Family Matters, a collection of half-hour plays by four up-and-coming local writers staged at Seven Arts in Leeds on March 28th, left no-one in any doubt of the depth of creative talent that still lies partially buried in God’s Own County. 

None of these names, who collaborated under the banner of Lost Fox Productions, roll off the tongue like Alan Bennett or Alan Ayckbourn. But everyone has to start somewhere, and all are already at the “breaking through stage”. 

It would be foolish to place any limit on what they might achieve in the years to come. 

 First up was Days Before The Storm, which was not only written by Ingo Lyle-Goodwin but also directed and co-produced by him. 

It featured a father and son surviving together in an otherwise deserted forest that is being battered by increasingly powerful storms. As the son’s childhood memories come back to haunt him, he begins to realise that his father’s insistence on living in the past will cost them both their future. 

 The production was particularly notable for making great use of silence as an emotive tool and for incorporating spectacular sound effects. The powerful impact of both can be attributed at least in part to Lyle-Goodwin’s background as a screenwriter. 

Photo by; Juan De-Leon Padmore. Instagram stills_juandlp

Next...Very much back indoors in the warm, He Said…. , written by Gareth Rhodes and directed by Catherine Coleman, focused on the somewhat more relatable subject-matter of a family wedding.

Melanie, Faith and Jean – who represent three different generations in the same family – gather on Darren’s wedding day but are unable to avoid tensions that threaten to overshadow the event. 

Anyone feel they haven’t been there? But these tensions were far darker than those most of us have experienced at our own family weddings. Jean guides the conversation, yet an underlying force seems to drive their conflict, hinting at deeper, long-standing problems. 

Photo by; Juan De-Leon Padmore. Instagram stills_juandlp

After the interval we were exposed to another theme that seems to crop up in most families nowadays. Care, written by Rosie Williams and directed by Richard Koslowsky, focused on an elderly lady in a care home being visited by a range of relatives of different ages.

 Witty and poignant, it might have even proved a bit too close to home to any audience members currently footing exorbitant care bills for those whose physical and mental decline now make them somewhat underwhelming company. 

Photo by; Juan De-Leon Padmore. Instagram stills_juandlp

 The play showed how generations care in tangled, delicate webs that are messy and trying, asking how we actually care for each other and how we meet those we love as they are? 

 Last Up, we were treated to a mini period drama focusing on the 1926 General Strike. Not A Penny! written by Ann Morgan and directed by Stephen Brennan – who also provided a stunningly authentic voice as a 1920's newsreader—produced the most full-on above the surface family friction of the night. 

 Robert, a striking miner, finds himself on the opposite side of the political divide to his farmer brother Pritchard, who thinks the miners are destroying the country. 

As the hardship deepens so do the lifelong resentments, and the audience wonders whether there is any way back for them and whether they can find enough common ground to survive. 

 The level of detail Morgan put into in her research was quite remarkable, with even the radio newsreader using an authentic script from the period. 

 Judging by the way these plays were received, this group of writers may soon need to think about changing the name they operate under. 

The fox isn’t going to remain lost for much longer!

Lost Fox Productions

Ann Morgan interview

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