New Directions Showcase Friday 15th June 14:00pm and 16:00 HMS Studio

At 14:00 and repeated at 16:00 HMS Studio: 3 x 20 minute extracts:

• Where did it all go right? ponydance (20 min)

Where did it all go right?  Four people in a bar, trying to get out of it. You’ve probably met some of them before. Nearly outrageous, mostly clever, always inventive.  From the ever industrious ponydance, champions of comedy dance theatre.

Winner of the Banksa Best Dance Show Award at Adelaide Fringe 2012

• Foley – Jo Bannon (20 minutes)

Foley – Part performance demonstration, part thriller, this new work begins with a fascination with foley; the archaic, tender and hand-made technique of making sound effects for film.

Using our collective cinematic language Bannon explores this very particular art form where the chase scene, the sex scene and the bit where the door is kicked off it’s hinges can all be conjured with party poppers, bits of wood and lots of vegetables. This perfectly poised performance plays with home-made sound effects, imagination and good old fashioned suspense to create a world where your ears can’t believe what they are seeing.

“…the pitter patter of ominous feet pursue you through Bannon’s rich and engaging audio landscape. This is the visual feast of the cinema without the moving pictures.”

Pete Philips, Search Party

www.jobannon.co.uk

About the Artist
Jo Bannon is a UK artist making live art and performance. She has presented work nationally and internationally in the UK and Europeand is a founder member of Residence.

• 14th Tale – Inua Ellams (20 min)

 Fuel Presents… 14th Tale – Inua Ellams

“I’m from a long line of trouble makers, of ash skinned Africans, born with clenched fists and a natural thirst for battle, only quenched by breast milk.”

The 14th Tale is a free flowing mellifluous narrative that tells the hilarious exploits of a natural born mischief growing from the clay streets of Nigeria to the roof tops of Dublin, and finally to London. Inua vividly recreates the characters that punctuate his upbringing in deft and beautiful poetry, while challenging the audience’s expectations of what it is to be a young, black male in London today.

‘The 14th Tale comes as a sharp reminder of the power of language and rhythm in theatre, and of how dramatic poetry can create whole worlds through the voice of a single performer.’

The Scotsman, Fringe First award winner 2009

A BAC Scratch Commission with Apples & Snakes. A London Word Festival Commission. Originally funded by Arts Council England.

New Directions Showcase Friday 15th June 14:00 and 16:00 Studio

At 14:00 and shown again at 16:00 – 3 x 20 minute extracts see below for details:

• Bloody Ballad of Mary Maid – Lucy Rivers (20 min)
  
  gagglebabble presents
  The Bloody Ballad of Mary Maid by Lucy Rivers
  
   Mary has never been in love before.  She’s more of a loner watching from the shadows.  But all that changes when a handsome stranger walks into her life and unleashes the dark desires and violent passion that Mary never knew existed.  This dark and brutal story of two trapped souls is set around Memorial Day in 1950′s American and features live music inspired by Blues, Rockabilly, andAmericana.  Follow Mary’s gripping story of love, betrayal, revenge and murder told with a heady mix of guitars, beats, songs and passion.  Grimms meets Tarantino.

 Part rock gig, part horror movie, part folk tale, music theatre like you’ve never seen before.  Ages 14+

Supported by Arts council ofWales, Theatr Iolo and Chapter Arts Centre

 Words, Music and Lyrics  – Lucy Rivers
Director  – Adele Thomas
Creative Associate -  Dafydd James
Designer -  Lisa Leighton
Lighting Designer -  Will Evans
Sound Designer  – Dan Lawrence
Cast; Tom Cottle, Hannah McPake, Dan Messore, Lucy Rivers and Oliver Wood.

• Me Myself and Miss Gibbs – Francesca-Millican Slater (Extract: 20 min)

Francesca Millican-Slater, in Association with Pippa Frith, supported by mac birmingham Present:
Me Myself and Miss Gibbs
In 2003, Francesca bought a second hand postcard for 50p. The postcard, sent from Lincoln to London was addressed to a Miss L Gibbs of 62 Douglas Buildings, Marshalsea Road, Borough. Sent on July 15th 1910, the message on the back simply reads:

‘Be Careful Tomorrow. A.C.’

