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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
A Right Mess of a Fundraiser
Forget dull, dreary February days...
Right Mess Theatre are here to bring you an evening of Cabaret splendour as they raise funds to bring their new show Alcatraz to New Horizon Youth Centre for homeless young people. You can find out more about New Horizon and the work they do here.
The line up includes Elf Lyons, Hannah Maxwell, Kayla MacQuarrie, Emily Howarth, Ema Boswood & Ellie Westbrook.
Alcatraz by Nathan Lucky Wood is a thrilling play about family and social care that follows Sandy on her daring, Christmas mission to emulate Clint Eastwood and bust her gran out of lock-up. It will premiere at the Vault Festival 2019.
Baa Humbug
I don't need friends. I don't want friends. I'm perfectly fine all by myself, thank you very much.
Join a rambunctious group of farm animals on Christmas Eve as they celebrate the holiday season. The only problem is Humbug the Sheep won't join in. Humbug thinks it's a waste of time to have friends and play their silly games. But Humbug isn’t happy...
With the help of a wise old Farmer, a time-travelling tractor and a little bit of Christmas magic, Humbug the Sheep comes to see how important it is to have friends and to feel happy about new experiences.
Baa Humbug will captivate and entertain children aged 4+and their adults. As they join Humbug's journey of self-discovery, the audience will learn about recognising difficult emotions and how to react positively to them. Blue Elephant Theatre’s endearing and funny show encourages children and adults alike to celebrate the power of friendship, whilst singing, playing and having lots of fun.
Praise for previous Blue Elephant Theatre Family Shows:
“A first class production and I can’t imagine anybody leaving this show without a big smile plastered across his or her face.” A Younger Theatre on Noah’s Ark
“My four-year-old son and I loved this show. It was very sweet, yet never mawkish or overly childish, thanks to the writing and also to the dry wit of [the] narrator.” ★★★★ Female Arts on The Butterfly Lovers
The Christmas Magic hasn't ended for some of our farm animals. You can catch up with Cow and Chicken, who are still in the festive mood and insist on continuing their infamous dance routines well into the new year! Here they are performing' The Christmas'.
Reviews
Supported by
MISTLETOE AND TRY!
Blue Elephant Theatre presents a wonderful evening of exciting performances and Christmas games. Expect to see brand new works in progress and acts that'll make you laugh your socks off!
The age guidance for this event is 18+
You can book tickets via this link: https://mistletoe-and-try-scratch.eventbrite.co.uk
'MISTLETOE AND TRY!'
2018 Line Up:
Color Separation
At the heart of Color Separation is a couple contemplating an important decision… at a time when the world is connected in very revealing ways at the same time it’s divided along red and blue lines, and the meaning of “choice” takes on heavier and heavier implications. The dark comedy is a somewhat surreal look at what happens when we let people into our lives, time runs out, and we take what’s been given to us for granted.
Written by Jennie Webb
Performed by Actors Nicole Holly and Jose Palma
White Latina
A comedic solo performance about being half English and half Peruvian. Join Nina on her journey of feeling super Latina, but looking nothing like the stereotype.
Written and performed by Actress Nina Gabriela
Let’s not talk about sex
What’s it like to be a stripper? What’s it like to be sexually open (when a lot of people want you to keep your legs closed)? Why is there an obsession with porn, yet very little focus on the female orgasm? Carmen Ali aims to explore these topics, while telling honest true life stories about sex, stripping, and strap-ons.
Written and performed by Stand Up Comedian Carmen Ali
Broken English
A spoken word performance exploring the fusion between language and life.
Enjoy the wordplay, comedy & celebration of cultural diversity within a contemporary London lifestyle.
Written and performed by Emerging Artist Award winner and Poetry Slam Champion Jahmar Ngozi.
This show is part of a larger project that contemplates the variants of the English language from collective and individual perspective. From “cockney rhyming slang” to “patois”, “Queens English” to “insta slang”, how our dialect reflects, entertains, shapes and simply sounds.
Queensbridge
A contemporary and humorous script about three female friends from the sunny side of Shoreditch. This is the story of how they decided to become class A drug dealers.
Almost completely fictional!
Written by Jahmar Ngozi for PoetryHouse and performed by Danielle Allen, Shellbe Bowditch & Eliza Gillum.
Let Me Shake Your Groove Thing
Many of us are searching for somewhere to belong in a world that seems hopeless.
Let Me Shake Your Groove Thing transports the audience to a surreal 1970’s disco, a place where anything is possible. The club is home to Disco Mama, charismatic drag queen and matriarch of the club, a mother to all who go there. She performs alongside her young protege, the troubled party girl Victoria Chitty Bang Bang. Together they create a place where anyone can dance.
At the disco we follow the journeys of characters who have been at the fringes of the dance floor: Frankie is trapped in the past and haunted by lost love. Tim uses disco to escape his anxiety and loneliness whilst Victoria has to decide if her loyalties lie with Disco Mama or with her own future.
Solo Roulette
Solo Roulette is an evening of solo theatre works in progress, developed from the Solo Theatre Workshop at the Actor’s Centre run by Colin Watkeys.
The performances are supported by the Face to Face Solo Theatre Festival.
Deliver Me - Petra Haller
Deliver Me is an intimate insight into depression and a lost prayer. How can you find God when you have lost yourself? How will you make sense of the past, present and future when the world seems black and white?
Petra Haller is an independent dance artist based in London. Deliver Me is her first solo theatre production. Her previous performance credits include: Charlie: My Message to Humanity; Movement for Change; jump 2016; AIDA; The One Show, BBC1; Cirque du Soir; Louie Spence’s Show Business, sky1
After All - Michael Brazil
When his brother receives a terminal diagnosis, Matthew is asked for help with his care. As his brother’s health deteriorates, they pursue his wish to choose to end his life. This modern folk opera looks at the consequences of assisted dying and the profound effects it has on the people left behind.
Michael Brazil makes his debut as a writer with After All. Credits as an actor include UK Touring: Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat, South Pacific, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Rocky Horror Show, plus West End: Me and my Girl, E’lisir d’amore, The Flying Dutchman, Marriage of Figaro. TV and film credits include: Chanel 4 Metrosexuality and Broken Wings (winner ‘Best Supporting Actor’ International Film Festival 2012).
An Evening with Blake Forder - Neil Linpow
The Blue Dolphin is proud to present you the opportunity to spend an evening with renowned television star Blake Forder. Best loved for his roles on Hollyoaks, Footballers' Wives, and Elderado, Blake has most recently been seen on Celebrity Space Cadets, The Farm (season 3), CelebAir, and this year’s season of Celebrity Rehab.
Don't miss this exciting opportunity to gain valuable tips on how to make it to the very top from a man who's been there and done it. Learn the secrets to a great on camera performance and how to charm casting directors and live audiences alike. A priceless opportunity for anyone looking to make a career in show business.
Neil Linpow has regularly appeared in both TV and film. He previously starred in the award winning 'War Games' for Universal Pictures and the psychological thriller 'Slumber' alongside Maggie Q and Sylvester McCoy. He is currently appearing in 'Eastenders' for BBC.
Passion on the Night Tube - Tony Tang
Have you found passion on the night tube? You will tonight. Gay, fat, Chinese, English. What do you do when you find you don’t fit in anywhere? Kill and hide in plain sight? A play in English and Cantonese.
Tony Tang is a performer and musician, and Passion on the Night Tube is his debut as a writer. Performing credits include; Bouncers, My Night with Reg. Film Includes: From Hell, Revolver, Blackbird, StagKnight TV Includes: Lucky Man, Strangers, Little Britain, The First Emperor.
Land of Nod
Where do we really go when we fall asleep?
Join us as we fold into sleep and explore a dream world, created especially for you. A magical, multi-sensory production filled with laughter, audience interaction, surprises and song, designed especially for children aged 3+ and their families. This production blends puppetry, captivating storytelling and an enchanting musical score in this star-light adventure. A story of tiredness, over-tiredness, wonder and waking up.
Moon On A Stick create accessible theatre for families, combining puppetry, storytelling and live music. Supported by Arts Council England, we tour multi-sensory work to London and the regions. Our shows are specially designed to welcome anyone with autism, additional needs and other sensitivities, providing the opportunity for all the community to enjoy theatre together.
