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Past programme

Showcases an eclectic range of fresh and interesting contemporary work, largely by emerging artistslondondance.com
Theatre

Mervyn Peake and his Art

by Sebastian Peake

Date
Wednesday 4 June 2008

Photos courtesy of the Estate of Mervyn Peake

Mervyn Peake was a writer, artist, illustrator and a former tutor at Camberwell College of Arts. Best known for his Gormenghast trilogy, he also wrote poetry, short stories and plays for adults and children.

Captain Slaughterboard Drops Anchor

First published in 1939, Mervyn Peake’s pirate yarn has recently been re-issued, giving a new generation the chance to read about the exploits of Captain Slaughterboard and his crazy crew - Billy Bottle, Jonas Joints, Timothy Twitch, Peter Poop and Charlie Choke.

Mervyn Peake: an illustrated talk

Presented by Sebastian Peake

Inspired by his father’s incredible collection of paintings, photographs and letters, Sebastian Peake provides an exclusive insight into one of the most creative minds of the 20th Century.

Part of Camberwell Arts Festival 2008


Theatre

Out of Chaos

Winner: Best Production at the International Act Festival, Bilbao 2008 Winner: Audience Prize at 100° International Theatre Festival, Berlin 2008

Dates
Tuesday 20 May 2008 - Saturday 24 May 2008

Out of Chaos re-imagines the tragic chorus and incorporates live music, clowning and physical theatre in a devised piece that draws on the international origins of the actors.

In the beginning, there was chaos. Then the Gods took that chaos and gave it an order. They made the world and some animals and everything went pretty well. But one day Prometheus made a new beast, and he raised it up onto two feet so it could look at the heavens. And that's when things started to kick off. Gods and mortals, parents and sons, sisters, lovers and strangers on the Tube come head-to-head in a playful blend of Ancient Greek mythology and modern true stories, exploring the ways in which people fight and rage.

Out of Chaos had an Edinburgh run in August 2008

Winner:
Best Production at the International Act Festival, Bilbao 2008

Winner:
Audience Prize at 100° International Theatre Festival, Berlin 2008


Theatre

Hide & Seek

by Temple Theatre

Dates
Tuesday 29 April 2008 - Saturday 17 May 2008

Set in the aftermath of environmental devastation, a woman scavenges amongst the ruins of the world she once knew. She discovers a baby and the things that matter the most become obvious as a result of the discovery.

Is she still looking for hope?
Can she find it?
And more importantly -
will she recognise it?

Using movement, puppets and original music, this is a tragi-comic tale of hope and humanity in the most desperate of circumstances.


Director
Tal Jakubowiczova
Set designers
Lauren Smith & Kiera Blakey
Lighting Designer
Pablo Fernandez Baz
Costume Designer
Tomasin Cuthbert
Composer
Hutch Demouilpied
Cast
David Ford, Ariana Lebron & Dominic Leeder
Theatre

Euripides' Hippolytus

by Revolving Doors Theatre

Dates
Tuesday 8 April 2008 - Saturday 26 April 2008

A dynamic drama with strong, contemporary issues regarding faith, family and taboo, explored using wonderfully rich characters involved in a complex human story.

Queen Phaedra lies sick with incestuous love for her stepson Hippolytus. Told of her passion by her faithful nurse, Hippolytus rejects her. Pride, shame, lust, revenge, honour and love interweave culminating in a progressively sharp web of lies and unspoken truths that result only in death and tragedy.

Utilising the rhythm, images and language of the text to layer the play with rich movement, music and song, this new version draws out the elements of ritual and ceremony that are inherent in Euripides’s text and structure.


Adapted & directed by
Aaron Paterson
Designer
Talulah Mason
Lighting Designer
Jason Kirk
Cast
Dimitris Christopoulos, Daniel Curshen, Shakti Edwards, Bodelle de Ronde, James Sutherland, Rachel Webster, Sarit Wilson Chen, Jackson Wright & Roxani Zogana

Press

‘This fast paced, imaginative piece of ensemble theatre leaves little to be desired and should not be missed by anyone.’ www.extraextra.org
Dance

Springheeled 2008

 

Three evenings of dance & multimedia works that engage, entertain & inspire.

