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Charity number: 1077161
Company number: 3724349
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Past programme
Showcases an eclectic range of fresh and interesting contemporary work, largely by emerging artists
Train in Work Taster Sessions
Are you interested in learning to run drama sessions with young people?
Blue Elephant Theatre are delighted to once again be running their successful Train in Work programme. A training and work project designed for 18-24 years olds which will introduce participants to the world of arts facilitation and give them experience running sessions with young people. We’re looking to recruit trainees who are not in Employment, Education or Training or are at risk of becoming so and/or who face other barriers to working in the arts.
This 1.5 hour online session offers a taste of the project, discussing what the role of a drama facilitator is and the skills and benefits that can be gained from drama. We will introduce drama activities, ice breakers and activities to promote concentration and self-expression, all of which you’ll learn to run yourself through the Train-In-Work programme.
There will be two sessions; one on Wednesday 25th November from 3pm - 4.30pm and one on Thursday 26th November from 2pm - 2.30pm.
*Applications are open for the full programme and details can found here although more information about this will be given at the taster.
Please book below via Tickets Ignite and we will send out the link before the sessions. Please use the tab button if you have difficulty accessing fields or you can book directly through this link.
Supported by
Celebrating Black Voices
Five short monologues have been written specially for Blue Elephant Theatre for Black History Month 2020. These monologues by Sandra Brown Springer, Elizabeth Adejimi, Angela Mhlanga, Saana Sze, Olu Alakija are inspired by Black people of past and present and intended to introduce young people to heroes they may not have heard of previously.
The monologues focus on Mary Prince, the first woman to have her account of slavery published in Britain, Mary Seacole, who nursed men on the battlefield of the Crimea, Madam CJ Walker, the first female self-made millionaire in America, Claudia Jones, activist and a founder of Notting Hill Carnival, and legendary tennis player Serena Williams.
The monologues are being recorded as rehearsed readings by Sharla Smith, Romy Foster and Amelia Parillon. They are available to view here or click on the links below for the individual recordings.
Mary Seacole by Sandra Brown Springer
Claudia Jones by Saana Sze
Mary Prince by Olu Alakija
Serena Williams by Angela Mhlanga
Madam CJ Walker by Elizabeth Adejimi
Audio only versions:
Claudia Jones (Audio Version) by Saana Sze
Mary Prince (Audio Version) by Olu Alakija
Madam CJ Walker (Audio Version) by Elizabeth Adejimi
This work is funded by Southwark’s Black History Month Fund, with further support from Alan and Babette Sainsbury Charitable Fund.
Supported by
A Bonfire Night Workshop
Remember, Remember..... goes the old rhyme but how well do you know the story of Guy Fawkes?
Join Further Theatre’s Ollie Yellop for a fun interactive storytelling workshop on The Gunpowder Treason and Plot. Learn the gruesome details of Guy’s fate and then use your imagination to tell the story in your own words.
Ollie Yellop regularly works with the Blue Elephant on workshops and shows, most prolifically as the character Cow. These one-hour online workshops jump into the history behind Bonfire Night and are aimed at children aged 7 - 11. Children taking part should have a pen/pencil and paper with them.
The workshops are free and will take place via Zoom.
Supported by
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Celebrating Black Voices - Heroes Drama Workshop
This Black History Month, we are celebrating Black voices and Black heroes.
Alongside the five monologues we commissioned about inspirational Black people, we are running online drama workshops for ages 7 - 10 to explore what we think makes a hero and learn a little more about Black people who have made a big difference.
These free hour-long workshops are supported by Southwark's Black History Month Fund. They will take place via Zoom and the link will be sent out before the workshops; children under 16 should not have Zoom accounts and should use an adult's or log on as a guest if possible. We will send out guidelines around the use of Zoom and our own safeguarding measures to those who book.
These workshops were originally planned for October 27th and then postponed to October 31st.
Supported by
Drama Workshops with Literacy and Numeracy skills
Join Blue Elephant Theatre for some drama activities with a focus on literacy and numeracy for 7 - 10-year-olds.
These online sessions will reinforce numeracy and literacy topics this age group covers in school, exploring them in a creative manner, full of fun and games.
11am - Drama with Literacy skills
We'll be exploring different ways of writing and different topics through games, storytelling and drama.
2pm - Drama with Numeracy skills
Number games and creative activities will allow us to explore different topics such as problem-solving, reasoning and other numerical skills.
Workshops are FREE, and you can book for just one or both.
These are trial workshops and we may run more after half-term. They will take place via Zoom and the link will be sent out before the workshops; children under 16 should not have Zoom accounts and should use an adult's or log on as a guest if possible. We will send out guidelines around the use of Zoom and our own safeguarding measures to those who book.
Supported by
Virtual Tea & Chat: Arts Council Project Grants
Join Blue Elephant Theatre for a free tea and chat all about Arts Council England's Project Grants.
We're offering an informal opportunity to chat to us about your project ideas and ask any nagging questions. We'll be helping to demystify the process, giving you our top tips and generally providing a supportive ear. This is a friendly, interactive online session with some of the Blue Elephant Team.
Project Grants is Arts Council England’s open access programme for arts, museums and libraries projects, funded by the National Lottery. It has now re-opened and is accepting funding applications, prioritizing supporting independent organisations, creative practitioners and freelancers.
Blue Elephant Theatre’s free workshop will give a small number of individual artists and companies in the performing arts the opportunity to explore the application process. Blue Elephant Theatre supports emerging and early career artists, and has a strong track record on successfully advising on project grant applications.
As a virtual event, this will be taking place on Zoom (please provide your own tea!). Spaces are FREE but limited, so book ahead to secure a space.
Tell Your Story
These workshops are for anyone with something to say about themselves!
We will explore the topic of identity (who you are, where you come from), and particularly what it means to grow up locally in South East London. We'll be exploring these themes through writing and performance, looking at how to write a monologue that tells our stories. What would you like the younger generation to know? We will spend a few weeks collecting material and information about ourselves, and then turn this into creative performance, celebrating our own unique heritages and backgrounds.
For ages 16 - 24 (ideally living locally to Blue Elephant), taking place over Zoom. The link will be sent out before the first session, so keep an eye on your email for this.
The course will run every Monday evening between 3rd to 24th August, plus Thursday 27th, from 7.00pm - 8.30pm via Zoom.
Places are FREE, but need to be booked in advance to guarantee a space. Click here to book.
Tackling Arts Council Project Grants
Blue Elephant Theatre offers a free online workshop about navigating Project Grants applications. If the thought of facing Grantium brings on a cold sweat, we aim to help with some reassurance, tips, prompts and clarity.
Project Grants is Arts Council England’s open access programme for arts, museums and libraries projects, funded by the National Lottery. It has now re-opened and is accepting funding applications, prioritizing supporting independent organisations, creative practitioners and freelancers.
Blue Elephant Theatre’s free workshop will give individual artists and companies in the performing arts the opportunity to explore the application process. Blue Elephant Theatre supports emerging and early career artists, and has a strong track record on successfully advising on project grant applications.
The application process can be daunting so our aim is to demystify, offer a friendly space to discuss the process and lend a helping hand to those intending to apply. The workshop is open to those who have already made applications in the past and those new to the process, as an opportunity to re-familiarise and adapt to the changes in the guidance.
The workshop will:
Introduce the application process
Cover some of the changes in guidance and what’s now eligible.
Discuss the “Let’s Create’ strategy.
Offer an opportunity for questions and trouble shooting.
This workshop is for everyone; whether you have a project you are planning to apply for already or not. If you don’t, it might be helpful to come with a hypothetical project in mind but you won’t be asked to talk about it unless you’d like to.
This workshop is not a substitute for the general guidance and the supplementary guidance on Project Grants which has been provided during the current Covid 19 crisis. This can be found on the Arts Council England website. You may find that reading it in advance will help you to get the most out of the workshop.
Treasure (Cancelled)
Treasure will no longer be performed on March 23rd. Ticketholders have been informed and refunds issued.
When the storm comes, what will you hold on to?
Our lives are shaped by our connection to the sea. It flows through our memories and our history, with each passing day measured by the turning tide.
Treasure is a fearless and physical dance performance, exploring our innate human fascination with our seas and coastlines. Through powerful movement and beautiful original music, five dancers uncover our deep-buried past and confront a future shaped by climate change and pollution.
