Author Archives: John Ellingsworth

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About John Ellingsworth

John Ellingsworth is the Deputy Editor of Total Theatre Magazine. He also runs the online circus magazine Sideshow and trains non-performance corde lisse.

The Point Announces its New Associate Artists

James Wilton - The Point

The Point, an Eastleigh arts venue/centre with a strong connection to total theatre work, has announced the four Associate Artists it will work with from October 2012. These are:

James Wilton – ‘A graduate of the London Contemporary Dance School, James makes highly physical dance, often played out against pumping original soundtracks. He has already won numerous accolades including the prestigious Sadler’s Wells ‘Sadler’s Sampled’ in which his work The Shortest Day beat 500 other entries from around the globe. During his association with The Point, James and his company, James Wilton Dance, will focus on developing a number of projects including the creation of a new outdoor piece and establishing several dynamic youth platforms. ‘

Two Destination Language – ‘Formed by Katherina Radeva and Alister Lownie, Two Destination Language is interested in creating stimulating experiences for audiences through live art, drama and movement. As associate artists of The Point, the company will create a new piece, Near Gone, that explores the experience of loss; as well as working to bring their microfest FLINT to the Eastleigh venue.’

Hotch Potch – This vibrant company specialises in making interactive outdoor performance with a subliminal environmental theme. While at The Point they hope to develop a new show that explores physical practices such as acro-balance, stop motion and human statue. They will also develop their current cabaret-style work to run alongside The Point’s popular From Scratch nights.

Neil Callaghan – A former member of choreographer Lea Anderson’s all-male company The Featherstonehaughs, Neil is both a dance artist and performer. His work explores ecology, place, space and human experience. Recently, he has been in collaboration with artist Simone Kenyon. As an associate of The Point Neil is hoping to complete his first solo piece in four years, a work that will examine the difference between loneliness and solitude.

Based at The Point, the new associate artists and companies will have the opportunity to use the venue’s extensive facilities including its state-of-the-art Creation Space while creating new pieces, as well as receiving mentorship from The Point’s artistic director Sarah Brigham and its creative producer Sacha Lee. Other benefits include access to business, technical and marketing support along with the opportunity to share new work with The Point audiences, industry network platforms, schools and local communities.

Total Theatre Awards 2012 Shortlist Announced

Following a rigorous two-week selection process led by a large team of assessors the shortlist for the 2012 Total Theatre Awards has been announced. As ever, the shortlist is actually quite long – this year with 28 productions nominated across three categories. There will now be a week of judging culminating in a ceremony at the Hunt & Darton Cafe on 23 August at 6pm (invitation only!). Up to six Awards will be made over the three categories.

This year the Total Theatre Awards are sponsored by Barbican, University of Chichester, University of Winchester, and Warwick Arts Centre. The judging panel is Tony Dean, Jo Crowley, Dorothy Max Prior, Donald Hutera, Cora Bissett, Tom Creed, Joelson Gusson, Matt Burman, Caroline Routh, and Lyn Gardner. Total Theatre’s director Pippa Bailey is the Chair for the judges meeting.

 

Shows by Emerging Companies/Artists

XXXO (Belgium)
Charlotte De Bruyne & Nathalie Marie Verbeke, Supported by Ontroerend Goed & Richard Jordan, in association with Pleasance (Pleasance Courtyard)

Amusements (England / Spain)
Sleepwalk Collective (Summerhall)

How a Man Crumbled (UK)
Clout Theatre (Summerhall)

Best In The World (England)
Unfolding Theatre (Northern Stage at St Stephens)

Not Treasure Island (England)
Sleeping Trees (Just The Tonic at The Caves)

Juana in a Million (Mexico / England)
Vicky Araico Casas (Pleasance Dome)

Grit (Scotland)
Tortoise in a Nutshell (Bedlam)

Beulah (England)
The Flanagan Collective (C Nova)

 

Physical / Visual Theatre

Caesarean Section – Essays on Suicide (Poland)
Teatr Zar (Summerhall)

Songs of Lear (Poland)
Song of the Goat Theatre (Summerhall)

Mephisto Waltz (Russia)
Derevo / Russian Season 2012 (Assembly Roxy)

The Blind (Poland)
The KTO Theatre 2 (Old College Quad)

Knee Deep (Australia)
Casus and Assembly (Assembly George Square)

(remor) (Spain)
Res de Res (C Nova)

Nothing Is Really Difficult (Netherlands)
Theatergroep WAK (Assembly George Square)

Mr Carmen (Russia)
AKHE – Russian Engineering Theatre / Russian Season 2012 (Assembly Roxy)

Planet Lem (Poland) *
Teatr Biuro Podrózy (Old College Quad)

 

Innovation, Experimentation & Playing with Form

Still Life: An Audience With Henrietta Moraes (England)
Sue MacLaine (Whitespace)

How may we be of service?
Butlers (Everywhere, Anywhere)

All That is Wrong (Belgium)
Ontroerend Goed, Laika, Richard Jordan Productions, Drum Theatre Plymouth (Traverse)

Bullet Catch (Scotland)
Arches presents Rob Drummond (Traverse)

What I Heard About The World (England)
Third Angel and mala voadora (Northern Stage at St Stephens)

