Bite of reality for BlueGiro (From The Northern Echo)

Bite of reality for BlueGiro

12:48pm Thursday 10th February 2011 in Theatre

Newcastle theatre company boss Catrina McHugh talks to Viv Hardwick about her latest serious subject.

ICATCH up with Catrina McHugh, of Newcastle’s all-female Open Clasp Theatre, during rehearsals in Newcastle’s West End overlooking Elswick Park... the beautiful view she has is somewhat in contrast to the serious side of the company’s latest production, Blue- Giro, a look at sexual violence against women.

Those unfamiliar with the Tyneside-based company’s work may be surprised to hear that the project uses comedy and the backdrop of a reality TV singing contest to make its point. As usual, the starting point was workshops with women’s groups who inspired the theme.

“It’s the project we always had in mind, and then some. The new thing for BlueGiro is how we’ve done it. We’ve got a couple of set designers from London and they’ve created a set like a piece of magic with things happening and appearing all the time.

There’s lot of music and singing,” says artistic director McHugh.

The plot concerns a 16-year-old Jodie (Jade Byrne) – and her over-protective mother, Evie (Jilly Breeze) – who heads off to Manchester for a TV audition.

Mother, a neighbour, Lisa (Jessica Johnson) and Jodie’s vocal coach Laura (Arabella Arnott) follow the girl and the inevitable meltdown ensues.

“There are a lot of surprises and twists and turns, but the aim of the play is to expose the myths that protect perpetrators of sexual violence. Such as where the responsibility lies, in terms of a woman drinking to excess and blacking out, or if it’s her responsibility if she dances in a sexy manner or dresses provocatively. Another myth is that most allegations of rape are false, whereas, in fact, only a small number are false. We’re trying to shine a light where the responsibility really lies and that’s with the people who commit sexual violence,” she adds.

One guessable theme in the play is Jodie’s mother’s desire to protect her daughter being down to what has happened to her in the past.

“We worked with a group of sexual survivors of sexual violence in Redcar (Eva Women’s Aid) and Hexham (Sixty, Eighty, Thirty) and both groups identified one of the difficulties being that if you’ve experienced sexual violence then, with your own children, you become really vigilant and over-protective because you know what the reality is. But we know that, with young people, this is where the conflict comes in,” adds McHugh, who is aware of the climate of fear about not being believed which allows this issue to flourish.

She pays tribute to the new cast she’s working with, who have embraced the theme and impressed the workshop women with their performance, which also has to meet the challenge of being funny and entertaining.

So where does the title BlueGiro come from? “I also worked with young women’s groups to see what their opinions were and with rape crisis groups in Darlington, Middlesbrough and Durham. One group the Gap (Girls Are Proud) Project in Cruddas Park, Newcastle, said that the women couldn’t report things to the police because you’d be called a BlueGiro. I didn’t know what that name was and they said a BlueGiro was a grass and somebody who is condemned if they tell. So I thought that was a good title for the play,” says McHugh.

Open Clasp normally run a show for 30 dates across the North-East, although not all are open to the general public. Live Theatre, in Newcastle, the Customs House, South Shields and Washington Arts Centre are among the most commercial venues.

Having focused on sex work’s link to addiction, loss of children and homelessness in Rattle & Roll last year with BlueGiro, is Open Clasp looking for a change of issue in future?

“Most of the things we do come by accident because the people we work with are women and every time we go in we usually have a blank sheet,” says McHugh. “This time we knew what the subject was, but the next one will see us working with older women who are 70-plus and the only thing I’ve picked up with this age group is that dementia is an issue. I have no idea how big that is and it’s very much for the groups to plot it through. My job is to decide what I’m hearing and things that others need to hear.”

* Tour dates: Tonight, Washington Arts Centre, 7.30pm. Box office: 0191-219-3455 Thursday, Feb 24, and Feb 25, Customs House, South Shields, 7.30pm, 0191-454-1234 Friday, March 18, Lamplight Arts Centre, Stanley, 8pm – BSL Interpreted, 01207-218899 March 24, 25, 26, Newcastle Live Theatre, 7.30pm, 0191-232-1232, email: tickets@live.org.uk Openclasp.org.uk for women-only dates and venues and online bookings.