Tag Archives: News

mid * point: Over 200 Local Young People Take To The Stage For A Summer Festival of Theatre

For two weeks this July, over 200 young people from across Birmingham and the West Midlands will take to the stage for a Summer Festival of Theatre. Members of Birmingham Repertory Theatre’s youth theatre company, The Young REP will present 10 different plays at the Old Rep Theatre from 1 to 13 July.

The programme for the youthful and vibrant festival includes a broad range of plays from the classic A Servant of Two Masters by Carlo Goldoni to the world premiere of a new play, Girls Like That by Evan Placey. And, as The REP celebrates its centenary year the Young REP will present a fresh take on one of Shakespeare’s greatest comedies, Twelfth Night – the play which opened the theatre 100 years ago on the very same stage.

Jess Farmer, Director of Learning and Participation at The REP says of the festival:
“The Summer Festival is a two week showcase of The Young REP. Staging 10 plays in two weeks is a real challenge for everyone involved but it’s one that everyone relishes.

“The mini-festival is inspired by The REP’s centenary and it’s an exploration, and at times a rediscovery, of literature from brand new plays to classic stories. It feels fitting that we also present a fresh take on Twelfth Night – the very play which our founder Sir Barry Jackson staged for the opening of The REP 100 years ago. To reflect his championing of new work and talent we’re also thrilled to be presenting the world premiere of a new play by Evan Placey.”

Award-winning writer Evan Placey’s thrilling and dynamic new play, Girls Like That has been specially commissioned by Birmingham Repertory Theatre, West Yorkshire Playhouse and Theatre Royal Plymouth with youth companies at all three theatres performing the play this July.  Girls Like That explores the perilous consequences that can happen when teenagers and technology join forces. Written for and performed by young people Evan involved members of the Young REP in the writing process and the finished piece is a genuine reflection of their interests, lives and characters as Evan explains:

“Working with young people in Birmingham, Leeds and Plymouth to inspire the play has been an invaluable opportunity to find common themes and stories between British teenagers across the country. Asking a group of 14-16 year old girls what feminism means, and whether it was relevant to them, the responses were a combination of no’s, indifference, and confusion as to the meaning of the word.

“During the initial workshops, a girl in Canada made headlines when she killed herself after months of bullying when a topless photo of her was circulated at school. But while the media fixated on the circumstances in which a man coerced her into showing her breasts and then blackmailed her with the photos before putting them online, few asked questions about her classmates who then went on to torment her, the girls who daily called her a slut, a whore. And so the play took root: a play about feminism, about sluts and prudes and the categories and language we use to define and oppress female sexuality and bodies.

“At the end of my last workshop in each city, I asked the room of teenagers if a classmate’s naked photo had ever been circulated at their school – every single hand went up.”

The Young REP works with young people between aged between nine and twenty-five across Birmingham and the West Midlands.  It is an inclusive producing youth theatre which aims to create a lifelong passion for theatre in its members.  Each year the company, led by professional staff from The REP, creates and produces a broad range of high quality theatre experiences.

Listings Information

The Young REP Summer Festival of Theatre
Monday 1 to Saturday 13 July 2013
The Old Rep Theatre, Station Street, Birmingham B5 4DY

Monday 1 July, 7pm
A SERVANT OF TWO MASTERS
Written by Carlo Goldoni and adapted by the company
Directed by Tom Saunders

Dina is tired, hungry and is sick of her boss. So when a new boss comes to town she decides to work for him instead. Can she handle the demands of working for two masters or will it confuse her too much?  Presented by Young REP Small Heath.

NEW SCHOOLS OLD LESSONS
Devised by the company
Directed by Rhys McClelland

Young REP Shenley takes a look into the past for inspiration for a series of new short plays. Written and devised by the group these pieces seek to find the links between a distant past and our present, and asks, are we really any different from people of old?

Wednesday 3 July, 7pm
THE RED BALLOON
Written by Albert Lamorisse, adapted by Anthony Clark
Directed by Rhys McClelland and Daniel Tyler

The Young REP Intermediate Company bring to life the touching story of Pascal and the colour brought into his troubled life through his friendship with a magical red balloon. A previous hit for the Birmingham Repertory Theatre this play brings magic and balloons to life!