Dates
Thursday 3 April 2008 - Saturday 5 April 2008
Supported by
Arts Council England

  • Riccardo Meneghini 'Carry on Tripping'
  • Etta Ermini Dance Theatre 'Fixed Wheel'
  • Evolving Motion, Cathy Seago 'Vanishing Point'
  • Hagit Yakira 'Leah'

Press

"For dance audiences it [the Blue Elephant] can be an intense experience - especially if you're used to studying abstract geometry from the heights of the upper circle. These are real, powerful, bodies, right in front of you, complete with flesh, discernible faces and flying beads of sweat."
Theatre

Writers At Work

 

Rehearsed readings by the writers and directors of tomorrow

Dates
Wednesday 19 March 2008 - Friday 28 March 2008

Closed Circuit

  • Writer: Sara Pascoe
  • Director: Katie Lewis

Closed Circuit deals with the macrocosmic issues of city life through the microcosm of a central London sex-shop. The story is told through theatrical naturalism and stylised montages, creating a sensory and thought provoking reflection of the city and the lives we all inhabit.

Strange Land of Stars

  • Writer: Emily Hunka
  • Director: Emma Hewitt
  • Cast: Simon Carroll-Jones, Brandy Doubleday, Laura Glover, Alex Watson & Ben Wigzell

A family celebrates. A stranger arrives at the door. Claiming to have a message, will he bring peace and goodwill or is he a dangerous threat waiting for the right moment to blow them apart? And in a nation obsessed with security, are they putting themselves at risk by letting the unknown in?

Strange Land of Stars asks: when do a country’s laws stop protecting its citizens and start persecuting them?

A new play about a land not too different from our own.

The Dada Suicides

  • Writer: Afsaneh Gray
  • Director: James Kermack
  • Cast: Sophie Michaels & Robert Orme
    • Jacques Vaché, a friend of André Breton, acquired notoriety after he killed himself and a friend in Paris in 1919. Waking up on stage, he finds himself the unlikely subject for a play.

      The Dada Suicides explores the fragility of the psyche from a place where all physical being is lost and only consciousness remains. With a Dada twist.

      Golden Lads & Lasses Must

      • Writer: Peter Lindley
      • Director: Rebecca Tortora
      • Lighting Designer: Jason Kirk
      • Cast: Irene Bradshaw, Gerald Davidson, Rachel Halliwell, Jen Holt, Terry Jermyn, Lucy Le Messurier & Holly Strickland

      London October 1998: Ted Hughes, the Poet Laureate, is dying of cancer. He slips in and out of consciousness, dreaming of Sylvia Plath, the one true love of his life, and the fateful weekend in 1963 when she committed suicide.

      The Americans

      Grey Light Theatre

      • Writer: Matthew Freeman (one of nytheatre.com's People of the Year 2004)
      • Director: Georgina Guy
      • Designer: Hilary Statts
      • Cast: Matthew Bulgo, William Fysh & Jack Farthing

      Presented as part of Grey Light Productions' series of contemporary American writing, in conjunction with the New York Metropolitan Playhouse.

      One young man sitting alone in his room writes a poem that in a moment of unexplainable magic causes his apartment to explode. In another part of town another young man finds his windows blown in by the blast. Downtown a third steps out onto the street to find himself covered with white plaster.

      With the identity of their hometown and of themselves under scrutiny, all three begin a search for the source of the disaster.


Gallery

Things I've Seen and Made by Ben, Age 30

by Ben Hathaway
Dates
Tuesday 11 March 2008 - Thursday 13 March 2008

An exhibition of work including oil paintings, cartoons, photographs and other follies, all made in the artist's small London flat, exploring the fight against the tedium and drudgery of modern life…

Ben Hathaway studied at Camberwell College of Art, London College of Fashion and the London Metropolitan University.