As seas rise and ecosystems start to collapse, Treasure asks: what have we lost? And what happens now?
This emotive work sets urgent questions alongside a rush of explosive dance that echoes the power and unpredictable beauty of the sea.
Forged Line Dance company was founded in 2016, and is based in Bath. The company creates accessible and thought-provoking contemporary dance, telling human stories inspired by science and heritage. Forged Line’s first work Lina told the story of sibling astronomers William and Caroline Herschel, and toured in 2017 and 2018.
Treasure makes use of some flickering (but not strobing) lights during the performance. Please contact the Box Office on 020 7701 0100 or email info@blueelephanttheatre.co.uk for further information.
Supported by
Murmurations: The Last Bird & Seeing Earth
A Counterpoint Dance Company and Lunar Salute Company double bill
The performance also includes dance films:
Interprète - Inappropriate Behaviour (2015) by Sonia Yorke-Pryce
Journeys of Internal Migration by Counterpoint Dance Company
The Space Between by choreographer Mary Davies and film maker Eleanor Mortimer
Counterpoint Dance Company presents Murmurations: The Last Bird.
Murmurations: The last Bird is a dance work that questions the world as we observe its slow destruction through human behaviour. We are observing climate change, a change in the resources of our planet and what impact that has on humans and animals. We ask: What would happen if there was only one bird left? How would we feel if nature was destroyed? If we would not be able to hear another bird singing?
Counterpoint Dance Company share a passion for valuing older dancers and their potential by developing them as dance artists and performers. They believe in bringing high quality work to theatres, festivals, community and non-traditional arts settings. With their work, they wish to inspire younger and older people to go beyond their limitations, believing as they do in the transformational power of dance.
With thanks to Ann Clifford for the inspiration provided by her poem, Murmurations, and to Silvana Desira for her contribution to costume design and choice.
Seeing Earth
Have we let the planet down?
Only fifty years since the moon landings, is the Earth irretrievably broken thanks to our careless behaviour?
Seeing Earth shows how we landed on the moon and saw Earth for the first time. It takes the elements of Earth, Air, Sun and Sea, showing their beauty and questioning the future.
Lunar Salute Company is a small collective of older professional dancers who came together in 2019 to make pieces that challenge everyday beliefs and expectations. Their first piece Lunar Salute was made for a celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the moon landings and was danced under Luke Jerram’s moon sculpture at Bloomsbury Festival. Following the success of Lunar Salute's first showing, the collective have developed work, expaning on the theme of a view of the Earth from space. In Seeing Earth, they ask if that perspective of incredible beauty has stuck with us?
Lunar Salute consist of three core members, Fionuala Power, Simona Scotto, Teresa Thornber-Mann (known as TT). For this performance at Blue Elephant Theatre, they will be joined by guest artists Nicholas Minns and Kim Mendez.
Original concept: Teresa Thornber-Mann
Music: from Skylight by Kim Planert
Photo Credit: Chris Daw
Love Your Mind
Love you, love your mind.
EQ Dance Company presents its first mental health dance evening Love Your Mind.
EQDC hopes to make this a first of many events to help support and join the mental health conversations through the medium they know best, dance. This evening consists of exploration around the topics around loneliness, growing up, self-reflection, and male mental health.
Come see this evening of live dance, and dance film made by Artistic Director David West, and member Ana Cristina De Albuquerque. Come join the conversation, meet others that share an interest in creating a healthier, happier society in body, mind, and soul.
The evening consists of the following pieces:
Treading Water
Treading Water is upcoming production around the subject of growing up, and self-reflection told in the form of a narrative around two characters Jo and Ashley, set in the school they both went to. Throughout their lives, they take a walk in each other shoes from when they first meet as kids, to when they meet again as adults. The production has just finished its final development stage, and this excerpt is taste towards what the final production may look like as it makes its way to the first preview.
Stigma MH
Stigma MH explores male mental health not just in its broadness, but how its effects those in marginalised groups. Stigma MH delves into some of the things the LGBTQ community face, exploring masculinity, what it is and/or could be. Amongst all this what we have found is how important it is with who you decide to surround yourself with and the company you keep.
