PLAYS

"The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of."  This was a twisted tale of matrimonial strife and the wife's dream of a clandestine weekend in Paris which gets tangled up with Lebanese gun runners!  When she wakes up there are suggestions that it might have really happened!

"Not What You Expected" was the next big production.  It was set in the rehearsal of the last two scenes of a 'whodunit."  At the end of Scene 1 there is a blackout and a gunshot and since everyone had murder in mind they all think their bullet has done the deed.  During a coffee break on stage the actors discuss society's low expectations of disabled people and the lack of access to the arts. 

They then return to the rehearsal with no one knowing who has been shot.  The police inspector takes confession after confession, quickly establishing that everyone has a motive for murdering somebody.  After a re-enactment it is revealed that the butler is dead.  The curtain fell to the closing line "Well, at least we know that the butler didn't do it."

Then in 1990 the members decided they wanted a change. The idea of reworking Shakespeare met with their approval.  So “The Tempest” was adapted so that the story was told through movement and everyday language mixed with Shakespearean English.  The production was performed in full costume to a packed house at Aylesbury's Civic Centre. It was very well received, one audience member said "it had a magic all of its own.”

The next production, with a change of Director, was the " The King's New Clothes" an adaptation of the fable about vanity. This production involved the Players interacting with the Audience and was again very well received.

1991 was spent working on an adaptation of the story of the Firebird Ballet.  "A Russian Tale" which used music created by Jigsaw’s actors with dance and mime.  It was a story of a princess being put to sleep by an evil witch with a spell that hid her castle away with a thick enchanted forest.  Prince Ivan, comes looking for her but couldn’t cut a way through without a magic feather from the Firebird’s tail.  The production used professional costumes, sound and lighting.

In 1995 the company performed its very own hilarious version of the Punch and Judy story called "That's the Way to do it!!"  This ended with Punch getting eaten by the Crocodile and Judy marrying the policeman!

1996 saw Jigsaw expand and start work with a second group of performers from Buckingham and Winslow.  The Aylesbury Group performed their version of the Cinderella story called "Disco Cinders"   The Winslow group performed "Summer Nights" a version of "Grease"  Both groups did two performances of their show at the Limelight .  "Summer Nights" was also performed at the Winslow Centre.

1997 saw both groups combining in one production.  "The Show Must Go On" was set in the Jigsaw College of the Performing Arts and based on "Fame." It was another highly successful show. Winslow decided to break their ties with Jigsaw and go it alone and we wished them all the best.

The next year again saw Jigsaw creating issue based work. “Ducks in Paradise” was about people with disability not being given a way out of being pushed down.  The final scene saw the Ugly Duckling declining the invitation to become a swan saying she was quite happy being a duck thank you very much!  A successful application to the National Lottery’s Arts for Everyone Fund meant that as well as performing “Ducks in Paradise” at the Limelight Jigsaw was able to tour it to five venues where there were audiences of disabled people,

1999 saw Jigsaw tackling prejudice in “With and Without.”  It looked at many different prejudices and then showed what the world would be like without them. “With and Without” was performed at The Limelight, at a special performance for Carers at Aylesbury’s Civic Centre sponsored by AVDC, and at a MENCAP Conference in Birmingham.  Sponsorship from the Equitable Charitable Trust enabled the company to take the production on tour to eleven secondary schools and other venues throughout Bucks.

Download the Original Script for With and Without! in Adobe reader

2000 saw a larger company embark on a children’s production.  “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” was aimed at ‘children of all ages’ and enabled Jigsaw to reach a totally new audience in the spring of 2001.  The performance was sold out so local special schools were invited audiences at the Dress and Technical rehearsals.   Many of the antics of the spoiled children who won Willy Wonka’s Competition were acted out with lots of ‘magic’ being employed to aid their disappearances.

Programme for Charlie and the Chocolate factory (Adobe .pdf)

The following year the company worked around the ‘Beauty and the Beast’ story.  The finished play was titled Skin Deep and explored what is meant by beauty and drew the conclusion that everyone is different which is what makes us valued as individuals.  “Skin Deep” also highlighted people’s fear of being different and exploded the myth that people had to be the same.  With funding from William Harding's Charity, the play was toured to eleven venues including mainstream and special secondary schools in Aylesbury and beyond.

Download the script for Skin Deep (Word)

2002 saw the company turn its attention to bullying. After working with masks, the actors decided to do a full production with them.  The resulting play, “Face2Face” followed the fortunes of someone who was bullied at home.  He turned into a bully at school and victimised one of his classmates.   After finding no help from staff the victim tried to make friends with the bully.  She did that by ofering to share some of things that she got at home. There were problems raising money for many charities that year due to a downturn in the economy but we took “Face2Face” on a mini tour to four local venues again including mainstream and special secondary schools before taking an extra eighteen months to turn it into a film.  “Face2Face the Movie” was premiered in November 2004.  It was featured in the Times Educational Supplement and was shown at  an independent film festival in New York the next year.

Download the Face2Face script (word)

“WHO CARES?” took two years to complete partly because it was building on our experience with film that had projected moving and still passages interlaced with live action.  "Who Cares?" covered a speedy history of the State-provided-care available to severely disabled people over the last three hundred years and illustrated good and bad consequences of changes to the system.

Download the Programme for Who Cares? (Adobe .pdf)

'Creation Script' for "Who Cares?" (word) (a 'creation script' is a scenario and a topic around which the actors will work, in counsel, to create the performance using imagination and memory to capture subjective 'truths'. The final performance differed considerably from this document)

This was Jigsaws version of the story of Jake and Elwood Blues who, when they are released from prison, visit the Catholic home where they grew up. They hear that the home is at risk of being closed down because of the huge tax bill they have received. The story tells of their adventures when they try to reunite their band to raise the money to pay off the money.

We really enjoyed the singing and dancing in this production which was directed by Collette Spinner. She was brilliant.

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