Stellar Network » Stellar Supports

Tassos Stevens’ review of Scratch Interact: the first scratch night for interactive theatre

admin — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 11:23:47 +0000

please see allplayall.blogspot.com for Tassos’ fab blog, and the originator of this review. Its a gateway into a lot of the more interesting stuff going on in theatre at the moment.

Scratch Interact is the latest venture by our very own Stellarite Sam Howey Nunn

Last week I went to Scratch Interact, a night of treats curated very properly by the lovely Glue Theatre in the in-between spaces of Southwark Playhouse.

Glue’s opener delivered a box that wriggled out a man who then – having failed beautifully to gather attention from the pre-show crowd – managed to get presents and sweets from many.

Deborah Pearson’s Break Up With Me invited you into a toilet cubicle with her to do just that, however you chose, delicately responsive to its own conceptual knots, beautifully poised.

‘The Minuting Hill Carnival’, a minute version of Notting Hill’s, refereed by a representative of the Honourable Society of Faster Craftswomen, who before she sold me a nugget of jerk chicken on a cocktail stick, made a joyful band of us playing tiny instruments. Gorgeous how just as much glee came from playing it tiny, it was the play that counted. Lovely and messy.

Emer O’Connor then delivered a piece of storytelling, at first staged and delivered to the back walls. Perfectly good performance but not at all responsive to us or the space, and her volume inevitably causing alarm to the theatre staff worried about the ‘main show’. As soon as we moved in closer so she was actually performing to us in the space with her, it suddenly came alive. Which raises very interesting points for me about liveness and scalability.

Emily Smallwood took a pair of us into the disabled toilet. One was sat down on a white towel and asked to listen through headphones to a recording of a story. The lights were then turned off. The other then shared an embrace with her in the corner. Then the lights back on, one was asked to record a story while the other listened, very close. This piece worried me and it’s still with me. I loved her assurance in the disjuncture of these elements, the light and darkness, the very living intimacy of the exchanges and near brutality in heightened awareness of the other people in the room. Fantastic sensibility.

Sam and Chris from Glue then led a lively round-table discussion for the good number of us present. But there should be more of us. This night is quarterly and make sure you make (something for) the next one.

To put yourself on the mailing list for Scratch Interact visit http://www.gluehq.co.uk

Very Golden Globes

admin — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 11:31:11 +0000

Well the British independents certainly came and went at last night Golden Globes, with various awards going to our countrymen. For a full list of winners see: Hollywood Foreign Press Association website

But BIG, MASSIVE congrats go to dear friends of Stellar – Gareth Wiley (Vicky Cristina Barcelona – Producer) and Ivana Mackinnon and Gaia Elkington of Celador (Slumdog Millionaire – Production Company) for their stunning wins!

After the Accident – a Save the Human Finalist

admin — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 16:52:14 +0000

Our friend’s at Iceandfire have been running the Amnesty Save the Human playwright competition, and now, the finalists’ are having their plays read at the Soho Theatre. Go along and support them!

The house was where they – Petra, Jimmy and Charley – were going to be happy, then Leon broke through the security gates taking their happiness with him. Four years later they have the chance to meet face to face, confronting what’s been hidden for so long behind locked doors.

‘After the Accident’ by Julian Armitstead receives its only London reading at Soho Theatre tonight as one of the finalists of the Protect the Human playwriting competition 2008. The play will be followed by a post show discussion:

‘Humanising human rights: how do you show both sides of the story?’ with the playwright, restorative justice practitioner Steven Hewson and academic Marian Liebmann.

Directed by Tessa Walker
Cast: Amanda Drew, Nicolas Tennant, Toby Wharton
Tickets: £5/£3
Start time: 7pm
To book call 0207 478 0100 or go to www.sohotheatre.com

Soho Theatre
21 Dean Street, London W1D 3NE
1 – 3 December 2008
Tickets £5/£3
3 for 2 offer: Book for all 3 readings and get the 3rd one free. To book call the box office on 0207 478 0100 and quote ‘3 for 2′ or go to www.sohotheatre.com

“Compelling theatre making real and relevant the impact of human rights issues on our everyday lives.”

The plays:

1 December at 7pm
There’s Loads of Them in Burnley, Thais
by Anna Clarkson
Directed by Charlotte Gwinner
Mae has never eaten a ready meal, been to TK Maxx or tasted mushy peas and Graham Fairclough has only got six weeks to teach her. But with ex-wife and landlady of The Clog and Rocket, Marie, offering up some home truths he might not even have that long.
“Why the ‘ell else ‘as she come to Burnley? It’s not for t’weather is it? And it’s certainly not for ‘im, ‘e’s no oil paintin’ is ‘e?”

