Your Stories

Talking to Neil Knipe, it's easy to see why the company he co-founded with colleague Brendan Harrington is going from strength to strength. His enthusiasm for the theatre is boundless and he's keen to make sure that the people of Leeds get a wide variety of work to view on the city's stages.

Neil had acted in amateur dramatic productions since his early teens, and a passion for the theatre led him to a desire for more challenging roles rather than the traditional light fare offered by am-dram. Together with Brendan (both were veterans of the Kippax Amateur Operatic Society) they founded a company that wanted to reach beyond the usual round of Noel Coward and Gilbert & Sullivan.

THP's 'Loot'

Both men have acted in Tiny House productions, but have also developed flexible producer and director roles. Brendan directs, while Neil produces but that's not set in stone and together with a small core of regular actors they have put on several successful productions - so much so that they've progressed from performing in church halls to a more permanent base at The Carriageworks in Millennium Square.

"Performing in am-dram gave us a really good base to work from but there comes a point when we decided that we wanted to do more straight theatre, something a bit more challenging than musicals like 'Oklahoma'. That's not to say that we're excluding the possibility of Tiny House Productions putting on a musical, but for now we want to challenge ourselves...and the audience!"

"Our first productions were of Joe Orton's classic black comedy 'Loot', and a stage version of the Woody Allen film 'Play It Again, Sam'; it was the success of these two that led to the management team at the Carriageworks to ask us to transfer our productions into their studio theatre. It was a great compliment to a relatively young company."

"The kudos of being based in a proper theatre - as opposed to local village halls and the like - is that audiences take you more seriously, and you can charge a little more, which means more money to invest back into the company. We're self-funding at the moment but looking to the future and hopefully we'll have a sponsor on board fairly soon. Scenery, props and costumes don't come for free!"

Neil Knipe (left) in 'Audacity'

"Initially we had to beg, steal and borrow when we started and we'd have my mum selling orange squash to raise a few quid, but now we can afford to hire props, which is good for certain pieces in our repertoire like our upcoming production of 'The Accrington Pals' -  a play about the senseless slaughter of the First World War. It wouldn't be very good doing a play like that without the prop guns to make it look authentic."

"Our growing reputation means that more actors have heard about us and we choose from a larger pool of talent, and we have ambitions to move beyond our studio theatre status and hopefully one day be playing regularly to main auditorium audiences. At the moment though, I guess you could say what was a hobby has turned into a way of earning a living - hopefully a fully-fledged theatre career isn't far away!"

"I think one of our strengths is the diveristy of material we perform. We've done broad comedy like John Godber's 'Up 'n' Under' and 'Bouncers', alongside contemporary dramas like Yasmin Reza's 'Art' and Simon Mawdsley's 'Audacity'. Now we're getting ready for our seventh production, 'The Accrington Pals' a historical fact-based drama and the new year will see us put together a production of Ben Elton's bestseller, 'Popcorn'." 

"We want to do stuff that's relevant to today's audience and something like 'The Accrington Pals' can cover all audiences bases as it were. After all, we're living in an age where warfare and people's perceptions of the futility of war, are still big topics with the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan still causing controversy."

"Theatre audiences are dwindling in general and we're determined to reverse that trend and show people that we have a vital, exciting product on people's doorsteps and theatre isn't just about going to the West End when you're visiting London. The unpredictability and nervous energy of live theatre makes it alive with possibilities - no two performances are ever the same. It's about creating something new every night! We want people to realise that it's for everybody - it's not just a middle-aged or middle class pursuit. Everybody can find enjoyment in good theatre."

The Accrington Pals will be performed from Wednesday 24 September - Saturday 27 September 2008 at The Carriageworks, Millennium Square.

More information on Tiny House Productions can be found here: