The Treehouse

The Treehouse is a play exploring the intersections of Madness* with family, grief and growing older. The play centres a moving design concept — the actors will physically build the set every night.

This project is proudly Mad-led. ‘Madness’ is used broadly here to encompass a range of experiences and political realities that emerge from complex and enduring mental illness, psychosocial distress and experiences that diverge markedly from consensus reality.

Early concept sketch by designer Kenneth MacLeod.

Performer Open Call

The roles

We are looking for two performers to play Jessie and Mac, a brother and sister. 

The following aspects of the characters are fixed:

  • Age: Jessie around 30, Mac in his mid-20s.

  • Gender: Jessie a woman, Mac a man. Note that this does not require them to be cis.

  • Both Scottish. Note that this does not require them to be white, nor does it mean they must be only Scottish. 

  • Both roles will involve some lifting and climbing due to the moving set aspects of the play. Please get in touch if you have any questions about this.

Beyond this, we are open to the characters going in a wide range of different directions. We welcome applications from performers of any training background and experience level.

This project is proudly Mad*-led and sits under the umbrella of Mad arts. The development process will explore themes of severe mental illness, familial grief (loss of parents/siblings) and psychiatric violence/incarceration in an open-ended way. We strongly encourage applications from people with relevant lived experience and anticipate ongoing conversations about how we can safely hold this material as a group, but we don't have the resources on this project to provide intensive or therapeutic support. We ask that you take a moment to reflect on this before applying — if these themes are likely to be very triggering or upsetting for you, this might not be the right opportunity right now.

Casting process

We are holding an initial open workshop session in central Glasgow to explore some performance and character elements of the work, and get a sense of what draws you to the project. You will not need to prepare anything for this session and we will not be working with the more intense parts of the play.   

  • 10am–12pm

  • 2nd June

  • Central Glasgow

Up to three performers for each role will be invited to a call-back session where we will explore different casting combinations and some more in-depth character work.

  • 10am–1pm

  • 9th June

  • Central Glasgow

Reasonable travel expenses will be reimbursed for both sessions. 

All performers invited for a callback will be paid £60 for their time.

Performers will be paid a fee of £900 for the development week and an additional day rate of £180 for the public sharing.

How to apply

To register for the workshop, fill out the registration form by 11:59pm on Sunday 25th May. Click here to open the registration form.

You will receive an email confirming your registration after filling out the form. If you haven’t heard anything after 3 days, please get in touch.

If the registration form is not accessible to you, or if you have any further questions about the project, please contact Kerry at hello@kerrylane.com.

About the project

The Treehouse is a play exploring the intersections of Madness* with family, grief and growing older. The play centres a moving design concept — the actors will physically build the set every night. The script and design are being developed together from the very earliest stages of the project.

This project is proudly Mad*-led and sits under the umbrella of Mad arts. ‘Madness’ is used broadly here to encompass a range of experiences and political realities that emerge from complex and enduring mental illness, psychosocial distress and experiences that diverge markedly from consensus reality. The development process will explore themes of severe mental illness, familial grief (loss of parents/siblings) and psychiatric violence/incarceration in an open-ended way. Part of the purpose of the development is to explore how we can make work that draws on these lived experiences in a way that is meaningful, ethical and anchored in Mad community.

Access

  • The auditions and development week will be supported by two Access Personal Assistants, who will be on hand to help the creative team work in the space. 

  • The auditions, development week and all meetings will be held in venues with level access and wheelchair-accessible bathrooms. 

  • A HEPA-grade air purifier will be running in the audition and development spaces while we are working. 

  • All scripts and documents will be available in both digital and printed format as needed.

  • All venues are in central Glasgow and near public transport links. Sessions will not be scheduled at times that make it difficult to use public transport.  

  • The development will explore themes of severe mental illness, familial grief (loss of parents/siblings), psychiatric violence/incarceration and animal death in an open-ended way. We strongly encourage applications from people with relevant lived experience and anticipate ongoing conversations about how we can safely hold this material as a group, but we don't have the resources on this project to provide intensive or therapeutic support. We ask that you take a moment to reflect on this before applying — if these themes are likely to be very triggering or upsetting for you, this might not be the right opportunity right now.

  • We have a small budget for additional access costs if required.

Theatre Green Book

We are working to the Advanced Production standard of the Theatre Green Book. This means that we are making a commitment to using a majority of found and recycled materials in the design of this project. You can find out more about the Theatre Green Book here. 

Development artists

In partnership with Birds of Paradise Theatre Company, this project includes roles for two emerging disabled artists to gain paid experience and be mentored by established professionals. 

We are delighted to be joined by Bo Hogan as Assistant Director and Georgia Dunn as Assistant Designer.

Fees

All members of the creative team are paid the same fees (based on Scottish Society of Playwrights rates) to recognise their mutual artistic interdependence rather than creating a hierarchy of artistic input. The mentored development artists are paid a flat fee, also based on SSP rates.

Creative team weekly rate: £900

Creative team day rate: £180

Development artist fee: £815

People

Playwright & Lead Artist Kerry Lane

Designer Kenneth MacLeod

Director Morna McGeoch Fergus Arnott

Assistant Designer Georgia Dunn

Assistant Director Bo Hogan

This development is supported by partnerships with Birds of Paradise Theatre Company and Playwrights’ Studio Scotland, and funded by the Creative Scotland Open Fund for Individuals.

Timeline

24th February Initial script development begins, call-out for development artists

7th March Successful development artists notified

10th March Development artists join the creative team

25th May Deadline for performer workshop applications

2nd June Open audition workshop for performers

9th June Paid callbacks 

21st–25th July In-person development week in central Glasgow

26th July Public sharing