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March 5, 2025March 6, 2025

Next Door But One address disability, LGBTQ+ sexuality, illness, care and death in Hospital Doors premiere at Theatre@41

Ian Weichardt, Christie Peto, centre, and Evie Jones rehearse Hospital Doors under the watchful eye of writer-director Matt Harper-Hardcastle. Picture: James Drury

NEXT Door But One’s new production, Hospital Doors, shines light on the lived experience of disabled, LGBTQ+ and unpaid carer communities in York in next week’s premiere at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York.

On joining Arts Council England’s Investment Programme in 2023, the York community arts collective set an ambition of creating a new play that intertwined the real-life stories of three of their long-standing community collaborators.

Since then, chief executive officer and artistic director Matt Harper-Hardcastle has been running workshops with disabled, LGBTQ+ and unpaid carer groups to produce a script that explores the uniqueness and commonalities from across these identities.

After 18 months of development, Hospital Doors will meet an audience for the first time from March 12 to 15 in a limited series of public performances at Theatre@41.

“I cannot wait to share Hospital Doors,” says Matt. “It really feels like a flagship production for Next Door But One.

“It epitomises our whole ethos and approach to creating theatre; putting the community first, involving them from day one and staging exciting and compelling stories which amplify often overlooked or unheard voices.”

As well as Hospital Doors being an artistic ambition for Next Door But One, the show is a personal investment for Matt. “My own identity has an affinity to all three community groups, so to be able to bring my full self into this process and align my own lived experience with that of all the participants involved has been a really special one. And I think it has made the script even more compelling and relatable,” he says.

Evie Jones, left, and Christie Peto will make their Next Door But One debut in Hospital Doors at Theatre@41, Monkgate. Picture: James Drury

Matt’s play follows three estranged siblings who are thrown together for the first time in years when their dad falls ill. Peppered with the humour of family life, Hospital Doors offers a window into intersecting conversations about disability, sexuality, illness and care, all held within the same, chaotic family frame.

This intimate show, set in fleeting, transient places – in corridors, over garden walls, on phone calls – is stacked with questions and reflections of modern family dynamics, and the joy that can be found in the mundane efforts we all make to understand those we love.

Hospital Doors promises to be visually striking, with set and costume design by Stella Backman and Hull-based team Jessie Addinall and Amelia Hawkes contributing an ambitious lighting, video and creative caption design.

Producer Joshua Goodman says: “The team we have formed to create Hospital Doors are bringing so much skill and passion to the production that we are certain we can bring a memorable experience to our audiences, but the final performance isn’t where this all ends.”

The one-act play will be followed by a Playback Theatre performance on several dates, when the audience will be encouraged to stay on to share their own stories inspired by the play. These will then be improvised by a team of specialised performers and musicians.

“We know that a lot of our audiences appreciate time and opportunity to reflect on what they have just watched, and this will facilitate that,” says Joshua. “It will also help us to better understand our work and what resonates with people, which will only benefit the future of our work and ensure any developments remain informed by our community.”

Hospital Doors writer-director and Next Door But One chief executive officer and artistic director Matt Harper-Hardcastle

Here, writer-director Matt Harper-Hardcastle discusses Hospital Doors with CharlesHutchPress.

What did the research and development (R&D) for this play involve over 18 months, Matt?

“We started by asking three of our community groups – disabled adults, LGBTQ+ young adults and unpaid carers – what a play that was representative of them would look like.

“From there we ran workshops on characterisation, creative writing and improvisation to shape the narrative, with every workshop focused on what they wanted Hospital Doors to say.”

How did you turn that research into a play?

“It was a purposefully gradual process, which started with an exchange of stories from across the different communities to find common ground, leading to an anthology of stories, poems, mood boards, Venn diagrams, pictures and transcriptions that I then formed into some initial scenes.

“These scenes went back to the groups who ‘red penned’ them or improvised around them to create more detail. This back-and-forth process went all the way through 2023 until we produced a rehearsed reading for all our community members to come to, provide feedback on and ‘sign off’, as it were.”

