MDEE 2024: Meet Splendid Productions

Splendid Productions was founded in 2003 by Kerry Frampton with an aim to create challenging and entertaining theatre for young audiences. Since the formation of the company Frampton has directed, adapted and performed in a wide range of classics including Macbeth, Dr Faustus, Medea, Antigone and The Odyssey. My first encounter with Splendid's work was a performance of Everyman in 2012 where my students were blown away by the storytelling and characterisation. The narrative of the show gently and emotively asked the audience about the purpose of human life – a hugely existential and provocative question for 16 to 19-year-olds. Every year after this the drama department arranged for Splendid to deliver workshops on Berkoff and Brecht, as well as perform their annual production.

The young audiences

Frampton recently explained why working with young people is so crucial to the work of Splendid, saying: ‘Artistically, I wanted to make work for young people that was high quality, politically engaged, anti-fourth wall, and shamelessly theatrical. Something that toured directly into schools and colleges to reach those students that couldn't afford to go to the theatre’. This intention is at the core of the ethos of her work – the idea that everyone should be able to access theatre irrespective of their class or economic background.

Splendid expertly works with young people. Frampton says it is a ‘privilege’ that Splendid can produce work that young people enjoy while simultaneously learning from them. ‘They are a remarkably honest barometer for whether what you have made is good. The pleasure comes from sharing a performance and then working with students afterwards to pass on the theatrical tools they've witnessed. We use embodied knowledge and practice with simple techniques that will stretch students as theatre makers and encourage them to think about what makes theatre unique.’

There is a flexibility and playfulness about Splendid's work that allows audiences to be brave and emotional. Kerry shared that there have been a range of surprising and exciting responses from young people including a Year 11 group running giddy a lap of the playground before returning and a school where two students did the dance lift from the end of Dirty Dancing. A Splendid audience is invited to engage with the performance and make offerings, and Frampton believes that ‘every offer is interesting, even the choice to not join in’.

The present and future of Splendid

The last two summers have seen Splendid reaching an even wider audience with Midsummer Mechanicals at The Sam Wanamaker Playhouse at The Globe. This beautiful and jovial piece was nominated for an Olivier Award for the Best Family Show in 2023, being rightfully acknowledged for its magical storytelling. When I asked Frampton why they wanted to create this piece she said, ‘I am always interested in making work that shines a light on those characters in a play that has been underwritten or underestimated. The Mechanicals are mocked by the nobles in A Midsummer Night's Dream and this snobbery has always left an unpleasant taste in my mouth when thinking about the play. The Mechanicals (the working-class characters) are artists and highly skilled craftspeople, and they deserve love and warmth and their own play. So, Ben Hales and I wrote a love letter to them’. This personifies the focus of much of the work of Splendid – the celebration of working-class culture while amplifying the voices of those often left unheard.

The current touring show from Splendid is The Government Inspector which is a piece that explores corruption, politics and power. This slots perfectly into the opus of their work. ‘This show contains common themes of power (who has it? How did they get it? Will they give it back?), the universality of human beings and encouraging our audience to think about the world that they are in alongside the world on the stage’. Their work has a socio-political theme that is littered with dialectics, usually driven by a visual aspect, with the expressive body at the centre of the rich storytelling.

The session

There is a joy to the Splendid style which is fresh and skilful, and we are incredibly excited to have Frampton leading a workshop at the Expo in 2024. The workshop will explore a more playful approach to devising and making theatre. Frampton describes it as a safe space to encourage bravery, risk-taking and embrace the pleasure of not knowing how it will end. There will be some anti-fourth wall, theatrical, ensemble clowning with some delicious tools that participants can take straight into the classroom.

The Playful Devising workshop will take place in The Space at 12.15pm on 23 February. Register to attend the Expo for free at musicanddramaeducationexpo.co.uk