Part detective noir, part lecture, part personal biography, Francesca investigates the message on a postcard sent 100 years ago and finds herself obsessed by the life of the woman that received it. What happens when she starts tracing a history that isn’t her own? And why did Miss Gibbs have to be careful tomorrow?

In Me, Myself and Miss Gibbs Francesca takes the audience with her on this intricate, amusing and fascinating journey, gently questioning how we remember those that went before us and how we might like to be remembered ourselves.
**** The Scotsman   **** Fringe Review
‘Clever and touching’ The Guardian, Lyn Gardner
Supported by National Lottery through Arts Council England

• Gods Are Fallen – Greyscale (Extract: 20 min)

Gods Are Fallen And All Safety Gone is an investigation into what happens when we discover that our parents are flawed human beings, and that at some point, sooner than we think, they are suddenly going to disappear from our lives.  Intimate and funny, this play presents a lifetime of conversations, condensed into four versions of the same moment.

 ABOUT THE COMPANY
Greyscale was formed in 2009 by a group of established directors, writers, actors, and designers interested in exploring the fringes and gaps in-between the ways in which work is made. The company makes carefully structured, powerfully live, original, interactive and anarchic theatre for a modern audience bored of being bored.
Greyscale works in a number of different ways but at the heart are the ideas that everyone should be able to provoke a process, not just the director and the writer; that the audience shouldn’t get to sit in the dark snoozing; that the audience should enjoy the shows more than the performers do and that to get something out, they have to put something in.
In April 2012 Greyscale have become an Associate Company at the Bush Theatre. www.greyscale.org.uk
Twitter @GreyscaleTC
Find us on Facebook: Greyscale

 REVIEWS OF OTHER WORK
“The layers of moral and political complexity pile up to quietly enthralling effect.”
Donald Hutera, The Times, 11 July 2011  
 * * * * “The evening unfolded in a series of engaging, funny and thought-provoking surprises.”
Jonathan Brown, The Independent, 15 June 2011 (Northern Stage, Newcastle)
* * * * “This is a wonderfully playful piece- but one in which Grierson subtly taps into questions of what it means to be author of our own lives and choices”.
Alan Chadwick, The Herald, 6 April 2010 (Tonight David Ireland Will Lecture, Dance And Box- part of The Theatre Brothel, Oran Mor)
“Greyscale’s touring show The Theatre Brothel, which takes place in unexpected backstage spaces, is packaged with the whiff of the illicit…  A Prayer, told with charm by Scott Turnbull, touchingly puts its faith in the audience to set aside reason and just believe”.
Lyn Gardner, The Guardian, 5 June 2011 (Northern Stage, Newcastle)

John Laidlaw Live & Local / NRTF in Christchurch – Arts on Tour New Zealand

Christchurch – Arts on Tour New Zealand

Posted on October 21, 2011 by Live & Local

John Laidlaw (Director, Live & Local) talks about his visit to Arts on Tour, New Zealand in Christchurch

Just to goes to show how one can get misconceptions. Misconception one; in my first conversation in New Zealand (the night porter at the YMCA in Christchurch) I kicked off with a quip about the rugby semi final to find out it was a bad thing to say to a hockey coach! I received a friendly but forthright expose about the excessive flow of sports funding to rugby and how much the world cup was costing the country!

Misconception number two… that I’d have no concerns about being in an earthquake zone that was still getting regular tremors. Not true; especially when my room turned out to be on the fifth floor.

The next morning was nippy but sunny and I looked out over Christchurch botanical gardens and everything seemed to be standing and straight. Not having any New Zealand money and an in-operative debit card forced a coffee free exit across the road to the Canterbury Museum. Then I saw their Arts Centre.

