Old Fire Station, Oxford Friday 15 & Saturday 16 March 2024
What do you do when your neurodivergent brain isn’t playing ball? It would rather recount tweets and past traumas. Jen has decided the only way forward is to ask Harold Pinter for help – this play won’t write itself. The only problem is Pinter doesn’t play ball either, he prefers cricket. Can Jen make this collaboration work and find some ND joy? And while we’re at it, is Pinter a feminist and what on earth is gender anyway?
A new play from Miriam Higgins featuring Harold Pinter (sort of).
“Somehow [Higgins] managed to catch Tom Stoppard while sleeping and reached into the darker side of his imagination.”– Henley Review, MERCUTIO AND TYBALT (2017)
“This cleverly written and ambitious play will have you pondering about the nature of reality and the dividing line between it and fantasy.”– Buxton Fringe, DREAMSCAPE (2018)
Cast: Jen - Ashleigh Aston (she/they) Harold - Louis Pieris (he/him)
Creatives: Writer/Director - Miriam Higgins (she/her) Lighting Designer - Abi Turner (they/them) Music and Sound Designer - Dan Pollard (he/him)
Poster design: Stuart Riley
Glossary
After the show we had some audience members asking about the words used in the play and their meanings. Well, always happy to help...
Word - Definition Argle-bargle - A heated or confused argument. Auspicate - To predict or foretell. Blatherskite - A person who talks nonsense or blabbers on. Bombilate - To make a humming or buzzing sound. Bombinate - To buzz or hum incessantly. Chimerical - Imaginary or fanciful. Collywobbles - A feeling of anxiety or nervousness in the stomach. Crinkum-crankum - An elaborate decoration or detail Cumberworld - Useless person who just takes up space Curmuring - Rumbling especially in the bowels Desultory - Lacking a plan or purpose, random. Dizen - To dress up or adorn in a showy or cheap way. Driggle-Draggle - A dirty woman Fandangle - An ornate or fantastic ornament Fopdoodle - A fool Fodgel - Plump, rounded; buxom Fustilugs - A large clumsy gross person Gorgonize - To have a paralyzing or mesmerizing effect on Hedge-born - Low class Hornswoggle - To scam or con Hugger-mugger - To act in a secretive manner Kench - To laugh loudly Latibulate - To hide oneself in a corner Loiter-Sack - A moocher Muck-Spout - Someone who talks and cusses a lot Percolator - A pot for making coffee, in which boiling water is forced up a central tube and then comes down again through the coffee Quagswagging - The action of shaking to and fro Quockerwodger - A type of wooden puppet controlled by strings Raggabrash - A disorganised person Rapscallion - A person who causes trouble Sluberdegullion - A filthy, slobbering person Snoutflair - A good-looking person Twattle - To gossip Whiffle-Whaffle - Indecisive, flip flopper Widdendream - A state of mental disturbance or confusion Wonder-wench - A sweetheart Yemeles - Careless, heedless, negligent