One Hour Theatre Company (OHTC; 2016-ongoing) is a project-based initiative of Professors Victor Merriman, David Peimer, and Tim Prentki (Emeritus, University of Winchester). The company’s work has been written up in Merriman’s monograph, Austerity and the Public Role of Drama: performing lives-in-common (Palgrave, 2019).
OHTC presents plays in a form we call ‘deliberative theatre’: no play is longer than one hour in performance, and audiences are invited, after a break, to spend time responding to concerns and themes which seem important to them.
We have four plays in repertory in our Encounters With Shakespeare series (2016-ongoing), a project which explores Kevin Curran’s contention that Shakespeare’s plays stage ‘ethical encounters’ essential to understanding human relations. Our plays make Shakespeare accessible to audiences by placing plotlines from his works alongside scenarios from our own world, thus enabling people to consider and deliberate on ethical questions from our own time.
Encounters with Shakespeare includes three original playscripts by Prentki, as follows: Half Measures (https://www.flickr.com/photos/performingarts-edgehill/albums/72157675534937705)[1], and Empire’s Edge, or, What You Will.[2]
Lear in Brexitland was developed in dialogue with audiences in rehearsed readings in Croxteth, Liverpool, and Prescot. Empire’s Edge, or, What You Will has had one rehearsed reading at the Bluecoat Arts Centre and is now in redevelopment as its theme, migration to Europe from sub-Saharan Africa, has become ever more pressing. Merriman has acted as dramaturg, and directed Prentki’s scripts, in productions which have been funded by Edge Hill University’s Institute for Creative Enterprise.
Peimer’s contribution to Encounters With Shakespeare includes writing and directing A Pound of Flesh (Rose Theatre, Edge Hill University, 2018). His other OHTC plays continue his exploration of questions arising from the historical experiences of European Jews and their representation in theatre. He wrote and directed Shylock Speaks (London Jewish Book Week, 2020), and Joanna’s Story, read by Dame Janet Suzman (London Jewish Book Week, 2022).
Bartleby: A Tale of Wall Street, by Tom Hall, was directed by Merriman for Writing on the Wall Festival online (2021). Most recently, Merriman was dramaturg and director on David Lloyd’s The Pact (Studio Theatre, Edge Hill University, July 2023).
None of our work would have been possible without the creative collaboration of Emma Fraser (Assistant Director and Film-maker), Dave Forrest (Senior Theatre Technician, EHU), and Dawn Summerlin (Set and Costume Designer, EHU), and the support of Professor Matthew Pateman, Head of English and Creative Arts, EHU, and Professor Martin McQuillan, Roz Di Caprio, and colleagues at our funders, EHU’s Institute for Creative Enterprise (ICE). EHU alumni involved in our productions include, Emma Fraser, Maria Paul, Miles Poller, and Eve Charlton.
[1] Rose Theatre, Edge Hill University, 2016; Shakespeare North Playhouse Studio, 2022 [2] Rehearsed reading, Communiversity, Croxteth and The Black-E Arts Centre, Liverpool, 2017; Shakespeare North Playhouse Studio, 2023 [3] Rehearsed reading, Bluecoat Arts Centre, Liverpool, 2019; currently in redevelopment.