How have your own experiences influenced your writing of this play?

“They have really shaped the writing. As a gay, disabled man who shared caring responsibilities for my mum before she died, everything that was shared with me in the research & development I felt an affinity and empathy towards.

“It’s very rare that as a writer you get to bring so many facets of your identity into one script, so I’ve not only relished in the process, but also felt a great sense of responsibility.”

At the heart of NDB1’s mission is working with the community, with this production being the epitome of that work. Is that why you call it your “flagship show”?

“Absolutely. When we joined Arts Council England’s Investment Programme, one of our artistic ambitions was to look at how we could tighter braid the participation and performance strands of our work together; how we could work with our communities to create performances that then shared their experiences with wider audiences.

“It all connects – and Hospital Doors is a really thorough and public display of our commitment to this.”

Aside from filmmakers Mike Leigh and Ken Loach, it is hard to think of British writer-directors who would address these subjects so directly: disability, sexuality, illness & care and death. How come you discuss all four in one play?

“It can sometimes feel quite blinkered to make a show that is only about one subject or one identity, because in truth we don’t exist as a silo. A show about disability would naturally bring in conversations of relationships, as it would care, and so rather than ignoring that we looked at it intentionally.

Ian Weichardt and Evie Jones in rehearsal for Next Door But One’s Hospital Doors. Picture: James Drury

“And in doing so, by placing these seemingly very different identities side by side, actually what it does is amplify them all and support a richer discourse in the very complex commonalities between them.

“Put it simply, our work exists to bring people together and that’s what we are hoping to do via this approach with Hospital Doors.”

Are all the cast – Christie Peto, Ian Weichardt and Evie Jones – new to Next Door But One?

“Yes – which is great, as we love working with new artists! We put a lot of effort into casting for this show, not only because we needed to form a trio of siblings, but also we really wanted to be as authentic as possible to our communities and therefore we sought actors who had a shared lived experience with our communities and therefore the characters.

“All three actors care very much about the play and what we are trying to achieve, but also have a wicked sense of humour which is making rehearsals very fun indeed. Ian is originally from York, Christie is from Leeds and Evie is a University of York alumnus.”

What strikes you as the best benefit of performing in the black box space of the John Cooper Studio at Theatre@41, Monkgate?

“We held our rehearsed reading there in 2023, so it feels like we are coming full circle, but also it’s the intimacy of the space, which we really wanted for Hospital Doors. We want the stories, the characters, the words and the emotions to be almost tangible to our audiences.”

What part will the set and video design, lighting, creative captions and sound design play in the show?

“We are condensing huge topics and hundreds of stories into a one act three-hander, so the design helps to bring in the epic scale of that mission! All of the design helps to paint the wider world of the play, show us the characters’ pasts, bring life to their memories and help us understand how much they are revealing or concealing.

“The creative captioning not only increases access to the performance, but also puts the important stuff front and centre – the words and stories handed to us by our community.”

What happens next to Hospital Doors? Maybe a full tour?

“This is definitely not the end of Hospital Doors. We could R&D it forever, but we needed to decide when to put down the pen and share it with an audience. That is now. What we learn from this, what we find resonates with or speaks to our audiences, will shape another future iteration that will then tour.”

What do Playback Theatre performances involve? When will they take place in the York premiere run?

“Playback Theatre will be our Act 2. Audiences who have watched Hospital Doors will be invited to stay and share their own stories, inspired by the play, and then watch them spontaneously performed by a team of actors.

“Our actors care very much about the play and what we are trying to achieve, but also have a wicked sense of humour which is making rehearsals very fun indeed,” says writer-director Matt Harper-Hardcastle of Evie Jones, left, Christie Peto, right, and Ian Weichardt. Picture: James Drury

“This aims to give our audiences more time to reflect on what they have watched, connect with the play more and also understand what others have in common with it too.

