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Company number: 3724349
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Past programme
Showcases an eclectic range of fresh and interesting contemporary work, largely by emerging artists
Dutchman (Rehearsed Reading)
Dutchman is a play written by African-American playwright Amiri Baraka and was the last play he produced under his birth name LeRoi Jones, before he became part of the Black Nationalist movement. It was originally staged at the Cherry Lane Theatre in Greenwich Village (New York) and it subsequently won an Obie award before being made into a film in 1967.
The play focuses on the first meeting of Lulu (a white woman) and Clay (a black man) on a New York subway in the height of summer. As the sexual tension unfolds into tension and cruelty, the play becomes an allegory for the politics of the time, struggling to find their place in a quickly changing society.
Tickets are FREE but must be booked in advance to guarantee availability. Please call 020 7701 0100 or email boxoffice@blueelephanttheatre.co.uk to book your tickets.
Trivialis
Through visceral movement, subtle theatricality and an eclectic musical score for electric guitar, we follow the lives of three people that are violently intertwined by a sudden collision in a mysterious crossroad. Despite their efforts to dismiss the incident as trivial and break free from the situation, an unexpected dialogue emerges and a web of interactions between them is woven. What was seen as an obstacle becomes an opportunity for recollection and the crossroad the setting for a unique bond to develop. Is this a trivial encounter or one that will change their course forever?
Harnessing the power of movement, visual art and sound, ‘Trivialis’ is a tale outside of specific time and place that explores the possibility for connection and intimacy in unexpected moments, contexts and against all odds.
When choreography says it all, it is beautiful. Clair Cohen - Resolution Round-Up 2015
Choreographer Chloe Aliyanni makes both theatre-based and site sensitive work at the heart of which lies the relationship between movement, music, light, space and narrative. Her approach to dance making is influenced by the sounds, myths and rituals of her Greek heritage, her contemporary dance and visual arts background as well as the desire to look beyond the individual and into the collective. Her aim is to create accessible and thoughtful dance performances, looking for original movement vocabulary, sound and set while challenging what dance and movement can communicate as non-verbal mediums.
Reviews
1992 and Over There: Two Short Plays
1992 by Lisa McGee
Two brothers hiding out in a mansion on the outskirts of Liverpool wrestle with the dark secret that has shaped their lives, as a haunting reality waits to unfold.
Over There by Jon Fosse
A couple stop for a break as they ascend a mountain. But what is that in the distance?
1992 and Over There: Two Short Plays marks the launch of EG, a new London-based theatre company dedicated to producing unpredictable, powerfully acted theatre.
The show features two plays which have never been staged before in London, by acclaimed international playwrights.
Lisa McGee is the creator of Channel 4 sitcom London Irish and writer of BBC drama Being Human. Her play Girls and Dolls won both the Stewart Parker Award and the Blackburn Prize.
Jon Fosse has won the International Ibsen Award. He is the most recent recipient of the European Prize for Literature and is perennially tipped for the Nobel Prize in Literature. His most recent productions in London include Nightsongs at The Royal Court and I Am the Wind at the Young Vic.
Please note that 1992 contains strong language and is unsuitable for children. The evening runs at approximately 45 minutes straight through.
Reviews
Trunkated
A showcase of excerpts and short works-in-progress of new material from London's most exciting artists across the arts. Physical theatre, cabaret, comedy, performance art... A Blue Elephant season in one evening!
Tickets are FREE but must be booked in advance to guarantee availability. Please call 020 7701 0100 or email boxoffice@blueelephanttheatre.co.uk to book your tickets.
Fitzgerald Honger
I tell jokes to fill the Rugrats-shaped hole in my heart, left behind when the show ended.
Charismatic, original and funny…are words I would like people to use in sentences about me. So no pressure to use them after seeing me perform.
Ana Berkenhoff
Constantly examining our practice of theatre, Ana Berkenhoff uses a range of formats in her work. She has a post-dramatic background and recently moved to London, having built a career as a solo artist and collaborator in Germany, performing, directing and making music at national theatres and fringe-venues alike. Her performance at Trunkated will be a movement language excerpt.
Pro
Maisy moves to London full of ambition and finds herself on the streets and resorting to prostitution. In this one-woman play, Maisy recounts her journey enacting the various characters she meets along the way.
Written by Rebecca Robinson.
