Well we’re approaching the end of the summer (although we still hold out hope that the sun is going to return in September)!  We’ve been away and had a real break for the first time in about 10 years – amazing.  We’ve come back to the zealots in Westminster who are waving their scissors around like the Tailor in ‘Little Suck-a-thumb’, which of course makes the prospect of finding money to make new work even more daunting.  However, that’s not stopping us developing our ideas for the new projects, specifically ‘Tales from Nowhere’ and ‘Radi.o’.  We’re about to head back to the National Theatre Studio for some time on TFN – we’ve been doing some idea development in our own lovely studio, and are very excited about the direction things are going.  We’ve also been pulling together our creative team for Radi.o and have been moving things forward with our co-producers on that project, the BAC.

The future is really very uncertain in terms of how we’re going to make these projects work – we hear back from the Arts Council in the middle of October about funding towards Tales from Nowhere, but as we all know the arts are in a very precarious position.  It seems like it’s time to remember why we all started doing this in the first place and to see if those reasons are strong enough to keep us going as the money dies.

Personally I’m perversely hopeful, though I can’t really say why.

We’re also about to say goodbye to our very lovely website – it may be back, but we’re having a few technical problems so have had to come up with a lighter, cleaner, more manageable solution for the time being.  We’ll let you know when it’s live and would love to get some feedback.

In other news, Carolina was performing over the summer in the RSC offering at the Latitude music festival (gallery below) – it was a wonderfully chaotic and exciting late night show playing to packed out audiences – ‘The thirteen midnight trials of Angelus Diablo’.  It was also a chance for us to take our children camping for the first time, which was great.  I’m about to do some work on Kate Wasserberg’s production of ‘Dancing at Lughnasa’ at theatre Clwyd, and then I’m working with Katie Mitchell again on the National Theatre’s production of ‘Beauty and the Beast’ – this will be our follow up to last year’s ‘The Cat in the Hat’ – this time it’s for a slightly older audience (8 – 12 year olds), but will of course be something that everyone will be able to enjoy.  It’s opening in December.

Well that’s it for now.

To infinity and beyond…

The ‘O’s

As the wonderful hot weather continues, we just wanted to remind you about our summer workshop, Playing the Character, Playing the Space, Playing the Game. Most importantly we wanted to remind you that as of July 17th the price of the workshop goes up from £450 to £490, so book soon for the cheaper price.

The workshop is filling up fast (places are limited to just 20) so grab the last places while you can.  Details are on the flier below and you can also click here for more information. If you know anyone who you think would be interested in the workshop, do forward this on, and if it’s something for you, then click on through now!

Don’t forget to check out our blog for all the latest information of what we’ve been up to.

We look forward to seeing you soon.

Spread the word.

With very best wishes from the ‘O’

Theatre O is a trading name of Theatre O Limited, a company registered in England & Wales (No. 04281709 ). The registered address is 45 Lyndon Road, Bramham, Leeds, LS23 6RH. VAT registration no: 924058334

We hope that you’re having a wonderful summer. We just wanted to let you know that we’re once again running our summer workshop, ‘Playing the Character, Playing the Space, Playing the Game’. The workshop is aimed towards professional performers/theatre makers as well as drama teachers and recent graduates. Details are on the flier below and you can also click here for more information.

We’re also in the process of raising money for our new show “Tales from Nowhere”, as well as working with the BAC on “Radi.o”, our narrative instalation piece for 7-11 year olds. But more on these soon.

In the mean time…

If you know anyone who you think would be interested in the summer workshop, do forward this on, and if it’s something for you, then click on through now!

In other news: after the success of last years Cat in the Hat, Joseph has been working again with Katie Mitchell – this time on Idomeneo at ENO.  It opens on the 18th and is a wonderful opera.  If you want to book tickets, then you can do so here.

We look forward to seeing you soon.

Spread the word.

With very best wishes from the ‘O’

“a theatre that dares, not just one that entertains…”  The Irish Independent

We were working with  Ben Pester (writer), Dominic Burdess (artistic associate and deviser), Fiona Drummond (deviser), Marcus Cunningham (deviser), Miriam Nabarro (designer), Paddy Molloy (animator) and Tom Godwin (deviser).  It was a true pleasure to be with all of them.

3 Days isn’t very long, but we were able to start the process of answering some important questions.  As usual, the style that started to emerge was dictated by the material and not by some ‘idea’  imposed upon it, (not that we didn’t try those ‘ideas’, but as is often the case, they didn’t prove the most successful means of communicating the story).  This is a very inspiring way of making work, and is far more important to us than having a repetitive ‘house style’ that becomes more about marketing than creating exciting theatre.  It was also a chance to dip our toes in the water of working with some new collaborators, which was inspirational.  Carolina and I also had the happy challenge of having our new baby in the rehearsal room with us.  She was fantastic and perfectly behaved, even partaking in one of the more extended improvisations – not bad for a 6 week old!

