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Past programme

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

Seemingly Invisible

A romantic, tragic, cheeky tale of human endeavour and heartbreak

Dates
Tuesday 27 September 2011 - Saturday 1 October 2011

“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…

Review in UK Theatre Network


Lighting Design by:
Karl Oskar Sørdal
Cast
Blake Aleksander, Molly Freeman, Matt Lloyd & Hattie Thomas.
Theatre

The Book of Disquiet

Directed by Nicholai La Barrie

Dates
Tuesday 14 June 2011 - Saturday 2 July 2011
Post-show discussion
On Tuesday the 22nd of June there was a post show discussion with Professor John London who specializes in performance analysis and the history of theatre.

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.

Review: Running in Heels

Review: Behind The Fringe

The Book of Disquiet Web Page


Translation/adaptation by
Mark O'Thomas
Lighting design by
Pablo Fernandez Baz
Cast
Alex Clarke, Sara Lewerth, Gareth Murphy, Emily Wallis
Dance

(Wo)men and me

 

Dates
Tuesday 7 June 2011 - Saturday 11 June 2011

"'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.


Cast
Tonny A, Jean Magnard & Nick Smith
Gallery

Transformers

Dates
Wednesday 20 April 2011 - Saturday 11 June 2011

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...

Theatre

Barbe Bleue

By Theatre Temoin

Dates
Wednesday 1 June 2011 - Saturday 4 June 2011

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.


Director
Ailin Conant
Composer
Milkymee
Devising cast
Julia Corrêa, Catherine Gerrard & Julia Yevnine
Puppet Maker/Director
Katerina Damvoglou
Set/Costume Design
Suneeda Maruthiyil
Lighting Design
Allan Ramsay
Furniture Design
Daniel Moss
Theatre

Unmythable

by Temple Theatre

Dates
Wednesday 25 May 2011 - Saturday 28 May 2011


Cast
Richard Darbourne, Troels Hagen Findsen & Paul O'Mahoney

Casa and Magical Chairs

Dates
Thursday 19 May 2011 - Saturday 21 May 2011

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


Casa Choreographer
Annarita Mazzilli
Casa Composer & Cellist
Anna Scott
Magical Chairs Writer
Mary Mazzilli
Magical Chairs Director
Christopher O'Donnell
Magical Chairs Sound Designer
Simon McCabe
Costume Designer
Orietta Araya
Magical chairs cast
Rebecca Kenny, Gareth Murphy & Lotan Sapir
Casa cast
Clare Brzezicki, Ester Escolano, Nacho Garoz, Chloe Hall-Smith, Arwen Hobday, Annarita Mazzilli, Donovan Morris, Katja Nyqvist & Irène Wernli
Theatre

Mervyn Peake 1911-1968: Centenary Celebrations

 

Dates
Tuesday 26 April 2011 - Thursday 28 April 2011
Tickets
Tickets are FREE but must be reserved in advance to guarantee entrance. Book tickets

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.


Festival Director
Aaron Paterson
Associate director
Mhairi Grealis
Lighting designer
Claire Childs
Composer
Ewen Moore
Cast
Ashley Alymann, Jaclyn Bradley, Christian Devellerez, Laurence Dobiesz, Matthew Haigh, Cassandra Hodges, Nic Lamont, Adam Langstaff, Alexis Leighton, Martina Moss-Clarke, Louise Mai Newberry, Andrew Phipps, Mark Smedley, Ceridwen Smith, Denholm George Spurr, James Stanyer, Gil Sutherland, Emily Wallis

Trunkated

 

A showcase of excerpts and short works-in-progress of new material from London's most exciting artists across the arts. Physical theatre, cabaret, comedy, performance art... A Blue Elephant season in one evening!