Thursday 4 July, 7pm
ITLLKILLYOOIFYOODOO
Written by Christopher William Hill
Directed by Tom Saunders

Milo is going to eat curry and ice cream – ON THE SAME SPOON! But surely that kills you? Burning and freezing your insides all at once? Scrag says it, so it must be true! Can his class mates stop Milo from certain either certain death or, a very nasty taste in the back of his mouth?   The Young REP Junior Company present this comic and gruesome play by leading children’s playwright Christopher William Hill.

Saturday 6 July, 2pm and 7pm
TWELFTH NIGHT
By William Shakespeare
Directed by Daniel Tyler

Twins go on a cruise in 2013. After a shipwreck they find themselves on a strange island full of even stranger characters who seem to be living their lives in the past. This fresh take on one of Shakespeare’s greatest comedies is presented by the Young REP 18 – 25s Company to celebrate The REP’s 100th birthday with the same play it opened with on the very same stage in 1913.

Tuesday 9 July and Wednesday 10 July, 7pm
TOTALLY OVER YOU 
By Mark Ravenhill
Directed by Tom Saunders

Four teenage girls are going to be famous! But how? Do they have talent? No! They’re just going to dump their boyfriends and marry celebrities. Simple. But their jilted ex-boyfriends have other plans. Inspired by Les Précieuses Ridicules by Molière and presented by the Young REP Seniors Company.

IPHIGENIA AT AULIS
Written by Euripides
Directed by Rhys McClelland

Euripides’ play about the sacrifice of youthful innocence in war is given a time hopping twist in this adaptation. Modern teenagers peer through the mists of time, two-and-a-half thousand years, to witness one of the most savage and disturbing chapters of the Trojan War where a man must choose between his honour and his daughter’s life. Presented by the Young REP Seniors Company.

Friday 12 July, 7pm and Saturday 13 July, 2pm and 7pm
World Premiere
GIRLS LIKE THAT
Written by Evan Placey
Directed by Daniel Tyler

Phones come to life with the buzz of a new message, a new email, a Facebook update. A single photo…

This time-shifting play explores young characters today and in the past, the sexual labels they give and judge each other with and the complex and contradictory choices they make in expressing themselves.

The play has been written as part of a unique partnership between Birmingham Repertory Theatre, West Yorkshire Playhouse and Theatre Royal Plymouth. Young people from each of the three theatres have worked with the award-winning writer Evan Placey to develop ideas for the play and each young company will produce the play in summer 2013. Presented by the Young REP Seniors Company. Contains strong language and mature themes.

12 & 13 July at 7pm only
MY STORY IS
Devised by the company
Directed by Rhys McClelland

Amazing tales leap off the page and come to life before the audience’s eyes, taking everyone, young and old, back to those magical places we explored in our favourite stories from childhood. A performance devised by members of the Young REP Senior Company which explores some of the greatest pieces of children’s literature of the last 100 years.

13 July at 2pm only
DRAMATIC ACTS
Written by Young REP Playwrights

One hundred years is a very long time, and the Birmingham Repertory Theatre has stood for all of it. After every performance the audiences flock to the bar, keen to discuss the performance they had just seen. How has Birmingham changed in the last hundred years? And have the people changed too? Eclectic pieces of new writing by the Young REP Playwrights, a group of aspiring writers from Birmingham.

Tickets: £5, concessions £3
Box Office: 0121 236 4455 Online booking: birmingham-rep.co.uk


mid * point: Emerging West Midlands Writers and Directors Given Major Boost

Emerging theatre artists in the West Midlands have been given a boost with the news that, thanks to significant support from The Leverhulme Trust, Birmingham Repertory Theatre’s REP Foundry artist development programme will continue until 2016.

The Leverhulme Trust has awarded Birmingham Repertory Theatre an Arts Scholarship of £136,950 over three years towards its REP Foundry initiative.  Created under The REP’s new artistic director, Roxana Silbert in January 2013, REP Foundry aims to discover and promote the West Midlands’ most promising burgeoning talent with a group of 18 writers, directors and theatre makers receiving mentoring and professional support from staff at The REP and leading theatre practitioners.   As well as master classes with theatre professionals REP Foundry artists have the opportunity to present work in progress in front of an audience at monthly scratch performance nights.

