Scapegoat, a political tragedy of power and punishment, has the rage and love of a mother and daughter at its heart.   A struggling European government humiliates a detained female investment banker, blamed for the country’s debt crisis. The banker’s daughter, a charismatic democratic socialist, responds to the seedy overtures of the Governor of the Central Bank, frees her mother, gains political influence. Austerity and refugees intensify the pressures on a shaky left-ish coalition government. The political/financial élite, (are they in touch with the neo-Nazis?), fights back. Does democracy survive? Are European democratic values deep-rooted? Do mother and daughter succeed?

Cate Cammack – Daughter 

Cate trained at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. Theatre includes: Farinelli and the King (Duke of York’s), Baby (KiteHigh), The Comedy Of Errors, Dracula, Rookery Nook, Rogue Herries (Theatre by the Lake), and The Dug Out (Tobacco Factory Theatre). Film includes: Gentlemen, directed by Mikael Marcimain for B-Reel. Television includes: Gentlemen And Gangsters.

@CateCammack

Yvonne Gidden – President/Dorothy/Blackshirt

Yvonne trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama. Theatre includes Carmen Jones (Sheffield Crucible), Animal Farm (National Theatre), Where There Is Darkness (Lyric Hammersmith), Little Shop of Horrors (Australia), Last Waltz Season (Arcola), Harder They Come (Stratford East), and Cat On A Hot Tin Roof (Novello Theatre). Television: Desmonds, Inspector Morse, Coronation St. Film: Hamlet (directed by Kenneth Branagh).

Photo by Idil Sukan/Draw HQ

Alexander (Ian) Grant – Chancellor/Dave/Blackshirt/Writer/Exec Prod

Alexander trained at East 15. Theatre includes Hindle Wakes (Upstairs at the Gatehouse), Coverage (Courtyard Theatre), Cyrano de Bergerac (Corbett Theatre), Largo Desolato (Theatro Technis), Taming of the Shrew (Theatro Technis and Paris), Macbeth (Cockpit Theatre), and Hamlet (Bridewell). Previous writing includes Stella Europa (Hen and Chickens). He was executive producer of A Prayer (Hen and Chickens) and Macbeth (Cockpit Theatre).

@alexgrantactor

Jonathan Lermit – Governor

Jonathan’s theatre credits include repertory, as Sir Toby Belch in Twelfth Night (Westcliff, Cambridge), Aston in The Caretaker (Nottingham Playhouse) and seasons at Pitlochry and Westcliff (The Complete Agatha Christie). He has toured in the UK and Europe with Scarlet Theatre (Princess Sharon and Seagulls), Lightworks (Sarajevo Story), ATC (Macbeth False Memory), and CTC (The House of Mirth). Television includes: Messiah, London’s Burning, The Bill.

Steven Maddocks – Man/Co-producer/Marketing design

Steven trained at Webber Douglas. Recent theatre includes: Much Ado About Nothing (Open Air Theatre, Hampstead), Stella Europa (The Hen and Chickens), Stones In His Pockets (Upstairs at The Gatehouse), Macbeth (The Cockpit and Little Angel Theatre), Beauty and the Beast (artsdepot) and Hamlet (The Bridewell). Recent film includes One Thing Left to Do (dir. Shane Sweeney) and Interchange (dir. Matthew McDonnell).

@_Infinite_Space

Rhian Marston-Jones – Woman

Rhian trained at East 15 Acting School. Theatre credits include: Measure for Measure (NuffieldTheatre), Rathmores Whippet (Theatre 503), Romeo and Juliet (Action To The Word/Camden Peoples Theatre), On Love (The Bike Shed Theatre), Much Ado About Nothing, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Twelfth Night (Young Shakespeare Company). Radio credits include: Torchwood.

@MissRhian1988

 Denise Stephenson – Promethea

Training: LAMDA and LISPA. Theatre: Bloody Poetry, The Philanthropist, No End of Blame (MTC), Popcorn (Liverpool Playhouse), School for Scandal, Scanarelle (ART), Sore Throats (St Louis Rep), From Morning Till Midnight (National Theatre). TV: The Bill, My Family, Peak Practice, Doctors, Out of The Blue. Film: The Dead Can’t Lie, St Trinians, About A Boy.

@denisedenizes

Crew and Creative Team (in alphabetical order)

Niall Bishop – Producer

Niall is an actor. Recent theatre: Just Above Dogs (Lion and Unicorn), League of Youth (Theatre N16), Rise (London Tour), The Cripple of Inishmaan (Judi Dench Playhouse), A Prayer (Hen & Chickens), An Inspector Calls (New Wimbledon Theatre), Major Barbara (Theatro Technis), and Stones in His Pockets (Upstairs at The Gatehouse). Recent film: Rot, Pursued and The Light That Reflects the Shadows (National Film School). Niall trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama and with the Focus Theatre, Dublin.

@Niall_Bishop

Robbie Butler – Lighting Design

Robbie won the 2015 ETC Award from the Association of Lighting Designers and this year received an Offie nomination for Best Lighting Designer for Odd Shaped Balls at the Old Red Lion Theatre. His designs can be found at www.robbiebutlerdesigns.com. As a technician he has worked on Groundhog Day, Dr Seuss’s The Lorax and Cirque Du Soleil’s Amaluna.

