UK Theatre Network

Dyssing Monadys

 Producer and writer Lennie Varvarides set up MSFT (www.makingtheatrework.com) while taking an MA at Central School of Speech and Drama and has since set up Write Side of the Brain, SpeedMotion, Sunday Surgery, Missfit Mondays & the current festival dyssing monadys, running until November 25 at The Horse, Westminster Bridge Road.

The remit is to provide and develop a new writing platform for dyslexic 'storymakers' in whatever their chosen medium may be - covering performance poets, storytellers, filmmakers and playwrights.

Lennie's obvious passion for making a success of this project and of bringing the world of dyslexia to the public's attention is apparent in her commitment in wanting to set up a new charity under which her company will operate and the company are currently looking for sponsorship of £5000. The proceeds from the current festival go towards this amount. Considering the fact that 10% of the UK population is dyslexic, there is a huge scope of a large potential audience for her project, once it becomes know and mainstream.

The structure of the evening's entertainment is sound enough with a brief introduction, a showing of a short film, a reading from a storyteller and then the main event of the night which is an 1 hr long play. All material in the festival is written by dyslexic creatives. As a formula for the future, it will work well with more additional material to the programme and holds promise to be a strong, varied and highly interesting platform for dyslexic writers and creatives.

AWK-WORD by Lennie Varvarides

The hour long play had a it's core quite a clever conceit about communication, truth and how words used can affect relationships either positively or negatively.

The central story is based around a meeting in a bar which leads to an affair and the breakup of a potential marriage. The two characters having the affair spice up the proceedings with playing word-games about their situation and feelings, written down on bits of paper which are randomly picked and responded to- an idea which in terms of the core theme of the festival could have been explored more. The three hander was tackled well with realistic performances from the cast - Rajan Sharma as SAL, the unfaithful boyfriend, Sarah McKendrick as ALEX, the seductive, yet bitter lover, and an endearing performance by Babita Pohoomull as RAZ, the naieve fiance. The staging in the space upstairs at The Horse was slightly distracting with the large raised area used as the bed in the hotel, above our eye-line, but which ultimately meant we felt like voyeurs of the piece instead of engaging fully but given the nature of the affair we are witnessing, snatched in afternoon sessions in a hotel, it worked on other levels. Babuta Pohoomull convinces us of her feelings for her fiance as she discovers him with his mistress in the hotel room she was meeting him in, to finally consumate their relationship, despite her religious beliefs. RAZ, ultimately is the loser, as both the mistress and the fiance see him for what he is, and abandon ship. Framing the piece is the theme of how what people say, what words they use to express themselves, language can sometimes fail us when it comes to truth. There is good potential to develop this piece further and place it more securely within the context of the festival.

Dyssing Monadys Annual Festival:

Date: Every Monday and Wednesday from October - November 2009

Doors open: 7:00pm for a 7:30pm start
Tickets: £5/4 (100% of box office will be donated to new charity called DYS(the)LEXI
Box Office: 07917157748

Venue: The Horse, 124 Westminster Bridge Road, London, SE1 7XG

Tube: Lambeth North/Waterloo

For further information & to pledge support: www.makingtheatrework. com

For more info on Dyslexia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyslexia