A blog post concerning an Actor trying to write about her involvement in a new play currently running at The New Diorama, or ‘I’m in Bunnies’ for short.

If you are reading this blog post before midnight on Sunday 28th October, you might still have time to take advantage of the ticket offer running via Time Out. You can see Bunnies for just £7 at The Diorama (on selected dates) if you book through Time Out, but the offer ends on Sunday 28th October. Here’s the link to the Time Out offer: http://uk-offers.timeout.com/deals/bunnies

Every time I’m in a play I have these grand plans to blog during the process and every time I realise that there’s no way that will happen until the show is up and running. So I’m typing this whilst sitting in my digs, listening to Radio 2, slurping a cup of tea and wondering if the condensation on the window is hiding the watermarks of rain on the other side, meaning this will be a waterproof-and-wellies day.

Don't trust the Bunnies...Photograph Copyright Annette Chown 2012

I am currently playing Eva in (to give it its full title), ‘A PLAY CONCERNING A FARMER’S RADICAL ATTEMPT TO RESTORE HIS LAND TO ITS SUPPOSED FORMER GLORY, AND THE DIFFERING REACTIONS OF HIS CHILDREN: OR BUNNIES (FOR SHORT)’, which is a dark satirical comedy, containing ‘swearing, violence and lots of taxidermy’. It’s definitely not one for the kids. Here’s some of the blurb from the flyer with more of what it’s about:

‘The once beautiful land is blighted by non-native species, including the grey squirrel, the Chinese mitten crab, the Siberian chipmunk, the Topmouth Gudgeon and, even, the European rabbit. They are wreaking havoc. Fortunately Stamper, a local farmer, has a solution.’

The play is written by Kieran Lynn (An Incident at The Border) and started life as a short play for The Bike Shed Theatre’s New Blood season in 2011. It went on to become a full-length play, won a Peter Brook Empty Space award and was performed at The Bike Shed Theatre in the Autumn. At the moment, if you search for the show on the web, you will probably find reviews relating to the first full-length production, but this is a different animal (see what I did there?), featuring a new cast (me, Jolyon Westhorpe and Richard Pulman) and a new director (David Lockwood). However, tonight is perhaps the scariest night of all: Press Night in London. So sooner or later there will be reviews floating around that relate to our production. Let’s hope they enjoy it...

Kieran watching from the sidelines, tweaking the script Photograph Copyright Annette Chown 2012

It is a comedy, but like all dark comedies it also makes us look at the world from a different angle. As the audience, we follow a ‘logical conclusion’ in Bunnies and for our director, it made him wonder how many steps it really is from, what he terms, ‘casual racism’ to extremism and ‘eradication’. Do ‘casual’ thoughts ultimately lead to extreme thoughts or does there have to be a catalyst that ignites extremism?
I don’t really want to give too much away, but hopefully, this has given you a flavour of what to expect and if you follow me on Twitter or Facebook you can see more rehearsal photos and keep up to date with the show.

That's not a real frog, it is a real pencil. Photograph Copyright Annette Chown 2012

Before I finish this post I do just have to mention our programmes: I love them. They are published by Oberon Books and contain the script as well as biographies of those involved and only cost £3 if you buy them from theatres the play is visiting. If you want to buy the script at a later date, it will cost you more, so now’s the time to grab one. This will be the first time my biography appears in a published script, so for me, it’s extremely exciting!

Me excitedly holding a copy of the programme! Photograph Copyright Annette Chown 2012

Bunnies will be at The New Diorama until 3rd November, then we head to The Salberg Studio at The Salisbury Playhouse (6th - 10th November) and then we finish the tour in The Brewery at The Tobacco Factory in Bristol (13th - 24th November).

Useful Links

The New Diorama Bunnies Page
The Salisbury Playhouse Bunnies Page
The Tobacco Factory Theatre Bunnies Page
Oberon Books

Right Here, Right Now

I am sent a lot of Press Releases about productions in the South West, so I’m going to trawl through my inbox over the coming weeks, and bring you a selection of shows to peruse. I thought I’d start with a short blog post today highlighting a couple of productions that are on now...

Madhampton.co.uk

Stepping Out Theatre Company  

http://www.steppingouttheatre.co.uk/

The Blurb

‘It isn’t legal or ethical... But it is incredibly exciting and it’s on the internet so that means it’s probably OK!’

A group of online friends have met through ‘second-life’ therapy site madhampton.co.uk., a slightly scary therapeutic community.

Madhampton is a virtual English village with an array of larger-than-life characters. It appears to offer sanctuary for troubled minds but when they meet for real the friends discover it is more complicated than that...