This was completely fenced off, one of its towers off its roof and placed for safety on the ground. Clearly there was some roof damage, but a cursory glance revealed no other apparent serious damage, but it is unsafe to enter; as is much Christchurch. Christchurch has a lot of Victorian style buildings and this one is apparently one of the best examples of its kind in the southern hemisphere. Think Oxford or Cambridge College and you get the idea. This is not a small complex, apart from many offices and spaces it houses a major Theatre (The Court Theatre). It will cost a lot of money to bring it back into use again. But at least it’s standing which is more than one can say for many places. The city hall is now in what was going to be a new gallery and the whole of the CBD area is a no go zone. There are many, many cleared blocks, propped up buildings, and uneven roads. However perhaps the most shocking images were of the streets of houses in the suburbs that were just a bit squint, most if not all will need to be rebuilt. Then there was the whole estate of houses (about 10 years old I’d say) that had suffered from liquefaction (basically rock turning to mud being forced up through the foundations, then re-solidifying in the house). The next day I was taken to the Arts on Tour New Zealand temporary(ish) offices (they were based at the Arts Centre; Steve and his staff left in a hurry). You may have seen images of the Anglican Cathedral; their offices are now close to the remains of the Catholic Cathedral, one side of its front is supported by a pile of containers five stories high, the other side is open like a dolls house, and its cupola has gone all together. It is due for complete demolition.

Lets be clear, this is not a third world country and not a disaster on the scale of Japan, but neither is it a rich country (4m people) and it’s clear that the shock and trauma must run deep in the communities most affected. It will take years to rebuild and recover. There are however some strange silver linings…. Arts Council NZ have coughed up to rehouse several arts organisations in the local poly, creating some interesting potential collaborations I suspect! The recent dance festival also had to rethink the whats and whens and especially the wheres of its programming.

Steve was a great host. In the short time I was there (two days effectively) I sampled a good range of NZ culture… artistic, sporting, culinary and liquid! On the sports front, given that I am English with a substantial dollop of Scots blood, have an Australian family and was visiting a Welshman who is also a Kiwi I was a bit concerned over who to support (England already being dispatched homewards) For information, I chose Wales and New Zealand in that order. But I may not mention this when with my Aussie family in Perth!

Watching a world cup rugby semi final in NZ, with a glass on NZ wine having eaten NZ lamb and Mutton Bird is a once in a lifetime experience. Take any three parts of that mix it would have been special…. But the Mutton Bird definitely made it unique. This is a Maori speciality, I think from the far south, much beloved by Steve; less to by his partner Marilyn (there was some previous issue over the demise of a plant in the garden due to the disposal of the fat rendered from the cooking!) The bird lives like a puffin in a burrow and the local people have the right to harvest a few each year. I believe there is a lot of cooking involved (and a lot of fat) and it ends up a bit like a salty, slightly fishy, crispy Peking duck. Definitely an acquired taste; but I love kippers so enjoyed about half the bird as it is very rich as well. The gorgeous lamb was something of a palate clearer after the Mutton Bird!

But I was in NZ for more than culinary reasons with the Sunday set aside for the AOTNZ symposium at the George Hotel just down the road. The participants were a mix of Board members, presenters (promoters) and local artists. AOTNZ covers the whole of NZ; north and south islands. It supports about 10-15 tours per year to communities all over the North and South islands and about 160 performances I believe. Now these really are tours! I’m afraid that companies in the UK who moan about 2 or 3 hour drive between consecutive one night stands will get short shrift at Live & Local from now on! Venues are generally small community run places. The smallest seats 35 people and there are apparently only 36 people living in that community! Avoiding geographical local clashes is not much of an issue… routing the tour is. A lot of the process, support and feel of the scheme are very reminiscent of UK schemes.

The day was kicked off by a Powhiri and Welcome from Iohangawai. This was part prayer, part personal affirmation, part song/chant, part welcome. It was a gentle and calming start to the day. It is part of the local culture to respond in like manner should you choose to. One of the Maori artists, Ariana Tikao (Voices of our Ancestors) gave a beautiful short song and Steve (who is quite a poet) got his rugby defeat frustrations out of the way! Then more familiar elements… sort of… as it may be the only meeting I will attend at which the ‘housekeeping’ included what to do in case of seismic activity.

I gave a presentation about Live & Local and the National Rural Touring Forum (NRTF) and three of the artists did a session on what their favourite things were to make a successful tour/performance.  Vicky Allpress Hill (The Audience Connection, Auckland) ran a very useful session on social media and Steve and his staff updated people on various aspects of AOTNZ marketing and strategic plans.

