Bovril

About This Project

Jonnie Bayfield, Playwright

About: The play follows the inhabitants of a Bed and Breakfast in a bombed out suburb at the heart of a never-ending war. Each character trapped by their own pasts and attempting to live as normal a life as possible among the carnage of war- Nina is waiting for the return of her war love, Bourse is awaiting the draft letter and Mrs Harding is waiting for the day when she and her cardboard box of a husband can head to the sun. All of this is shattered when Gos arrives, a Solider and a Bovine who has been bred to fight and thus increase the war effort. The piece is a tragi-comic exploration which is poetic, bold and innovative.

Outcomes: Following a staged reading of Bovril (renamed The Slaughterhouse on the Hill) at Soho Theatre, the play is now in development and it is hoped it will be produced and performed at the Soho Theatre, Cockpit Theatre and at Vault Festival 2015, with plans to take it to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August.

“Without the grant I would almost certainly have never finished to project to the standard that I envisaged and would not have been able to get it seen by such important and influential artists in the industry.”