Jean Cater of the Leverhulme Trust said:
“Arts Scholarships are awarded to support the development of artistic talent across disciplines, by providing bursaries for artists and performers, or by supporting innovative approaches to teaching. At a time when funding for the arts is generally being reduced throughout the UK, these scholarships will make a valuable contribution to the development of the next generation of creative talent.  We congratulate Birmingham Repertory Theatre on their successful bid, which will provide 18 artists with exciting new opportunities to develop their careers in theatre and performance.”

Roxana Silbert, Artistic Director of Birmingham Repertory Theatre said the award will make a significant difference to REP Foundry:
“The Leverhulme Trust’s grant will make an invaluable contribution towards nurturing and developing the West Midlands’ next generation of theatre makers.  With our first 18 REP Foundry artists already receiving professional mentoring and support we are thrilled that over the next three years we will be able to support a further 54 West Midlands based theatre makers.”

The Leverhulme Trust was established in 1925 under the Will of the first Viscount Leverhulme. It is one of the largest all-subject providers of research funding in the UK, distributing funds of some £60 million every year. The Trust’s Arts Scholarships provide funds for three years for training opportunities across the whole range of artistic disciplines in the fine and performing arts, but not normally within universities.

The first REP Foundry scratch performance nights have already taken place with 11 of the theatre artists sharing their work in front of a live audience. Future REP Foundry nights take place on the last Thursday of the month at The Edge, Cheapside, Digbeth until July, and then at the newly re-opened Birmingham Repertory Theatre in October and November. For tickets, costing £5, and further information call 0121 236 4455 or visit Birmingham-rep.co.uk/repfoundry.  Applications for the 2014 REP Foundry scheme will be announced in Autumn 2013.

 


mid * point: Arena Theatre appoints new Venue Manager

The University of Wolverhampton is pleased to announce the appointment of Neil Reading as the Arena Theatre’s new Venue Manager. Neil takes over the role following the retirement of Kevin O’Sullivan in April.

For the last twelve months, Neil has worked as Promoter at the Arena Theatre’s sister venue, The Performance Hub, which is based on the University of Wolverhampton’s Walsall campus. In his new role, as well as overseeing the programming and management of the Arena, Neil will continue to be involved in the development of the Performance Hub.

Prior to his job at the Performance Hub, Neil worked as the Student Activities Co-ordinator at the University of Wolverhampton for five years, greatly increasing student engagement in societies and volunteering. Neil has also worked for a number of other venues, including The Moat House Hotel Stafford and Rugeley Rose Theatre, and has toured work to Battersea Arts Centre, Gatehouse Theatre Stafford and Bedlam Theatre in Edinburgh.

Neil has a performance background, gaining a BA (Hons) in Theatre Studies at University of Hull and an MA in Directing for Theatre at St. Mary’s College in Twickenham. Neil founded Violet Microwave Theatre in 2000 and has directed all of their shows to date. Neil was also a founder member of JUICE Comedy and has been part of the team that has turned this into Stafford’s only independent comedy promotion.

Neil Reading says, “’I am delighted to be appointed as Venue Manager of the Arena Theatre and Performance Hub. I am looking forward to working with the team and our partners over the coming months to plan a terrific future for the two venues together, as we continue to develop as a centre for emerging artists and innovative theatre. Through working across both of these venues, we will be able to provide audiences in the Black Country with top quality theatre, dance, music and spoken word.”

Peter Robinson, Principal Lecturer and Head of Department for Leisure and The Arena Theatre, says: “Neil brings a real passion and vision for the future to the Arena Theatre. I’m confident that Neil will build on Kevin O’Sullivan’s 27 year legacy to ensure that in these difficult economic times for the arts, the Arena and Performance Hub continue to thrive.”


The Drum - The UK’s Premier Black-Led Arts Centre - Book Online or Call 0121 333 2444: Subtle Tones at Courtney Pine’s Album Launch

We are very proud of our young people who performed the curtain raiser at Courtney Pine’s Album Launch last week. Subtle Tone’s are part of Young Gifted Brum’s, Youth Music Project led by Project Coordinator Reisz Amos.

See the YouTube video of their performance here.