We’ll now spend a bit of time assimilating the work that was done, and then hopefully find a week in June to take the ideas further.  We’d like to make the show at the end of this year or beginning of next.  We’ll keep you posted.  In the mean time, here are some pictures from our 3 days…

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A quick note to say that we’ve recently been working with fabulous animator, Paddy Molloy, on an animated vision statement.  We think it’s great.  Click here to have a look, then do come back and tell us what you think…

The piece is inspired by the stories of a wonderfully obscure town in the Kaliningrad region of Russia, in what used to be East Prussia;

Widows, whores, resurrected politicians, madmen, orphans, ghosts, murder, abuse, passion, debts of honour, devotion, compassion and cloacal fascination. These are their stories. This is the truth.

The piece will deal with what it means to belong and the stories and myths that we need in order to have that sense of belonging.

We were joined at various times by designer Miriam Nabarro, animator Paddy Molloy and artistic associate Dominic Burdess. Our producer Simon also came along to keep us in check and to inspire us with his own particular take on the project (mostly involving cameo roles for himself). It was a great week and we were able to clarify a lot of the thoughts we’d been having about the project as well as be surprised by things that we didn’t know were there. We aim to have this show out in theatres next year – now comes the part where we have to find the money to make it happen!

We’d like to say a huge thank you to David Micklem, David Jubb and all those at the BAC who made our week such a full and productive one. Their building really has a great feel to it and is clearly a hub of creative activity. Long may it be!

out

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The first took place in Barcelona in July, at the AADPC (Associació d’Actors i Directors Professionals de Catalunya). This is the second time theatre O has led a workshop there. The Association is a union for professional actors and directors and has hosted workshops from leading international theatre and film practitioners throughout the years. 

Our second workshop took place from the 17th to the 28th of August in London at the Central School of Speech and Drama in collaboration with the Centre for Excellence in the Training of Theatre. 

Both workshops were titled Playing the Space, Playing the Character, Playing the Game taking their inspiration from the Lecoq training, but also drawing heavily on theatre O’s experience on devising theatre and the techniques we have developed as a company in the last 10 years of creating work. 

The workshop was built around our recent show, Delirium, as well as elements of shows that we are currently researching. For inspiration we used the same material that the company uses when in the rehearsal room. This felt like a very rich place to start to create from, since the participants were able to respond to very specific stimuli, they were able to connect quickly with the company’s world and, for us, it also meant that people could bring a completely new approach and energy to worlds that we were more familiar with. It was very rewarding and exciting to see how quickly the participants owned those worlds and invested them with different meanings, all of them relevant to the work that was being developed. 

We focused very strongly on the actor’s skills and techniques, the development of movement in relation to space, emotions, and music as well as different aspects of devising. Because the workshop was led by three different people (Carolina Valdés, Dominic Burdess and Eva Vilamitjana), it meant each of us could focus on very specific areas. The three leaders were present during the whole day. 

It was amazing to have such a rich mixture of nationalities and different degrees of experience. For us it was also important to build this “bridge” between the work that happens in schools or workshops and the actual reality of what it means to create something that has to be presented and defended by those who have created it; something you are responsible for and that has to come from your own passion and rigor.

We discussed and explored a lot what it means to do this level of work, what it means to reproduce that every night in front of an audience, what sort of distance is required between the personal experience and the interpretation of it, what sort of questions we have to ask ourselves when creating, how to be ruthless and get rid of ideas that don’t translate to the stage or no longer belong in the story, as well as how to be generous and open and how to take risks within a safe environment

This was a fantastic experience for theatre O and one that we aim to repeat every year. 

For the company, this sort of process is essential to keep our feet rooted in reality and to continuously question ourselves and learn from others.

We would really like to thank all the wonderful participants we had throughout the summer. You were all committed and passionate and, for us, that is half of the work done. We wish you all the best and hope to hear from you soon.

We would also specially like to thank the AADPC in Barcelona and the great summer heat of Spain and, of course, massive thanks to Catherine Alexander and everyone at Central and the CETT.

We hope you are all well and wish you all the best,

theatre O 

Some quotes from the participants:

“I loved the course. It was a difficult and exhausting exercise, but I feel much more confident in my ability to tackle a broader range of characters and with my presence on stage.”

“Everything seemed new.”