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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
Sally the Sassy Seed - Storytelling at Elephant Park
Join Blue Elephant Theatre for interactive storytelling at Elephant Park!
Inspired by nature and aimed especially at early years, the Blue Elephant storytellers bring the tale of Sally the Sassy Seed to life! A treat for local families.
Tickets are FREE, and can be booked here. Booking in advance is advised but not essential.
Performances on the first Wednesday of every month:
Wednesday 6th June at 11.00
Wednesday 4th July at 11.00
Wednesday 1st August at 11.00
Please note these performance are in Elephant Park only, and NOT at Blue Elephant Theatre.
Trojan Horse
Why should I continue to be tolerant? When the world has been so intolerant of me.
A new documentary play by LUNG (E15, The 56 and Chilcot), Trojan Horse follows the real life stories of Muslim teachers and governors who were accused of plotting extremism in Birmingham schools.
Founded in Barnsley in 2012, LUNG are a verbatim / documentary theatre company who make work with communities, for communities and about communities. LUNG create work that shines a light on political, social and economic issues in modern Britain using people’s actual words to tell their stories. The company is led by Matt Woodhead (winner of Director’s Guild Best Newcomer 2015) and Helen Monks (Upstart Crow, Raised By Wolves). LUNG’s work is published by Oberon Books. Previous shows include: The 56, E15, Chilcot.
Both performances have now sold out - please call the Box Office directly on 020 7701 0100 to add your details to the waiting list
Supported by
An Evening, A Beginning
KAMIENSKI. presents a new double bill entitled An Evening, A Beginning, premiering two new works.
Exploring two aspects of creation – emotional and analytical - the evening delivers pleasure for the eye, and challenges for the mind. Witness the beginning as we take you on a journey, starting in a bedroom and going all the way to the M00n.
BED - inspired in theme by Tracey Emin's work My Bed, the choreography explores the partnership, connection and intimacy between two people. Exposing what we like to keep private, we invite you to have a peak.
X is M00n - abstract and physical, X is M00n focuses on the connections of physics and outer space. From M10n the anxiety grows, as we inevitably head towards the zero - M00n.
KAMIENSKI. is a contemporary dance company led by Andre Kamienski. We combine the forms of performing and visual arts to create contemporary works – daring, challenging and unpredictable. We manipulate the body through the search of unexpected connections and unheard stories.
Please not X is M00n contaisn strobe lighting effects.
The Dame
The curtains fall on another show and a seasoned pantomime dame is alone in his dressing room, unaware he is preparing for his own performance of a lifetime. Ronald Roy Humphrey has returned to the northern seaside town where he grew up for the Christmas season, and finds himself bitterly confronted with why he left all those years before.
As he starts to excavate his past, he steps back into history; bringing to life the ghosts who once paraded and performed along the piers and promenades, removing the layers one by one until he arrives at a tragic truth he had spent his whole life trying to forget.
A lost world of seaside entertainment, old time music hall and pantomime are brought to life in this one-man show where the past and present collide, magical realism meets bleak reality, and however many masks we wear, the truth will always be revealed.
The Dame is a father and daughter collaboration, a one man show starring Peter Duncan, written by his daughter Katie Duncan.
Originally inspired by their family history of seaside summer entertainment and pantomime, which Peter grew up surrounded by, it gradually evolved into a fictional, dark drama set amid the nostalgic backdrop of this golden, forgotten era.
Peter Duncan is an actor and presenter, probably best known for presenting Blue Peter in the 1980s. Ian Talbot directs, and is best known for his role as Artistic Director of The Open Air Theatre, Regents Park for 20 years.
'It's a heartbreaking story, beautifully written and powerfully played' Edinburgh Evening News
Reviews
Where the Hell is Bernard?
Set in an office high above the city in a strange imagined future, Where the Hell is Bernard? sees four women hard at work. Their sole job is to anonymously return lost items. Everything runs like clockwork under a strict regime, until one day a box of returned objects mysteriously bounces back, leading to a mission that could change the future of humanity.
