THIS is an exciting new project. Local writers Jayne Newton Chance and Hugh Janes, along with the Barbican's own creative writing group, the Waterfront Writers, have penned a tale based very much on the television soap format, with the new familiar mix of heightened plotlines, charismatic characters, drama and comedy, and cliffhanger endings to episodes. It even has it's own signature tune.
Set in the family-run pub the Sailor's Head on the Barbican, the characters are fictitious local inhabitants.
The first episode of any new soap has the tricky task of introducing the characters, providing sufficient, but not too much, information about them, and setting the narrative in motion. More difficult is creating the impression that these characters have a past.
Janners - The Soap succeeds stunningly. It's packed with incident, and plenty of secrets, too interwoven to encapsulate here, with snappy dialogue and first class performances.
The first episode ends with the sudden appearance of Mr. Big, released three years early from a prison sentence, much to general horror, since he seems to have the drop on everyone.
The second episode closes with another cliffhanger when the family's matriarch, who is either psychic or potty, produces a skull she claims is that of her granddaughter's first husband. Actually, these closures would have greater impact with a snap blackout rather than the present slow fades, which smack of Victoria Wood's Acorn Antiques.
As they leave, members of the audience are invited to write on wall charts their comments and suggestions for how the story might be continued so the writers can devise further installments. It could run as long as Corrie!
Bill Stone