Birmingham Hippodrome Brochure April 2010
The forthcoming summer/autumn/winter programme from Big Theatre. A whole heap of dance (esp IDFB and BRB) and musicals with a dash of opera
Creative Survival in Hard Times « D’log
“Creative Survival in Hard Times is a new report from New Deal of the Mind, commissioned by the Arts Council. It explores policy options for supporting young creatives in the UK, and the key useful suggestions are…” Click the link to read on
And plenty more besides, although nine months away from CiB (and a fair amount of time out of the country) meant that I was slightly more out of touch with some of the smaller-ticket stuff.
Birmingham Opera Company were featured (at 11mins). Othello is currently racking up rave reviews in a manner approaching unseemly – 5 stars in the Guardian and Times and the Birmingham Post described it (somewhat inaccurately, seeing as how it’s sold out) as ‘unmissable’.
Dice Productions also made it onto the show in a feature on online comedy (at 51mins):
It’s taken me a while to mention this one although it’s been on my radar for ages.
Birmingham Opera Company are doing Othello on 7 dates between 5-19 December. It’s going to be amazing and epic because, by and large, amazing and epic are what Birmingham Opera Company do.
Like last year’s King Idomeneo, this will be a walkabout performance in a massive industrial building – specifically Argyle Works on Great Barr Street. However, BOC manager Jean Nicholson has suggested that the days of the company putting on shows in this way may be limited.
Jamie at Audiences Central has blogged about something interesting which makes me wonder which is more likely:
Traffic wardens are routinely told to wander around abandoned industrial units in Ladywood at night looking for cars to ticket; or
Visitors to (the nationally acclaimed) Birmingham Opera Company’s King Idomeneo are being opportunistically targetted by the city’s traffic wardens.
After hearing council leader Mike Whitby expound on the importance of the arts in the city last night I sincerely hope it’s not the latter.
Now, fair enough, a double-yellow’s a double-yellow and there’s a fire station a couple of roads away that it wouldn’t be very smart to block off. But why does the response have to be to send people to ticket the cars (and rake in the cash) night after night? Those streets surround derelict buildings and are deserted in the evenings so surely there’s a more constructive solution.
I understand the Opera Company have actually been managing the limited parking availability as well as possible – stewards are telling people where not to park and they’ve put on buses from the Town Hall – so there’s a sense of satisfaction when the wardens (allegedly responding to ‘a complaint’) are unable to ticket anyone. Maybe, in hindsight, the Company should have contacted the council themselves to put extra arrangements in place.
Birmingham Opera Company are busting a gut to do something spectacular, putting Birmingham on the map (for the right reasons) and providing something genuinely exciting to attract new audiences and people from outside the city.
Why on earth would anyone from the city want to stand in their way?
By the way, I’ve tried to be a proper journo about this and have called the council’s press office for a response but I’m still waiting for that and, heck, there’s a comment box below. If I do hear back from anyone I’ll update this post.
Oh, and the final performances of King Idomeneo are tonight and tomorrow – if you’ve not gone yet then please do, it’s great.
Isaac – a man of many talents who redefined the word legend
Roger Shannon pays tribute to the late Isaac Hayes in an article most remarkable for the idea of a band consisting of Isaac Hayes, Huggy Bear and Taurean Blacque with Lovejoy as their manager. Oh, scrap that – I just got to the bit where Roger auctioned Hayes’ boxer shorts…
Birmingham pubs Google Map
Tom Scotney’s putting together a map of Birmingham pubs. Check it out and maybe give him a hand – it only takes a sec to add your local/fave
Animation Forum WM research report
“The Animation Forum West Midlands’ research report is now online for all to see. The report looks at the region’s ever-growing animation sector, and the role Animation Forum WM has played, and has to play in the process”
Death Cassettes
A new cassette (not record) label – “Limited to 100 copies.. On One of Four Coloured Cassettes, Hand made Artwork and Covers, And free digital downloads of the tracks tooooo for yr ipodz” (Spotted by Dunc at Autumn Store)
Finally, if you’ve not had a chuckle at the council yet…
They went and used a picture of Birmingham, Alabama’s skyline on a leaflet. They seem to have used the first pic that came up when they searched ‘Birmingham skyline’ with Google – not that they were prepared to admit that at first, which is probably why every man and their blog has written about this now. Ah well.
If you spot a review, some photos, film or whatever (or produce something yourself) then let me know in the comments. I’ll be searching out what I can and hopefully we’ll collect together some interestingness.
I went to the full dress rehearsal of Birmingham Opera Company’s King Idomeneo on Sunday night and loved it. What’s not to like about an abandoned factory stuffed with shipping containers, opera singers, dirt and orange trees?
Anyway, I have two tickets for tonight’s proper opening show to give away to the first person who shouts up for them in the comments.
Here are some guidelines:
No-one associated with CiB (that includes Creative Republic types) can claim the tickets
First to claim the tickets in the comments wins
But feel free to stake a claim after the first post, just in case (see below)
I need to give your real name to the ticket-giving people. If you post under a pseudonym then remember to use a real email address. If I you don’t reply to a confirmatory email quick enough and/or I think you’re messing about I’ll work my way down the list of commenters
Tickets are to be collected on the door no later than 6.30pm today, 12 August 2008 – don’t claim them if you can’t make it (it sounds obvious but…)
My decision on anything and everything is final
If whoever goes would be good enough to blog about the show or send me a review to post on CiB that’d be great. Not essential or anything but it’d be nice.
If you don’t win the tickets then maybe consider buying one and going along anyway. You’re not likely to get the chance to see anything like this for a while.
Plenty more information has come out since my last post about Birmingham Opera Company‘s forthcoming production of Mozart’s King Idomeneo.
Firstly, the first performance will be on 12 August but there’s a free dress rehearsal taking place on Sunday 10 August at 7pm. If you’d like to go down to that then email boxoffice@birminghamopera.org.uk to reserve your place.
The production will be a walkabout affair allowing the audience to ‘move with the action around the performance space’. Comfy shoes are recommended because it’s a 3 hour performance (with interval).
The venue is an abandoned rubber factory just off Ladywood Middleway (directions are here). Here’s what the place looked like a little while ago:
The Birmingham Opera Design Trust blog has profiles of the people involved in bringing this production to life as well as the odd tidbit about how things are coming together and is worth a read.
The Birmingham Post Power 50 (tremble at their might!) has just been announced. With last year’s list having an impressive showing from the arts world, interest at CiB could almost have been described as ‘mild’.
Ok, so it’s easy to be cynical about these things (and it’s open season on the Birmingham Post site – all the winners’ profiles are commentable), but there’s little sense in detracting from the recognition given to the following folks who work hard on the city’s arts & culture scene.
So, from CiB (hating the game, not the playa since 2007) hearty congrats go to:
The big list of movers and shakers is on the Birmingham Post website which, like I say, they’ve made an effort to do all nice so you can comment on how brilliant and deserving everyone is.
But feel free to vent your spleen in the comments here if you feel the need.
The Birmingham Opera Company, which was faced with cuts to its funding not so long ago, will return to the stage next month with a production of Mozart’s Idomeneo.
As it says on the website:
We don’t have an opera house and we don’t work in conventional theatres. We conjure our theatres out of spaces used for other purposes or maybe just abandoned
Not arf. This time they’ve taken over the empty Sherborne Rubber Factory building just off Ladywood Middleway (map here).
There are a few details on the Birmingham Opera Company site but there’s more to come soon. Although it does say performances will be roughly every other day between 12 and 23 August and tickets will be on sale soon.