Mixing magical visuals, movement, live song and clown, award winning Haste Theatre create a darkly comic warning for the future.
Previous Praise of Haste Theatre:
"Haste Theatre’s earnest production brims with boundless creative energy and a clear vision that makes...a thoroughly delightful piece suitable for all ages, impressing with their keen sense of the theatrical and set in a timeless world.” Bakchormeeboy
"Haste are a company who don’t act without thinking, and the results are clear in the theatre that they produce." Culturised
Boxman
There are more than 60 million displaced people on our planet... people who have no home
Ringo is one of them. He is a survivor, a child soldier displaced from his homeland, sheltering in a cardboard box in an inner city park. He lives in plain sight but is invisible to the city around him. But inside his makeshift ‘home’, Ringo lives a life rich with stories and songs of a childhood far away, a family tragically lost and the complicated promise of a new beginning.
There will be a short post-show Q&A on July 4th with a panel including representatives from Refugee Action, as well as Director Edwina Strobl and Performer Reice Weathers.
Started by sisters, Edwina and Victoria, Flugelman Productions brings together writers, performers, musicians and dancers from all over the world, inspired to tell great stories. They believe that theatre can save the world. Too grand a statement? At the very least, it can make all our lives better by helping us understand a little more of what it means to be human.
Reviews
The Croydon Avengers
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Regina Rump is on the rampage! A trio of masked vigilantes send Croydon’s crime rate plummeting. They’ve run away from their war-torn homes and are just trying to help.
But Regina’s not happy. She orders her media empire to unmask the Avengers and get them off the streets. Are they terrorists? Criminals? Either way, she thinks they’re a threat to British identity.
Then a freak accident at the Gatwick deportation centre gives the trio powers beyond their wildest dreams. Can three teenage refugees really become the saviours of a doomed nation?
The Croydon Avengers blends comic book visuals with action-packed martial arts to tell a funny, powerful story of terrorist threats, heroism and true friendship in an England that seems frightened of anyone who’s different.
Led by Suzanne Gorman, Maya Productions creates diverse theatre to create change: socially, politically and culturally. Their vision is a world where people of all ages, abilities, culture and classes have the opportunity to experience world class theatre.
Aimed at young people aged 8-14 and their families.
Please be aware the performance on Friday 29th June is now fully booked.
The Croydon Avengers is a co-production with Ovalhouse and Harrogate Theatre and is supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England, Croydon Council, Teale Charitable Trust and The Newcomen Collett Foundation.
The Croydon Avengers @ Blue Elephant Theatre from Maya Productions on Vimeo.
RUNNER UP
A series of performance actions and choreographies responding to ideas around the feeling of FAILURE.
This performance is a work in progress showing and will be followed by a short discussion hosted by the artist.
Robert Hesp is a performance artist and contemporary dancer based in London. His work frequently straddles a variety of disciplines, using the tensions and overlaps as fertile ground for experimentation.
The Family Blimp
The Klump Company throw open their front door and cordially invite you in to meet The Family Blimp.
Physical theatre, grotesque and a lick of the absurd come together as the Blimps attempt to navigate through a strange new place and meet the demands of their newfangled community.
Let’s play Home Sweet Home, after all - there’s no place like it.
The Klump Company are a brand spanking new ensemble, fresh from internationally acclaimed Ecole de Jacque Lecoq. They could mime the knickers off your granny. They probably won’t though…
A Very Elephant Afternoon
Drama, games and storytelling for all the family!
As part of Southwark Refugee Week Blue Elephant Theatre are hosting a 2 hour fun-filled drama workshop for all the family. Bring yourselves and your children along to play games, make up stories, laugh and have fun together. If you like the session you can find out more about joining our Young People’s Theatre on a regular basis!
*unaccompanied children are welcome, but must be dropped off by a responsible adult who will provide an emergency contact no. and give parental consent to attend
The session is completely FREE but please book via eventbrite so we know numbers to expect: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/a-very-elephant-afternoon-tickets-4643904...