P.s: Ama-te
P.s: Ama-te explores the duality between solitude and loneliness. It is inspired by the frequent and sometimes suffocating internal monologues, which can emerge in these moments of introversion. It shows a mystical and deceptive reality, with a possible perspective on what solitude can bring, or even, the sensations one might experience as a social outcast.
EQDC is an exploratory project-based company of dance artists, working in collaboration to create and deliver dance experiences with impact based in London.
Led by choreographer and Artistic Director David West, EQDC connects freelance artists with a group of talented dancers to explore and enliven creative ideas, and advocates for positive mental health.
Content warning:
Stigma MH contains references to suicide.
Recommended for ages 15+, or 12+ with parental supervision.
Good Blood
Good Blood looks closely at the relationship between two sisters. Keira and Sioda use dance, live music, song and storytelling to bring hilarious, nostalgic and familiar family scenarios to the stage. Their honesty and humour shed light on the bonds that hold us together and the people who make us who we are.
Keira Martin and Sioda Adams were born and bred in Barnsley, Yorkshire. They trained at the Northern School of Contemporary Dance and have gone on to have successful careers working for the past 20 years travelling around the globe, including; Bermuda, Jamaica, Costa Rica, Brazil, Spain, USA and Ireland, to name but a few.
The two sisters are inspired and influenced by their working-class upbringing, politics and Ireland, where their parents came from. They are both mothers and have an unforgettable dynamic that is humorous and heartwarming. If there is one thing they both agree on, it’s that you don’t get owt without hard graft.
Praise for previous work:
"These are the stories that people must hear; this is the art people must experience if we are going to live in the compassionate world most of us desire to live in."
danceartjournal.com
"The sheer physicality of the performance was stunningly visceral"
Audience Member
Commissioned by Northern School of Contemporary Dance - Northern Connections, 2Faced Dance Company - The Bench Seed funding, with support from Yorkshire Dance, Vincent Dance Theatre, Spin Arts and Dance City.
Supported by
The Cocoon
This raw and uplifting celebration of womanhood uses music, spoken word and exhilarating choreography to explore the female experience. On this humorous, poignant and empowering journey, we encounter mothers, daughters, sisters and friends as we shift and emerge into new worlds, from Greggs in Leeds to the beaches of Cornwall and everywhere in between. These worlds and the stories within are a colourful mix of fantasy and reality. With stories gathered and shared by women's groups across Greater Manchester, this work searches to connect women to each other, and to themselves.
The Cocoon premiered at Z Arts in 2019 to great acclaim and now embarks on performances in both Manchester and London. With a newly commissioned musical score by Richard Smithson, and an updated cast of five unapologetically fearless female dancers, The Cocoon promises to be a joyous celebration of femininity.
Coalesce Dance Theatre is a Manchester-based, female-led contemporary dance company. Directors Fern Wareham and Rachel Maffei have established an ethos that places people at the heart of their practice. Coalesce Dance Theatre approach subjects that are current and topical, uplifting and engaging audiences with their thoughtfully crafted choreography.
The company was formed in 2017 and have received a number of commissions, as well as support by Arts Council England's Grants for the Art for a range of projects.
Praise for Coalesce Dance Theatre's previous work:
"Episodes are knitted together with unison movement hinting at strength, comradeship and the multidimensionality of femininity...thoughtfully crafted and elegantly performed."
Emma Hopley - Emma Reviews Shows.
Coalesce Dance Theatre - The Cocoon Trailer from CoalesceDance on Vimeo.
Reviews
Supported by
Cow's Rainy Day
Cow is very excited about celebrating his best friend Amy's birthday. He's planning to make her the most amazing card she's ever seen.
But things don't go quite to plan and Cow feels down.
Luckily Amy is there to help Cow feel better - but she needs some helpers. Can you join her and cheer Cow up?
Cow's Rainy Day is a new short play for children, about learning new things, accepting mistakes, trying hard and being friends.
Suitable for ages 2+
Running Time: 30 minutes approx
Performances:
Thursday 20th Feb - 11.30am, 2pm & 4.30pm
Thursday 27th Feb - 2pm & 4.30pm
Sunday 1st March - 11.30am, 2pm & 4.30pm