Sheepskin

Sheepskin

Performed by John Dean
written and directed by Bianca Mastrominico

set, sound and lighting design: Organic Theatre
artwork and costume: Studio RogMag
video documentation: Massimo Alì Mohammad
graphic design: David Smart

Originally produced in 2005 by Organic Theatre
with the support of Arts Council England

Produced for Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2007
with the kind support of Malcom Heggie

Next performance:
Taunton Brewhouse, Somerset
27-28 June 2008 - 8pm

Not recommended for under 12s

Broken farmer or Sheep-God?
Obsessed with biblical fantasies, oppressed by his mother and caught up in stunted desires for the Vicar’s assistant, Jeremy fights himself, the Army and divine forces to save his flock.
A frantic, flamboyant journey of the mind, combining Organic Theatre’s unique physical style with original devised writing, inspired by the events of the 2001 Foot and Mouth crisis.

In July 2005 we toured villages and towns in Devon and Somerset, where we gained a great deal of feedback from local rural communities in open post show discussions which form part of a film documentary by Italian film-maker Massimo Alì Mohammad.

The piece is part of a trilogy we are developing, concerning controversial characters and their response to the impact of globalisation on their individual lives.

Reviews for Sheepskin

Rating: 5/5 (a brilliant show - go and see it)
“Funny, sad, disturbing, strange, delightful… John Dean’s performance was brilliant...
shearing sharp; Sheepskin was captivating”
Three Weeks Magazine
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“A show of remarkable bravery...
A searing experience for meat and nerves”
Total Theatre Magazine

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“...funny moments and a startling dénouement, but most importantly the company offers a voice for the painful, very human story of the forgotten farmers”

The Big Issue

“Sheepskin addresses universal issues of a man's powerlessness and despair in the face of disaster and of one individual's response to an abusive authority. Biblical imagery and the story of Abraham's sacrificing of the ram became intertwined with Jeremy's attempt to stave off the impending catastrophe by slaughtering a sheep himself.
John Dean seemed incandescent with passion as his precisely choreographed gestures traced in the air the course of Jeremy's breakdown.
He moved as fluidly between the various props and "stations" of his story as the story itself.
I can still sort of "taste" in my memory the very special flavour that was Sheepskin.
Thank you very much for bringing it to us.”

Caroline de Groot - The Plough Arts Centre, Torrington

Director’s notes

Jeremy is a controversial character with a very complex personality, whose language is marked by abuse and the difficulty to express his conflicting emotions - feelings of loneliness, physical and mental isolation, repressed passions and urgent need of attention - while he is reacting to a time of crisis in his life.
The choice of retaining in the words of just one character the plurality of voices which came from the variety of the materials used, turned the script into a montage of a schizophrenic mix of split thoughts, short streams of consciousness, exhibited fantasies involving other characters, the building up of alter egos, memories of past conversations with parents, and fictionalising the spectators in distorted identification.
Although the social and political issues raised by the Foot and Mouth theme are relevant and urgent within the whole context of the piece, above all the landscape of the crisis provided the big picture from which the performance focuses on the exploration of a universal human condition of loneliness and mental breakdown.