‘Avon Calling’ being the name of a new show from The Other Way Works. I say ‘show’, but it is in fact “a new theatre event made for your living room”:
Invite some friends around and wait for the Avon Lady to ring on your front door and create an Avon party with a twist right in your home.
For £120 you get a bit of theatre for ten people in your living room, which isn’t half bad. I saw on Twitter yesterday that the show’s already 50% sold out, which is pretty good going, so get in there sooner rather than later if you fancy it.
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
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 went to see Stan’s Cafe’s The Cleansing of Constance Brown at AE Harris on Saturday. It was superb and I’d thoroughly recommend grabbing some tickets before it closes on Saturday. Unless it’s already sold out. By rights it should’ve done that long ago.
It’s probably better to go with no expectations/preconceptions of about what you’re about to see but, in case you’d rather take someone else’s word for how it good it is:
Stan’s Cafe present ‘The Cleansing of Constance Brown’, opening 1 March at their now permanent home, A E Harris.
Conceived whilst performing It’s Your Film across Europe, its themes embody power and cleansing, and is performed in a 14m long corridor, without words to an extraordinary soundtrack.
The corridor itself with its shifting configuration becomes the 73rd character, blank, often menacing and unpredictable. Scenes intercut and morph into one each other making connections across time and space.
7 PERFORMERS
68 CHARACTERS
70 MINUTES
6 WORDS
10 TONS OF KIT
A SET 2M WIDE AND 14M DEEP
45 AUDIENCE MEMBERS…
…WILL YOU BE ONE OF THEM?
You can catch the performance from 1 – 19 March (except Sunday / Monday), booking is via mac Box Office.
Women and Theatre in association with mac, present The Palace of Wasted Dreams, which opens on 3 February at mac.
The show is a culmination of a two year project, Wasted, which explores womens relationship with alcohol through participatory musical theatre.
Get a skinful of intoxicating, interactive theatre as mac’s new theatre space transforms into The Palace of Wasted Dreams; a place where anything can happen, and something always does; a place that can take you out of yourself, where you can feel alive and get involved, with all the thrills of a great night out!
With a cast of 25 community performers, along with professional faces, including Janice Connolly (aka Barbara Nice), the show features original songs, accompanied by an eclectic House Band, laced together with stories told from the bottom of a glass.
The Palace of Wasted Dreams is on at mac from 3 – 5 Feb and 9 – 12 Feb. To book tickets call mac on 0121 446 3232 or book online.
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’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…
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:
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.
The first show of The Rep’s next peripatetical two years is The Rememberers on 4 February, also at AE Harris. It’s a ‘classic tale of good versus evil, told through rap narration, lyrics, projection, music and graphic novel illustration’ which sounds good to me
Women & Theatre are currently recruiting a community cast for The Palace of Wasted Dreams, set to take place at mac in the spring of 2011. This participatory musical theatre project explores women’s relationship with alcohol, and is the culmination of a two-year project called Wasted.
Women & Theatre are holding a development weekend on 6 and 7 November at mac from 11am – 4pm, where you can find out more about the project. After previewing some of the scenes and songs you’ll have the opportunity to sign up as part of the cast. It’s not an audition, and you don’t need to have any previous experience – a perfect chance to try something new for 2011 perhaps?
All they ask is that you can dedicate the time and commit to rehearsal and performance dates, which can be found over on their website.
If you’d like to get involved in the production, both on stage or back stage, contact Pippa Frith on 0121 440 4203 or email pippafrith@womenandtheatre.co.uk
Stitch Up is a new theatre-in-education programme for students aged 13+, currently touring schools through until December. The half day participatory programme is based around Chris Cooper’s play Stitch Up.
Stitch Up creates opportunities for reflection, problem-solving and creative thinking, cultivating innovative approaches to teaching and learning in the classroom.
The play itself is about the alien and alienated, the individual and the community, freedom and necessity. The follow up to Chris Cooper’s Dereliction, it is part of a series of plays about young people on the margins of society.
As the centre of Big Brum‘s theatre-in-education programme, the work celebrates the UN Year of Youth and the EU Year of Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion.
