. Who Stole Mee?

. Charles Mee, the UK Premiere, Canal Café Theatre, September 13th

Charles Mee (1938 - ) has become one of today's leading contemporary playwrights, as well as being a recognised historian. His theatrical work is based on an understanding that we, as social beings, are products of our history and our contemporary culture. He stipulates that "there is no such thing as an original play" and has no qualms in admitting that he 'pillages' form and content from the likes of Euripides and Brecht, as well as news reports, television shows, dreams and real-life conversations, to come up with his work. His plays are therefore unpredictable and he boasts that it is this very quality, 'sharp edged' and jagged, that make them so vital and life-like. As he does not consider his plays to be pure originals, he publishes his own scripts on the Internet, inviting anyone to re-write his work and key themes such as Love, Memory and War according to their cultural experiences and personal understanding.

For our first production, collision has done just that. We have followed Mee's creative ethos by stealing and pillaging from many different sources - burlesque tradition, the Koran and from Greek tragedy to Rauschenberg. The artistic development has been an extensive collaborative process, shaped as much by the actors as by the directors, to create four diverse and nonetheless powerful.

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