Sue Wylie seeks funding for film based on her play Kinetics
Actress Sue Wylie is launching a project to create a film based on her play about the life-changing disease she developed six years ago.
Sue, who used to teach drama in Dorchester, was diagnosed with early onset Parkinson’s at the age of 50 and turned her experiences into a play, Kinetics, which premiered last year.
Now she is building on the success of its tour of the south west by creating a film as a teaching resource to health professionals.
Sue said: “The diagnosis came as a big shock. I thought it was something only old people got and I had just turned 50.
“I found it difficult to tell people and realised how little was known about this chronic condition.”
She combined her experience with another real-life story based on a student she knew whose outlet from his problems was parkour, also known as free running - with the main characters coping with their desire to move.
Kinetics enjoyed support from Dorchester Arts and, following performances in the town’s Corn Exchange, went on to gain Arts Council funding for a tour last autumn.
Sue said: “We got letters and emails saying it should be seen by a wider audience and that’s when I thought about a film. It has a lot of potential as a resource for professionals as well and so I am launching a Kickstarter campaign to raise the money for it.
“We’re all ready to go and in the first few days we’ve already got £3,300 but we need about £30,000.”
A registered charity, DT2 Productions, has been set up to advance education about Parkinson’s with the film as an innovative resource.
The project has a production team lined up including director Tom Martin and they aim to complete filming in a week in August in Bristol.
Sue’s career under her Equity name of Sue Broomfield includes stage, radio and television work including Casualty and The Bill.
But she has eased that workload now to focus on Kinetics and to cope with the disease that often leaves her tired.
She said: “I feel frustrated about this condition because I can’t do things at the pace I want to. I find the enforced slowing down a challenge.”
Sue, who used to teach drama at the Thomas Hardye School in Dorchester as well as in Taunton, is also planning other projects related to Kinetics including a radio workshop with Bournemouth University students.
Donations can be made online at
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1055542176/kinetics-the-film-where-parkinsons-meets-parkour or by sending a cheque made payable to DT2 Productions to Sue at Wylye Croft, Martinstown, Dorchester, DT2 9JL. Or call 01305 889085 to find out more.
Mark Tattersall, Dorchester Arts artistic director, said: “We are hugely proud and really hope that the film comes off as it would be wonderful for Kinetics to play a role in changing attitudes towards Parkinson’s on an even wider scale than we managed with the recent tour.”
http://www.somersetlive.co.uk/news/local-news/casualty-actress-launches-film-project-87738
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