Want A Career In The Arts? Be Yourself

None of us are perfect…I know, shock horror right?  

Once we accept this fact, we can realise, how simply being ourselves is awesome for us and our careers. Everyone wants to see what YOU can do at an audition or when you are writing a script. Of course at an acting audition you are playing a role, but don’t go to it with a mind frame of will they like me? Instead go to an audition and just enjoy it, as it could lead to further work, see it as an opportunity. 

OK, you may not be the greatest dancer the world has ever seen, but so what? You may be an amazing actress so highlight this fact, put yourself forward for roles that demonstrate this. Once you focus on all the positive attributes you have and can offer this industry, you will have such a wonderful peace of mind.

Everyone has their own quirks which make them induvidual, that’s such an important quality in the arts, to stand out, be different, thus making an impact. Revel in being yourself and realise being you is one of your greatest acheivements, so show it off to the world.

Finally… Remember to smile, it makes such a big difference!

Autumn/Winter Season Announced At Ovalhouse

KISSING THE SHOTGUN GOODNIGHT

Thurs 6 – Tues 11 October, 7.30pm (no performance Sun)
Written by Christopher Brett Bailey, Kissing The Shotgun Goodnight is a linguistic kaleidoscope of the hallucinogenic and the hardboiled, all set to a pulverising live musical score of dark psychedelia. It takes the audience on a journey through the multiverse and into the afterlife, inviting them to consider their own relationship to food, capitalism and the right to kill yourself. 

THE MARKED by Theatre Témoin

Thurs 13 – Sat 22 October, 7.30pm; Matinees on Sat 15 and 22 October, 2pm (no performance Sun or Mon)
As a boy, Jack was surrounded by monsters and invisible guardians, as he fought to protect the people he was destined to rule. Now grown up, his life on the streets of London is less fantastical. But when a ghost from his past turns up, Jack must harness the power of forgotten myths to defeat her. Theatre Témoin spin together mask, puppetry and physical theatre to navigate a haunting, mystical wonderland inspired by real-life stories of homelessness.

HERE’S HOPING by Accidental Collective

Wed 26 – Sat 29 October, 7.30pm
Times are tough and the news is grim. Daisy and Pablo were in need of some hope, so they thought they should make a show about it. They wanted it to be a show about the triumph of love, but it turned out that things are not as simple as that. They are knotted and complex. Hope and hopelessness hold hands.

STILL by The Future is Unwritten

Tues 22 – Sat 26 November, 7.30pm; Matinee on Sat 26 November, 3pm
‘H’ hacks data and parties obsessively. She’s fast approaching the edge. Vivian Maier was the reclusive street photographer whose exceptional talent only came to light after her death. On one final binge H stumbles into the gallery and across the work of Maier. Placing the audience in a gallery space, with a specially designed App available to download on their phones to intensify the action, Still asks, “is there any privacy left?”.

POST by Xavier de Sousa

Wed 30 November – Sat 3 December, 7.30pm
As a generation that grew up in an open-doors Europe in the internet age, we’ve been accustomed to travel, to exchange, engage with and collaborate with people with different nationalities. Freedom of movement has allowed us to expand our knowledge of what ‘place’ and ‘borders’ mean. But if borders are protective systems, who are they protecting us from? Post is an exploration of what it means to be a migrant, constantly inhabiting a ‘national limbo’.

WHY THE WHALES CAME by Michael Morpurgo

Thurs 22 – Sat 31 December, 11am and 2pm; BSL interpreted performance Tues 27 December, 2pm (no performances on Christmas Day or Boxing Day)
Children Gracie and Daniel have been forbidden to go near the mysterious and seemingly dangerous Birdman. But messages and clues intrigue them and, after being lost at sea in the fog and stranded on his tiny island, they begin to unravel the Birdman’s secrets, the villagers’ fears and superstitions and learn why the whales came to the island. With Wizard Presents, multi- award winning performer and storyteller Danyah Miller vividly brings to life this enchanting tale by Michael Morpurgo.

Good Dog: A Play That Chronicles Injustice And The Stories That Unfold

Delicately observed and fearlessly told, good dog chronicles Britain’s multi-cultural communities and the everyday injustices that drive people to take back control. Because in the end, everyone who’s good gets what they deserve. Don’t they?

