I Like Theatre is a lovely, simple idea and a nice progression from last year’s theatre pledge cards.
Note: a mention of the West Midlands Theatre Awards 2012. You saw it there first.
I Like Theatre was prompted by Ian Craddock at Old Joint Stock Theatre from an initial idea and Pledge Card from James Yarker at Stan’s Cafe / @ A E Harris.
It’s taken me a few years to finally get round to going to Pilot. I’m not sure whether to kick myself for missing so many or pat myself on the back for finally making it along (what the heck, it’s the end of the week so I’ll go for the latter).
There was a packed audience (extra chairs had to be fetched twice), a great atmosphere and some good (and as yet unfinished) work on show from Little Earthquake, Hamfisted!, LouDeemY Productions, Heart of the Anchor, Alex Brockie and Rebekka Platt.
I have to admit to being a bit surprised by how many people had turned out for it, and not just in light of recent events around the city centre. From what I could make out the audience was a mixed and supportive crowd of fellow performers, friends/family and theatre fans. Folks from Friction Arts, Fierce Festival, the RSC and Women & Theatre (among other organisations) were there too.
Pilot, by the way is a chance for:
a host of theatre companies from the West Midlands region and beyond to share with you their latest artistic doings in an early form. There is a mix of experienced and novice companies, addressing a broad spectrum of ideas, using a wide range of approaches and in the vast expanses of @ A E Harris, there is the chance for a couple of pieces to stretch themselves out
It was good and I’ll be going again.
Continuing the theme of writing about some of the stuff I get out and about to, last night I followed the robots down to AE Harris for the Fierce Start Party.
The idea with these things is to introduce next year’s artists to Birmingham and vice versa. There are a few Fierce stalwarts and returning names in the 2011-2012 caravan but plenty of new faces too. Because I’m too lazy to type them all out and too impatient to wait for them to appear online, here’s the list of names:
I arrived in time to have a bit of a natter with some people, watch some archery (BE Festival‘s Miguel winning the competition there) and see a balloon-festooned woman dosed up on sleeping pills who had quite literally danced until she’d dropped. The usual kind of Fierce thing then.
I should probably have got down a bit earlier to catch some more stuff but that’s the problem with these ’4pm til late’ things – it’s hard to tell when to turn up to catch the action. Still, there was plenty on display around the venue. I particularly liked the look of what Ron Athey will be cooking up – something to do with automatic writing.
In conclusion: Excellent and I’m looking forward to seeing how some of the embryonic ideas presented will turn out in 9 months time.
AE Harris will host a two day Open Space conference on 23rd and 24th June, under the title “What more can we do to create a better future for theatre in the West Midlands?”
The event is open to anyone working in the broad area of Theatre within the West Midlands. Open Space is a fun and highly efficient means of addressing issues of concern to individuals within a community. Back in November 2009 the original version of this event galvanized a lot of discussion and even significant ACTION. It is anticipated this sequel will be at least as good
There’s a letter here (PDF) which explains more and has details for signing up.
The last event, mentioned in the blurb, is pretty thoroughly documented on this website.
I only managed to turn up for a few hours of last year’s BE Festival but, for the atmosphere as much as the work presented, I thought it was great (my write up’s here). so it’s good to see that it’ll be back this year from Tuesday 5 to Sunday 10 July.
This time, as well as the main programme at AE Harris, the MAC will be used for a launch party, some shows for children and some work-in-progress.
The press release I received included this plea:
Anyone interested in getting involved in any way with BE FESTIVAL should visit the website www.befestival.org or e-mail info@befestival.org. The deadline for artists’ applications is 29 April.
Tickets will be £10 per night, or £35 for a four day festival pass but I don’t think they’re on sale quite yet. Or, if you volunteer to host a visiting artist, you get a freebie. Can’t say fairer than that.
I didn’t make any new year resolutions, but if I did ‘go to more theatre in 2011′ might have been on there. On Saturday I ticked that box good n hard, clocking up the Rep, the Hippodrome and the Old Rep before 5pm.
The Rep – The Final Curtain
The Rep’s closing for a couple of years while they finish off the new library (which will integrate with the Rep to a fair degree). They’ll be touring around venues across Birmingham but before then they held one last little event. Joanne Malin hosted and Polarbear had written a piece for the audience to perform with some help from performers from the Young Rep.
