´óÏó´«Ã½

IgnitionStage is the brainchild of Szilvi Naray-Davey, a Hungarian born, American trained actress who swapped the glamour of LA for Manchester’s slightly less sunshine-filled streets two years ago.

A lecturer at the University of Salford, she says the idea to found a professional theatre company in the suburbs came from her frustration with the lack of live theatre outside of the city centre, as she explains.

Szilvi Naray-Davey

"I started to feel that there was a cultural vacuum in Didsbury. There is a real lack of theatre, even though there are a lot of people who would be interested in performance.

"I think we have all come to rely too much on television and I wanted to convince people to come and see theatre, to take a break from the routine and feel the energy of live performance."

The Opposite of Claustrophobic is the first production by the company which Szilvi established with two of her University colleagues; actor David Wotton, who acts alongside Szilvi in the two person play, and director Frances Piper.

The choice for a first production was a difficult one, but Szilvi is keen to produce plays by new writing talent, so this play, written by North West playwright Rob Johnston, fitted the bill perfectly.

If the play is successful, IgnitionStage hope to take the production to the Edinburgh Festival next year. But that, of course, isn’t Szilvi’s only aim.

In the short term, she hopes it will bring something much needed into Didsbury. As a result, she’ll be keen to gauge the public’s reaction to the show.

"We really want to see if this is a viable thing and we need to know that people want this. Without the audience we can’t exist. Of course it’s a risk, but nothing worthwhile is without risk and it’s thrilling to find out whether it will work."

The Opposite of Claustrophobic is at MMU’s Didsbury Studio Theatre from Wed 7 Nov to Sat 10 Nov. Tickets are £7.50.