Death? It’s not a taboo for director

YOUNG at art... Saddleworth’s Abey Bradbury

SADDLEWORTH’S Abey Bradbury is about to direct a major play about death – at just 21 years of age.

Billed as one of the brightest young directors in the region, the former Blue Coat School student has taken the chair for “Bleeding with Mother” – a comedy focusing on a mum laid out in her coffin the night before her funeral.

It is said to feature a “wonderful northerness” that Oldhamers will recognise, and they will be able to see it when it comes to Manchester next week.

For Abey, whose family includes a lighting technician, a set designer and a magician, the production is a long way from the days when as a seven-year-old she devised plays to entertain her relatives.

Abey joked: “Basically, I am a bossy actor.

“I have directed am-dram and youth groups and am really enjoying working with the older actors in ‘Bleeding with Mother’ as they bring so much experience to the piece and have made my life a lot easier.”

Abey says she isn’t daunted by the play’s central theme.

She said: “I don’t think it’s morbid to talk about death. We should do it more often – it is, after all, something that happens to everyone. We shouldn’t be too judgmental about how people deal with it, either.

“One of the characters in the play, Carol, feels terrible about the fact she hasn’t cried about her mother’s death but there is no right or wrong way to grieve – it really is a personal thing.”

Abey is a graduate of Fourth Monkey Theatre Company. Based in North London, this offers hands-on learning in the performing arts and has built up a reputation as delivering the most comprehensive preparation anyone in theatre can receive.

Abey has since acted in productions across the country.

Not short of ambition, she wants to start up a theatre group for young people in central Oldham.

She said: “We have some fantastic companies already but people often have to audition to get into them. I want this to be really inclusive.”

Written by Sarah Cassidy, “Bleeding with Mother” is being produced by Room 5064 Productions, which is developing a play about writers Alan Bennett and Dennis Potter set in the 1980s,.

Gareth Kavanagh, from Room 5064, said: “‘Bleeding with Mother’ has a wonderful northerness that Oldhamers will recognise and features nosey neighbours, rows about money and even a seance.

“It is a good old-fashioned kitchen sink drama in many ways – and we felt we needed a young dynamic director to give it energy and life.”

“Bleeding with Mother” premieres at Joshua Brooks, Oxford Road, Manchester on May 27 and Nexus, Dale Street, Manchester on May 28 – both at 7.30pm.

Tickets are priced at £6 and can be bought from www.fatsoma.com/room-5064-productions.