Programme Note: Best Laid Plans

Presumption began life as a work-in-progress called Best Laid Plans, shown here in the Studio as part of the Sheffield Theatres' Pyramid Festival in May 2005: four nights of works-in-progress, mini-lectures, film & video work, music and after-show discussion presented by the Pyramid Project partner companies: Dead Earnest, Unlimited Theatre and ourselves.

Best Laid Plans itself was a theatrical experiment, starting with an idea for the first moments of a show. It developed into a 30 minute solo piece, with Rachael on (and off) stage, building her domestic environment around her. A male character was referred to but never appeared. At the time we weren't sure if we had the first half an hour of a show, or a full length piece condensed to 30 minutes. As is often the case, it turns out that what we had was something between the two.

Making the show, the process has been, as ever, one of exploration, enquiry and discussion: figuring out for ourselves what it is about that original performance task that so intrigues us, why it speaks to us and how it articulates what the show is about. Things change and events turn out differently to how we expect. As rehearsals come to an end it feels entirely appropriate, given its subject matter, that Presumption is not exactly either of the possibilities that we envisaged after Best Laid Plans. It is recognisable, but different.