A Tyneside theatre company, The Worriers, and ODDMANOUT from Darlington have joined forces to produce a new play for Newcastle’s Alphabetti Theatre.
Floorboards, about how far someone is willing to be pushed before they break, is written by Steve Byron (Walter, which the BTG rated Best Children’s Show in the NE in 2017, and Bacon Knees and Sausage Fingers, another BTG award-winner in 2016 which was revived earlier this year, both at Alphabetti). The title reminds us that “if enough people walk over a floorboard, one day it will crack.”
Floorboards is about those who walk over others and those who are walked over and tells the story of James, a kind soul who offered a spare room to Nellist, an old school friend, for a few days. That was two years ago and Nellist is still there, bringing his chaotic and sometime dangerous life to James’s door. Near to breaking point, James dreams of his quiet life back but Nellist, one of life’s leeches has tapped into James’s vein and has no intention of letting go till there’s nothing left.
“James was such a nice man, a quiet man,” said a neighbour. “Would do anything for anyone. A bit of a worrier though. Always worried what other people thought. The other one? He was far from a quiet. Only looked out for No. 1 and never gave a damn what anyone else thought. I didn’t care for that one at all. I am shocked by what happened, but not surprised.”
Floorboards opens at Alphabetti on 7 May 2019 and runs until 18 May (with no shows on Sunday and Monday 12/13).