Rewind: Short Plays Inspired By Songs

Presented and performed by students of The University of Winchester, these short plays are well worth seeing on this one night only show!

Rewind

Side A: Harri’s Mixtape 

Harri loves all things retro, so is naturally delighted when a friend presents her with a proper old-fashioned mixtape. Before long, though, it becomes clear that this is no ordinary cassette. There’s the track listing for starters, where Joni Mitchell and The Smiths rub shoulders with Scott Walker’s ‘Corps De Blah’, The Tweets’ ‘Birdie Song’, and a rendition of ‘Happy Birthday’. And then there’s what happens when she puts the tape into her player…

A series of (very) short plays inspired by songs, ‘Harri’s Mixtape’ shifts between the surreal and the tear-jerking, the ridiculous and the dramatic as the audience are taken on a truly eclectic and unforgettable journey through music.

Content warning: Contains references to death, sexism, and mild violence.

Running time: 40 minutes (approx.)

Side B: Climbing to the moon

Growing up in an unorthodox household in suburban Virginia against a backdrop of the angst-ridden 1960s cold-war, brother and sister Mark and Liz both entered adulthood damaged by their upbringing. But there was one difference: while Liz found her escape via alcohol and drugs, Mark found his through music. As Mark finds critical and commercial success through his band Eels’s debut album Beautiful Freak, Liz continues to struggle and is committed to an institution before taking her own life. Instead of creating a commercial follow-up to Beautiful Freak, Mark decides to use his second album Electro-Shock Blues as a way to tell Liz’s story and give her the creative outlet she never had in life.

Told partly through the lyrics from Electro-Shock Blues and partly through flashbacks exploring Mark and Liz’s relationship, this one act play tells the story of these two siblings, and the cathartic and redemptive qualities of music.

Content warning: Contains references to suicide.

Running time: 40 minutes (approx.)

Note: there will be a 15 minute intermission between ‘Side A’ and Side B’.