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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
Seemingly Invisible
“Rain was pouring in London Town…”
People pass you by, time ticks away on a typical British morning until, out of the settling gloom, an almost tangible and apparently invisible force emerges… What this force offers is for every individual to discover.
Smoking Apples Theatre invites you to embark on a journey, through trial and tribulation, to the ultimate destination where they give you back your dreams…
The Book of Disquiet
Listed as one of The Guardian's top 100 books of all time, Fernando Pessoa’s Book of Disquiet was discovered in a trunk in his apartment in Lisbon after his death in 1935. Part novel, part memoir, part philosophical meditation on the futility of living, Pessoa’s Livro defies definition and endures as a testament to modernist writing.
Why do I feel strangely drawn to the kind of people I’d usually run a mile from? Religious fundamentalists, for example. At least those guys make an effort. They yearn for what they really don’t know. The rest of us cross the stage as walk-ons, extras, without any lines. Satisfied with the pompous solemnity of the crossing itself.
(Wo)men and me
"'Cause it's OK to be a boy
But for a boy to look like a girl
Is degrading
'Cause you think that being a girl
Is degrading
But secretly you'd love to know
What it's like, wouldn't you?
What it feels like for a girl"
Charlotte Gainsbourg, Secret Garden
Performance maker and choreographer Tonny A returns to the Blue Elephant with an exploration of androgyny and psychological identity with this new dance double bill.
AR-men is a male duet which engages in a physical dialogue, playing with their bodies' own contradictions, contrasts and similarities, to perfect and eventually challenge the ultimate image of the Masculine Man.
Women in Me ponders what a man is meant to make of his sexual and social identities when he re-acquaints himself with his lost femininity. A blend of sensual, erotic and dark undertones, this solo piece playfully takes on what it feels to be feminine inside a man's body.
Sweet or Sour specializes in contemporary performance as well as in experimental dance and physical theatre, often crossing over various artistic disciplines to conceive pieces that deal with sexuality, ethnicity and social identity.
Transformers
An exhibition of mixed media drawings.
Costume transforms; the performer transforms... 'Walk a mile in my shoes' means so much more if they are transparent perspex stilettos and if you are a six foot muscular black man.
How we perceive ourselves and how others perceive us cannot be controlled but it can be manipulated and subverted. How we dress can be manipulative and subversive...
Barbe Bleue
Bluebeard had many wives, in succession, and killed every one. Can Louise turn the tide, or will she too fall victim to Perrault's notorious killer?
The setting: a London artist's studio flat. The time: very early in the morning... Or is it very late at night? Louise is sleeplessly searching for inspiration, until her work is interrupted by the arrival of a surprising visitor. Theatre Témoin uses puppetry, clowning, and original music to take you on a journey through urban isolation and psychosis to unlock the forbidden chamber of the creative mind.
A reworking of Barbe Blue has been given a full production at The Blue Elephant Theatre from Tuesday 28 February - Saturday 17 March under the new title of The Fantasist.
Casa and Magical Chairs
Casa
A theatrical dance piece with elements of structured improvisation, a collage of still images and stylized sketches inspired from typical everyday life situations.
Big heavy coats come to life... Characters go through individual journeys... Sense of belonging and what makes a place home are questioned...
Magical Chairs
"There are an estimated 143 million abandoned chairs worldwide. Many millions more are abandoned or separated from their immediate and extended owners, living on the street, in institutions, or supporting their siblings on their own..."
A short play about childhood, magic tricks and musical chairs brings you a game of the absurdist kind, with realistic undertones and dystopic nuances. Can you take it seriously? Can you enjoy it?
www.youtube.com/user/annaritamazzilli#p/a/u/0/J60xJa3CEbQ
Mervyn Peake 1911-1968: Centenary Celebrations
The Blue Elephant marks Mervyn Peake's centenary year with a mini-festival of his plays and poetry celebrating his diversity as a writer. Following our world premiere of The Cave last year, we discover once again that Peake's imagination and inspiration extended far beyond Gormenghast...
Tuesday 26 April: Rehearsed reading of Noah's Ark
Intended for children, Peake’s unmistakable prose makes his behind-the-scenes account of this well-known biblical story just as engaging for adult audiences. Originally aired on BBC radio, this charming play is long overdue a theatrical staging.
Noah's Ark was given a full production at the Blue Elephant Theatre for Christmas 2011.
