Projects matching: ISO

Synopsis

Jane Austen's novel, Mansfield Park, is combined with some of her comically surreal teenage writings, her letters and various biographical and historical details to construct the passionate story of a decadent, aristocratic family as seen through the eyes of one of their playthings: a young cousin, Fanny Price, dropped into their midst but always reminded she will never be their class equal.


When a highly desirable and well-established young man, Henry Crawford, seeks her hand in marriage, the family is overjoyed. But she refuses him and is consequently sent back to her achingly poor and overcrowded "home" in Portsmouth. She longs for the one person who is forbidden to her: Edmund, the idealistic second son who has been her ally and soulmate since she first arrived at Mansfield Park as a little girl. But he is on the verge of marriage to Henry's teasingly enticing sister, Mary. Henry follows Fanny to Portsmouth. If she continues to refuse her wealthy and not unattractive suitor, she risks certain poverty and isolation.


The ensuing ardent entanglements are played out against the subtle backdrop of the slave trade which we are reminded is "paying for the party" at Mansfield Park.

Synopsis

Prince of Denmark Hill is a contemporary reworking of Hamlet in 11 minutes, set in South London gangland as a fast-moving, stylish black comedy. Revolving around a game of Russian Roulette at the wedding reception of the murderous "king" Bernard, we flash back to the events that brought our hero Keith to this point. Will Keith and Horace's plan to poison Bernard avail? Or will Keith die by his own hand?

Synopsis

Simon Magus is the poignant and magical story of an outcast called Simon, who is treated with a mixture of fear, suspicion and guarded affection by the Jewish and Christian inhabitants of a village in 19th century Poland. It is also the story of the village itself, a community in crisis now that the railway has arrived, passing the village by, taking away all its trade, and threatening its future.


Simon has visions and strange dreams, a fantastical view of the world. For some villagers, Simon is a harmless idiot, but in a place where people still believe in angels and charms, to others he is a magician in league with the devil himself.


The crisis comes in the battle to build a railway station and save the village. Maximillian Hase, moneyed, ruthless and determined to succeed, uses Simon's feelings of isolation to his own ends, employing him as a spy to root out his competition in the village's Jewish community.


The Christian Squire, a sensitive and lonely man with a passion for poetry, must be persuaded to allow the station to be built on his land. Dovid, a poor young Jew, realises that an appreciation of poetry is the way to succeed in the railway station bid. Only the city educated Sarah from the Jewish community shares this passion for poetry, but she and the Squire have never yet spoken. Dovid enlists Sarah's help to secure his bid.


Simon is seduced by Hase's bribes and is unwittingly playing a critical role in the battle for the railway. . .

Synopsis

Against a backdrop of racial tension and industrial unrest in the Welsh Valleys of 1911, Solomon and Gaenor tells the moving and passionate story of illicit love between a Welsh girl and a Jewish boy. Gaenor, born into a family of strict chapel-goers, falls for Solomon, a young pedlar, who conceals his Jewish identity from Gaenor and her family. The couple, from similar yet very distinctive worlds, fall helplessly in love. The odds are against them, however, as the outraged community in which they live, conspires to destroy their fragile happiness.

Synopsis

In the spirit of The Full Monty and The Commitments, Swing is the heartwarming, triumphant story of working class friends who break free from their bleak Liverpool lives to follow their dreams and launch a swing band.


Young Martin finds himself in prison, the fall guy for his brother. When Martin gets out, the guards hand him two years of unopened love letters and a warning: get a job or end up back in jail. Home is just as he left it - hopeless. Martin's only hope comes from the sage advice from his sax-playing cell mate, Jack, who taught him how to see his future and how to play it. Martin decides to start his own band.


He recruits bassist Buddy, a skirt chasing football star, drummer Oi, an ex-skinhead, and a brass section made up of bar flies who owe his dad a favour. But the one person who can transform the band from a dream to success is the beautiful singer Joan, the love of Martin's life. Joan, married to Martin's arresting officer, wonders if this is just another one of Martin's dead end dreams.


Martin convinces them all, most of all Joan, that their dream is worth fighting for. Despite a raid staged by Joan's jealous husband, the band's break-through gig is a smashing success and it lands them a recording contract, a happy ending! That is . . . until the police find that Martin's brother backed the band with stolen money and Martin ends up back in jail. But this time Martin walks out of jail with Jack and finds Joan and his band waiting and ready to swing!