@robbiejbutler

Charlie Cridlan – Production, Set and Costume Designer

Charlie has designed work for theatre, opera, TV and live events. Notable credits include Jago and Eleanor Vale (Wedmore Opera), Wagner Dream (Barbican Hall) and Mr Stink (national no. 1 tour). She has provided dynamic theatrical environments for What if! Innovation, Discover Story Centre, Harper Collins and Wavelength Connect Ltd. She exhibited at The V&A’s Transformation and Revelation: UK Design for Performance and was nominated for a 2010 Offie for Best Design for Once Upon a Time at the Adelphi and Liar’s Market. Orator was ‘Pick of the Week’ at VAULT Festival 2016.

www.charliecridlan.com

Zara Janmohamed – Stage Manager

Zara is studying Technical Theatre at RADA. She has specialised in Stage Management on numerous shows, most recently RADA’s production of Clybourne Park. Outside RADA, Zara has worked as venue crew at The Pleasance (Edinburgh Fringe) and in the Wardrobe departments at Sadlers’ Wells and the Peacock Theatre.

Philip Matejtschuk – Sound Design

Philip is a twice Offie-nominated sound designer and composer. Holder of a PgDip in Sound Design from RADA, Philip’s recent credits include: Adding Machine: A Musical (Finborough Theatre), How To Date A Feminist (Arcola Theatre), The Burnt Part Boys (Park Theatre), Sea Life and Dead Party Animals (Hope Theatre, both Offie-nominated), as well as associate credits for King Lear (Cockpit Theatre), Pig Farm (St James Theatre) and Stevie (Hampstead Theatre). Philip is Head of Sound at Italia Conti.

@philmatejtschuk

Abigail Pickard Price – Director

Abigail trained at LAMDA and Exeter University. Theatre includes, as director: Bee Happy (The Old Red Lion), Macbeth (Big Brum), Tinderbox (Charing Cross Theatre), Baby (The Hope Theatre), Anna Weiss (The Space; nominated for an Offie as Best Director), Shrew (International Tour), On Love (The Bike Shed). Abigail was associate/resident director on: Crazy For You (The Watermill Theatre), Here Be Monsters (UK Tour), The Smallest Show on Earth (UK Tour) and assistant director of: Ragtime, Titanic (Charing Cross Theatre), Grand Hotel (Southwark Playhouse), The Wasp (Hampstead Theatre), The Grand Tour (Finborough Theatre) and The Adventures of Pinocchio (The Watermill Theatre).

@APickardPrice

Scapegoat had a rehearsed reading on March 18th 2016, at the Soho Theatre Upstairs, Dean Street, London

A Play by Ian Grant

Some audience reaction:

‘Scapegoat was full of corruption, ambition and crushed idealism.’

‘The play was overwhelmingly powerful and ultimately deeply pessimistic, which left me a bit shattered.   The recurring image of Promethea bound, with its classical reference, was inspired.’

‘I love the remarkable opening image of a woman in chains with two people being ordered periodically to restrain her.   As an audience our main interest is now hooked on finding out how she got to be in that position.’

‘I would love to see it staged if for no other reason that the powerful central image of a woman in chains is extraordinary and potent.’

‘The opening scene is great, setting up [Promethea] and her daughter…this is the key relationshsip in the play.’

‘The relationships are archetypal and the familiar themes of greed, lust, jealousy, revenge, torture, murder, love, mis-used power and control are present.’

‘It’s a completely relevant play and also the relationship between the characters are believable and engrossing.’

‘The stakes are certainly high with both political systems and characters at risk.’

‘Scapegoats….stand out from the crowd and hold mirrors up to society – but many prefer to smash the mirror then contemplate the mire.’

Summary

A struggling European government humiliates a detained female investment banker, blamed for the country’s debt crisis. The banker’s daughter, a charismatic democratic socialist, responds to the seedy overtures of the Governor of the Central Bank, frees her mother, gains political influence. Austerity and refugees intensify the pressures on a shaky left-ish coalition government. The political/financial élite, (are they in touch with the neo-Nazis?), fights back. Does democracy survive? Are European democratic values deep-rooted? Do mother and daughter succeed?

Cast and creative team

(Cast in alphabetical order)

Niall Bishop –                         stage directions

Alexander Grant –                  Chancellor

Meg Lake –                              President

Jonathan Lermit –                   Governor of the Bank

Holly Joyce –                           Woman

Steven Maddocks –                 Man

Hannah Sinclair-Robinson –   Daughter

Denise Stephenson –               Promethea

Director –                                Abigail Pickard Price

Sound design/operation –      James Lawrence

Programme –                          Steven Maddocks

Executive producer –              Ian Grant

Thanks to Denise Stephenson for providing rehearsal space, Alison Burns, Niall Bishop, Amy, Arianna, LJ and Bex of the Soho Theatre.

Scapegoat was produced by Creative Structure in association with Infinite Space

Scapegoat © Creative Structure Ltd 2016