Summer Sublets

Are you a theatre company or maker in West Yorkshire?

Are you looking for a space to develop new work this summer?

Then we want to hear from you.

Summer Sublets is part of Furnace, a new work development programme at West Yorkshire Playhouse. The scheme provides a selection of local artists with rehearsal space and project mentoring during the summer months. The 2012 group of Summer Sublets artists included companies Theatre State and RashDash, director Elise Rohde-Hanssen, storyteller Matthew Bellwood, writer Sarah Wallis and the Foolish Men project.

How does it work?

We are seeking applications from theatre makers who are looking for a space to develop a new project. We are open to applications from companies, solo artists or collectives. However you make performance we want to hear from you.

Successful artists will be based at West Yorkshire Playhouse during their residency and will receive project mentoring from a member of the programming team at the theatre.

We ask that on the final day of the residency you’re willing to share a snippet of the piece you’ve been developing to members of the WYP team and, if it makes sense for your project, potentially to a select group of audience members too.

Priority will be given to artists in West Yorkshire who are not regularly funded and who are at a pivotal point in their careers. Space will also be assigned based on availability.

How do I apply?

Please send an email application which includes the following information:

• Brief description of you and your work (max 250 words) plus any relevant supporting documentation (images, video, etc)

• Brief description of the project that you’re developing and any future plans you might have for it, including if you have plans to apply for funding to support your residency (max 250 words)

• Details of the timeframe and times of day that you’re looking for a space between June-August 2013 (residency’s can usually last any period from a few days to a couple of weeks)

• Details of the kind of space you ideally require (ie size/nature of space)Brief description of the ways you feel Summer Sublets could support the development of your new project and your work in general.

Your application will need to reach us by Friday 31 May 2013, you will hear from you shortly after this date.

Applications to Amy Letman, Associate Producer: amy.letman@wyp.org.uk

Bread & Goose are a small theatre company with an interest in telling stories that matter, from unusual and engaging perspectives. We work most often in outdoor locations, and enjoy taking the audiences on journeys, in which they also have to play their part in the story. The company is run by Alison Neighbour (Designer) and Kate Lovell (Writer/Director), and as new opportunities are arising, we are keen to welcome a Creative Producer into the core team, to help us manage production tasks, fundraising, develop new projects, and to seek out new opportunities to move the company forward.

We are currently continuing development of The Incurable Imagination of Anthony Jones, a show about memory and what happens when we lose it. The show started life as part of a development programme at the Wales Millennium Centre, and this summer will be travelling to Green Man festival and the World Stage Design festival. We hope to tour the show across the UK in Spring 2013. We also hope to further develop Mission, a show we began R&D on last summer.

At present, we work on a project-by-project basis with regard to pay and fundraising, but put in a significant amount of ground-work in addition to this. We have received Arts Council grants for our past 3 productions, and hope to find a producer who will be happy to work with us to help lay the foundations for each new project, and then co-manage the project as it develops.

For more information about the company and our work, please have a look at our website www.breadandgoose.co.uk
If you’re interested in working with us, please get in touch with alison@breadandgoose.co.uk

We are delighted to announce the winner is The Boat House by Eva Adderley.

Eva studies Studio Arts and Theater at the University of Iowa. Her stories have appeared in various journals, and her plays have been performed in Iowa, New York, and Australia. She was a finalist for Sanguine Theater NYC’s 2012 Project Playwright contest and a semi-finalist for the 2012 Eugene O’Neill Festival. Currently, she is working on a project with the Quad City Theater in Davenport, Iowa.

Actors Headshots Deal

Do you need new headshots for drama school, auditions or agents?

Adam Robinson Photography (Leeds) is running a special offer for all NSDF alumni. Just £80 for a professional 2-hour shoot plus 5 edited images of your choice. Adam works with you to create the very best headshots which you can use for years to come – it’s a fantastic investment! This deal applies to shoots in Leeds but Adam also has a base in London. Email adam@pikchures.com to book your shoot or to discuss your requirements.

Did you have a favourite show and why?

There were definitely stand out shows, but these were varied in style and presentation. Yet several weeks down the line I can’t stop thinking about Tatty Tales by Arts Educational. I can still see their haunting clown faces staring out at me when I close my eyes. Those images remain clear, but honestly, it was the dedication the performers had. Electrifying.

What was the most surprising thing for you at the festival?

I’m surprised we didn’t all get blown into the sea. Strange idea building a venue so close to the sea. Being serious though, surprises were found in the commitment and dedication of the students attending, some repeat attendees. NSDF feels like a community, a cult almost, which I think gets lost often in the industry at large. Coming together for the week made me appreciate how much I miss that feeling of community, which surprised me.

Was there a stand out moment that made you want to immediately write about it?

The denial of feminism by a particular director when describing/defending their piece during one of the discussions. It made my blood boil, and I ended up writing a rather passionate response saying that all theatre has a purpose, even if it wasn’t intended to be that way. We must never forget the audience when making work. Never!

