Blue Elephant Theatre, Camberwell

Blue Elephant Theatre Announces Artists for 2018 Residencies

Blue Elephant Theatre is delighted to announce the artists chosen to be part of its inaugural residencies scheme. The residencies will support the research and development of four new pieces of theatre, chosen from nearly two hundred applications. These are possible thanks to a grant from the Idlewild Trust, which seeks to improve opportunities for young professionals working creatively in the arts at an early stage in their careers.

Decoupage Collective - @decoupageco
Découpage Collective explore the territories between the conscious and the subconscious, working with new writing, live music and physical performance practices to create theatre that is intimate, visceral and poetic. Outside deconstructs a singular character into multiple beings who together try to articulate the complexity of sex workers condition and the perception of such condition by themselves. This sensitive subject matter will be explored through music, images and writing drawn from statements from these women.

Grace Duggan - @GraceDuggan
Grace Duggan is a working class artist, born in East London who recently graduated from East 15 Acting School. Driven by local communities and their diversity, Grace has previously worked with vulnerable adults, children and young people. The Average Project interrogates our cultural double standards of 'body image' as we enter a new era of how our body image affects ourselves, our class, our diversity and our outlook on others. If we objectify men the same way we’ve objectified women, what does this mean for our future?

Monument Theatre Company - @MonumentTC
Monument Theatre Company is influenced by the work of Simon McBurney, Jacque Lecoq and Philippe Gaulier. They aim to bring untold stories to life with passion, vision and imagination. Windrush Square takes us back to 1980's, Brixton. When a young black man dies in police custody, racial tensions are at an all-time high. At the heart of this story we meet a young couple in an interracial relationship whose love blossoms as the tension increases. How do their families deal with this? Does their love outweigh conflict?

Maeve O'Sullivan and Cait O’Sullivan - @OoMaeve
Maeve and Cait are Geordie-Irish sisters. Maeve is a graduate of the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, and although she has worked a lot in theatre, this is her first exploring original writing where she is integral to the process. Cait recently graduated from her Masters in Creative Writing from The University of Manchester, and is excited to be writing this as her third play. Living With a Dark Lord is a precious and personal story told from siblings growing up with a Dark Lord for a brother. A very real insight into the world of autism.

Niamh de Valera, Executive & Co-Artistic Director of Blue Elephant Theatre, says
“We are so excited to be offering formal residencies at the Blue Elephant – it’s been a dream for so long! We were blown away by the quality and dynamism of the applications we received so deciding on the final four was incredibly tough. We can’t wait to see what comes of their time at Blue Elephant and hope it’s only the start of our working relationships with each other.”

Blue Elephant Theatre aims to continue offering residencies in future to nurture companies in their infancy. It recognises importance of providing opportunities to support emerging artists and the difficulties caused by increased competition for funds and space. Previous examples of companies supported by BET include Theatre Temoin and On the Run.