The exhibition includes Ben's collection of The Cat From Mars Pocket Cushions.

Theatre

The Harbour

by Limbik

Dates
Wednesday 5 March 2008 - Friday 7 March 2008

A child born as a fish; a woman trying to escape her past; sailors lost at sea. Set in an unnamed harbour town, this bold new show puts a contemporary spin on old stories of the sea, colliding a cast of characters all searching for shelter in a world past redemption. Combining elements of magic realism and the grotesque, the company uses the tools of physical theatre, puppetry and live music to bring this darkly comic world to life.


Director
Ben Samuels
Lighting Designer
Jason Kirk
Cast
Juan Ayala, Sarah Johnson, Sarah Moody, Ben Samuels & Will Pinchin

Press

"The impressive and skilful ensemble who devised The Harbour were as flexible as their props. It can often be difficult to integrate dialogue with a physical performance as one discipline can conflict with the other; however The Harbour united both perfectly" www.britishtheatreguide.info
Theatre

Seneca's Oedipus

by Leonie Kubigsteltig in association with Cherub Productions
adapted by Ted Hughes

Date
Thursday 28 February 2008
Supported by
Geothe-Institut London

This work is a first collaboration between Leonie Kubigsteltig (London) and Simone Younossi (Berlin). Together they are searching for new forms of experimental chorus work, based on its strong tradition in German theatre.


Director
Leonie Kubigsteltig
Chorus work
Simone Younossi
Lighting Designer
Boris Kahnert
Cast
Marcel Bruneau, Justin Davey Mitchell, Nick Richards, Caroline Thompson & Cath Whitefield
Dance

After They Left & Rumpelstiltskin

by Silversmith Dance Theatre

Two exciting and fresh pieces of dance theatre combining innovatively expressive movement with live electronic, instrumental, and environmental sounds created by award-winning composer John Chambers.

Dates
Thursday 13 December 2007 - Saturday 15 December 2007

SILVERSMITH DANCE COMPANY produces innovative and accessible dance theatre through artistic collaborations. The company’s work focuses upon human themes and narratives of a dark comedic nature, merging different movement styles with the theatrical to create thought-provoking contemporary work.

After They Left

A woman feels that her house and its memories are too painful, so she decides to move on... and live in her garden for a while. Come and peek over the fence as she is left to ponder on her loneliness, and indulge in her imagination and environment.

Rumpelstiltskin

This classic Grimm Brothers tale is re-told through dark physical imagery and atmospheric music. Two dancers and four musicians conjure a world of power, greed, and sinister magic. A world in which a living thing is more precious than any treasure.


Dance

Meet Me In The…

 

An evening of collective arts selected by three female choreographers

Dates
Thursday 13 December 2007 - Saturday 15 December 2007
Art accompanying 'Meet Me In The' by
Alec Moors

Marks That Behold

Sylvia Ferreira Dance Company

  • Director & Choreographer: Sylvia Dos Santos Ferreira
  • Musician: John Chambers
  • Dancers: Lorraine Smith, Jacqui Johnston & Wang Chen Chang

Marks that Behold has enticed and embodied the dark and light images of the Catholic religion. The work explores the dancers' and choreographer’s interpretation of those images. The piece does not attempt to make a statement about the religion: that is what the audience is there for…

Bäzarre

Being Small Dance

  • Directors: Bruno Mathez, Lizzie Sells & Maria Svensson
  • Performers: Lizzie Sells & Maria Svensson
  • Composer: Benoit Seyrat
  • Film Designer: Bruno Mathez

Being Small Dance’s latest work is inspired by Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. First performed at Abundance International Dance Festival in Sweden in 2007, this new adaptation sees two dancers and a video artist experimenting more abstractly with the notions of dreams and surrealism.

Six Litres of Air

cupboarddances

  • Choreographer: Katja Nyqvist
  • Composer: Jacob Shirley
  • Performers: Katja Nyqvist & Jacob Shirley

Six Litres of Air explores the idea of breath as a rhythmic stimulus for movement and sound. It is a collaboration between a dancer and a musician playing the electric cello.