To find out more or make a booking, contact Claire Procter at claire@bigbrum.plus.com or call 0121 464 4607
After premiering in 2008 as one of the original plays featured in the OJST’s New Writing initiative, ‘From me to 3792′ has gone on to be performed at the 2009 Edinburgh Fringe Festival and regional tours.
This entertaining one-woman show is about Diane, who has a seemingly idyllic lifestyle and would never have dreamed of writing to a total stranger, let alone a murderer, but she is not content with life and after a disparaging remark from her husband decides, on a whim and an article from the neighbour-from-hell’s Daily Mail, to write to a prisoner on death-row in America.
A quick reminder that tonight is PILOT Light, taking place at The Victoria at 7:30pm. An excuse to mingle, have a drink and be entertained by the theatre artists who are unleashing their fresh, unpolished ideas.
It’s number 2. The difficult second book. So we’ve tweaked things a bit. We need you to tell us if it works. As, of course, do the brave artists performing their brand new theatrical ideas on our little stage!
Award-winning writer and performance maker Michael Pinchbeck will be arriving in Birmingham on 11 November, bringing his parents and the The Post Show Party Show along with him as he recreates the 1970 post show party where they first met. Set around an amateur dramatic version of The Sound of Music, his mum played a nun, and his father a Nazi.
Mixing text from the past and present with movement to the real-time soundtrack of The Sound of Music, Michael Pinchbeck asks what is present and what is absent, what is professional and what is amateur.
For tickets, call the box office on 0121 446 3232 or go to www.macarts.co.uk to book online.
Desipulp in association with The Drum present a fresh reworking of the 1997 hit Arrange that Marriage.
Throw in a couple of hysterical parents and some confused young people… add a ‘liberal’ helping of emotional blackmail and some good old fashioned cultural pressure… allow to simmer … then sprinkle with music and dance from the Bollywood, Nashville and R&B genres…
What do you get?
The most frivolous and irrelevant theatrical examination of the arranged marriage paradigm!!
Catch this darkly comedic show from 9 – 14 November. To book tickets, call the box office on 0121 333 2444 or visit www.the-drum.org.uk
Tickets are £10, but if you manage to book before 10 October, it’s 2 for £10, and before 5 November you can get tickets for the Wed/ Thu/ Fri performances for £7 each. And as if that’s not a good enough set of deals, The Drum have a limited amount of free tickets for theatre goers under 26 as part of A Night Less Ordinary.
On 21 October, Geese Theatre Company ask “…but does it work?”: Researching Theatre with Offenders.
Geese Theatre Company invites you to “…but does it work?”, a unique event to gain insight into one of the leading arts organisations working within the Criminal Justice System and to hear from leading academics who have conducted independent research into the company’s work.
The evening will showcase excerpts from two Geese projects ‘Journey Woman’ – a performance for female offenders and ‘Stay’ – a performance for male perpetrators of domestic violence. There will also be presentations from Dr Gemma Hurst of the University of Liverpool and Professor Stephen Bottoms of the University of Leeds on the findings of their research.
“…does it work?” takes place at Pinsent Masons, Wesleyan Building from 6.30pm.
Places are limited, so RSVP to reserve your place by contacting Geese at mailbox@geese.co.uk or by calling 0121 449 6222
‘An evening of barely organised theatrical chaos!’
The next PILOT Light takes place on 14 October at 7.30pm, The Victoria, and is on the hunt for untested, unpolised and unfinished ideas from theatre artists. This is great chance to meet and share your thoughts with like-minded people, where mistakes are welcomed so long as you bring your passion along too.
It’s an opportunity for theatre artists from the West Midlands to test out 5-10 minutes of work that is right at the beginning of its developmental process in front of a curious, confused and courageous audience. It’s also a chance to find out who else is doing what in the area, and make new creative connections.
If this sounds like your kinda thing, email your proposals to PILOTlight@mail.com by 2 October, with the following information:
Contact/Company Name:
Description of idea (max 200 words):
Length of performance (10 minutes max):
Number and names of all people involved:
Estimate of travel expenses (we have a small budget for travel expenses that will be shared between participants).
Successful applicants will receive email confirmation by 5th October.
