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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
Split Bill: Meadow by Meadow / Serena Flynn: Prune in Progress
This is a split-bill work in progress performance from Meadow and Serena Flynn.
Meadow has a flair for the fabulous. She puts the "oh" in “oh my days” and the "ding" in "demanding." A famous vlogger, Meadow is now reaching out to her fans in real life and touring her new cabaret show to the masses. Join her for stories of heartbreak, the red carpet and her dog Choo Choo.
Serena Flynn’s ex cheated on her with webcam girls. She’s totally fine and doesn’t want to go on about it or anything. She’s just made a whole show about it.
Anarchic, grotesque and a bit nuts; this oversexed, outspoken bouffon playfully parodies gender performance and ridicules her own heartbreak.
Photo Credit (Meadow): Daniel Woodfield
Ribbet Ribbet Croak
Join Grandma and Grandpa Frog as they leave the pond to plan a big surprise. Help them keep a look out for their cheeky Grandfrogs, who pop up in unexpected places!
Featuring puppetry, Makaton and plenty of audience interaction, Ribbet Ribbet Croak is a playful multisensory exploration of frog life.
Ribbet Ribbet Croak is suitable for complex needs audiences and groups.
★★★ The Stage - "a great success"
★★★★ Broadway Baby - "a gentle and successful piece of theatre"
★★★ The List - "inventive sensory elements for an early years audience"
★★★★ Threeweeks - "plenty to see, things to touch and lots of sensory audience participation"
Performance Times:
Sunday 4th February: 12:00, 14:30 & 17:00
Tuesday 6th February: 10:00 (sold out), 11:30 & 13:45 (sold out)
Supported by
Desert Dust at The Star of Bethlehem
Developed as part of The Once Upon a Christmas Song Project, Blue Elephant Theatre and The Dot Collective are proud to present an alternative Christmas show, created from the magical stories, music and poetry springing from the dynamic minds of those with dementia.
The Dot Collective creates and provides professional theatre for those living in care, and share their work with the public. Not only do they bring innovative new theatre, but transform everyday spaces with all the aesthetics one would expect when going to the theatre.
Desert Dust at The Star of Bethlehem
Desert Dust at The Star of Bethlehem is a new play by Alexander Moschos (Brainville at Night, Found In Translation) directed by Dan Ayling (The Print Room, Hampstead Theatre, Arcola and regular Associate Director for Katie Mitchell). Presented by The Dot Collective’s latest project: Once Upon A Christmas Song, It has been written in response to ideas of participants we met during a series of theatrical workshops who live with dementia.
The night before Christmas, two siblings discover a homeless couple hiding in their pub and endeavour to keep their secret. Fusing sensory elements of live music, puppetry, immersive design elements and audience interaction, an ensemble of four professional actor/musicians will bring the spirit of Christmas alive. Join us as the three wise birds take us on a Christmas journey through the story of The Star of Bethlehem one night of Christmas Eve.
This project is truly a collaboration between the many minds met during the workshops, the playwright, director, designer and entire creative team.
Suitable for all ages
Reviews
Press
Breaking the Fourth Wall
A Christmas Carol
Will the spirits of Christmas transform the miserly old Scrooge? Which lucky audience member will get to play Tiny Tim? And who on earth gave the telly away? Wonderfully silly and tenderly heart-wrenching, Charles Dickens’ spellbinding tale is imaginatively brought to life in this fast-paced adventure comedy - featuring spooky spectres, audience interaction, and many a change of hat!
A perfect seasonal treat for ages five to five hundred, this tremendous new adaptation proves that nothing can replace your friends - and that with just a little kindness, the world can be very exciting indeed.
Supported by
Little Red Riding Hood
All previously advertised performances are sold out but there is a NEW performance on Saturday 9th December at 12.30 and there are still tickets left for this performance!
This much-loved story is reinvented as a playful pantomime. Moon On A Stick combine enchanting puppetry & storytelling with all the traditional pantomime elements in a fun, imaginative show.
Featuring live music, dance and audience interaction, get really involved with the story and help Little Red through the forest. Packed full of silliness, a sassy heroine and sparkles, this is the perfect introduction to panto for children aged 3+ and their families.
Performances on Saturday 9th December are relaxed performances, especially suitable for young children or those with additional needs.
