennedy
If the media are failing to report the actions of artists and performers to work in solidarity with Palestine and against Israeli military aggression then we have to speak out even louder. Any sane individual would look at the calibre of the people on the bill and assume that they might possibly be worth listening to. Good luck. In solidarity, Mark Thomas
I absolutely support the Two Plays performance and think the BBC is being petty and timid - hopelessly cowed by bullying politicians and the right-wing billionaires who are allowed to run the vast majority of the print media in this country. We need dissent and discussion here, not censorship and cravenness. Iain Banks
Out of 3 different threads: Keith Burstein's opera Manifest Destiny, the story of his ludicrous & unjust trial & a young . . . trainer who has to put Burstein's judges through their paces in a fancy London gym, David Wilson & Anne Aylor's play makes a surreal case for less government interference in our lives & an emotional plea for peace, love & understanding. Tim Pigott-Smith
The Trainer takes the scandal of an artist bankrupted by the state - the composer Keith Burstein - and brilliantly exposes the threat to our freedoms and civil liberties. Corin Redgrave
Israeli - Palestinian reconciliation is very important. Thank you for all you are doing. I shall be at Two Plays for Gaza on 21 May and am looking forward to the evening. Walter Wolfgang
The Trainer is gripping drama. It's a passionate and telling condemnation of an injustice made possible by the anti-terrorism laws. Michael Kustow
SEVEN JEWISH CHILDREN
Caryl introduced her play which included some of the cast members from its Royal Court premiere in February 2009. The playwright Tony Kushner and Alisa Solomon had to say about her play: "Israel's recent bombing and ground invasion of the Gaza Strip, Operation Cast Lead, killed 1,417 Palestinians; thirteen Israelis were killed, five by friendly fire. Thousands of Palestinians were seriously wounded and left without adequate medical care, shelter or food. Among the Palestinian dead, more than 400 were children. In response to this devastation, Caryl Churchill wrote a play.While some British critics greatly admired the play, which was presented by a Jewish director with a largely Jewish cast, a number of prominent British Jews denounced it as anti-Semitic. Some even accused Churchill of blood libel, of perpetrating in Seven Jewish Children the centuries-old lie . . .We emphatically disagree. We think Churchill's play should be seen and discussed as widely as possible. Though you'd never guess from the descriptions offered by its detractors, the play is dense, beautiful, elusive and intentionally indeterminate. This is not to say that the play isn't also direct and incendiary. It is. It's disturbing, it's provocative, but appropriately so, given the magnitude of the calamity it enfolds in its pages. Any play about the crisis in the Middle East that doesn't arouse anger and distress has missed the point."
THE TRAINER
The second play is The Trainer by David Wilson & Anne Aylor explores the love story between a British Jew, Josh, and his Palestinian fiancée, Taghreed, who works in a gentlemen's gym. Josh and Taghreed's love story is interwoven with the bankrupting of composer, Keith Burstein, who was accused of "glorifying terrorism" in his opera, Manifest Destiny. This eclectic, contemporary drama uses a multimedia approach with excerpts from Manifest Destiny, film footage and TV interviews with a terrorism "expert". The star cast included Corin Redgrave, Janie Dee, fresh from her starring role in Alan Ayckbourn's A Woman in Mind at the Vaudeville, Roger Lloyd Pack, "Trigger" from Only Fools and Horses and Lebanese-American actress, Jana Zeineddine, who has appeared in The West Wing, Law & Order and Saturday Night Live.