2 December at 7pm
After the Accident
by Julian Armitstead
Directed by Tessa Walker
The house was where they – Petra, Jimmy and Charley – were going to be happy, then Leon broke through the security gates taking their happiness with him. Four years later they have the chance to meet face to face, confronting what’s been hidden for so long behind locked doors.
“It’s not all on your side. I’m saying, you’re not the only ones to have suffered for this. You’re not the only ones.”

3 December at 7pm
Lullaby
by Dominic Leggett
Directed by Ken Christiansen
Beth’s got the house ready for Ray’s return from war. But his arrival brings more than just dirty washing and there are some stains that no amount of scrubbing can remove.
“They keep their cool and look you straight in the eye, then you spot there’s a foot tapping, or a twitch at the side of the mouth – The body betrays them every time.”

Over 125 plays were submitted to the competition which provides a high quality platform for dynamic and imaginative plays that communicate human rights stories of import to us all.

Judged by Chiwetel Ejiofor, Dan Jones (Amnesty), Sonja Linden & Sara Masters (iceandfire) and Esther Richardson (Soho Theatre).

www.iceandfire.co.uk | www.amnesty.org.uk

iceandfire is a company limited by guarantee, registered in England no.4648400, registered charity 1118200

Improbable’s Devoted and Disgruntled at Shunt

admin — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 22:56:02 +0000

5th November 2008, 7.30p.m. (full details below)

Hosted by Stella Duffy

Devoted and Disgruntled is an opportunity to meet up with artists, arts professionals, and audiences. The next three D&Ds will have a different theme and guest host. November’s D&D will be hosted by Stella Duffy, an Associate Artist of Improbable. As always the response to this theme, and the conversations we have, will be decided by you at the start of the evening.

Do gender and sexuality still matter – and if they do, what do we do with them?

Dear All
I am a woman. I am gay/queer/lesbian – and far happier with any of those terms as adjectives, than as necessarily-limiting nouns. I write, perform, direct, make theatre and other work. None of those things solely define me, nor would I want them to, yet as artists, what we do comes from ourselves, our own lives, those we meet, and the worlds – real and imagined – we inhabit. We make work by and of ourselves. How important then, are gender and sexuality to what we do?
In twenty-five years making work I have seen our women’s and gay/queer theatre companies virtually disappear. This doesn’t matter if all the issues we once thought so vital have been taken up by newer artists less concerned with drawing lines and/or with speaking from and for the ghetto. It doesn’t matter if the issues of gender and sexuality – so prevalent, for example, in the classics – are investigated in current work. Nor does it matter if we now truly do have a level playing field from which to make our work.
And yet … I still hear more women than men decrying childcare provision in our work/places. We still have many more men directors than women, and a glance at any listings magazine will show men writers in (at best) a 2:1 ratio to women. Gay men may be in the public eye in unprecedented numbers, but where is the work by young women about their sexuality? Why is it now deemed empowering for women to get their kit off in the rise of modern burlesque – and if those women are still subject to the male gaze, whose empowerment is it anyway? (And are there any straight men empowering themselves by getting naked too?)
Maybe it is all sorted. Maybe there are no women thinking there’s still a glass ceiling, no queer people believing they rarely see themselves represented on our stages, no heterosexual men hemmed in by a society forcing them into a patriarchy they would rather reject, no straight people pushed into playing boy/girl games they hoped stopped in the 1950’s …
Or maybe we can have an Open Space about it, ask if we have arrived at a stage where gender and sexuality are truly fluid, or truly irrelevant – or both. And anyway, as was mooted at the very first D&D, didn’t we all come into theatre in the first place because we thought it was sexy, because we were seventeen-year-olds hoping to get laid? (While we changed the world, obviously.)
Stella Duffy, October 2008

DETAILS:
The evening runs using Open Space technology which gives anyone the chance to propose a starting point for discussion, then take part in one of these conversations, flit between them all, or head to the bar.
To get into Shunt for free, let them know on the door that you’re there for D&D. No need to book, just turn up on the night.
Shunt is on Joiner Street, a little alley inside London Bridge tube station. Find a map at:http://www.shunt.co.uk/map.php
For further information or to discuss access requirements get in touch with Lucy at lucy@improbable.co.uk or at the office on 0207 240 4556.
Hope to see you there.
www.improbable.co.uk