Performed by Helen Haines
Directed by Rebecca Hanbury
A Scene From 'A Working Title'
‘A Working Title’ tells the stories of six twenty five year old Londoners and the different ways in which they are dealing with living in the big smoke. This scene tells the story of the Busker's background and how their troubled background brought them to music. It is taken from the show and is the only section of the show performed in verse.
The show is accompanied with music and the characters are always watched over by the Busker who is observing them as s/he plays.
I'm like You, Only Better
"My name is Shannon McNee and I'm going to be the best me I can be"
A poem/monologue written and performed by Heather Johnson.
Inspiration
This performance will be created by young people aged 11 to 15 from the Blue Elephant’s Free to Act group, as part of Black History Month. By researching inspirational people both past and present, they will create a dynamic and unique performance, including drama and dance, celebrating positive role models.
This performance is FREE but tickets must be booked in advance to guarantee availability. Please call 020 7701 0100 or email bookings@blueelephanttheatre.co.uk to book tickets.
SOLO
A noisy love song about anyone who's ever stood on the outside and shouted.
Mixing surreal storytelling, live noise and projection, SOLO pushes together and pulls apart the stories of people who have been placed on the edges of society.
Gameshow's latest project is a white-knuckle ride at break-neck speed through the upside-downs and inside-outs of Daniel Johnston, Captain Beefheart and Alan Turing. Jeremy Kyle's invited too. SOLO rants, kicks stuff apart and builds up a huge wall of noise before pulling it all down around your ears.
After the dust's settled, what's left behind is about standing out and fitting in, labelling and isolating, being loud and staying quiet.
Tickets for this performance are FREE as it is a work-in-progress but must be booked in advance and are subject to availability. Tickets are restricted to two tickets per booking. To book tickets, please email us on boxoffice@blueelephanttheatre.co.uk or call us on 020 7701 0100.
Ham & Passion
DeNada Dance Theatre present a gender-bending evening of seductive and provocative dance choreographed by Carlos Pons Guerra. Three short narrative works form this kitschy and filmic bill of contemporary dance with a very Spanish flavour- a true feast of meaty dance soaked in a salsa of passion.
From a dingy cabaret in Civil War Barcelona, where a drag artiste murders her fascist lover backstage, passing through a lustful duel of seduction between two machos, and ending with a divine apparition in a kitchen of 1950's Seville, Ham & Passion is an exhilarating, hilarious journey through the history and culture of modern Spain that promises to subvert the senses.
Performed by an international cast of dancers, to a soundtrack of Latin vintage classics and Manuel de Falla's El Amor Brujo, with stunning period costume and set by Ryan Dawson Laight and a perfect mix of dance, jamón and drama, these three explosive period pieces will excite adult audiences of all backgrounds.
Recommended age: 14+ due to partial nudity and suggestive imagery.
Photo: Joe Armitage
Reviews
Supported by
Instructions for American Servicemen in Britain
"It’s 1942 and a horde of Yankee servicemen have just arrived in England - where the locals speak a strange dialect, boil all their food, and talk endlessly about the weather. The Americans see the Brits as a strange race. Get ready to judge for yourself in a night of joyous laughter and downright silliness as a crack team of experts attempt to explain the rules of British life.
This rib-tickling new show for adults and families is from the creators of 'Winston On the Run' (★★★★★ WhatsOnStage) and 'Dr Brown Because' (★★★★ The Times, The Sunday Times, Time Out).
Inspired by the 1942 pamphlet given to GIs on their way to Blighty, the show will take the audience back to the British home front, where two American officers have been charged with explaining British life to their recently arrived countrymen. The problem is, they’ve only just arrived themselves! Will the plucky team succeed in explaining the quirks and customs of everyday British life? Or will Hitler’s propaganda split the allies asunder? The future of the free world hangs in the balance.
Adapted with kind permission from the Bodleian Library's publication Instructions for American Servicemen, 1942.
This is a free work-in-progress preview performance before Instructions for American Servicemen in Britain begins a national tour.
Recommended for ages 10+
Supported by
I Am
LCP Dance Theatre comes to the Blue Elephant with their Edinburgh preview of new dance production "I am".
LCP Dance Theatre draws awareness to human rights violations through dance and explores the sensual and spiritual journey of recovery for a trafficked victim. ”I am” is a new multimedia dance production from the award winning LCP Dance Theatre. Their previous hit show “Am I” was nominated for the Amnesty International Award for the best human rights based performance at Edinburgh Fringe 2014.
“I Am” seeks to explore the challenges facing victims on their road to recovery - through therapy and the support of loved ones. It tells the story of how they re-discover their stolen identities - inspired by the
true story of a couple who fell in love in their teens, and after some life changing experiences found each other again in their 70’s; This leads to them being able to finally forgive their abusers and reintegrate back into normal society.
'The impeccable execution and the power of the visual imagery is utterly paralysing. “Dance stops trafficking!” they advertise. For me, their dance stopped my heartbeat." '***** Threeweeks Fringe 2013 on "Am I"
"Their bodies seemed to inhale air and exhale this choreography, it came to them with such ease and you could feel the energy breathing from them" **** Broadway Baby Fringe 2014 on "Am I"
Reviews
Supported by
- LeSoCo
YOU LOOK TASTY!
The London Zoo Players are putting on a play. But with a tiger on the loose and their dedicated delicious cast nowhere to be seen, can the show still go on? And what is that growling...?
A carnivorous comedy for brave children aged 5+ and their keepers.
Starring John Henry Falle (The Beta Males; Sketchorama, Radio 4) and Harriet Kemsley (New Act of the Year finalist 2012;Traces, Paines Plough), directed by Fringe First Award-winner David Mercatali. Written by Aloysius Tiger, with help from Stewart Pringle.
**** 'We can expect to see Pringle writing Doctor Who and Sherlock well before the end of the decade' WhatsOnStage on playwright Stewart Pringle
'An enticing play for family audiences... David Mercatali's production... celebrates the power of storytelling' Guardian on Feathers in the Snow, from director Mercatali.
The 56
"Nobody dies at football matches in fires. It doesn't happen"
At 3.40pm on May 11th 1985, a small fire broke out in the main stand at Valley Parade football ground during the final match of the season. Within four minutes the wooden structure was ablaze. Fifty-four Bradford City supporters and two Lincoln City supporters lost their lives.
This unique theatrical experience provides a truthful retelling of stories of those involved in the Bradford City Fire. Adapted solely from real-life testimonies and interviews with witnesses, this piece of documentary theatre reveals solidarity, strength and community in the face of overwhelming tragedy.
In Memoriam
In Memoriam is a reflection on the transformation which happens to people, their lives and their concept of normality during times of war. It is dedicated to women of the First World War - women who become the 'army behind the army'; women the bomb-makers, women the fighters, women who 'stayed behind', women addressed in thousands of letters and poems.
It is also a contemplation on war’s parallel realities, as history and events repeat themselves across space and time.
Inspired by war-time imagery and poetry of The Great War and performed by an exceptionally skilled group of dancers and musicians, In Memoriam brings together an explosive mix of flamenco and contemporary dance.
Supported by
Elefeet Dance Festival
When booking three shows at once, audience members are entitled to our Southwark Resident rate, our cheapest ticket!
Just add three Southwark resident tickets to your basket when booking, or call us on 020 7701 0100.
Herstory & The Other and Me
Herstory, by Zosia Jo, supported by Arts Council Wales & Torch Theatre, combines dance with verbatim theatre and spoken word to tell a story at once true and untrue, personal and universal - a love story with a painful twist, that has nothing whatsoever to do with love.
"Mature and compelling...a powerful testimony to survival and renewal...” -Resolution! review 2015 (can be part of the body of the description)
(Please note the subject matter of this solo may make it unsuitable for children 12 and under)
The Other & Me:
"We stand on one side...staring at the other side... thinking that we are right and the other is wrong. In the mirror...flip from the shock... that actually we stand... on both sides."
Mounir Saeed is a dancer/choreographer from Egypt. The Other and Me was created during a residency in Holland, performed in Cairo, and now sees its UK debut.
Click here for dates and bookings...
The Next Phase featuring Penny
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An evening of music, movement and poetry from AQ Arts and friends, featuring work in progress, 'Penny', choreographed by Andrea Queens.
This night will take you on a rollercoaster of emotions, with each piece focusing on the thoughts and feelings of closing an old chapter and stepping into a new one.
Click here for dates and bookings...
If You Leave
Can you stay true to yourself, when everything suggests you change?
201’s raw, contemporary hip-hop movement returns in If You Leave: a story of two people's broken encounter.
After acclaimed performances in New York and a sold out London debut at The Place, 201 Dance Company presents the full length production of If You Leave for the first time. Touching on themes of addiction, obsession, and the true meaning of commitment, choreographer Andrea Walker directs a cast of eight dancers in a fast-paced, intimate performance exploring the relationship of two young men.
Winner of the BDC Outstanding Award for concept choreography.
Click here for dates and bookings...
Bridging the Void
Film, dance and music interlace to create an immersive and mesmerizing sunrise experience inspired by the Native American saying Every Night is followed by Sunrise.
From darkness, through sunrise to dawn light, the performance unfolds around the audience, who are invited to wander, encounter and react to the production as it develops. Each person’s experience will be unique and personal.
‘A work which enlivens and awakens your senses… you will continue to discover it’
(Bryony Cooper, Dance Critic)
Recommended for ages 12 upwards
Click here for dates and bookings...
Once Upon a Midnight Dreary
Sonámbulas:
Sonámbulas is a collaborative exploration of the world of dreams. Three characters delve into the subconscious through dynamic, frenzied movement sequences; their stories and emotions becoming tangled in the sounds of live accordion. Sonámbulas take a trip into our subconscious where unrelated images and absurd stories exist.
Little Red Riding Hood:
“Little red riding hood was my first love. I felt that if I could have married her, I should have known perfect bliss” Charles Dickens
NonFiction Dance present Little Red Riding Hood, a new piece inspired by the Grimm brothers’ famous fairy tale.
We’ve all heard the fairy tale. The little girl in a red cape, her encounter with the evil wolf in a dark woods...The story has been narrated through centuries, capturing imaginations and inspiring fear in children and adults alike. But who was the girl hiding underneath the red cape? And how did the story really end?
Little Red Riding Hood explores the mysteries of this beloved character, re-examining her relationship with the wolf and re-imagining her fate.
You will never think of Little Red Riding Hood the same way again.
Click here for dates and bookings...
In Memoriam
In Memoriam is a reflection on the transformation which happens to people, their lives and their concept of normality during times of war. It is dedicated to women of the First World War - women who become the 'army behind the army'; women the bomb-makers, women the fighters, women who 'stayed behind', women addressed in thousands of letters and poems.
It is also a contemplation on war’s parallel realities, as history and events repeat themselves across space and time.
Inspired by war-time imagery and poetry of The Great War and performed by an exceptionally skilled group of dancers and musicians, In Memoriam brings together an explosive mix of flamenco and contemporary dance.
Click here for dates and bookings...
Once Upon a Midnight Dreary
Sonámbulas
Sonámbulas is a collaborative exploration of the world of dreams. Three characters delve into the subconscious through dynamic, frenzied movement sequences; their stories and emotions becoming tangled in the sounds of live accordion. Sonámbulas take a trip into our subconscious where unrelated images and absurd stories exist.
Little Red Riding Hood
“Little red riding hood was my first love. I felt that if I could have married her, I should have known perfect bliss” Charles Dickens
NonFiction Dance present Little Red Riding Hood, a new piece inspired by the Grimm brothers’ famous fairy tale.
We’ve all heard the fairy tale. The little girl in a red cape, her encounter with the evil wolf in a dark woods...The story has been narrated through centuries, capturing imaginations and inspiring fear in children and adults alike. But who was the girl hiding underneath the red cape? And how did the story really end?
Little Red Riding Hood explores the mysteries of this beloved character, re-examining her relationship with the wolf and re-imagining her fate.
You will never think of Little Red Riding Hood the same way again.
Reviews
Press
Agony Art Platform on Sonámbulas’ work in progress showing at Chisenhale Dance Space, June 2014.
Bridging the Void
Film, dance and music interlace to create an immersive and mesmerizing sunrise experience inspired by the Native American saying Every Night is followed by Sunrise.
From darkness, through sunrise to dawn light, the performance unfolds around the audience, who are invited to wander, encounter and react to the production as it develops. Each person’s experience will be unique and personal.
‘A work which enlivens and awakens your senses… you will continue to discover it’
(Bryony Cooper, Dance Critic)
Recommended for ages 12 upwards
Please note: Tuesday night is sold out