“Truly magical” - Bargain Theatreland
“Charming and engaging” - Everything Theatre
Supported by
Him Indoors
Want a trip somewhere a little different?
Come on down to Tittitutar town, where things are not quite right....it's something you can't put your finger on but one journalist is determined to get to the bottom of the town's peculiarities. Hearing about a strange lady who claims she has a small man squatting in her stomach, he heads up North to meet her and the rest of the town’s inhabitants.
An absurd and ridiculous comedy with a splash of horror, set in a strange town populated with oddbods, misfits and nosy-parkers.
★★★★★ 'It is one of those shows that I would describe as a work of genius without being able to pin down exactly why.’
Lynne Parker, Funny Women on Sonja Doubleday’s previous show Tittitutar Town
#nofilter
Avocado on toast. Cankle insecurity. Boomerang obsession.
It’s not easy being a millennial.
Journey through confessions of a millennial in the comedic and relevant #nofilter. A fast paced series of images, movement and dialogue ponder the curious and fantastical in millennial life. Bright, zesty and at times touchingly tender, #nofilter brings our performative online personas to the performative stage setting with just a small helping of kale.
Founded in 2017 by Ella Fleetwood, ella&co. creates work that is relevant, reflective and accessible to artsy and non-artsy folk alike. Ella’s work has recently been produced for the Nunhead Art Trail, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and the Southbank Centre.
“A bold and thoroughly engaging new work that pokes fun at the millennial generation and its self-obsessed culture…four likeable, quirky women made #nofilter lighthearted and enjoyable.”
Daisy Moorcroft, Resolution Review
“#nofilter by ella&co. is #fresh #humorous #cool, and a thoroughly entertaining end to the evening.”
Savannah Saunders, Resolution Review
Supported by Arts Council England, The Point, University of Chichester and Arts University Bournemouth
#nofilter promo from Ella Fleetwood on Vimeo.
Supported by
Whisper Me Happy Ever After
Who do you turn to when the story just won’t go the way you want it to?
Big brother Aaron’s great at making up adventures but Yasmin longs for happy ever afters like Mum used to tell... but Mum doesn’t have time anymore.
The play follows a family experiencing domestic abuse and explores the effects on the mental health of children who witness it. It is both humorous and disturbing.
The audience share lots of practical and emotional thinking about what they could do in a similar situation.
After the theatre piece, pupils interact with the characters and consider what they could have done to get the help they needed and deserved.
Subsequently, pupils can talk to our counsellor and team members to discuss personal issues raised by the play.
Face Front creates theatre that pioneers social change for an inclusive world. We use the transformational power of theatre to improve emotional well-being and address social injustice.
Face Front is led by disabled and non-disabled arts practitioners who make multi-layered theatre that is accessible to all.
"The varied groups of actors have always demonstrated high levels of performing excellence and an ability to engage with young audiences. This testifies to the rigorous training and support which Face Front invests in their actors and the dedication to the aims of inclusive theatre."
Audience review, Haringey Citizenship and Participation Manager
Supported by
For Only An Hour
Join us For Only An Hour, a queer manifesto told through dance, song, spoken word and performance art. Danced to a hilarious medley of Angela Lansbury, Delia Smith and Bette Midler, this one man romp is a pseudo-glamouress jaunt through pop culture, queer art, childhood dreams and life changing surgery. It speaks of the urge to survive through many things, by leaning into humour, openness, hard truths and visibility.
It demands a punishing vulnerability of the performer and is supported by a haunting music offering by Donna McKevitt, glittering queer garments by Andrew Walker, artistic mentoring by Wendy Houston and a unique improvised lighting design by Jen Wren.
SARDOVILLE are a ‘repertoire-esque’ theatre company which roughly translates as ‘Hold on to your knickers, anything could happen’. The company have worked together for a decade and delight in bringing stories that are moving, entertaining and perplexing.
Recommended for ages 16+, or 14+ with parental consent
Bright Raven!
Bright Raven! is here. to. stir. some. sh*****t up. She’s starting a cult(ish) revolution and she wants YOU to sign your soul up. Blending dark clown and electronic music, Bright Raven! is a rallying whoo-up for these turbulent times.
