The Playwrights Database
BEN HARRISON
Nationality: Scottishemail: Click here to contact Website: Click here
Literary Agent: Casarotto Ramsay and Associates Ltd represented by Mel Kenyon
Ben Harrison is the Co-Artistic Director of site-based specialists Grid Iron. Recent work for the company includes the revival of Decky Does A Bronco (Edinburgh Festival 2010) and Spring Awakening adapt. By Douglas Maxwell (Traverse Theatre, 2010). Since Ben joined Grid Iron in 1996 the company has received 26 awards for its work. Ben's productions include: Bar Flies (winner of four awards including Fringe First and Herald Angel); Tryst (a commission from Stavanger); Yarn (co-produced with Dundee Rep); Once Upon A Dragon (Grid Iron/Imaginate/Edinburgh International Children's Festival); Roam (Grid Iron/NTS/BAA Edinburgh International Airport), winner of three awards at the Critics Awards for Theatre in Scotland including Best Production 2006; the Devil's Larder (winner of four awards including Fringe First and Herald Archangel Award); Those Eyes, That Mouth (winner of seven awards including Fringe First); Variety; Fermentation; Decky Does A Bronco (Fringe First); Monumental; Gargantua (Fringe First); the Bloody Chamber (Herald Angel) and Clearance. Future projects for Grid Iron include Huxley's Lab, a co-production with Lung Ha's, in 2010. Ben has developed several British Council-supported productions and residencies with the company abroadn including pioneering projects in Lebanon and Jordan. He is currently developing a new piece from Lebanon, Bint Jbeil, supported by the National Theatre of Scotland. Recent freelance productions include Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, a major reimagining of Peter Pan in a 1,150 seat tent in Kensington Gardens (360 Productions, 2009/2010), which went on to play at the O2 Centre, London before embarking on an international tour; the Tailor of Inverness (Dogstar at the Assembly Rooms, 2008) - Fringe First, Stage Award for Best Solo Performance and Holden Street Theatres Award, which supports a transfer to Adelaide Fringe 2009; Life With An Idiot (Gate Theatre, London); the Man Who Was Thursday (Red Shift); A Warning to the Curious (Eastern Angles) and Hanging Stars and Horses, Horses, Coming In All Directions (Arches Glasgow. In 2001 Ben was made a Fellow of the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA). From 2000-2002 he was Associate Director (Education) of the Almeida Theatre in London, where he created the acclaimed Participatory Projects programme and directed Caledonian Road; A Chaste Maid in Cheapside; the Whizzkid; Decky Does A Bronco (co-produced with Grid Iron); Ghost Ward; the Last Valentine and Into Our Dreams. In 2004 Ben was made Artistic Advisor and Regisseur of the Dutch company MuzTheater for which he has directed Romeo Delta, Night Flight, Spaanse Schans, Aan de Zaan 01 and Head of Nails. Ben is currently writing a book, Intimate Spectacle, which documents twelve years of experiments in creating site-based Theatre.
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below is a list of Ben Harrison's plays - click on a Play Title for more information
Barflies Biding Time (Remix) Caledonian Road Devil's Larder, The Fermentation Horses, Horses Coming In All Directions Huxley's Lab Roam YarnBarflies
Synopsis:
This a play about booze set in a pub; what's there not to like? In addition it should be said the Barony is a great little pub on Broughton Street. the characters are the sorts of people you'd want at your watering hole; yes, true, they drink a little more than the guideline three units a night but they're funny, eccentric and they tell a good yarn.
Notes:
adapted from the stories And poems of Charles Bukowski by Ben Harrison
1st Produced:
the Barony Bar, Edinburgh 06 Feb 2012
Organisations:
Grid iron
1st Published:
- -
Music:
-
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Genre:
Play/Drama
Parts:
Male: 1 Female: 1 Other: -
Further Reference:
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Top of PageBiding Time (Remix)
Synopsis:
Thyme is a woman with a dream - or, a woman in a dream. Join Thyme on her journey through a very peculiar landscape. How far will she get? How far is she willing to go?
Notes:
A re-interpretation of Pippa Baileys global theatre experiment Biding Time, this work-in-progress devised by Glasgow art pop act A Band Called Quinn (Louise Quinn, Bal Cooke, Ben Harrison, Pippa Bailey) with director Ben Harrison combines film, a live band and silent disco technology to create a multi-media mash up experience.
1st Produced:
Organisations:
Tromolo Productions
1st Published:
- -
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
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Genre:
piece
Parts:
Male: 1 Female: 2 Other: with doubling and a choir
Further Reference:
-
Top of PageCaledonian Road
Synopsis:
the people who live in the Caledonian Road in London
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
- -
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
Drama
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: -
Further Reference:
-
Top of PageDevil's Larder, The
Synopsis:
15 scenes, no narrative, but rather a series of interludes that encompass botulism in the pastries, grief in the soup and loss of lonliness among the bread flour. - Lyn Gardner, Guardian
Notes:
based on novel by Jim Crace
1st Produced:
Organisations:
Grid Iron Theatre Company
1st Published:
- -
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
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Genre:
Site Specific
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: 4 performers
Further Reference:
-
Top of PageFermentation
Synopsis:
-
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
Briggait Market, Glasgow 2002
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
- -
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
-
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: -
Further Reference:
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Top of PageHorses, Horses Coming In All Directions
Synopsis:
-
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
Organisations:
-
1st Published:
- -
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
Devised Piece
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: -
Further Reference:
-
Top of PageHuxley's Lab
Synopsis:
Set in a clinic where test-tube babies are fed alcohol to determine their social status, Huxley's Lab is a dystopian vision of a culture hell-bent on pefection
- Mark Fisher, Guardian
- Mark Fisher, Guardian
Notes:
-
1st Produced:
Edinburgh: Informatics Forum 02 Apr 2010
Organisations:
Grid iron and Lung Ha's Theatre Company
1st Published:
- -
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
site specific promenade
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: large cast
Further Reference:
-
Top of PageRoam
Synopsis:
Set in and around the lounges and gates of edinburgh International Airport, the production explores the phenomenon of mass global air travel. Are modern air passengers the contemporary equivalent of angels, bearing messages across the globe, or nomadic wanderers for whom home is no longer bound by national boundaries? Inspired by a diversity of texts from Michel Serres, Pico Iyer, Alain de Botton and many others, as well as testimoies from refugees and airport workers, Grid Iron's production combines a multinational company of ten performers together with a large group of non-professional participants aged five to eighty-five.
Notes:
script by Ben Harrison
1st Produced:
Edinburgh International airport 04 Apr 2006
Organisations:
Grid Iron and the National Theatre of Scotland
1st Published:
- -
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
Devised Piece Piece
Parts:
Male: 4 Female: 4 Other: -
Further Reference:
-
Top of PageYarn
Synopsis:
series of reflections on the role of clothes and fabrics in human history, sexuality and identity.
- Joyce McMillan, Scotsman
- Joyce McMillan, Scotsman
Notes:
Devised by Ben Harrison And the Company
1st Produced:
Dundee, Verdant Works 2008
Organisations:
Grid Iron / Dundee Rep
1st Published:
- -
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
Piece
Parts:
Male: - Female: - Other: -
Further Reference:
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