Big Boys Don't Cry

Background

A performance piece commisioned in association with Derbyshire Police. Derbyshire Police wanted to create a performance that explored domestic violence issues, with particular emphasis on how they are perpetrated against men. The police wanted to widen the issues Officers deal with regularly. Set in an idyllic 1950s kitchen the design is oversized to emphasise the traditional view of the Woman in the Kitchen but this is used as a device to alienate & disorientate the male character.

The brief

During initial discussions with the client they wanted to stage the performance with a heightened sense of reality. I suggested that the design should be 'oversized' and cartoon like, echoing the idyllic 1950's world of I love lucy.

"Imaginatively designed by Rob Batterbee" - The Stage

"This two-hander, written and devised by actors Peter Machen and Rebekah Fortune, has much to commend it - notably the competent choreography and ingenious set." - Edinburgh Evening News