The Shit / La Merda (Italy)
Silva Gallerano / Cristian Ceresoli (Summerhall)

The Curious Scrapbook of Josephine Bean (Scotland)
Shona Reppe (Traverse @ Scottish Book Trust)

Paperbelle (Scotland)
Frozen Charlotte Productions with Made in Scotland (Assembly/Royal Botanic Garden)

The Pride (Australia)
Underbelly Productions, Perth Theatre Company and Side Pony Productions (Underbelly Cowgate)

The Ugly Sisters (England)
RashDash with Not Now Bernard (Northern Stage at St Stephens)

Doctor Brown – Befrdfgth (England)
Soho Theatre and the Mason Sisters @ PBJ (Underbelly Cowgate)

 

Planet Lem is a late opening show that will be considered for the shortlist in this category.

Hatch: Twelve – Call for Submissions (Leicester)

Nottingham-based collaborative organisation Hatch is now seeking submissions for Hatch: Twelve, a 12 hour marathon event (lasting from 11am to 11pm) at Embrace Arts in Leicester 14 October 2012. Hatch: Twelve will feature a performance of Third Angel and mala vaodora’s epic Story Map and new work from Nottingham-based live artist Annette Foster, but the organisers are also looking to select ten performances through an open submission process. Details:

– There is a fee of £250 for each selected artist or group to cover all expenses.

– The selected work could be from any ‘performance-y’ background, discipline or genre, but we especially like work that is hard to define, wears too many hats and does not exist behind a fourth wall.

– The call for submissions is open to everybody, but Hatch and Embrace Arts particularly welcome submissions from d/Deaf and disabled artists.

– Selected performances DO NOT have to last for the full 12-hour duration of the event (although they can do). They do not have to be durational at all (although they can be). However, all the selected performances will have to somehow engage with the nature of this event as something which lasts 12 hours and which the audience can dip in and out of. Performances can be durational, repeated, different iterations of a work shown throughout the day. Your work might want to respond to notions of twelve-ness, duration and time passing.

– We are looking for interesting ways of activating all areas of the building through performances that roam, performances that are adaptable to their surroundings, performances that do not need a traditional stage set up. We encourage work that is technically self-sufficient and easy to set up – some spaces at Embrace Arts have sound, lighting and projection facilities, but it’s important to note that not all selected performances will have access to these. Photographs of the various spaces within Embrace Arts are available on request (it’s also worth looking at photos from Hatch’s previous events there on our Flickr page)

If you’re interested in applying e-mail hatch@hatchnottingham.org.uk for an application form. The deadline for applications is noon on the 28 August 2012.

Made in Scotland

Providing a curated path through the wild woods of the Edinburgh Fringe, this year Made in Scotland is presenting a mini-programme of twelve theatre and dance productions selected by their panel of programmers, cultural managers and commentators.

As ever, the shows with an interdisciplinary background are of most interest to TTR – this time Caroline Bowditch’s Leaving Limbo Landing, an outdoor work (in St Andrew Square Garden) featuring twelve dancers and aerialists performing in air and water; Frozen Charlotte Productions’ Paperbelle, a piece for 2-5 year-olds that’s played out within a room made of paper with props made of paper; Catherine Wheels’ The Ballad of Pondlife McGurk, which is worth your attention on the strength of the company’s previous show, White, a Total Theatre Award-winner; and Room 2 Manoeuvre’s WATCH iT!, a ‘multi-media dance odyssey about one man’s love/hate relationship with his TV, fusing hip hop and contemporary dance, theatre, interactive film and animation’.

To get a measure of the strength of the MiS programme, take a look at TTR’s coverage of notables from last year: David Hughes Dance’s Last Orders, Lu Kemp’s One Thousand Paper Cranes, the Traverse Theatre Company’s Ten Plagues, Adrian Howells’ double-bill May I Have The Pleasure…? and The Pleasure of Being: Washing, Feeding, Holding, and Grid Iron’s What Remains.

Rites of Passage Autumn School

Rites of Passage Autumn School is an intensive four-day course led by Sue Gill and Gilly Adams of Dead Good Guides. Course information:

We will examine the Hows and Whys of ceremony and celebration in a practical and experiential way, investigating how both positive and negative life events can be distilled into myth and poetry, and creating meaningful rituals to contain them. In particular, we explore how ceremony and celebration has and does play out in our own lives in order to feel empowered to facilitate these processes in the lives of others in an imaginative and creative way.

This is not a nuts and bolts course; instead the week will be shaped to fulfill the needs and aspirations of participants so there will be plenty of opportunities to learn and practice many aspects of the craft of creating ceremony – both public and private – in a safe environment.

Gilly Adams and Sue Gill will offer insights into the cognitively rich world of the secular celebrant, sharing their experience, offering theory, information, and – they hope – inspiration.

There are twelve places on the workshop – and at time of writing just four left @ £375. Fees cover tuition, materials, and home cooked meals. Accommodation is not included, but Dead Good Guides can help you find it.

The Autumn School will take place 22-25 October at a location near Frome, Somerset. For more information see www.deadgoodguides.com or contact Sue Gill on foxandgill@btinternet.com or Gilly Adams on gillyadams@tiscali.co.uk