“Also hearing the stores that Hospital Doors evokes in our audiences will help us understand the real moments of resonance and therefore how we should develop the play in the future. Playback Theatre will accompany all performances except the Thursday matinee and Saturday evening.”

How has NDB1 progressed in the company’s nine years? What fills you with the most pride?

“A lot has changed since we started; we’ve grown in size, in reach, in skill, in profile, in impact, but what has stayed the same is our values of what we do and why we do it. Even in the toughest of times these haven’t faltered and have always been our driving force. So I’m really proud of that.

“There are too many moments to think of that I’m most proud of, but I always have an anecdote from a recent project in my back pocket that I like to share that I think epitomises our work.

“The one I’m currently sharing a lot is from a carer who attended our Arts and Loss workshops. She recently lost her partner and was heavily in the throes of grief. At her first workshop, she cried a lot but wanted to stay, safe in the space we had created.

“Slowly she started to share her story. She then started using her experience to offer advice to others. She enjoyed being creative with new friends. At the end of the project, she gave me a hug and whispered ‘this is the happiest I’ve been all year’.

“It’s those moments – and there are many more like it – which are priceless, get me up in the morning and make me immensely proud of what NDB1 does.”

Next Door But One presents Hospital Doors at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, March 12 to 15. Performances:7.30pm, except March 13, 7pm; 2pm matinees, March 13 and 15. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Hospital Doors cast and creative team:

Actors: Christie Peto, Ian Weichardt, Evie Jones

Writer and director: Matthew Harper-Hardcastle

Designer: Stella Backman

Video, lighting and creative captions designers: Amelia Hawkes and Jessie Addinall

Sound designer and composer: Lara Jones

Company and stage manager: Jane Williamson

Next Door But One: the back story

OVER the past nine years, York community arts collective Next Door But One has been creating touring productions inspired by the lived experience of the communities from across their arts participation programme.

This has included Operation Hummingbird’s exploration of themes of bereavement and care; The Firework-Maker’s Daughter, created in partnership with neurodivergent young people and their families, and their most recent tour, She Was Walking Home, shaped from the real-life testimonies of 33 women living, working and studying in York.

Next Door But One’s poster for Hospital Doors, next week’s production at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York

August 3, 2021August 3, 2021

Imagine if you could go back to talk to your younger self… Matt Harper-Hardcastle does in his new play Operation Hummingbird

James Lewis Knight, left, as Jimmy and Matt Stradling as James in Operation Hummingbird. Picture: James Drury

YORK community arts collective Next Door But One are teaming up with Explore York for a library tour of Matt Harper-Hardcastle’s Operation Hummingbird from Thursday.

James Lewis Knight will play Jimmy and Matt Stradling, James, in a one-act two-hander that takes the form of a conversation across the decades about a sudden family death, realising an opportunity that we all wish we could do at some point in our life: to go back to talk to our younger self.

Death, dying and bereavement have been prevalent factors in Next Door But One’s artistic programme for many years now, led by artistic director Matt’s own loss in 2016.

“When my mum was diagnosed with terminal cancer, my whole family turned to what they did best: some looking after all the paperwork, others the planning of appointments and medication, while I turned to what I knew, telling stories,” he says.

“From keeping a blog up to date so that friends and family were in the loop of what was going on, to telling stories of my mum to keep her memory alive”.

This quickly transferred to the stage in 2016 when Next Door But One produced Matt’s autobiographical play about his relationship with his mum, Any Mother Would. “The reaction to this relatively low-key performance was quite remarkable, with audiences saying they wished they had the space and tools to share memories and process their own grief in this way,” he recalls.

This set in motion a core strand of activity for Next Door But One, who ran a series of creative Death Cafés; hosted Playback Theatre performances for people to share stories of loved ones who had died; ran art and bereavement workshops for carers and produced Laura Wade’s Colder Than Here as part of York’s Dead Good Festival 2019.

