Crust: Capture an impulse

"The dignity and value of a man is not in his labour or abilities, it is in his worth as human being."

from Bob Geldof - "Is that it?" (1986)

I've been kicking this concept for a play around for nearly twenty years since I first started in theatre. It kepts changing as I incorporate new interests and draw on new theatrical experiences, but the general scenario has remained the same.

The original seed:

On a quiet night, a group of people in a bar decide that forming a band might bring meaning into their lives. With little talent and no experience, the idea of the band rises to heights of excitement before falling apart out of frustration all in the course of one night. The group finally breaks up sighting artistic differences as the reason for their break up, not being able to agree on a band name or music style to perform. Each character looking for different things from the band.

Notes behind the idea.

I liked the idea that people are often culturally identified or framed by their occupation or what they do for work? Take the quint-essential phrase, what do you do for a living? and ask do you make generalised observations or judgements on people based on their answer to this question. Do we categorise people’s intelligence, morals, values, dignity, ambitions, dreams through our knowledge and expectations of that job.