The Tale of the Cockatrice
Deep in the vaults of an ancient priory a hideous creature awakens. A deadly cockatrice is born! Bold knights flee in terror... Can a humble nun defeat the beast?
Multi-Award-Winning Mumblecrust Theatre present two muddle-headed storytellers, an obscure British legend, breathtaking puppetry and spine-tingling live music in this dark and winding fable for monster-lovers young and old.
Winners:
“Best Newcomer to Brighton Fringe” and “Best of Brighton Fringe: Children and Families Award” 2017
“a genuine work of art” - The Voice
Mumblecrust Theatre is an award-winning theatre company based in the South West of England. Co-Artistic Directors Katie Underhay and Anthony Burbridge came together to fill a niche in children’s theatre, where slightly older children often get left out. From this collaboration, The Tale of the Cockatrice was born.
Age recommendation: 4+ (Perfect for 7-12 year olds!)
Supported by
Cassandra
Based on Aeschylus’ Agamemnon, Cassandra takes us on a very personal journey through some of the struggles many women face in their lives; the choice between what’s expected of them and how they feel. Touching on the themes of #metoo and #timesup, Cassandra is an exploration of giving a voiceless woman an audience.
Established in October 2016, Found in Translation’s mission is to take Classical stories and update them for today’s audiences. They produce work that promotes education in the arts and Classical subjects to those that don’t have easy access.
Suitable for ages 16+
Monstera Deliciosa
For one evening only, the Blue Elephant transforms into the Monstera Deliciosa group exhibition!
The performances individually and collectively interact with the playful dynamics and potential of the theatrical space and time as an exhibition. The coexisting works investigate the simultaneous opposites of orderly disorder, synchronous spontaneity, anticlimactic climax, the humorously serious and the theatrically honest.
Keep Reaching For The Stars by Beth Chapman
An angry wrestler explores the relations and boundaries within group exhibitions, while exposing the frustration of artists.
Fear of the Unknown by Beatriz Creel
You are invited to a collective game of breaking through the fear of the unknown. A participatory performance based on the festive game of the piñata.
2000-2012 by Kyriakos Tsirigotis & Ioanna Bili
A sculptural and choreographic performance influenced by the autobiographical elements of the artist’s experience in the Greek Navy. A durational process of discipline, healing and absurdity.
Untitled by Wright & Vandame
Remnants of celebrations or traces of a performance. This site-specific installation insinuates the memory of fun as well as the melancholy of past moments.
This exhibition runs from 18.00 - 20.30. Tickets are FREE, but booking in advance is highly recommended. Please book here.
Brain Rinse
Journey through the corridors of your mind in this award-nominated interactive comedy show. Ridiculous characters will help you come together as an audience and discover your inner ninja. War, mountaineering, expressive dance and tantric air kissing, it’s all in there.
Allergy advice: this show contains traces of audience participation.
Globetrotting street performer Mike Raffone has decided to put a roof over his shows. And so Rinse Productions was born. Mike's most memorable street theatre event was when an on-duty policeman played the part of The Hot Cop in a recreation of The Village People.
Love & Spaghetti
A Truefitt Collective presents... LOVE & SPAGHETTI, their newest work exploring the complexity, vulnerability and simplicity of human relationships.
Human interpersonal relationships are vital for our survival, so why are we so s*** at getting them right? Two women perform their experiences as they fall apart and come together. This is the beautiful and terrifying thing about relationships; we must be willing to completely reveal layers of ourselves to reach an authentic, tangible connection with another soul.
An evening of LOVE & SPAGHETTI also features two new performance works: Too Close to the Bone (Elisha Hamilton) and Sorry Flowers Die (Jay Yule & Tommy Cattin).
Too Close to the Bone (Elisha Hamilton)
The audience find themselves amongst a particular unnerving world as both you and I expose parts of our lustful or lust-less lives.
Sorry Flowers Die (Jay Yule & Tommy Cattin)
A shift between unknown and privacy is also a journey between absurdity and tenderness, a strange cohabitation that still reveals an inability to communicate as human beings.