From the star of Crazyhead, Eastenders and Youngers, Arinzé Kene returns to writing for theatre for the first time since God’s Property in 2013. 

In this vivid, high-energy monologue, Kene tells of community, growing up in a diverse area unified by class and survival, and what happens when you lose faith in being good.

When prejudiced voices are amplified, the arts must remind us of the humans obscured within the propaganda storm. good dog is a clear human voice which tells those important intimate stories in a troubled landscape.
good dog is a true epic – spanning multiple characters, families and years. 

This richly imagined, political and personal piece of theatre introduces an overlapping network of rich characters and stories that explore significant issues for today such as social decay, institutional racism, drug abuse and bullying.

Kene’s initial inspiration for good dog stemmed from a desire to imagine what drove his friends and community to riot in the summer of 2011 – in London and beyond – but it has become a chronicle of a community struggling to survive and fighting back.

Directed by tiata fahodzi’s artistic director Natalie Ibu, this bold, funny and well-observed work opens at Watford Palace Theatre in February and will embark on a UK tour.
Natalie Ibu comments, 

“Arinzé’s play is an astonishing love letter to the people and places that leave their mark on your life and a troubling thesis about what happens when you are unseen and unheard. At tiata fahodzi we pride ourselves in seeking out stories that see those who sit outside the singular narrative. We refuse to oversimplify the African diaspora and, instead, relish the complexity. We want to multiply the narratives – about ourselves and each other – and debate the mixed experience of Britain today and tomorrow.”

Tiata fahodzi creates inclusive theatre that illuminates the mixed and multiple experience of the African diaspora in Britain today. Their work starts with the contemporary British African experience but reaches beyond to ask everyone, what does it mean to be a contemporary Briton, now? 

Past productions include bricks and pieces by award-winning Charlene James, i know all the secrets in my world and belong by award-winning Bola Agbaje who cites tiata fahodzi’s production of the gods are not to blame in 2005 as her inspiration to write. Patrons include Lenny Henry and Danny Sapani.

Arinzé Kene is a British Nigerian stage writer and actor. Credits include Misty, Bush Theatre; God’s Property, Soho Theatre; Little Baby Jesus and Estate Walls, Ovalhouse Theatre and screen feature films Seekers and Cure.
good dog will also be embarking on a National tour from February. Further information will be announced shortly.

20N16 AT THEATRE N16: AUTUMN 2016 SEASON ANNOUNCEMENT

One year ago, Theatre N16 moved from Stoke Newington to Balham, with the promise to keep delivering affordable performance and rehearsal spaces to young companies and establish themselves as a new, exciting Off West End theatre space. 

The last year has seen a wide variety of 4 and 5 star critical acclaimed shows; transfers into central London venues, the Brighton and Edinburgh Fringe Festivals; and over 40 different theatre companies treading the boards at our home at the Bedford.

Our new season this Autumn brings back favourite companies and shows from last year, as well as introducing new companies to a London theatre audience. We’re also proud to offer more shows in the Bedford’s 200 seat Globe space.
The season opens with Torn Apart (Dissolution), which returns to N16 after a critically acclaimed short run last year and a Brighton Fringe transfer, followed by master storyteller Robert Crighton’s zombified Shakespeare in Undead Bard in early October. 

Late October then sees our first shows in the Globe, with new work as part of a growing collaboration with alumni of Queen Mary’s University, along with Red Cape Black Cape, who return to us after another sell-out Edinburgh Fringe run, and the return of associate director Whit Hertford with new Dracula adaptation Lunatic over Halloween. There will also be a one-off performance of critically-acclaimed play Frank Sumatra before it tours to Romania.

November sees our next full length run – In Love and Warcraft, new writing from Madhuri Shekar about the new paradigm of relationships online, followed by our next First Credit, featuring actors given their first professional credits with a script picked by our literary department. The Underground Clown Club will return with one-off specials in November with new material, and brand new company Vantage Point will premiere their new piece about loneliness early December.