Wednesday 27 April: Rehearsed reading of Mr Loftus or And a Horse of Air
The dust in his room is ankle deep yet Mr Loftus still insists on being served tea and brandy by his butler. With an eccentric anti-hero whose manners are decidedly ungentlemanly, this previously unseen play is Peake's distinctive take on the comedy of manners.
"Mad? Did you say mad? I have gone sane. That's much more difficult."
Thursday 28 April: The Poems of Peake
An evening of Peake's poetry read, staged and interpreted by a range of artists. With a post-performance Q&A with the writer's son Sebastian Peake.
Trunkated
Rosie’s Pop Diary
Fringe Report Award-winning Comic Rosie Wilby started out as a singer-songwriter fronting her own band ‘Wilby’. The story of band relationships and breakups, bizarre auditions, parties and gigs was captured in words in the column Rosie’s Pop Diary that ran from 1996-2000 in the now defunct Making Music Magazine.
Mixing visuals, storytelling, stand up and acoustic versions of the songs written at the time, Rosie brings back to life the emotional rollercoaster of trying to make it in the music business at the height of Britpop… and investigates whether her column really told the whole story…
Yellow Moths & Spilt Milk
Four wise men once asked:
Is this the real life?
Is this just fantasy?
Caught in a landslide
No escape from reality…
(Open your eyes
Look up to the skies and see)
Drawing on dreams, popular culture, autobiography, mythology and physics, Pachamama’s Bordello invites you to plumb the depths of reality from the cell to the celestial. Join us as we run across the planes of human existence with wild abandon. Prepare to encounter shady tricksters, a mother obsessed with birds, a poor version of Judy Garland, cabaret singers, hospital patients and eternal wanderers. Using a heady mix of live singing, physical theatre and snippets of stories, Yellow Moths & Spilt Milk pokes at what it means to be on this journey called life.
Asta Nielsen is Dead [a silent move]
"The silent film actress Asta Nielsen died in 1972
A performer doesn’t have a long life on stage
One of us has to die
Soon”
These are the first subtitles in this performance. Two performers will interact with projected texts and images, using methods found in silent films. As in these films, the performers will suffer from the tragedies of love & attempt to escape bizarre and humorous accidents. At the end there is just one open question: who is going to die?
Asta Nielsen is Dead is an experimental dance mime by
[RE:artzzZ]------re|thinking art.
Concept & Performance: Regina Fichtner & Patrizia Carlota
Music & Sound: Steve Haben
Editor: Ana Carrusca
Rubies In The Attic
1898 An Italian boards a boat for America as a Russian Jew. Mistakes Cable Street for Cape Town.
1900 Charles joins the circus.
1938 Pat is taken in by a bald man at the bar.
Beautiful and bold Cabaret Theatre created and performed by The Ruby Dolls. Rubies In the Attic explores the shared histories of four women, starting at the turn of the 20th century. Intertwining Coward with Klezmer and Tango with African folk, the Dolls cross musical landscapes and political divides. Join them as they unearth their beginnings and sing their back way home.
Not looking for anyone
"People want to be found, but they’re not looking for anyone…"
Guerilla Dance Project attempts to answer the question of what has become of
social dance and physical courting rituals in an anonymous urbanised society,
and what its prospects are as our social interactions become increasingly
digitalised.
The show examines this through the lens of a female individual, using
vocabulary from the company’s trademark ‘random acts of dance when you least
expect them’. As she observes the numb world around her, routine movements
unfold into a vibrant display of our contemporary physicality, forcing us to
'experience the everyday as aesthetic'.
Once Upon a Time...
Filskit Theatre is commited to creating work that ignites the imagination of
audiences. Using their own special 'Filskit' blend of micro projection, light,
movement, shadow and music, they take a closer look at a real fairytale
female...
http://www.filskittheatre.com/
Macbeth
Ambition, violence, tyranny and evil... Lazarus returns to Shakespeare for this explosive and blood thirsty production of one of the most iconic plays ever written.
Macbeth, Thane of Glamis, rises with a viscous and savage thirst for power, reputation and dominance. His rapid and sensational succession through the ranks - encouraged by his wife's dominance - leads to him being crowned King and ultimately his destruction.
A large ensemble of over fifteen actors will create this dark, violent and demonic production, combining text, movement and music to create a world of witchcraft, masculinity and divine intervention.
