Title: Four Days
Written / Devised By: Neil Mackay
Genre: Drama
Length:
First performed & at which venue: Performed by Lyceum Youth Theatre Cast Breakdown: 33 Characters: 21 female,14 male (or if Max becomes Maxine: 22 female, 13 male) Synopsis: 4 Days. 14 stories. 35 characters. FOUR DAYS explores the relationships of different friends and couples over one year. The play is comprised of 14 different stories which are each told in four scenes. These scenes take place on four different days of one year (one day for each season). The short scenes themselves comprise of 'moments' in the characters lives that also indicate a journey both previously travelled and yet to be travelled. The stories told are varied but all concentrate on the changing dynamics between characters: the birth, decline then reconciliation of a relationship between boy and girlfriend; the renewal of a broken friendship; regression into isolation; the innocent wide eyed passage of a characters journey into their first relationship; love lost; the exploration of close unfaltering friendship; life changing, life rebuilding. The setting of each scene is a vital part of the play as is the season in which it is set. These factors and the scenes' structure are designed to give and evoke the play with a filmic quality. The play was originally written for a group in Edinburgh and the actors anonymously submitted their thoughts and memories for times of the year and their favourite places in Edinburgh which have not only been integral to the script but this has also meant that the original production was immensely personal to all involved. Therefore the script can be and ideally should be personalised for any group by changing settings and equally stories can be removed to tailor the play to suit the number of actors available.