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The Official Birmingham Hippodrome Blog: THE WAIT IS FINALLY OVER – PANTO CAST REVEALED!

Ben Wooldridge (@benwooldridge) writes… “Mirror, mirror on the wall…who’s in the greatest Panto of them all!?” The whispers and speculation as to who will be starring in Britain’s biggest Panto is always an exciting time and now we can confirm this year’s star studded line up, who’s excited? We certainly are! Heading the cast as […]

The Official Birmingham Hippodrome Blog: Behind the scenes from the comfort of your desktop…

Ben Wooldridge (@benwooldridge) writes… Over the coming two weeks join us for two exclusive live streamed events for a peek behind the red curtain at two fascinating events: Tue 7 May, 8.45pm aprox. – Sutra Post-Show Talk Join us live from the main auditorium after the curtain comes down on the stunning dance production Sutra […]

mid * point: Pentabus Studio Launch

This month Pentabus Theatre launches the Pentabus Studio; a new approach to how this rurally based company develops its ideas, plays and artists.

The new Pentabus Studio is a physical space: at our base on a farm in Shropshire we now have a rehearsal room, a performance studio for workshops, readings and productions, and a number of writers’ rooms that allow playwrights the time and space to develop their work. The Studio is also a creative space: as well as continuing to accept script submissions, Pentabus will launch writing workshops for adults and a Young Writers Group aimed at 16-25 year olds to support the best new work from the next generation of playwrights. Above all the Pentabus Studio is an open space: a way to support theatre makers both locally and nationally to step outside their usual working practice and develop their imaginations in a supportive, creative environment.

Pentabus is a contemporary theatre company producing new plays about the rural world for both local and national audiences. Created back in 1974 with the purpose of making creative interventions in a forgotten corner of England, today the company’s horizons and artistic outlets continually expand as its work reaches diverse audiences all over the UK. Pentabus has always offered writers a unique environment in which to write their plays; the new Pentabus Studio now formalises and develops this thinking.

It’s well known that people in rural areas, both young and old, struggle to have the same access to top quality arts activities that their urban contemporaries enjoy. Pentabus makes a real commitment to the creative health of the countryside, encouraging artists to draw from it, and urging local communities to participate in it. Artistic Director Elizabeth Freestone drives a vision committed to this ethos: We’re in a unique location here, based on a farm in Shropshire. We have a beautiful building with great facilities. The Studio is a way of opening up our site to artists and audiences. We’ll support writers developing new ideas, providing them with a stimulating, inspiring place to work, as well as hosting readings, workshops and works in progress showings to allow our local audience to engage with professional contemporary theatre right on their doorstep.’


The Drum - The UK’s Premier Black-Led Arts Centre - Book Online or Call 0121 333 2444: Birmingham School of Acting still has places left

There are still places left on the BA (Hons) Applied Performance (Community and Education) Programme at Birmingham School of Acting / Birmingham City University.

 

This course would suit students enthusiastic about interdisciplinary performance and would like the opportunity to use performance as a tool to raise awareness, inform and educate. Students make work with and for young people and community groups across the City. Projects have included work around homelessness and displacement, family and children’s theatre, disability, 2011 riots and Hate Crime. A recent project ‘She’ at The Drum for Year 10 students looked at girls’ relationships with gangs.

 

A link to a 5 min film promo of ‘She’:

https://vimeo.com/55464565

 

Central News footage of ‘She’:

http://vimeo.com/54154711

 

We have some exciting industry partners, The REP, mac birmingham, The Drum and Playhouse Theatre Company and our current focus is creating pathways to employment for our graduates. We are looking for applicants who would like to make a difference to the lives of young people and communities in Birmingham through performance. Although, UCAS is now closed, students can apply directly to the School through the website.

Link to Website:

http://www.bcu.ac.uk/pme/school-of-acting/courses/applied-performance

 

Year 1 student feedback:

 

“The applied performance course has so far opened up new possible opportunities for possible careers in the future. I constantly want to create work to inspire people, raise awareness of issues and raise debate. In this first year, I have built on my existing skill base and I am learning new skills and theory which has been exciting. I look forward to continued work with my colleagues and lecturers.”

 

Kind Regards

Hannah Philips

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