HOAX's Flavia Bertram (Bright Raven!) is joined by the priestess of performance poetry Michelle Madsen, the cleric of comedy Vanessa Hammick, and the illustrious illustrator Eloise Carles to raise funds for Mission LifeForce's Earth Protectors Fund. 25% of ticket sales will go to Mission LifeForce's Earth Protectors Fund.
HOAX is a company of theatre makers. They specialise in provocative contemporary work and concrete piping. They blend text, physical theatre and comedy to give voice to social and ecological issues. They are very serious and very silly.
Bright Raven! is a theatre rite, blending mime, clown and electronic music being created by Flavia Bertram and Stephen Sobal (All In), with support from Sarah Fraser, Lawrence Kendrick and Anna-Helena McLean.
About Mission LifeForce:
Mission LifeForce is a growing international movement of legal Earth Protectors - people who care about protecting the Earth and who are signatories to a legal document, the Earth Protectors Trust Fund document. Your ticket will contribute to:
- Funding a law establishing ECOCIDE as an international crime- putting an end to state-sanctioned industrial immunity and safeguarding our Earth for future generations
- Empowering small, climate-vulnerable states who have the incentive - and the ability - to amend international law in this way (but not the funds)
- If you are an activist, gaining an additional legal defence in a court of law as a conscientious protector.
Bright Raven! and Friends is presented as a scratch performance.
Supported by
Canary
Meet Agnes, Anne and Betty, a motley crew of munitions workers 'doing their bit' for the war. They make bombs.
Factory life seems perfect until an air raid sends them on an explosive journey through euphoric emancipation, forbidden friendships and anarchic dreams.
Canary was created in collaboration with the award winning Teatro En Vilo. Seamlessly combining high quality physical theatre with contemporary sound design, the show offers audiences a rare insight into life during the First World War from the unique perspective of Britain’s munitions workers, The Canary Girls.
Join Fun in the Oven Theatre as they celebrate and commemorate the lives of Britain’s unsung war heroes.
Fun in the Oven Theatre is a physical theatre company based in Newcastle Upon Tyne. Founded in 2015, they are fast becoming the North East's leading company for physical theatre through delivery of shows, workshops and events. The company’s distinctive style combines sharp physical theatre and contemporary sound design to create dynamic shows that capture our audiences’ hearts and minds.
Suitable for audiences 12+ with parental guidance (Canary contains mild references of a sexual nature and mild swearing)
"My favourite theatre experience of the year"
Matthew Crow, Independent on Sunday
"Three hugely versatile actors held us spellbound"
Julia Wright, Teesdale Mercury
"Hilarious, heartbreaking, brilliant"
Audience member at Northern Stage
Supported by
Guncotton Creep & Mooncalf
An Evening of New Writing!
Guncotton Creep
And that's where the film should end. Cut to black. Credits role. Except it doesn't. It doesn't end
Mark likes films. But where does fantasy end and reality begin? A darkly funny exploration of obsession, relationships and Lord of the Rings.
A monologue written and performed by Rowland Stirling
Mooncalf
A monologue written and performed by Nell Barlow
mooncalf:
(noun ARCHAIC)
mooncalf; plural noun: mooncalves
a foolish person.
a daydreamer.
a monstrous birth.
“Every nigh it’s the same. I don’t have any fingers”.
It’s after school hours and Moonie is hungry.
Moonie’s tummy aches and Mum isn’t there to fix it.
With a blend of magic, imagination and sheer determination can Moonie make sense of things?
There has possibly been an incident
Tell us what to do with our heroes because we don’t know what happens next
A plane crash. A protest. A terrorist attack. Three actors. Four voices. One theme.
How do humans react to crisis? Do we step forward and confront terror or do we remain silent? What does it mean to be a hero in 2018?
Bost-Uni Plues
Everyone says that university is the best three years of your life! So what happens next? What happens when you still have questions, but everyone expects you to have all the answers?
Based on the true experiences and stories told by graduates, join three clowns as they leave the comfort of timetables, deadlines, and student life behind and enter the real world. A world full of expectation, proper jobs, and council tax.
Bost-Uni Plues is an explosion of energy, honesty, dance, movement, techno, and plain silliness that explores life after graduation. Because when you’re told that the best three years of your life are behind you, what else is left other than post-uni blues?