What was the best piece of writing you read by a student and why?

The best piece of writing came from a student who had managed to see the piece they were reviewing through fresh eyes. They tackled the themes of the play with alertness and they had a sharp wit to their words. They made me think differently and after reading it I couldn’t help but to go “Yes! You’ve got it.”

What would you say to anyone thinking about going to the festival next year?

NSDF is for theatre-mad students who want to come together to share in this madness. The opportunities to then share a collective madness with industry professionals who do this madness as a job is priceless. It’s a week of passion, and dedication. By the end you’ll know if pursuing a theatre career, in whatever form that takes, is right for you. And it’s fun, everyone likes fun.

Jake Orr is the Founder and Artistic Director of A Younger Theatre, and was a Deputy Editor for Noises Off at the festival this year.

You can follow Jake on Twitter @jakeyoh

www.ayoungertheatre.com

But it’s a festival…if we are going to have weather, let’s have real weather!

My heart went out to Lucy Dollman who was in the cast of The Memory of Water. She arrived in freezing Scarborough with Laryngitis and it was clear she wouldn’t get better in time for her opening show. She fervently hoped she would. She didn’t. She stayed all week and to her credit sat with her company at the show discussion and listened while praise was given to stage manager Eloise Hyde, who had covered for her and lifted a performance off the book. Despite shaking with nerves immediately before the first show, Eloise delivered. Supported her show and her friends. Supported Lucy.

As Director you run the festival. However. In consultation; let the Management Team manage. Allow the companies to make their decisions. We are presenting them not producing them. Let the Technical Team use their imagination as well as their skill. They created a space for 101 (impressionist, site specific theatre based by Orwell’s 1984) that was beyond the dreams of Bridgend College who created the production. Seven prison cells of cracked, dank, concrete in a secret location high in the Spa Complex, built in a day…actually made out of plasterboard and wood. All the more challenging as the team of David Larking (Technical Advisor) and six students had to squeeze themselves and all their kit and materials into the 11.6 by 3.4 metre space to build it. The result was exactly the environment needed for the company’s ambitious show and an even more immersive, realistic (and for some) upsetting experience for the audience. You might have the idea but you need those who know how to make the idea reality. The 101 company who performed more shows than anyone else (the production could only play to an audience of 7) volunteered to do an extra performance for the Tech’ Team who built the set. Their generosity to those who created their space and Eloise’s bravery, summed up the spirit of the festival for me.

It only struck me just ahead of the festival quite how many violent plays we had in the programme. We select simply on which productions we feel are the best. We had husbands mistreating wives and the wives’ revenge in The Twelve Dancing Princesses. Everyone violently mistreating everyone in Tatty Tales – laugh out loud, grotesque physical theatre with a nod to Shockheaded Peter.

Mercury Fur – a deeply upsetting take on what the future might hold – particularly if you’re a parent. (I was missing my children).

Every day tales of every day lives intertwined with terrorists planning the London 7/7 suicide bombings in Pornography. An uncertain, sexually naive man raping a girl in Stacy – and he remained uncertain about the enormity of his actions. His attempts to justify himself in the play made for a great discussion. And 101 and the future writ large as ‘a boot stamping on a human face – forever’.

We presented a film version of a submitted show VoiceMale by The Brit School. Directed by Julia Ford who saw the show as a Selector and thought it should transfer to film. Made in three days plus editing, I was delighted we could introduce film into the festival along with a showcase of six film shorts. It was an important piece  - influenced by the harrowing statistic that the biggest killer of young men in London is suicide. Violence again. And associated with the work done by the Campaign Against Living Miserably. CALM. That word again.

Violent plays, (violent sea and weather) but a calm festival that reaffirmed what people can achieve together.

Michael Brazier

Running from 11.00am – 4.00pm this is a unique opportunity to find out more, share your ideas, meet fellow artists and some of your staff, including the chance to ask Christine Payne about her vision for Equity and what it is like to be General Secretary.

Alongside this we will also be running sessions on:

• Low Pay/No Pay work
• The Equity Pension Scheme
• Getting involved and campaigning

Plus one-to-one, short CV surgeries on a first come first served basis, so if this interests you, don’t forget to bring 2 copies of your CV with you.

We will also have lots of on the spot information and advice.

As well as looking forward to welcoming our members , we are  encouraging  any non-members  to come along  to find out why they should join up.

Our Open House takes place at Equity, Guild House, Upper St Martin’s Lane, London, WC2H 9EG, from 11.00am – 4.00pm

Meanwhile round the corner at the Actors Centre on Tower Street, the free activities will include among other things:

• Taster workshops  including Meisner and Voice
• A panel session on career development and the different paths panellists have taken in their acting careers

Plus special offers and discounts in the café.

Their address is Actors Centre, 1A Tower Street, London WC2H 9NP

For the full Equity programme please have a look at www.equity.org.uk/openhouse and for the Actors Centre, please visit  www.actorscentre.co.uk/openhouse

No need to book – just turn up.