"Mexico is a dark drama exploring the tense relationship between a Mother and an unhinged daughter."
Sometimes your shadow doesn’t look anything like you, according to writer-director, John Maguire, a line he often cites from one of his own plays.
This is a key theme that John explores in the new play he is directing at The Lantern, Liverpool, Mexico, by Wes Williams Friday July 29th and Saturday 30th 2011.
Over the last few years John’s passion for Fringe Theatre has developed. In June 2010 he became involved with Write Now, Liverpool’s International One Act Play Festival, directing his self-penned piece, Heart ‘Small drops make the Mersey and the odd shopping trolley’.
John returned to the Liverpool Actor’s Studio in April of this year, directing a romantic comedy MRS BOJANGLES by Steph Blakeborough.
Delving further into Johns love of theatre,
I value fringe theatre as its one of the rare places that artists can spontaneously create. Performance is becoming so fabricated and constructed to the point of ridiculousness, emotion by numbers. The restrictive nature of fringe theatre means that in order to entertain, a tale has to be told in an imaginative clear manner, no room for gimmickry. Lack of resources is the ingredient that creates. It forces you to be clever, to dissect problems instead of throwing cash at them. There is a definite buzz around fringe productions and it's the spit and sawdust venues that are particularly wonderful electric. Liverpool audiences are particularly amazing, as they have what I call the Huckleberry Finn trait, telling it how it is……if they don’t like something, they are not afraid to tell you.
John is an experienced actor in his own right, most recently performing Shakespeare last September in Hamlet in the North West of England, with a season finale in Civitavecchia, Rome.
I understand actors, their needs, feelings, paranoia, as I have been one of those energised, skilled fragile beasts.
The play Mexico is a dark drama exploring the tense relationship between a Mother and an unhinged daughter. An explosive tango ballad between the two. However, it's the brother who never actually occupies the stage that is the primary focus of the action.
After directing a comedy I felt compelled to try something in complete contrast. The main thing that attracted me to this piece was the dynamic use of language between the characters and also the things they don’t say that speaks volumes.
John constantly analyses his craft and feels that Fringe theatre is one of the best places to experiment. He believes in consistently improving and is always thinking of the next project.
Any director/writer indeed an artist constantly develops. No one is ever completely really happy with the end product, whilst you have a momentary fleeting appreciation, an artist can always spot grounds for improvement. Graft equals Craft.
After Mexico, John will be developing a self-penned play BRUISE, touching on a range of issues from domestic violence to social isolation via the internet. The play will be a hard hitting autopsy of an explosive relationship. Bruise is an explosive piece of writing, exploring the destructive forces that compel two opposing characters to stay united in a complex, bitter, yet somewhere along the lines loving relationship. It illustrates the diverse ways one can be “bruised”, physically, psychologically, mentally and in a way that cannot be explained by mere language.
Words Rita Tannet. Pictures Matt Ford.
Mexico- 29th & 30th July 2011. 7.30pm
Box Office: 0151 703 0000
www.thelanterntheatre.co.uk
57 Blundell Street Liverpool.
Click here to book tickets.