Finally, in December, we will be presenting our first Christmas panto: an adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Snow Queen. This will be playing alongside a brand new piece, Wellies, written by Tatty Hennessey and co-directed with Merley Theatre artistic director and Theatre N16 programming coordinator Scott Ellis. This will play alongside Simon Stephen’s Christmas, a rather darker look at the yuletide season, directed by Theatre N16 artistic director Jamie Eastlake with Sarah Chapleo.

Theatre N16 is a trailblazing company that wants to change the face of the theatre industry. No matter how little money a production has behind it, if it has potential and that spark of innovation, they want to know. 

Theatre N16 is proud of their commitment to the welfare of creatives, operating without a hire fee for external companies. This promoting and nurturing of talent means that Theatre N16 is a bastion for the arts, making theatre accessible and affordable for audiences and in turn allowing artists to survive financially. 

Create Your Own Opportunities..Start Making Plans, Not Just Tea

You know that feeling, you have an email icon appear on your smartphone or tablet and you get those butterflies. It’s that glimmer of hope, that a new casting or that concert you would like to sing at, have you as a confirmed performer. That jaffa cake in your hand takes second proirity, you feel hopeful and you know it’s going to be something special you are about to read. Oh. You have been sent an offer on curtains. 

Does this sound familiar? If it does, do not feel despondent. Why? This is because you can create your own opportunities! 

You might have seen a rise in the number of fellow artists in the industry, taking the bull by the horns and creating their own theatre companies, choirs and general opportunities for themselves as well as others. Don’t feel daunted it’s a case of simply playing on your strengths and having a goal in mind. If you want to write and produce your own plays, do it. Make if happen.

OK, you may very well be thinking how? Start researching and immersing yourself in the part of the industry you want to involve yourself and be part of your very own initiative. Being just around creative’s and their ideas, soaking in knowledge and information, is simply invaluable. Remember there are others with the same fears and dreams as you. The arts should be a community, a network of support.

Have confidence in your ability, start believing that what you have to offer the arts industry is of worth, it is, so please believe it. What you envision creating is not just a dream, it can be a reality. Nothing is easy in the arts, but it will be worth it when you have created that work.

I Will Have My Cake…And Eat It

I listen to Justin Beiber ,now again and sometimes I listen to Vaughan Williams….

Where am I going with this, you may be asking, or you’ve become so confused, you have made yourself a cup of tea ( or both, I expect). My point with this article, is that being a female in the arts, you are constantly judged, on pretty much every decision you make. 

Yes, there will be a stampede to say so is everyone else judged, but in my opinion, female artists are judged on everything from appearance to dating decisions, like it actually affects their work. NO IT DOESN’T. And it also has no reflection on their IQ, if I for example want to listen to Aqua’s Barbie Girl on repeat for four hours, while I write a playscript, then I can as it has no negative consequence on my writing but why should it?

We can be many things, amazing contradictions that should not be judged by those ignorant to believe that a female artist, who they deem attractive, is somehow, inferior to one they do not. This is something that is infuriating, as you do not want or should, be seen as anything less than you are because of it. 

You can be dressed in sequins, rockin’those killer heals and be creative mind to be reckoned with, don’t let anyone tell you or make you feel anything different. Having to write this is pretty sad, admittedly, but still in the 21st century, unfortunately it is necessary.

Sorry if you were expecting cake, there is always the GBBO.

Cast Announced For An Inspector Calls, At The Playhouse Theatre

 

Clive Francis (The Crown, Netflix), Barbara Marten (Casualty) and Liam Brennan (Diary of a Madman – winner of a Stage Edinburgh Award) will lead a dynamic cast in the much-anticipated return of Stephen Daldry’s multi award-winning production of JB Priestley’s An Inspector Calls.
Clive Francis comments, 

An Inspector Calls is one of the great classic plays of the 20th century. It premiered in London’s west end the year I was born and has now been seen by a whole new generation of theatre goers thanks to Stephen Daldry’s brilliant and masterly production. An Inspector Calls is considered one of Priestley’s greatest works, and has been subject to a variety of interesting interpretations, none more so than this historic National Theatre revival which I’m delighted to be part of.