Synopsis

A dark contemporary thriller set in Edinburgh. Nick Dryden has just been released from prison after serving 16 years for murder. In his youth he was Edinburgh's most notorious and violent criminal but his rehabilitation has been remarkable, and now he finds himself a free man once more, married to a successful journalist and much lauded in the art world for his striking and disturbing sculptures. For Gary Keltie, the policeman who arrested him, life has been different. Depressed by the futility of his job and alone in the world apart from his ageing mother, he is outraged by Dryden's new found success and makes it his mission to sabotage it. Flipper, a seriously disturbed adolescent gangster working his way up on the criminal ladder, is also obsessed by Dryden albeit for reasons of hero worship rather than hatred. The three men are on a collision course in this modern Scottish myth showing the extremes of human nature.

Synopsis

An elderly man runs a small isolated store, somewhere in rural South Africa. After suffering a series of burglaries which culminates in the murder of a night-watchman, the storekeeper takes the law into his own hands, with tragic consequences.

Synopsis

The mark of a man is how he acts under pressure. Does he keep his head when others are losing it? When all seems lost does he stand by his comrades? When reward or crushing failure depends on a last throw of the dice does he elect to take it? Can he wait and endure the waiting?





Career crooks Bennett, Walker and Turner gather for a major heist. They wait in uneasy peace for their boss. Instead a young stranger arrives, alleging to have been sent. Only one of the three believes him. Fears and old grievances drives wedges between them. Each man tested to breaking point as the pressure of their self imposed prison builds inexorably towards an emotionally explosive and group shattering climax.

Synopsis

From 'hot summer sex' in Majorca, to 'moral economics' in Scotland. To celebrate his 70th birthday, the acclaimed Scots-born writer and poet Alastair Reid reflects on life at the prestigious New Yorker Magazine and his unique friendship with Robert Graves, Jorge Luis Borges and Pablo Neruda.

Synopsis

Somewhere in the affluent suburbs of London, young Bobby is a prisoner in his own home - a silent mansion ruled with a rod of iron by his sinister stepfather, Bernard DeWinter. Still suffering from the effects of a car accident when he was young, Bobby will, it seems always be a child in a man's body. But when Bobby's mother dies his life changes forever.

Immediately after the funeral, DeWinter reveals his plans to take over the family business, home and the helpless boy's life. But when Bobby is pushed to sign the papers that would make it possible, he refuses forcing DeWinter to deliver a damning ultimatum. Faced with being institutionalised, Bobby escapes from the darkened house and begins a journey of enlightenment through the English countryside.

A chance lift with a lorry driver who deliberately runs down a fox brings Bobby in contact with a country nomad, Mr Summers. Summers sees himself as a guardian of wildlife, caring for animals in danger and burying animals killed by humans. Bobby happily joins in The Work, finding warmth and quiet words; light and hope, with his strange new friend and tutor.

Bobby's past soon begins to catch up with him and he tells all to Mr Summers who in turn confesses his own dark secrets. The man and boy return to London to confront DeWinter but their plan goes disastrously wrong. After an ugly and violent climax Bobby is once again left to fend for himself. However strengthened by his experiences and finally free of DeWinter, Bobby confidently embraces his new life.

Synopsis

Anita's got attitude and ambition. She plans to be a DJ, dancehall diva, dropping sweet lyrics to wind up the dancefloor. She has a style to make bodies wind... for she is Princess Neeta... 'Mistress of the Mic'... if it wasn't for.... her two kids, if it wasn't for Byron, the kid's father - a singerman himself, who ain't around that much but thinks his babymother should be at home looking after his children. If it wasn't that her mother loves the church so much and disapproves of the dancehall.

Babymother is Anita's story. At first a woman-child, selfish yet naive, street-smart yet vulnerable. A girl as yet unable to face the responsibilities of her children or her life. A girl travelling along the bumpy road to adulthood, through the tough, deeply male world of reggae music. Set against a backdrop of Harlesden's tenement housing, Babymother is a journey into the explosion of colour, passion and style that is the dancehall!

Synopsis

The richest man ever to appear on 'Coronation Street', Bill Kenwright retraces his steps from humble beginnings to West End glitz and glamour. Join one of Britain's most famous impresarios as he recasts 'Blood Brothers', watches Everton lose again from the directors box at Goodison and goes to Broadway for the Tony Awards.