It was short, sweet and good, wholesome fun and a nice way to see off the current place.
They were doing backstage tours after that but we didn’t have time for that because we wanted to go and see…
Birmingham Hippodrome – (re)Stretch
This was ace. I went to a little preview on Friday night and it was so good I went back on Saturday. (re)Stretch answers the question ‘how much fun would it be to string up 8 miles(!) of fine elastic to make a 10 metre-wide screen and then project things on to it and make it make noise too?’. The answer is, of course ‘very fun’, especially as you’re encouraged to get involved and play with the thing.
At the preview on Friday a couple of dancers cavorted in and around the piece (it’s presented in association with DanceXchange), which was lovely, but they were no match for the unrestrained glee shown by a class of young ballet dancers on Saturday when they were let loose on it.
It’s free and it’s there until Sunday 16 January. Martin Pickard’s taken some lovely pics from the Friday which you can see in this slideshow:
The Old Rep – The Firework Maker’s Daughter
We managed to score some tickets to this at the last minute, leading to the admission that I’d never actually been to the Old Rep before. It’s a good place and the staff were very nice and friendly. The show itself (written by Philip Pullman) was more kiddy-friendly than the sort of thing I’m used to (this was the Christmas show, after all) but it was entertaining enough – the elephant costumes were ace and it had a good energy about it.
Also on a theatrical tip
(photo by Pete Ashton)
I saw Birmingham Opera Company’s staging of Stravinsky’s The Wedding on Friday night – the dress rehearsal, to be precise. Claire Ferrell has commented on our previous post to say:
I attended this last night, the performance was absolutely incredible. I am a huge fan of Birmingham Opera Company, they blow me away every year. We are so lucky to have such an exciting organisation in Bham.
And I have to say I absolutely agree. It was great, and had more ideas, cheekiness and more serious things to say packed into its 30 minute running time than just about anything else I’ve seen this year.
A proper review of the show won’t be worth me writing – if I’m honest I’m still not quite sure what happened. I hardly remember the music and had no idea what was going on most of the time. Everything was going on most of the time. It was more an installation than anything with the cast (hundreds of brides and grooms) running riot throughout AE Harris.
Things started as soon as we started drifting into the building, with the cast getting into character and assuming odd positions all over the place. I know I’m not the only person to have taken this picture:
And to think this was ‘just’ a quick little thing to fill the gap before a bigger production in the spring of next year. Can’t wait for that.
Now I think of it, there’s been quite a bit of Stravinsky around recently. BRB included The Firebird in Russian Steps in 2008 and the 3D audiovisual spectacular version of The Rite of Spring will be at the Symphony Hall next year. Anyone for Petroushka?
AE Harris, a lovely venue that I’ve seen put to all manner of uses over the past couple of years, is staying open for another two years. That’s good news.
On Saturday night I took a couple of (out of town) friends to AE Harris for the Birmingham European Theatre Festival. We turned up a bit late so only managed to catch the last piece – one which would’ve been a fantastic spoof on art student theatre if it wasn’t for the fact they were taking themselves seriously.
Serves us right for turning up late – I’m told some of the earlier suff was ace. The night wasn’t over though, with a reasonably-priced bar, music from the TG Collective (in the rather dark pic above), some last-night awards handed to the companies that had performed, the results of the singing workshop from earlier in the day (audio below) and, as reported on Stan’s Cafe’s blog, music and dancing till dawn.
Despite some worries about ticket sales in the weeks beforehand, the last couple of nights of the festival were pretty much sold out and the various theatre companies who had come to the city seemed to have enjoyed themselves, with much talk of returning next year.
There was a fantastic atmosphere and my friends went away impressed with the sort of thing that Birmingham gets up to, so well done all who were involved. As Graeme rightly comments:
It was worth being there for the sense of gathering alone
One last thing – it was a little odd to see AE Harris decked out as a ‘proper’ theatre but it scrubs up rather well. I’ve seen it used for all sorts of things since it opened – 24HR Scalextric, launch parties, a Christmas party, filled with rice by Stan’s Cafe and filled with detritus (including upturned cars) by Kindle Theatre. It fills a very important and individual gap in a city that’s not blessed with mid-size venues, so it’s encouraging to hear that discussions are ongoing to keep the place open past the initial lease.
