The Cage Protects Me – A ten year journey from WUPS to the Loft Main House

Humanities degrees often lack clear vocational direction, something that can lead to anxiety and stress when faced with the inevitable question…’What do you want to do after university?’. I have found myself, a third year English Literature student, pondering this question at great length of late. Upon coming to university, freshers are offered a wealth of opportunity, surrounded by a host of new people, societies, and possibilities; the sky is quite literally the limit. But how to continue these new interests, relationships, and creative projects outside of our cozy Warwick University campus is another challenge entirely.

Last week, I was lucky enough to meet with Giles Allen-Bowden, a Warwick University Film and Literature alumni who has continued his university passion for scriptwriting, now directing a self-written play at the Loft Theatre (running from the 31 October to Saturday 8 November). The Cage Protects Me has stalked the West Midlands theatre scene since it was penned in late 2015 and performed at the University of Warwick in 2016 when Giles was an undergraduate. Written in the middle of the night in late October, the play has now come full circle to premiere at the Loft Main House on Halloween.

It is a performance that at it’s core is “about a woman who discovers who she is in a new and dire environment”

Although the play itself has developed with help of the facilities and people here at the University of Warwick, it’s story takes us all the way to Drylake, Texas, where each night a pack of wolves descend upon the town leaving one survivor. It appears to be a perfect Halloween watch, exploring the human relationship with horror and our ability to react to that which is beyond our understanding. Giles describes his play as “a twisted journey of self discovery”. It is a performance that at it’s core is “about a woman who discovers who she is in a new and dire environment”.

Giles’ trajectory was first sparked by an interest in Warwick University’s Playwriting Society (formally Freshblood). He cites the opportunity offered by Freshblood as providing students with space to take part in “cheap, quick student theatre”, a rare opportunity given the usually rigorous process of sending in script packets for lengthy evaluations. After spending the first few weeks of year one debating what to write about, he then, as I’m sure many students can relate to, had “a bunch of ideas at 1am” that were then transformed into the core of the play. See below the advertisement for Fresh Fest in 2016, The Cage Protects Me being initially entitled Wolves Without Teeth.

Although the play has undergone many changes in ten years of edits and adaptions, one of the first, central ideas was to write “a story about a psyche that had been fractured…updated to make it more psychological and nuanced”. In this ghost story, the devil and the angel on your shoulder are embodied and given room to grow, Giles describing how “it is one thing to have characters reckon with their consciences, but it is much more fun to have them walk through the door, cross their arms and say ‘we need to talk’”. Horror is a central theme of the play and Giles hopes to get “good, visceral reactions” from the audience members on its premiere.

It was then at the University of Warwick where he realised he wanted to work in amateur theatre, describing his desire to be useful and productive in building and creating theatre from the ground up

Giles’ journey to get the play performed has been a ten-year-long saga, so I was interested to get his insight into maintaining a passion for theatre that was first sparked at university. Following the penning of this play in 2015, Giles wrote two more plays for Freshblood and continued writing after university, subsequently attending a Covid-affected Creative Writing MA at Warwick. It was then at the University of Warwick where he realised he wanted to work in amateur theatre, describing his desire to be useful and productive in building and creating theatre from the ground up. In discussing his career so far, it is clear that actions speak louder than words when it comes to gaining theatre experience. He states: “if you work in theatre on a regular basis you learn so much about how theatre is constructed” and this focus on action is shown through his regular work on Loft shows, where he has taken on an impressively wide variety of roles in both the tech team and stage management. Additionally, Giles prizes these connections made at the Loft theatre as an essential part of constructing this current play, advising new writers to “never write in a total vacuum; a key part of the process is seeing how people react to your work”. Theatre is “chemistry, it’s live chemicals”, so he encourages students to embrace the risk and criticism inevitable in live theatre, as well as to share their creativity and ideas with others.

The Cage Protects Me is a perfect example of how a play can evolve from a student piece to a fully fledged, staged production at a local theatre

It is evident that the locale around Warwick University has played a crucial role in Giles’ interest and career in theatre. He states that the surrounding area is great for amateur theatre, given that it is often “volunteer driven and always looking for fresh blood”. He recommends the Loft Theatre as a venue for students to watch and take part in theatre, given that tickets are free to 16-25 year olds, and the performances are respected for their professional quality and compelling writing. If you are looking to continue your university passion for theatre or writing, Giles encourages us to look to our local environment and get involved. The Cage Protects Me is a perfect example of how a play can evolve from a student piece to a fully fledged, staged production at a local theatre.

When asking Giles why he thinks his play is of particular relevance to Warwick students, he describes how The Cage Protects Me exemplifies “what your work can be with time, precision, and adaptation” as well as being “a fun watch, quick paced with fun action”. However, if all that can’t convince you, then “it’s a show about wolves eating Texans…what else do you want?”

Here is a link to more details and tickets for The Cage Protects Me, running from October 31 to November 8 – https://lofttheatrecompany.com/performance/the-cage-protects-me/