Performance Times:
Thursday 7th December: 11:15, 13:45 & 16:30
Friday 8th December: 10:00, 11:15 & 13:45
Saturday 9th December: 14:30 & 17:00 - NEW performance at 12.30
Supported by
Blue Cloud Scratch
Blue Cloud Scratch is an exciting new dance scratch night, showcasing works in progress from a diverse range of choreographers, and is curated by Blue Elephant Theatre and Cloud Dance Festival. Blue Cloud Scratch aims to encourage and provide emerging dance artists with opportunities to present their works in progress and receive feedback from audiences and peers.
For more about the Blue Cloud Scratch and Cloud Dance Festival, click here.
Walls Between Us - Eriketi Andreadaki
Something there is that doesn’t love a wall. That wants it down.
So why do we continue to build them?
Walls Between Us explores the contradiction of creating and breaking boundaries and barriers. It dwells on the human need for fellowship and meaningful connection as well as the distance and barriers between us.
Drawing inspiration from Robert Frost’s Mending Wall, we investigate the concepts of limitation, personal space, touch and communication in an attempt to discover whether indeed “good fences make good neighbours.”
Eriketi Andreadaki is a London-based dance artist, originally from Athens, Greece. She graduated with a MA in Contemporary Dance from London Contemporary Dance School, where she toured nationally and internationally with postgraduate company EDge. She also holds a BA (Hons) in Media Studies and Communication. Since graduating she has worked with a number of independent artists, such as Joanna Kalm and A(r)ct. Her most recent choreographic work Walls Between Us was presented in October 2017 in Greece, in collaboration with Emi Amerikanou.
Performers: Sophia Sednova and Eriketi Andreadaki
Originally performed by: Emi Amerikanou and Eriketi Andreadaki
Baby Plus Two (Excerpts) - Bricolage Dance UK/Lise Smith.
“There is no more sombre enemy of good art than the pram in the hall,” said some bloke who
was clearly no good at multitasking. This solo is our rebuttal.
Pram firmly in the hallway, Baby Plus Two brings to life the physical and psychological experiences of early parenthood - from breast engorgement to mastery of nappy-sniffing via a constant low-level angst; filled, like motherhood itself, with angst, humour and love.
Lise Smith trained at Trinity Laban, graduating in 2006. She has produced companies including Kate Flatt, Scarabeus Aerial Theatre and Kamala Devam, and made work for companies including Cambridge Contemporary Dance as well as performing and rehearsal directing. She has worked with Bricolage Dance since 2012, becoming a co-director in 2017.
Performer: Jodie Adele Cole
Music: Lise Smith
Quebranto - Lucía Piquero & Renzo Spiteri
This work in progress is a personal collaboration based on ideas surrounding freedom of expression and the loss of it either by external means or personal impositions. It explores feelings of inadequacy, lack of words in the face of current political and social situations, and how, although it is not possible to express certain horrors, silence is even worse a response.
Choreographer Lucía Piquero and sound artist Renzo Spiteri come together once again to explore the possibilities of performance to incite discussion and present different view on current social issues
Performer: Lucía Piquero
Sound Artist: Renzo Spiteri
Exhibit F - Becky Namgauds
Exhibit F is a raw and commanding solo work exploring how female oppression, identity and a collective loss of memory are connected. For how long can women study their own absence? Bare chested and breathing heavily the performer searches her tendrils of hair which soon become parted and dragged across the floor.
Becky Namgauds has worked with artists such as Marion Motin, Holly Blakey and Marianne Elliott at the National Theatre, and is featured in videos for Dior, Klyne and Dua Lipa. Her solo work Severed Dreams has been performed around the UK and in 2016 Becky was selected by Hofesh Shechter to create ‘RodaDoras’ for East Wall Warm Up produced by East London Dance and Hofesh Shechter Company.
Performer: Becky Namgauds
Extra Direction: Marso Riviere
We Received Orders Not To Move - Margherita Borg and Ming
We have received orders not to move. We have been instructed how to sit, stand, walk. Our bodies reject these orders.
Ming & Marg Are currently studying at Roehampton University to receive an MFA in Choreography. They recently collaborated a lighting design for The Print Room’s International Festival.
