During the winter of 2016/17, Foolproof worked with The Cathedral Players on a production of ‘Something Familiar’. Written by Fiona Stewart and developed in rehearsal with the cast, we staged two public performances of the production on 2 June 2017.
If you’re looking for a play to perform with a cast of 8-10 adults, you can download the script of the play from our Resources section and enjoy an afternoon or evening of comedy, family tension and coach holiday fun.
Harry Isaacs is taking his entire family on a holiday to the Cotswalds. His wife Judy can’t understand his newfound enthusiasm for coach trips, his mother is keeping an eye on Harry’s business partner, Eddie, and nobody knows why deaf old Mrs Angelo has been invited. Perhaps Harry is up to something…and perhaps some of the family know more than they are letting on. The story is based on the biblical story of Jacob and Esau.
Over the winter the drama group from Glasgow Cathedral (The Cathedral Players) invited Foolproof to work them to devise and write a play with a biblical theme for performance in the spring. Devising was a new experience for this established group, who were more used to performing an existing script, but the actors threw themselves into the process.
We decide to focus on the story of Jacob and Esau from the book of Genesis, and explore ideas of sibling rivalry, regret, forgiveness and wrestling with God. We took as our inspiration a painting of the reconciliation of the brothers in Genesis 33 by Sir Peter Paul Rubens that hangs in the Scottish National Gallery as we wanted to explore what it might have felt like for Jacob to face up to his brother whom he had cheated out of his birthright. We had lots of fun reimagining the story in a present day context and decided to set it on a coach holiday to a stately home.
After months of rehearsal, and lots of hard work learning lines and moves, the group staged two performances at the Blythswood Hall to great acclaim from friends and family. If you’d like to know more about how Foolproof could help your drama group, please get in touch. We’d love to chat to you about possibilities!