  They will be joined on stage by Matthew Douglas, Carmela Corbett, Hamish Riddle and Diana Payne-Myers – still treading the boards aged 88.

Nerve And Jekyll & Hyde Announce UK Tour

UK Tour: September – October 2016

Reverend Theatre’s new double bill of two one act plays, Nerve and Jekyll & Hyde, both written by Charlie Howitt, are two distinct but interwoven plays set within the same apartment block. Pertinently, they both explore morality in contemporary Britain. This double bill embarks on an exciting UK tour in Autumn. 

Nerve follows a disparate group of people as they work to find their own authenticity. Sam edges closer to her magnetic new housemate Danny, inspired by his bold, decisive approach to life. But,after a violent dispute with their neighbour, she is left struggling to locate her moral centre. Her best friend, Tess, is overwhelmed by anxiety as she approaches the 24th week of her pregnancy. While, local policeman Greg is too lost trying to rekindle his relationship with his ex-wife to notice that their neighbour from Flat B is missing.

Inspired by the Gothic novella by Robert Louis Stevenson, Reverend Theatre’s Jekyll & Hyde blurs the lines between good and evil, insane imaginings and real life monsters. Brilliant surgeon Ellie Jekyll is feeling the strain of caring for her terminally ill brother. Luckily, a newfound friendship with her neighbour proves to be just what the doctor ordered. But, when a young girl dies unexpectedly during surgery, Jekyll’s world begins to unravel around her. 

Howitt comments, 

My ambition was to write without any moralising agenda, so as to empower an audience to make up their own minds about the contemporary issues presented in the plays. It’s even more important to me that these stories be told from a female perspective. I am so excited to have these stories (and the complex female characters driving them) touring this autumn.

These two original plays focus on everyday people pushed to their limits. Prompting questions about our ethical values in the UK, each play enhances the experience of the other, highlighting the thematic subtleties, with passion, honesty and humour.

Reverend Productions is an official supported company of the Greenwich Theatre

Bringing Lunchtime Theatre Straight Back: Straight To The Heart, At Above The Arts Theatre

Alex Dmitriev presents:

STRAIGHT TO THE HEART

October 10th – October 28th 2016, Above the Arts Theatre

Bringing lunchtime theatre back to the West End, director Alex Dmitriev directs three heartfelt and provocative short plays by American playwright Ken Jaworowski.

In each play, the characters’ alternating monologues lead you on an unexpected journey. Pulse – a son tells of confronting his father about his sexuality; a father teaches his son to stand up to bullies with lasting consequences; and a daughter takes her father on one last trip. One to the Head, One to the Heart – a father’s dream of a large family is set aside by the financial burden of caring for a disabled child, or is it? The Truth Tellers – a night out for two lonely people, will their lies keep them apart?

Alistair Brown, Nadia Shash and Daniel Simpson, under the direction of Alex Dmitriev, perform in each of the three plays. Ken Jaworowski is a staff editor for The New York Times. His play Acts of Redemption recently appeared at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, while Believers, directed by Alex Dmitriev, was produced by the Workshop Theater Company in New York. Other plays include Never Missed a Day, Certain Souls and Interchange, which has been published by Broadway Play Publishing. 

Alistair Brown’s recent credits includes Mr Perks in The Railway Children (National Tour). Nadia Shash trained at Birmingham School of Acting, and her recent credits include: The Bible (Shakespeare’s Globe), As You Like It and The Taming of the Shrew (Cambridge Shakespeare Festival), Much Ado About Nothing (The Scoop), The Wrong Sleep (Cock Tavern) and Stovepipe (HighTide/Bush Theatre/National Theatre). Daniel Simpson trained at East 15 and The Actor Works. Theatre credits include: Doonreagan (Jermyn Street Theatre), London Road (National Theatre) and Driving Miss Daisy (Julian Stonman UK – National Tour). 

Alex Dmitriev, a New York based freelance director, has worked at regional theaters across the United States and Canada. His work in NYC has been at The Actors’ Studio, The York Theater Co. Irish Rep and the Abingdon Theater Company among others. In London, he directed Doonreagan (Jermyn Street Theatre) about Poet Laureate Ted Hughes and his mistress, Assia Wevill.