Performers: Margherita Borg and Ming
The Invisible
She waits for airplanes to cross the sky. She wants to see the outside world. She folds paper planes. She takes a flight. She leaves home. She arrives in a foreign country. She feels invisible. She asks why.
A storyteller stands alone on the stage, sharing a story about an invisible character.
What happens when East Asian culture lands at Heathrow Airport? How much do you know about the invisible? How little do you know? The Invisible is a one-woman show by Yuyu Wang, drawing on real experiences of living in a foreign country, incorporating story-telling, music and movement. It aims to explore the vulnerability, homesickness and otherness of Asian communities overseas, offering a new perspective on current contemporary discussions around immigration, alienation and home.
Reviews
The Tricycle
Apal and Climando have to pay for the tricycle they hired but they don´t have the money. How far will they go to survive in a world where all hope of a future is lost?
Three teenagers and an old man try to survive in a hostile, unintelligible and alienating world. They’re just four marginal characters looking for their place in a system which forgot them. What will they do for the chance of a better tomorrow?
The Tricycle was the first play by renowned Spanish playwright Fernando Arrabal. Written in 1952, is a strangely light-hearted tale of poverty and murder. In this perfect example of Absurd Theatre, the writer questions the limits of freedom and the relationship between our acts and their consequences in a rotten society in which children commit sinister acts to survive.
Bright South Theatre, under the direction of Jesús Chavero, presents the London premiere of a new adaptation of The Tricycle. This young Spanish company presents its first project in English, portraying a playful yet disturbing world and posing questions as relevant now as when The Tricycle was first written.
Please note that Southwark Council is repairing footpaths outside our building and parking is currently restricted
Running Time: 75 minutes
Reviews
How to Cope with Embarrassment
The Two Pale Ladies, and their new pale mate present How to Cope with Embarrassment, an irreverent showcase of what makes us tick, blush, cringe and silently scream.
We want to explore what it is to be embarrassed and how it happens, so that maybe we can find a way of coping with it.
So that we can reduce the number of times a day we wish that the ground would open up and lose us within its burning furnace.
So that we may sleep better, with a clearer conscience.
So that we may be less embarrassed.
How to Cope with Embarrassment is part forum theatre, live art, cabaret, wanna-be comedy and a little bit of karaoke. Deliberately adopting a disloyal frame, it stomps between genres and styles as a reaction to the fickle and capricious nature of Embarrassment, with a focus on failure and error.
Please note that Southwark Council is repairing footpaths outside our building and parking may be restricted during this run
Reviews
Shakespearience
Join Shakespeare's Men as they fly through the Bard's Macbeth, Romeo & Juliet and Twelfth Night in a whirlwind hour of mischievous storytelling. With tons of audience interaction, more than a dash of mayhem and a star turn from one lucky adult (shhh don't tell!), Shakespearience is the perfect treat for all the family.
★★★★★ "Utterly hilarious... a wildly successful all-family show" - The Stage
★★★★ "They keep the children rapt and transported whilst giving them a great early start to the Bard" - The List
Please note that this performance will be filmed for promotional purposes.
Limited tickets remaining - please contact the box office on 020 7701 0100 for more information or to be added to the waiting list.
The Conversation
The Conversation is a performance which explores the topic of consent. Lauren considers the language of consent and how we talk about it, or, how we do not talk about it.
Don’t worry, she’s not looking to shock you and she’s definitely not angry at you. She just wants to impress you.
Lauren attempts to create a safe space where you feel relaxed and invited to enjoy yourself with the help of her hosting. All of this is for you, and she won’t let you forget it. She’s pulling out all the stops on this special night. She’s setting herself high expectations, and she may fail to meet them. You may feel the urge to leave, and you are welcome to, whenever you want.
But oh baby, please don’t go, she just wants you to stay.
Age restriction 15+
Reviews
The Dance Hall
An intimate story about an Irish family living in England, The Dance Hall touches on themes of immigration, loss, loneliness, family and, most importantly, (in)dependence.
After Annie dies far too young, Jimmy struggles with getting older, particularly with losing his independence. His family ‘tries to visit’ when their lives allow and we delve into Jimmy’s relationships with his daughter and granddaughter, tracking their attempts to support him as best they can. We learn about Jimmy's journey from Ireland, how he met his beloved Annie in the dance hall, and the loneliness of his life without her.