Theatre

Pelleas & The Lady of Shalott

by Revolving Doors Theatre

Dates
Tuesday 20 November 2007 - Saturday 8 December 2007

The legends of King Arthur are Britain’s version of the Greek Myths: big stories that are psychologically compelling and dramatically visual in their motifs and language.

Revolving Doors Theatre focuses on two such legends: Pelleas, the young knight's tale of love & betrayal, and The Lady of Shalott, the ill-fated maiden who falls in love with Sir Lancelot.

Pelleas

  • Written & directed by Louise Harley
  • Cast: Charlotte Ammerlaan, Martina Clarke, Jamie Debbage, Jago Northcote, Caroline Partridge & Patrick Ross

The Lady of Shalott

  • Poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson.
  • Adapted & directed by Aaron Paterson
  • Cast: Elizabeth Boag, Bodelle de Ronde, Anne Rabbitt & Heather Saunders

Dance

Memories of Three

 

Dates
Thursday 15 November 2007 - Saturday 17 November 2007

In a Place of Uncertainty

  • Choreography: Chris Clow
  • Performers: Lauren Aizlewood, Andrej Gubanov & Minami Tamagawa
  • Music: Oli Newman

What happens to the world around you, when someone you love becomes a distant memory? In this beautifully crafted trio, three stories are told through an innovative work that blends dance, music, film & lighting.

Human Echo

  • Choreography: Maria Korsnes
  • Music: Rob Colquhoun
  • Lighting: Gregor Knuppel

An atmospheric study of home, of memories of a visual landscape & thoughts about the environment we now find ourselves in. Drawing on personal memories and experiences alike, layers of textures and moods are presented to the viewer by moments of stillness and thought.

Somewhere Between a Self and An Other

  • Choreography: Hagit Yakira
  • Performers: Yarit Dor & Hagit Yakira
  • Lighting: Hagit Yakira
  • Costume Design: Ruggiero Desantis
    • This is a performance based on a lengthy experiment which combined self exploration and movement research with aspects of Lacan's post modern theory on self identity. The work explores inter-personal relationships in a Lacanian context (amongst other post modernists) and discusses how relationships of oneself with an other and oneself with his own memory (memories), influence our individual search for identity.


Press

"A contemporary dance treat" www.extraextra.org
Gallery

Photographic exhibition accompanying 'Memories of Three'

by Julia Burnstein
Dates
Thursday 15 November 2007 - Saturday 17 November 2007

Burstein's dance photography evolves from her experience both as a photographer and a dancer.

She photographs the performing arts, collaborating with choreographers and dancers, creating still images that convey not just the physical aspect of the performance, but the experience as a whole, comprised of all senses; the rhythm; the space; the relationship between the dancers; the relationship between dancers and space; watching the dancers, witnessing the moment, translating and capturing the essence of a transitory creation.

Theatre

Behind the Mirror

“An exhilarating piece of theatre” Metro ★★★★

Dates
Tuesday 23 October 2007 - Saturday 10 November 2007

Man loves Woman, Woman loves Man - but Man has a mirror image, hell-bent on ruining everything…

A fast, comic and touching love story - without words.

Behind the Mirror had an Edinburgh run in August 2008 and was nominated for a Total Theatre Award.

Theatre Adinfinitum website

Theatre Ad Infinitum became an associate company at The Bush Theatre earlier this year.


Directed and conceived by
George Mann (Best Solo Performer for "The Odyssey", The Stage Awards for Acting Excellence 2009)
Devised & performed by
George Mann, Deborah Pugh & James Turpin
Photo by
Adeline Ishiomin

Press

"The Lecoq-trained mime ensemble Theatre ad Infinitum have moved to the front of the pack, their vivid mix of theatre, clowning and storytelling gaining them critical acclaim as well as a Fringe Best award for Behind The Mirror" The Guardian