Scratch Season 2024

Venue: Rex Doyle Studio Theatre, Ivy Arts Centre

What is Scratch
Scratch is an opportunity for third year BA acting graduation students to form companies and make their own work. This season presents their work at an early stage of development, consisting of short films, staged readings of new scripts, short performances, one-performance shows and stand-up comedy. These "work in progress" presentations allow students to take risks, try out bold innovation ideas in collaboration with their peers and even take on new roles outside their actor training, such as writer, director and movement director within their creative processes.

Full schedule and timings below:

Friday 17th May-Film Showings

15:00 -Stone Valley by Willow Farm Productions/Canned Laughter by Fleapit Films & Woebegone by Up Yours

Stone Valley-A Short Film following the adventure of a farm boy (Dylan) moving to the big city.

Canned Laughter-A cynical man who doesn't see the appeal of happiness meets a woman who's brief encounter dismantles everything he thinks he knows about his world.

Woebegone-Woebegone tells the story of 3 young women, reunited by their downfalls and torn apart by the disturbing reality of how dangerous being a woman can be. Amy, Dani and Joy are all trying – really trying – to navigate a world that isn’t built for them. Shining a light on the devastating realities that women face and confronting the political and social reactions that often sweep these tragedies under the carpet whilst exploring the complexities of female friendships, the love, the joy and the frustrations. This project is going to be a small section of what an adaptation could look like, it will be exploratative whilst staying true to the themes and main objective of the script. We will explore the topic of female friendships, early adulthood and what connection looks like.


16:00: -Things We Can't Untie by Amaranth Productions & Three by SpiritLedCompany

Things We Can't Untie- To hold onto your past is to be addicted. A drug has been created, a pill that allows you to relive any of your memories. But at the price of realising that even the most beautiful moments grow painful with time. Tilda and Kiki are in desperate search for their friend Liberty who disappeared mysteriously over a year ago. Being the last person to have seen Liberty but having lost all memory of that day Tilda takes the enormous risk of consuming the pill that will help her uncover the truth of what happened.

Three- Origin Story of Christian Vigilante "Three" explores themes of Religion, Love and Loss

17:00: -Love Bites by TBC/Bug by lesliejayproductions & Wieven by Bridge Builders Productions

Love Bites-A taster of a bitesized mini series of shorts centered on love, longing and heartache.

Bug-Zac and Marnie love each other, but will this be enough? Bug is a little trans love story about 2 big kids in 1 massive world.

Wieven-'Wieven is a short film based on an old Dutch folk tale (De Witte Wieven), adapted to modern day. This film is a developing project, meaning that we will be continuing this project with the feedback we get from the audience.

Wednesday 22nd May - Performances

16:00: -Of How Love Should Be by Dense Productions -Charlie and Hayley get stuck in a lift. This chance meet tumbles into what should be the rest of their lives together - but when who they were before they met resurfaces - they are forced to make a choice on how they want to love the other .

18:00 -From Zenith to Horizon by Beatre Bompany - An excerpt from a spoken word play about how small towns can highlight the important things. Someone from the town, wanting to leave, meets someone from the city who needs to stay, and their lives eventually become intertwined with two mates who are driven to extremes by boredom.

20:00 -Water Fall by The Ridge Theatre Company -How much suffering will you put yourself through in pursuit of anothers happiness. The Ridge Theatre Company presents a physical movement piece which follows two couples as they venture out of their flaws in their relationship.

Thursday 23rd May - Performances


19:30: -Water Fall by The Ridge Theatre Company (2nd Performance)

Friday 24th May - Performances & Film Showings

15:00: -Slaughter Circle- Maia, Jess, Lauren and Diana, inseparable since sixth form, are hungry to qualify as the fiercest lawyers in the city. But when the biggest case in their training lands at their feet, battling each other and bringing honour to the only female partner of colour may prove to be too much, even for the strongest of circles.

18:15:-Things We Can't Untie, Bug & Wieven(2nd Showings)

19:15:-Love Bites & Three(2nd Showings)

20:15:-Stone Valley, Canned Laughter & Woebegone(2nd Showings)

Saturday 25th May - Performances

14:30:-From Zenith to Horizon by Beatre Bompany(2nd Performance0

17:00:-Slaughter Circle(2nd Performance)

20:00:-Of How Love Should Be by Dense Productions(2nd Performance)