Thursday's performance is now sold out. Please call to be added to the waiting list
Reviews
Little Elephant Creepy Cook & Spooky Stories
Join Blue Elephant Theatre for some spooky, but friendly, interactive storytelling at the newly opened Elephant Park! Inspired by Halloween and aimed especially at early years, the Blue Elephant storytellers have a treat in store for local families!
Spooky storytelling at 2pm and 4pm.
Tickets are FREE - booking is advised but not essential. Book your tickets here.
Find out more about Elephant Park.
Please note these performances are in Elephant Park only, and NOT at Blue Elephant Theatre.
The Actualisation Show
Professional Optimists Harley & Pedro bring you The Actualisation Show.
We’ll forget you your troubles and believe in your dreams! Offered now at bargain prices - special rates negotiable!
Our practical demonstration begins at 8pm sharp. Meaning of life absolutely guaranteed or your money back. We’re optimistic that you won't be disappointed!
Ephemeral Ensemble is an international physical theatre company. Combining the skilled physicality of the performers, playful stage craft and vibrant music, Ephemeral Ensemble strives to create original, sincere and ambitious work that is inspired by human stories. The Actualisation Show is their first fully realised production, created following interviews with those affected by suicide.
Reviews
Supported by
The Man, The Myths, The Legends
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Following the successes of Female Intuition and Tit for Tat, Original Impact returns to the Blue Elephant to showcase more works of new writing, this time from a male perspective.
A night of new work from men, tackling the myths, bringing you the legends.
“Original Impact proves what is possible with a strong cast and some directorial creativity” Culturised on Original Impact’s Twelfth Night
The Rat King
Written by Bram Davidovich
Directed by Sean Hollands
Rat King tells the story of Kelly and Jacko, two young people whose worlds collide on the streets of East London. While Kelly is preparing to leave her comfortable life in the suburbs, Jacko is living the rough life of a homeless young man. When Kelly gets into trouble and is rescued by Jacko, their relationship takes on a life of its own.
Delicacy
Written by Mark Jones
Directed by Stephen Bailey
Eating human flesh is legal. (Technically.)
So, when Duncan and Jodie Gibson are told that they were served it at a dinner hosted by their - it turns out - serial killer neighbour, despite feeling like the victims of a crime, they're certainly not treated as such.
The Press brand them ‘the cannibal family'. While Amber, their teenage daughter, has decided to fully embrace their new flesh-eating image - despite not having had any of the meal herself.
Life for the Gibsons can only get stranger, as their unpalatable supper continues to gnaw away at the family.
Cubicle Confessions
Written by Darrel Draper
Directed by Dan Burman
Samarge works in a nightclub as a toilet attendant, often overlooked, ill-treated and disregarded by society. He is unfulfilled and living in the shadow of his father, a once beloved Priest who many worshipped. However, one evening when a highly intoxicated man opens up to Samarge about thoughts of suicide, he finds himself in an unfamiliar position, no longer being invisible, and having the power to be able to influence and effect this drunken man’s future. Or fate, as it would be. But can a once powerless, uninfluential man, carry the responsibility and weight of such a heavy confession?
The Rental
Written by Mark Harvey Levine
Directed by Joshua Jewkes
In The Rental, Sonya receives an extraordinary birthday present -- a rented boyfriend. He's the perfect man for her -- but he's only there for a day.
Croydon Ho Yo Yo Yo
Written by David Zaman
Directed by Kris Witham
My name’s Lizzi, a character in the play, and this version of events,
CROYDON HO, YO YO YO, weaves a torrid tale of sisterly deceit, a will to power, and what happens when messed up Esta and me screwed with the wrong President in the wrong time, wrong place. Which, boys ‘n’ girls, is to say it’s about sex, death: um-huh, sex ‘n’ death, babes, just how the Yankee Doodles like it. Me ‘n’ my sis’, sunny side up, raining down like bullets over bull. And poor Tommy, the President’s fixer – he came, he saw, he conked out.
The Red Telephone
Written by Alasdair Melrose
Directed by Dinos Psychogios
"A man sits alone at a table. A telephone sits in front of him. This is an antique red rotary telephone made by Siemens, engraved with an eagle, a swastika, and a name..."