Applications are now open to companies across Europe for the first ever BE Festival, which will take place over four days: 30 June – 3 July 2010
The venue will be A E Harris where, as Stan’s Cafe point out, a fundraiser will be held for this event:
Temple Theatre are going to be performing their production Out Of Chaos @ A E Harris on 21st May. Doors open 19.30 show at 20.00. Tickets £10. To reserve tickets email info@befestival.org with your name and the number of tickets you require
The show’s had some great reviews and it all sounds worthwhile considering.
Incidentally, if anyone’s looking to sell tickets online for an event, Eventbrite does the job pretty well.
Thursdays have been pretty stuffed with lots of good activities recently but there’s a biggie going on tonight over at AE Harris.
Fierce are hosting the Fierce Start Party with all sorts of things going on.
What, you may be asking, is a Start Party?
It’s the beginning of an exciting journey. What will be there? Fierce Festival artists sharing tasters of their work. When’s the next festival? We’ll tell you the shape of Fierce’s next year
Exact details of what’s happening are being kept under wraps but what we do know is that this is tomorrow will be on hand to capture proceedings, bITjAM will be providing audiovisual goodness and Mama Feel Good will be providing tunes. The latter also let slip this:
I’ve heard rumours of vodka soup – lord a mercy
Indeed. Fierce party’s are usually pretty legendary and this is open to all, so don’t miss out.
There’s a PILOT night tomorrow – an evening of ‘new, untested shorts from some of the UK’s most exciting theatre companies’. AE Harris are housing and Kindle Theatre are hosting. It’s only a fiver so get down by 7.30pm for this little lot:
The line up will include performances from Needle & Thread Theatre’s continuing project The Story Exchange, a brick built Ziggurat from The Resurrectionists, a comic twist on a Greek myth from The Company Project, a public pillory from Mark Butcher, an operatic performance from Kirsty Lothian and the dulcet tones of Greg McLaren from Stoke Newington International Airport.
The evening will be fanfared by the City Sings Trumpeters and serenaded by The Mellow Peaches
The next PILOT Night, co-piloted by Kindle Theatre at AE Harris, Birmingham will be on Thursday 1 April 2010. Here’s some copy/pasted info. For more knowledge, and to apply, go to www.pilotnights.co.uk.
Pilot is a platform for testing new theatre work from the West Midlands and beyond. Deadline for submissions Monday 1st March, 12pm
RELEASE THE BEAST
Had an idea laying dormant for a while that you almost daren’t wake up? Not sure if it’s mad or genius?
Kindle invite performers/practitioners/fools to submit ideas for performance which frighten them. Whether in form, content or style it must push you beyond your comfort zone into unknown territory.Challenge yourself in a lively, supportive atmosphere and get honest feedback from peers and audience. All fools will be applauded.
AE Harris is an industrial warehouse in Birmingham’s Jewelry Quarter. It’s big, blank and open to you, with four huge spaces and lots of corners, nooks and crannies to test your idea in. Site-specific ideas are most welcome.
We can offer you a small bursary, documentation of your performance, and rehearsal space in the venue from Monday 29th March.
Kindle will also be hosting an unusual meal for all the artists involved on the Wednesday night, in the venue.
In other news, on 6 March you should definitely go to Warwick Arts Centre for The Bite Size Festival 2010:
a whirlwind tour of the region’s theatre, offering you the one-off opportunity to sample a range of great work in one place on the same day.
This year’s lineup includes Stans Cafe, Pentabus, Foursight, Kindle, Jane Packman Productions, Spanner, New Macho, Needle and Thread and Vanessa Oakes. PLUS the first opportunity to see two shows we’ve commissioned especially with Warwick Arts Centre and mac following the First Bite Festival back in November: Caroline Horton’s You’re Not Like The Other Girls Chrissy and Untied Artists’ Al Bowlly’s Croon Manifesto.
Grab a day ticket and wallow in some entertainingness. Kindle Theatre will be doing 30 mins of Eat Your Heart Out, which I saw last year and thought was really very good indeed.