 

At the end of the day we were treated to a showcase from four groups and I would offer any of them to our Promoters. Mundi – a world music band led by a virtuoso flautist (Tamara Smith) inspired by North Africa, the Amazon and beyond. International violinist and composer, Fiona Pears played some gypsy swing with La Petite Manouche. She’s played at Ronnie Scott’s and with the LPO. Helen Webby, principal harpist with the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra, who tours AOTNZ with guitarist Davy Stuart who is also a renowned instrument maker (he made Chris Newman’s guitar)

It was an informative, relaxed and sociable day rounded off by a buffet and drinks in the sun. For me two things stood out. The repeated comments from the artists about how important they found the scheme to enabling them to tour without the admin and marketing worries so they could put all their energy into their art over a prolonged period. Secondly, the vital curatorial role that the scheme plays in ensuring high quality, wide ranging and appropriate product for the participating communities.

Thank you to Steve, his Board and everyone who helped make my visit so good. I hope we can offer the same hospitality to visiting staff, promoters, artists or Board members across in the UK soon.

John Laidlaw Live&Local and NRTF visit to Australia

Melbourne Fringe – Day 1. First time lucky?

Posted on October 3, 2011 by Live & Local

No Matter Where You Go There You Are

RSVP (Red Sandstone Varied Productions)

Clifden Creative Arts Centre, Melbourne Fringe Festival

You know when you’ve been around half a dozen shops and realise the thing you wanted was in the first one?
Well I think that’s what happened tonight, but without the other five shops as yet.  

It really was entirely unlikely. Ten and half thousand miles, little or no sleep, 22 degrees cooler (yes… cooler) than UK and bolstering myself with a Jack Daniels for ‘breakfast’, I had to choose one of the only three shows available on the Fringe on a Monday night, then stay awake and work out the inevitable strange city/strange transport/strange money challenges to get there in double quick time. Trotting up the road to the Clifden Creative Arts Centre, which is 10 minutes on Tram 75 from Flinders Street Station plus
several hints from helpful locals… correction… trotting past the place on the first attempt, then asking two passers by who turned out to be 50% of the audience, I found myself in a small white gallery space with the gentle sounds of a karate class next door. Ok… so this could be a village hall performance I thought! Then the other 25% of the audience was a friend of the company who I suspect had been asked in to help out the crowd. Let’s be completely clear, the first 50% I’d met outside had won their tickets in a competition. It was the sort of competition that to win simply requires you just to enter the competition. Not a very auspicious start!

But after a brief ‘surprised by an audience’ scuttling of cast and crew from their FOH preshow positions, we were welcomed in. I bought my ticket and was invited to make a donation for a drink. Now, this is a few hours after landing and I’m still not sure which way the exchange rate is going at the moment! How much to donate? Advice was given!

No Matter Where You Go There You Are by RSVP (Red Sandstone Varied Productions) is a one woman show… or two… well; it is one ‘live’ and one on film as it is an interactive interdisciplinary film and theatrical piece. “A conversation between two women, one Australian, Jennifer Williams, now based in Ireland, and one Irish, Cathie Clinton, now based in Australia. The show in Melbourne was performed by the Irish actor, with video of our Australian actor’s performance in Ireland projected into the space, and interacted with by the Irish actor. Written by the two performers, the show draws on their experiences of the expectations and promise of travel, their subsequent lives in their new countries, and where they hope or expect it to lead to from here.”

More here http://rsvp.blog.com/2011/08/03/no-matter-where-you-go-there-you-are-2/

I was captivated by the dialogue between their respective experiences and the gentle links between the live and the digital (pre-filmed) scenes; sometimes conversational and sometimes as monologues. We were all also presented with a postcard to write to the Irish end of the story! The gallery space was creatively used as an adjunct to the piece with the live action sometimes far removed from the audience and sometimes very intimate, in particular for the gorgeously sung last (and only) song. It was all nicely wrapped up in an original score. This could easily be staged in a more traditional relationship with an audience.