Date
Wednesday 20 April 2011

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…

http://www.rosiewilby.com

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

http://reartzzz.blogspot.com

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.

http://www.therubydolls.com

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'.

www.guerilladanceproject.com

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/


Theatre

Macbeth

by Lazarus Theatre Company (Winner, 'Best Fringe or Regional Play': Othello April 2010 - Broadway World UK Awards)

Dates
Tuesday 22 March 2011 - Saturday 16 April 2011

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.


Directed and Designed by
Ricky Dukes
Movement
Ria Whitton
Sound Design
Liam Welton
Lighting Design
Heather Doole
Costume Design
Rebecca Mills
Photography by
Adam Trigg Photography
Cast
James Billington, Alice Brown, Chris Casey, Chris Chambers, Lewis Davidson, Charlotte Dodds, Claire Gaydon, Sam Harding, Anthony Harwood, Robin Holden, James Inkson, Dotty Kultys, Elly Lowney, Evan Regueira, Douglas Rutter, Ceridwen Smith, Victoria Sye, Benjamin Wainwright & Chris Wynn
Theatre

Tom's

A real life story of paralysis captured through puppetry and performance.

Dates
Tuesday 22 February 2011 - Saturday 12 March 2011

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.


Director
Toby Clarke
Lighting Designer
Joshua Pharo
Cast
Alex Clarke (Nominated: Best Actor, The Offies 2011), Amelia De-Felice, Adam Langstaff, Hattie Thomas & Emily Wallis (Nominated: Best Actress, The Offies 2011)

Recordings

Click to play

Radio Interview
Feature on Reprezent radio

Clichéd & Mind The Gap

Dance & Theatre (double-bill)

Dates
Tuesday 7 December 2010 - Saturday 18 December 2010

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

Review by LondonDance.com


'Cliched'
Choreographer
Lisette Foster
Lighting Designer
Claire Childs
Cast
Lisa Bender, Nick Bosanko, Emma Brett, Eleanor Guest, Akiyo Ishihashi, Jean Magnard, Ughetta Pratesi & Tiffany Siede
'Mind the Gap' by
Sebastian Rex (Awarded a Peggy Ramsey Foundation grant in 2010)
Director
Maria Prevelli
Lighting Designer
Claire Childs
Cast
Christian Devellerez & Sarah Hall

Recordings

Click to play

Feature on Reprezent radio
Theatre

The White Devil

Dates
Tuesday 9 November 2010 - Saturday 4 December 2010

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


Directed by
Ricky Dukes
Designed by
James Sheppard & Ricky Dukes
Movement by
Ria Whitton & Ricky Dukes
Music and Sound Design by
Sebastian Willan
Lighting Design by
Heather Doole
Costume Design by
Rebecca Mills
Photographer
Tina Engstrom
Cast
Tim Astley, James Billington, Sebastian Canciglia, Elaine Hartley, Jen Holt, Sophie Howard, Nic Lamont, Jonathan Leinmuller, Andrew Leishman, Christopher Mark, Hollie McGovern, Victoria Sye, David Tyrrell, Andrew Venning, Danny Wainwright and Peter Wiedmann

Recordings

Click to play

Feature on Reprezent radio
Theatre

The Cave [WORLD PREMIERE]

 

'You want to kill her because she is not afraid'?

Dates
Tuesday 19 October 2010 - Saturday 6 November 2010
Image reproduced by kind permission of
The Mervyn Peake Estate

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 Running In Heels

Review by Marcus Sedgwick

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.


Director
Aaron Paterson
Designer
Talulah Mason
Costume Designer
Nicki Martin-Harper
Lighting Designer
Claire Childs
Sound & Video Designer
Chris Adams
Composer
Ewen Moore
Fight Director
Ronin Traynor
Photographer
Dougie Firth
Cast
Sebastian Aguirre, Diane Axford, Nick Hoad, Emily Wallis, Matthew Wade & Guy Warren-Thomas
Gallery

Rehearsal

 
Dates
Tuesday 19 October 2010 - Saturday 6 November 2010

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.