Having won £3,500 in the Winter Umbro Industries competition, Manchester-based theatre company Fink On are taking to the stage this week. They’re performing Crying In The Chapel, a play about the Strangeways prison riots of 1990, at the Contact Theatre here in Manchester, funded in part by the money Umbro Industries have provided. Ahead of the first performance, we caught up with Fink On’s Nick Clarke (pictured above right with fellow members of the theatre group) to chat about the play, its place in Manchester’s social history, and why they applied for Umbro Industries. Here’s what he had to say…

How did Fink On come together?

“We were established in 1998, and we did stuff in Band On The Wall, Music Box, Green Room, putting theatre on in music venues, and trying to reach out to people through that, which was quite a new thing. And then we came across the chance to do Crying In The Chapel, and we realised that it was going to be a big thing for us. Even compared to things we’d done beforehand and afterwards, this is still the most exciting piece of theatre we’ve worked on.

What is it about this play that makes it so important?

“The main thing that made us want to do Crying In The Chapel was that we realised that the prisoners on the roof of Strangeways didn’t have a voice. All the papers at the time were just printing unconfirmed facts and rumours as headlines. The play comes from their point of view, so to this day it’s the only place where the prisoners are given a voice. That’s why I think it’s so exciting.”

What does the story involve?

“It’s about a group of human beings that are put under extreme circumstances, their human rights are invaded, and how they try to combat that. It was never planned, that’s what is so interesting about these events, is that it was very much an ad hoc thing. What it’s mainly about is the right to protest, the prison system and its failings, and how the public look at prisoners.”

Would you agree that protesting is a part of Manchester’s history?

“Absolutely. It was a thing of the time as well. If you look at twenty years ago, you had things like the poll tax, and the Criminal Justice Act, which used people going to raves as a springboard for closing down the ability to have a gathering of people without a licence and all that. So we’ve lost that right to protest now. These people in prisons have committed crimes, but they still should have the right to be able to protest about their conditions.”

Why do you think it’s still relevent to a modern audience?

“Well, I think the only thing that rivals the Strangeways riots in recent Mancunian history is the bomb, so it’s definitely still relevant as a piece of social history. It’s not just about learning about what happened though, this is an exciting piece of theatre that lets the audience experience it in a dynamic way.”

Why did you decide to apply for Umbro Industries?

“I came across a flyer for Umbro Industries, and I had a look online at the panelists. I thought that the likes of Mike Pickering and Kevin Cummins are all from that time when the riots took place, so I thought that it’d be a story that they’d relate to. I also knew that, if I got to stand in front of the panel and speak to them about it, they’d understand it and how important it was. The right to party and the right to protest is something they’d understand.”

And are you glad that you applied?

“Absolutely, Umbro Industries is a tremendous opportunity for creative people in Greater Manchester to put their ideas front of some of the best creative forces in the city. To get their feedback and their backing as well, that gives your ideas a great level of validation.”

Fink On have also produced a video trailer for the play, which you can check out here:

Crying In The Chapel is being performed at Contact Theatre in Manchester from Monday April 26th to Saturday May 8th. For more information check out the Contact website.

For the Spring Umbro Industries, we should be able to announce the four finalists very shortly, with the final taking place this forthcoming Saturday.