Research and Development Project
Four Feet Under is a verbatim theatre piece based on the extraordinary book by journalist, Tamsen Courtenay.
The power of this project is its simplicity. The book chronicles the lives of those sleeping rough on London’s streets, exposing the raw, unfiltered truth of homelessness in Britain today.
‘Tamsen Courtenay’s shocking, witty and humane book cuts straight through the distraction and denial.’
– Alice O’Keeffe, The Guardian.
Developed through months of intimate conversations, huddled in damp doorways and on cold pavements, Four Feet Under is verbatim testimony – a storybook, even – without polish or pretence, where people share the intimate, harrowing and sometimes even humorous details of their lives on the streets, and the journeys that led them there.
We meet Darryl ‘Chuckie’ Borden - a 21-year old, fiery-haired dog-lover with a sketch pad; share a tent in Regent’s park with marine biologist and polyglot, Edward; and hear about Jane and Kenny’s secret stash of Ferrero Rochers, as they sit atop a damp mattress beneath the Imax cinema.
As homelessness reaches epidemic levels, this urgent and unapologetic piece is more important than ever. This R&D explored how these stories can be told intimately to the audiences who walk past them every day.
They want to be heard; they want you to listen. They want to be seen; they want you to see them. These are their lives, in their words.
This project took place in February 2020 at Mountview Academy and the Tristan Bates Theatre.
CREATIVE TEAM
Adaptation by Stephen Phelps. Stephen is a writer and TV producer for the BBC and Channel 4. He has written several books and numerous documentary dramas for BBC radio, notably Piper Alpha and Herald of Disaster, both of which used verbatim records to dramatise major disasters that cost hundreds of lives.
Director Charlotte Everest
Producer Mrs C’s Collective
Dramaturg Francis Grin
Cast Joe Bence, Jack Bence, Marcus Kinsella, Bella Harrison, Katherine Reynolds