Alongside this, Matt’s original blog was published as a book by The Writing Tree under the title of The Day The Alien Came. In response to this memoir of his mother’s death and his experience of living with loss, “people were then asking, ‘do you think your book will ever become a play?’,” he says.

“We’re not good at talking about death, even though deep down we know we need to,” says Operation Hummingbird writer-director Matt Harper-Hardcastle

“I didn’t feel I could make it into a play but wanted to create something from the book’s themes and the parallels between the different experiences that have been shared with Next Door But One over the years”.

The result is Operation Hummingbird, to be performed on August 5 at New Earswick Folk Hall at 3.30pm and Dringhouses Library at 7pm and on August 12 at York Explore, 2pm, and Hungate Reading Café, 7pm. Seating will be limited to ensure Covid safety.

The mini-tour will finish in September with a closed performance, hosted by The Gillygate pub, in Gillygate, specifically for members of York Carers Centre, who have recent experiences of loss. Tickets are on sale at: nextdoorbutone.co.uk/Operation-Hummingbird.php

Commenting on the partnership with Explore York, creative producer El Stannage says: “We felt it made sense to partner with Explore on this production, as not only is the play connected to a story and a book, but after 18 months we have all experienced different losses through the pandemic.

“This way we are able to connect with audiences to the north, south and centre of York, providing them with a heartfelt portrayal of an experience we hope they can relate to.”

Next Door But One are not only excited to be taking their work out into the community once more, but also buoyed by taking up resident status at The Gillygate after re-launching live performances in Step 2 lockdown-eased York with Yorkshire Trios in the new outdoor theatre space in Brian Furey’s pub garden on April 23 and 24.

“We now have a home, a place to create and rehearse in the heart of the city, and with the support of The Gillygate, and their shared ethos of community engagement, our potential is rapidly expanding,” says Matt.

James Lewis Knight ‘s James playing on a games console in Operation Hummingbird. Picture: James Drury

Ahead of Thursday’s opening performance, Matt answers CharlesHutchPress’s questions on play titles, dealing with death, talking to our younger selves, Hamlet versus King Lear, working with Explore York and taking up a residency at The Gillygate.

What is the significance of the title Operation Hummingbird, Matt?

“The title alludes to the central character’s childhood coping mechanism for dealing with his mother’s terminal diagnosis; rather than trying to grapple with medical terminology he draws parallels to battles he is more familiar with, like those on his games console.

“The hummingbird is a reference to who the character’s mum hopes she can become ‘afterwards’. So together, ‘Operation Hummingbird’ is the character’s fight to save his mum, which turns into his journey of living with loss.”

Death is a difficult subject to discuss; for some it is still taboo. Yet facing up to your mother’s death instead has awoken the need for you to contemplate grief in myriad ways. What has been the impact of all that creativity, both on others and on yourself?

“Well, it’s been a real snowball effect. We’re not good at talking about death, even though deep down we know we need to. Many people just need an opportunity presented to them that feels safe and more recognisable.

“People came to watch Any Mother Would and wanted to write their own stories, which led to us running the Death Cafés and Playback Theatre on loss, which gained momentum and put us at the heart of York’s Dead Good Fest 2019.

“The experience of grief can be a very lonely and isolating one and the main impact we’ve seen from participants and audiences is reassurance that their feelings are valid and shared by others.

Shining a light as Matt Stradling’s James talks to his younger self in Matt Harper-Hardcastle’s Operation Hummingbird. Picture: James Drury

“For me personally, I thought I would be completely consumed by the grief of my mam’s death, but through creativity, I’ve been able to own it and take control over how it manifests itself in my life. So, strength is the impact it’s had on me.”

Given how widely you have addressed this theme already, what new elements are you looking to bring out in Operation Hummingbird?

“In writing the play, even though I’ve leaned into themes and emotions I’ve experienced myself, it’s been really important to weave in all the stories of death, dying and bereavement that have been shared with us over the years so that they are represented as the collective they’ve become.

