4Play Theatre Company presents the darkly thrilling Foxfinder at The Courtyard

And this year is no exception as it presents a new play by Dawn Kington, Foxfinder.

It is “a darkly thrilling new play” which, says Alex Evans of 4Play, strikes a very contemporary chord.

As they do every year, the members of 4Play read a lot of scripts during the summer to identify the possibilities for their annual New Year production.

“There were a few I really liked,” says Alex, who is producing the play. “But this stood out for us because of its relevance and its parallels with things going on now.”

Foxfinder, winner of the Papatango New Writing competition and one of The Independent’s top five plays of 2011, is set in an unknown place and time – it could be an alternative present day or the nottoo- distant future – and deals with a climate disaster for which, it seems, the fox is to blame.

Farming couple Samuel and Judith Covey are dealing with the grind of trying to keep their farm at a time when the weather worsens every year. More and more crops fail and it gets harder to feed the population. Enter the Foxfinder, a man raised like a monk to believe in the fox as the enemy of stability.

“The Foxfinder has his beliefs challenged, creating a lot of jeopardy which is what you look for in a piece of theatre,” Alex adds.

Although it is run as a part time, voluntary – but far from amateur – company, 4Play adopts an entirely professional approach to its work, producing theatre that stands comparison with fulltime companies.

“The challenge is finding time to make it good, and the biggest difficulty is finding people with the free time to devote to it.

“We all do it in our spare time – it takes dedication and commitment. There are lots of people who want to get involved, people with kids and jobs but only so much time.”

Taking the role of Judith in Foxfinder is Lorraine McGuire Heath, who was at college with Alex: “I remember her being really good then, but she hasn’t done anything since and she was really keen to be involved.”

Jack Spreckley, who appeared in the Senior Youth Theatre’s Our Country’s Good and more recently in Feral Productions’ Four Corners, plays the Foxfinder, while Jen Booton plays the neighbour, a kind of subversive element in that she doesn’t believe in foxes.

“For us it’s all about the writing. If the characters are right and the writing’s good, you have a great play.”

But, as Alex concedes, finding the right play is only the first step. The next is to find the right actors to cast.

“It’s important to find the right people for the part and not put a square peg into a round hole.

“4Play themes tend to be challenging and gritty,” says Alex, “but this starts off as a gentler piece.

“It’s less shocking, more story based, though that’s not to say it’s like daytime TV drama.

There is something about it that’s a bit more compassionate.”

For Alex, 4Play is the fulfilment of an ambition to bring drama to a region that doesn’t, he thinks, see enough challenging theatre.

“I am ambitious and I don’t think this is where my career will end, but my ambition is to try and create what I’d like to see here myself, rather than go somewhere else to produce the work.

“We don’t see enough of the quality theatre and drama that doesn’t simply put bums on seats, so we have to create it ourselves.”

“4Play happily now has an audience and a lot of people will come because it’s 4Play so we can afford now to do a play that’s only a year old. What we want to do now is continue to build on that and reach more people and encourage a new audience.”

Foxfinder runs at the Courtyard from Wednesday, January 23, to Saturday, January 26. To book, call the box office on 01432 340555

Click to go to The Courtyard