Tom's
Three shows, three critically-acclaimed offerings: since 2005 Sketty Productions have been using original puppetry to fuel their physical approach in creating emotive drama.
The work produced has been praised as extraordinary, innovative, beautiful and intelligent, and as much dynamic as it is deeply moving.
Taken from the true story of Tom Nabarro and his partner Ellen, this latest piece explores the lives of an inspiring young couple prevailing over apparent tragedy. What has been discovered is a story of astounding determination, unique love, hope...And laughter.
Recordings
Click to play
- Radio Interview
- Feature on Reprezent radio
Clichéd & Mind The Gap
Clichéd
Sebastian Rex Dance Group
Cliché: an overused expression or idea.
What happens when clichés are stripped from their meaning and being given new ones? Can Mendelssohn’s wedding march ever be used for the unhappiest day of your life? Will the Jaws theme tune ever signify anything less frightening or are there plenty more fish in the sea? Following critics’ choice in Time Out, SRDG return to the Blue Elephant with an exploration of the oldest phrases in the books…
Mind The Gap
Acting Like Mad
Mind the Gap is a playful exploration in story-telling, channelling into the futility of youth. Four friends go on holiday to London. They sit, talk, sleep with each other and play games in short staccato dialogue, with characters playing other parts in order to tell their stories. We get a glimpse into these young lives - their personalities and childhood traumas - in a quirky and energetic manner. Scenes are short and dynamic. Just like that sentence was. Even more so. Like that.
Reviews
Review by Vicky Bell from The Public Reviews
Review by Olivia Parker from Running In Heels
Recordings
Click to play
- Feature on Reprezent radio
The White Devil
Following a hugely successful production of The Duchess of Malfi at the Blue Elephant last year, Lazarus returns to John Webster to stage one of the finest and most complex Jacobean tragedies, The White Devil.
Vittoria, wife of Camillo, is consumed in a decadent and dangerous love affair with Duke Bracciano, husband to Isabella. Their intoxicating game of lust and sexual obsession leads to the destruction of the court and their own existence.
This passionate and tragic piece will be played by a large ensemble who - through the use of text, movement and music - create the debauchery and decay of the Italian court. The hunt is on for The White Devil…
Reviews
Review by Katie Shellard from Running In Heels
Review by Naima Khan from Spoonfed.co.uk
Review by Georgia Blake from WhatsOnStage.com
Press coverage
Interview with director Ricky Dukes
Recordings
Click to play
- Feature on Reprezent radio
The Cave [WORLD PREMIERE]
by Mervyn Peake
In one cave, thousands of years of history are played out. A history marked by conformity and the persecution of anyone who dares to speak out. One family struggles to live their day-to-day lives. Then one day a young girl enters the cave and throws their belief system into question.
This unsettling and powerful play by Mervyn Peake - author of Gormenghast - is a dark, inquisitive look at the nature of authority and its effect on the human condition.
There will be a post-show discussion with the writer's son, Sebastian Peake chaired by writer Neil Norman on Tuesday 26 October.
Reviews
It has streaks of the angry postwar nihilism of Anouilh and Sartre: the hopeful theme of rejecting fear and social coercion leads only to amoral fragmentation in the last act. But it is extraordinary: a howl, an imperfect and painful philosophical struggle, part of a remarkable artist's testament. Honour to the little theatre." –Libby Purves, The Times
Review by Caroline Jowett from Express.co.uk
Review by Paul Vale from The STAGE
Interviews
Interview by BehindTheFringe.com
Londonist Out Loud 2: Aaron Paterson from Londonist on Vimeo.
Rehearsal
The three artists involved in the exhibition to accompany the play 'The Cave' have spent a number of days watching and making drawings of the rehearsals. They have all responded in ways particular to their own working methods. Collecting images and ideas during rehearsals has been enormously inspiring for all three artists.
Florence Peake has concentrated on 'one to one' contact with the director and cast of the play and produced a set of drawings showing the dynamic nature of the rehearsals. By a mixture of quick observations and more 'worked' drawings she echoes her own practice in choreography and performance.
Lewis Peake, with his experience in film and television, has used a combination of photography and drawings as starting points for his work in the exhibition.
Fabian Peake has used the drawings and watercolours produced during the rehearsals to develop ideas and visual themes in his studio. The work produced displays a linear path which often diverges greatly from the original subject. The initial drawings 'on set' were the basis for a more cerebral interpretation of events encountered in the rehearsals.