“In terms of how Operation Hummingbird complements our existing repertoire on this topic…we’ve had the celebration of a life lived (Any Mother Would), the reaction to a terminal diagnosis (Colder Than Here) and now we are looking at the long-term impact of bereavement and the role it plays in shaping our identity as we age (Operation Hummingbird).

“So, quite serendipitously, we’ve ended up with almost a trilogy of death, dying and bereavement spanning from 2016 to the current day.”

Knowing that we can’t go back to talk to our younger selves, but wish we could, why do we wish it? Some would see it as a futile exercise, but here you are devoting a play to that theme. For what reason? Are you addressing other selves who are still young?

“It’s actually the futility you mention that is central to the narrative; often we wish we could fast forward grief, that someone could give us an end date, or that someone has all the answers on how we ‘get over it’. When, in reality, the only way to deal with grief is to live through it, to feel every emotion, to articulate what’s going on and find a way to live alongside it.

“I guess that’s the take-away message of the play. Even when presented with this unachievable opportunity, our older character struggles with how much to tell his younger self for fear of changing the person he becomes.”

James Lewis Knight, left, and Matt Stradling in a scene from Operation Hummingbird, whose Explore York library tour opens on Thursday. Picture: James Drury

How did you settle on the play’s structure of a conversation across the decades (about a sudden family death)?

“As you said before, we can’t actually have this conversation between younger and older self, so there’s something really freeing as a writer to set a play in this liminal, non-attainable space where the usual rules of time and conversation can be blurred.

“I’ve always found inspiration in Emily Dickinson’s ‘Tell all the truth but tell it slant’; the cold hard truth given to us directly can make us disengage, but set reality on a fictional foundation and look at it through a creative lens and it becomes easier to digest. Meaning that something classed as ‘taboo’ can be moved closer toward, rather than running away from.”

In Operation Hummingbird, you ask: “Does our grief age as we do?”. As I grow older, King Lear is becoming more significant to me than Hamlet, and yet Ian McKellen is playing Hamlet at 82, having already played Lear. Interesting! Discuss!

“Very interesting! Maybe it’s just because I’m in the throes of Operation Hummingbird, but maybe casting McKellen as Hamlet is to show the power that grief and loss can hold over us at any age?

“I wonder what the interpretation of a 28-year-old Lear would be? Discuss!”

How long will the show be?

“The play is 45 minutes in length. I think lockdown has solidified my preference for a one-act play.”

Next Door But One’s playbill for Operation Hummingbird

What is the significance of linking up with Explore York for this library tour?

“There are three key reasons. Firstly, we wanted to bring live theatre closer to people, especially in light of Covid. So, having performances to the north and south of the city, as well as centrally, should hopefully give a space for everyone.

“Secondly, libraries are buildings that exist to house stories, so why not make a live one happen there too.

“Thirdly, some slight inspiration from my late mam. She was a librarian in west Cumbria and saw the building as central to the community. It’s where people connect with others, learn skills, tap into new interests, seek help, understand the area they live in, and that’s true to the ethos of Next Door But One’s work, so it seemed like the perfect partnership.”

The Gillygate’s Brian Furey is a good friend to the arts, whether putting on Alexander Wright’s shows, both indoors and in a tent, or your York Trios shows. How did you cement the relationship to become the company in residence? What benefits will it bring to Next Door But One?

“There’s a genuine generosity that The Gillygate has to its staff and community that we admire. Little did we know that the Fureys were also admiring the same qualities in us when supporting Yorkshire Trios.

“The residency was cemented by us both discussing the fundamentals of what we were trying to achieve and realising that it was the same; we want to bring members of the community together to enjoy and benefit from a shared experience.

“So, in its simplest form, ‘two heads (or companies) are better than one’ when there’s a shared goal. As a company it now means that we have a home; we have office, rehearsal and performance space, giving us more autonomy over our programming.

“But above all, partnering with The Gillygate means we have a real community champion in our corner and that’s invaluable.”