Who is the mysterious figure behind the site and what is his real agenda?
Why are forest-dwelling rebels the Square Wheelers so keen to take it down?
And do they really have to wear tights while they’re doing it?

The friends must decide whether Madhampton is a healing place or a sinister cult... And how far they are prepared to go to escape their painful realities.

My Thoughts

It sounds as mad as the name and I like the poster (yes, I know, never judge a book by it’s cover - although these days I think you can, as the best book covers are designed to communicate the contents or reach a target audience, but that’s a whole other discussion...) so I’m really looking forward to this one.

The Important Info

Where?

The Brewery Theatre, 291 North St. Southville, Bristol

When?

7.45 p.m.
Wednesday 4th - Thursday 5th and Tuesday 10th - Saturday 14th April 2012

How much?

£9/£7

Where do I get tickets?

The Tobacco Factory Theatre
T: 0117 9020344
www.tobaccofactorytheatre.com

APOPO

On The Stage Of The Present 

www.onthestageofthepresent.posterous.com

The Blurb

On The Stage Of The Present (Tom Pritchard) brings a brand of performance improvisation combining movement, dance and text to story tell, reigniting a long standing collaboration with Chloe Whipple. Other special guests will join us over the three night run where a whole new piece will be discovered onstage each night.

So join us for APOPO, a series of 3 performances on the 5th, 6th and 7th of April 2012.

Titles:
5th Night 1) You are not allowed in the past anymore
6th Night 2) The medium is somewhere in between us
7th Night 3) Avoidance of a monochrome disappointment

My Thoughts

I don’t know Tom Pritchard’s work, but I know Chloe is fantastic and I like the titles for each night. It’s also 2 for 1 on Adult tickets, so I reckon it’s worth a watch!

The Important Info

Where?

The Bikeshed Theatre, Fore Street, Exeter

When?

7.30pm
Thursday 5th - Saturday 6th April

How much?

£10/£7 and according to the website a 2 for 1 offer is currently available for Adult tickets.

Where do I get tickets?

The Bikeshed Theatre
T: 01392 434169
http://www.bikeshedtheatre.co.uk/whats-on/apopo/

That’s it for today, but I shall highlight more over the next couple of weeks.

Brewing Up a Theatrical Storm

It's not a picture of someone drinking at a brewery, it's actually 'Rum &Vodka' which runs Wed 14th - Sun 25th October

Googling ‘Brewery Theatre Bristol’ it’s a bit disappointing that, so far, the opening of such an important space appears to have flown under the radar. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not expecting it to make the News at Ten, and I did find a short article on Original FM’s website, but for there to seemingly be no online article from any Theatre commentators is a real shame.

With so little online reportage (I am excluding Theatre Bristol’s coverage – they do appear in the search results!), you may wonder why I think it is so important. I don’t blame you. How can an audience or a city understand what it could mean for them if they have no idea of what is happening?

'Full Twist' runs Wed 28th October - Sun 8th November

If you live in the Southville area, on one Thursday night you may have spotted several people dotted around North Street wearing badges and red carnations, pointing other people down the road, towards the old brewery: they were our chaperones. It was a bit like being part of a secret society, we were directed to the rear of the building where we found ourselves in a bright open space with graffiti art on the walls and freshly made bread and cheese on a table (I never quite made it to this table as I spent most of the night talking, but I did hear some very good reports). The bread is from the bakery that will reside in The Brewery and be a quirky addition to the experience. The space I have just described is not the theatre space, but the rear part of the building, where additional plans are afoot.

I arrived just in time to hear a very funny talk from the Tobacco Factory Theatre Manager, David Dewhurst about the new venture. He made the speech instead of Artistic Director Ali Robertson, who was preparing for his own ‘launch party’ as his wife had gone into labour earlier that day. After this we were finally allowed into The Brewery.

It is brilliant. It’s a small, black, ninety-seater, studio space with huge potential, which puts me in mind of The Green Room in Manchester. In addition, as an audience member, joy of joy, there are no pillars. I would also venture to say (having tested them briefly) that the seats are rather comfy. But why is a small theatre space in Southville potentially so significant?

'Gizmo Love' runs Wed 16th - Sun 27th September

Think of The Brewery as the BBC3 of theatre in Bristol. The Tobacco Factory has been producing some great work and developing its standing over the last few years, but the closure of the Bristol Old Vic really allowed it to blossom by throwing light on its work and giving it the space to grow as the city’s main theatre venue. Like BBC1 or 2, there’s a large capacity (250 – 300+ for this space, depending on the type of performance and use of space), and is great for established companies. However, this can present a problem for new, un-established companies, without a recognised piece or a strong following. These companies need a space with a smaller capacity that can allow them to run for longer to develop the work and audience support. This is where the similarity with BBC3 lies. Think of the number of shows that have been trialled and allowed to grow their audience before transferring to the ‘main channels’, including my current favourite, Bristol-based Being Human. The Brewery will hopefully work in a similar way and this is why it is so important to Bristol: it can encourage and support development in a city with a strong tradition of companies creating nationally and internationally renowned work.

'Mrs Gerrish's Christmas Stocking' runs Wed 2nd - Sun 13th December

Anyone who attended Tom Morris’ talk at the Bristol Old Vic will know that he has similar plans to develop small spaces within ‘his’ theatre, which is equally as exciting, but the spaces he wants to utilise will be very different to The Brewery, and at a time when it feels like the city is on the cusp of change over the coming years, there is plenty of room for all of these much needed performance spaces. In addition, whilst Tom Morris and Emma Stenning have very exciting plans for the future of the Bristol Old Vic and its place within the community, George Ferguson, Ali Robertson and the Tobacco Factory team are already engaging with the community rather successfully and this new venue allows them to develop that further and bring new work to their loyal audience.

I have compared these Bristol venues in isolation, but the reality is that when the Bristol Old Vic reopens we must see each one as a component of a whole, and support them as a whole (without excluding other venues in the city such as the Alma Tavern) because that is the only way they will achieve their full potential and enable our city to continue to culturally flourish.

I opened by bemoaning the lack of local and national coverage of The Brewery’s launch, but after discussing its importance, I wonder if it is better to slip under the radar? That way the theatre can do its own thing and there’s no expectation of the outcome. However, people won’t support it, if they don’t know it exists and despite the current lack of coverage, the national press have been particularly supportive of Bristol and the Bristol Old Vic, so I hope that it won’t be long before word gets out and audiences everywhere are aware of its arrival on the theatre scene and head over to check out their exciting new programme.

Links:
Tobacco Factory
Bristol Old Vic

Review of Stephen Mottram's 'The Seed Carriers'

I love the Tobacco Factory space, but I really loathe the pillars. Sometimes they can be cleverly worked into pieces and sometimes they just get in the way. I knew one pillar would be in my sightline, but I had no idea until the show began how it would impede on my viewing. It turned out to be in exactly the right position to block out the first ten minutes of the show.

There are no words, only music, and thanks to the pillar I feared that my inability to draw the piece together into a cohesive narrative was because key moments kept disappearing. The after-show talk shed more light on the sections I had missed and I was able to find my own understanding through Mottram’s discussion of the origins of the piece.

One word: fascinating. It’s hard to describe because it’s not a linear narrative piece; there is a connection between the images, but they are, as Stephen Mottram described them, a ‘series of installations’ that evoke emotion and that emotion or reading, is entirely an audience member’s own.

Originally created in 1995 as a response to the sudden death of his father, Mottram explained that he wanted to create characters that cannot be clearly defined as good or bad, they merely do what they have to do in order to survive. The world of the characters is simple: everyone contains seeds and everyone wants those seeds in order to gain ‘new life’. The production is dark in both content and lighting design, as the whole piece is performed in a half-light, expressing the inherent ambiguous unease. But there is lightness to be found in some of Mottram’s enchanting marionettes. When asked why one of the seed-carriers disguised itself as a stork, he explained that the idea grew from a joke about ‘bending over backwards to survive’.


Mottram is more of a magician than a puppeteer: he epitomises the notion of bringing an object to life. He even showed us the mechanics of some of his puppets, but it didn’t take away from them, if anything, it made them even more magical.

Although I really enjoyed it and cannot recommend it highly enough, I couldn’t help but think it would have been better suited to the new Brewery space, as you need to view it front-on to see all of the action. I also think a more intimate space would have heightened my connection to the piece, but, most importantly of all, there would have been no pillars!

Forget Me Not

It's been a while, but Downstage Write has been a busy bee and is currently gearing up for a very exciting season and lots of articles...

Pictures Clockwise from Top Left: Green Ginger's 'Rust', John Dixon's 'Muzzle', Theatre Bristol's 'Prototype' Event, Stephen Mottram's 'The Seed Carriers'

Highlights include the new space, The Brewery, opening at the Tobacco Factory, the Bristol Festival of Puppetry (Friday 28th August - Sunday 6th September) and the new production from Trestle theatre company The Glass Mountain.

Finally, don't forget to have a look at the new Tobacco Factory Plus website. It's the pace to to find out about all the non-performance related work the theatre is involved in. It's aimed at audiences, practitioners and 'young audiences' and is definitely worth visiting.

So keep checking back for updates and interviews as Bristol gears up for a very exciting autumn...