It struck many personal chords; most immediately because I was a stranger in a strange(ish) land that night; but more deeply because of my own ponderings over working in Australia. The post show conversation (suitably fuelled by beer or Guinness!) revealed that the show will next be at the Wexford Festival where the roles will be reversed (i.e. film of Irish actor’s performance ‘in’ Melbourne with the live actress being the Australian actress now living in Ireland). This structure gives all sorts of options for the
journey the show and characters will take and the company does not necessarily assume that the structure they have now is fixed. However they already have an Ireland / Alabama option lined up.  The show is eminently portable in every way and a vehicle with lots of potential for international links, but at very personal or local community level. Even in the form I saw it (i.e. with a Melbourne / Ireland link) the themes of doubt and question in the minds of immigrants were universal enough not to necessarily need a specifically England context; but that would be an exciting option.

Certainly I’ll be going to at least five other shops over the next few days; but this really was a good start. Helped by being picked up by the Company off the street and given a lift home as well. I will be writing that postcard.

John Laidlaw

Melbourne. Oct 4 2011

NRTF conference video

Ever wondered what the NRTF conference was like?  Here’s a little snippet of the action!

NRTF International Villages of Culture Commissions

In 2009, five northern touring networks commissioned two pieces of new work for rural communities, involving UK and international partners,  as part of the NRTF International Villages of Culture project. This video gives an insight into their northern tours, and how rural touring really works for artists, audiences and communities.

http://www.vimeo.com:80/24919440

NRTF conference notes – International Showcasing

Kath Perry, Straylight Australia

Session 15b.  International showcasing: Practical advice for companies and performers on showcasing

Chris Ball: Atlantic Presenters Association, Canada

 

Canada holds 5 regional showcasing conference each year at which performers can present work for consideration by the theatre producers in that region. There are no touring schemes. Each producer 

books only for their own venue or event, which may be a large or small theater, community space, festival etc.  There are also many similar events in the USA. 

 

The Atlantic Presenters Association facilitates tour logistics for 4 Provinces, the showcases for which are Contact East, Contact Ontario and Contact Alberta.

 

Applications to be included in the showcases are made via the Asociation’s website and can be made for all 3 showcases with one application form. There is a fee (about ₤30 for one, ₤50 for two etc). If successful in getting a slot (about 40 shows are presented over 3 days) you have 20 minutes to make an impression and are fully supported with sound and light etc.  You also have a ‘marketplace’ stall and an entry in the showcase booklet.

 

The Association has very few applicants from outside Canada and USA. There are also few theatre or dance shows cf musicians (85%) in showcases and the producers are hungry for this kind of work.

However, As with getting on Regional Touring Scheme menu, you may get 20 bookings from a showcase, or none.

 

The decision to pursue and act or drop it off the list of ‘possibles’ is made while watching it showcase. You have to get a tick against your name at that point!

 

Tips for showcase success, included:

1. Balanced use of your 20 mins between introducing company and showing the actual production.  Eg need to say when available but don’t need a lot of intro detail as those interested will chase you up at your ‘marketplace’ stall. 

2. Remember are presenting full package – eg how musicians dress will influence decision for venues where audience is conservative and they may cross you out if your appearance is not what the audience would expect. 

3. Ensure what you do at the showcase is what you’ll do on tour eg don’t showcase with 6 band members and then tour 4.

4. It is important to engage the audience so they can see who you are. (Musicians: don’t look just at your music! Also have more than one speaker for the band so audience get to know more people not just one ‘frontman’.) 

5. Showcases for neighbouring regions are held close together so people can go from one to the other.

6. It may also be possible to get a couple of local gigs to defray expenses while travelling to showcases (NB smaller venues program only a month or two ahead so you can get slots at short notice) and there is a small amount of subsidy available for accommodation/meals.  Also may be able to get some support from British Council.

 

Timing for Contact East is, roughly:  showcase submissions invited Feb/March via website http://www.iwanttoshowcase.ca/  (for Atlantic Producers), jury meets in May, artists notified if successful in early June, Contact event (showcase) is in September and bookings from it are for 12 months+ ahead.

 

The events can be fun with social events included. These are inclusive of the artists, there’s not an ‘us and them’ atmosphere.

 

Work permits are quite easy to get via the venue producers who are used to obtaining them for artists. There will be 15% tax witheld but it can be claimed back at the end of the tax year.