East End Tales Research
A brief history:
East London has always been the poor relation of the West End. From the earliest times, it attracted trade and industry, thanks to its proximity to both The Thames and the River Lea. In particular, ‘dirty’ industries like tanning and tallow works clustered in the east, downwind and outside the city walls where ‘noxious’ trades were banned.
Despite this, the area remained a relatively pleasant place to live and work. That is, until the Victorian age…
As the British Empire expanded under Queen Victoria, so did trade and heavy industry. In 1827, the new St Katherine Docks opened, and with it, the need for large numbers of dock workers.Disease was rife: in 1866, a cholera epidemic swept the East End, killing 3,000 people.
When social reformer Charles Booth produced his extensive survey of the living conditions of the poor in 1887, he concluded that 13% of the East End population was chronically poor and, of those, “a part must be considered separately, as the class for whom decent life is not imaginable.”
No wonder then, that crime, immorality, drunkenness and violence were so rife. Gangs, prostitutes and robbers roamed the unlit alleys that, by the late 19th century, had become known as ‘The Abyss’. Perhaps the area’s darkest moment came in the late summer and early autumn of 1888, when Jack the Ripper carried out a series of grisly murders on White chapel prostitutes. He was never caught.
Articles
When researching the East End i came across some articles. Here are their links:
As you can see from the titles, all three articles are about immigration and the variety of cultures and ethnicity in the East End. In my opinion, when i went to the East End myself, i thought it was wonderful to see the city full of such a wide, rich range of people to surround yourself with. The news however does not always portray it to be like this.
The play; East End Tales
Sleep in the day, come out at night.
That's when I reckon y'see the real East End.
East End Tales is a series of nine stories inspired by photos and news articles from local papers in east London.
It was written as part of a Half Moon Young People’s Theatre Scriptworks project for Mulberry School for Girls in Tower Hamlets, London. The story ideas were developed by a group of Year 10 Bengali girls over a number of weeks through a mixture of improvisation and written exercises, before being shaped and written up in a lyrical style.
The stories range from short contemplations on the nature of east London, through to longer tales of domestic violence, the drudgery of low-skilled jobs, petty crime and high density living.
The play is suitable for performance by any group of young people with a good level of maturity. It is particularly popular with those studying GCSE Drama.
Because each tale is self-contained, it is possible to pick and choose among them to create performances of varying length, without affecting the overall narrative.
The script is published by Methuen in their anthology Six Ensemble Plays for Young Actors.
The writer
Award-winning UK playwright, teacher, University tutor, writer-in-residence, arts blogger and new co-Artistic Director of Tamasha
Fin is a graduate of the MA Writing for Performance programme at Goldsmiths College, London. He writes for adults and teenagers and his plays are regularly produced in the UK and abroad. He is also an acclaimed teacher of playwriting and community arts project manager, with a particular focus on young people's projects in London's East End.
In November 2013 he took up his new role as co-Artistic Director of Tamasha, working alongside the company's co-founder Sudha Bhuchar for 18 months, before taking over fully in Spring 2015.
Fin's first play Protection was produced at Soho Theatre in 2003, where he was also Pearson writer-in-residence.
His second play How To Disappear Completely & Never Be Found won the 38th Arts Council John Whiting Playwrighting Award, the first time in 40 years that an unproduced play had won. It was subsequently commissioned by Sam West for Sheffield Crucible and produced to critical acclaim in 2007. It has since been produced in London, Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington, Melbourne, Auckland, and Portland, Oregon. The play has become a firm favourite with students and amateurs and is among Nick Hern Books' most licensed plays.
Fin's first play for teenagers, Locked In, a hip-hop musical about pirate radio, was produced by Half Moon Young People’s Theatre in 2006 and 2008 and toured nationally, subsequently being awarded the runner-up prize in the 2008 Brian Way Award. His second play for Half Moon, We Are Shadows, was commissioned and toured during autumn 2007.
As well as writing plays Fin also has many years of experience teaching playwrighting at secondary, sixth form, undergraduate and postgraduate levels. He has worked for schools, youth clubs, local authorities and theatre education teams in inner city London and beyond, and is also a visiting lecturer at Goldsmiths College, Central St Martins and Boston University.
Fin writes a well-read theatre industry blog at www.finkennedy.blogspot.co.uk about playwriting, teaching and arts politics. He is also an occasional contributor to The Guardian and The Stage.
In early 2013 Fin wrote In Battalions, an independent report about the effect of Arts Council cuts on new plays and playwriting in England. The report was a response to comments made to Fin by Culture Minister Ed Vaizey, and is currently being widely circulated within the industry.
Fin has been an Associate Artist at Tamasha since 2011, for whom he is also producing Schoolwrights, the UK's first playwrights-in-schools training scheme. Fin is currently developing new plays for Bristol Old Vic and BBC Radio 4.
Fin is a graduate of the MA Writing for Performance programme at Goldsmiths College, London. He writes for adults and teenagers and his plays are regularly produced in the UK and abroad. He is also an acclaimed teacher of playwriting and community arts project manager, with a particular focus on young people's projects in London's East End.
In November 2013 he took up his new role as co-Artistic Director of Tamasha, working alongside the company's co-founder Sudha Bhuchar for 18 months, before taking over fully in Spring 2015.
Fin's first play Protection was produced at Soho Theatre in 2003, where he was also Pearson writer-in-residence.
His second play How To Disappear Completely & Never Be Found won the 38th Arts Council John Whiting Playwrighting Award, the first time in 40 years that an unproduced play had won. It was subsequently commissioned by Sam West for Sheffield Crucible and produced to critical acclaim in 2007. It has since been produced in London, Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington, Melbourne, Auckland, and Portland, Oregon. The play has become a firm favourite with students and amateurs and is among Nick Hern Books' most licensed plays.
Fin's first play for teenagers, Locked In, a hip-hop musical about pirate radio, was produced by Half Moon Young People’s Theatre in 2006 and 2008 and toured nationally, subsequently being awarded the runner-up prize in the 2008 Brian Way Award. His second play for Half Moon, We Are Shadows, was commissioned and toured during autumn 2007.
As well as writing plays Fin also has many years of experience teaching playwrighting at secondary, sixth form, undergraduate and postgraduate levels. He has worked for schools, youth clubs, local authorities and theatre education teams in inner city London and beyond, and is also a visiting lecturer at Goldsmiths College, Central St Martins and Boston University.
Fin writes a well-read theatre industry blog at www.finkennedy.blogspot.co.uk about playwriting, teaching and arts politics. He is also an occasional contributor to The Guardian and The Stage.
In early 2013 Fin wrote In Battalions, an independent report about the effect of Arts Council cuts on new plays and playwriting in England. The report was a response to comments made to Fin by Culture Minister Ed Vaizey, and is currently being widely circulated within the industry.
Fin has been an Associate Artist at Tamasha since 2011, for whom he is also producing Schoolwrights, the UK's first playwrights-in-schools training scheme. Fin is currently developing new plays for Bristol Old Vic and BBC Radio 4.
Videos relating The East End
London on film- The East End
Educating the East End trailer
The East end; then and now
How has the research helped your understanding of the play and your character?
The research has helped me to hold a better insight into what the East End really is like, because before we started the play my views on The East End were false accusations of what it really is like. I am now aware that the East End isn't anything like what is shown on the Tv soap Eastenders. Now i have researched the play, the place and the writer i am able to make wise decisions about my character and am able to incorporate this into my contribution to class work.
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