WHAT YOU MISSED - "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs"

The pantomime is now officially over! It's been with us a grand total of 21 days, and at two shows nearly every day, that's a lot of Snow White!

If you didn't make it this year, here's a snapshot of what you missed, but be there for next year :)

Tickets for 2012's Peter Pan already on sale - ring 01522 873894 to book...

- Hilary Shepherd, Marketing Officer

The Unthanks - 07.12.2011

Having only ever seen The Unthanks perform their traditional clog dancy folky main stay I was intrigued to see how they would interpret the works of Antony and the Johnsons and Robert Wyatt.

The answer was a resounding “brilliantly” from everyone who came to see them.

There’s something truly magical about beautiful lyrics sung with a Northumberland accent. It becomes haunting, melodic and moving. Add to that the skill and variety of musicians and musical instruments played during the performance and you have something utterly breath-taking to behold.

On the subject of instruments I’ve heard the saw played many times but never actually seen it. Watching one musician so adeptly switch mid song between violins and saw to create some truly ethereal sounds was captivating.

I’ve always been a huge fan of Antony and the Johnsons, I find Antony himself a remarkable person with a beautiful voice and an incredible talent for song writing. To hear his music so lovingly reimagined by a band that is obviously huge fans as well was more than a match for the original songs.

The second half of the performance focused on the works of Robert Wyatt. Someone who until this point I hadn’t realised I’ve been listening to for years. Their interpretation of “Dondestan” sung by the entire band while Becky and Rachel Unthank clog danced the melody accompanied by a trumpet was mind blowing! While their rendition of “Free Will and Testament” with its tongue twister lyrics was deftly and delicately handled to produce something ethereal and spell binding.

The entire show was punctuated by The Unthanks trademark humour and the whole performance left me moved and talking about it to anyone that would listen for days.

-Andy Farenden, Box Office Assisstant

Music of the Spheres - project with sinfonia ViVA 06.12.11

This project aimed from the start to involve young people in creating their own music. Lincoln College, Nettleham Primary and Monks Abbey Primary Schools met at The Collection in October 2011 to take inspiration from The Four Seasons installation.

Following that, each school, with the help of workshop leader James Redwood, (double bassist Dave and viola player Nina) exercised their imaginations and wrote songs and instrumental music about enjoying the four seasons, change and the journey of life. 

As well as their own compositions, the children and students learnt two songs (complete with actions) to incorporate into the final concert:

"Ah poor bird

Take thy flight

Far above the sorrows of this dark night"

And......

"Seasons change with time

As the earth circles so slowly

Dancing round the sun

Hear the planets spin

Orbiting, ever evolving

Music of the spheres"

It was truly inspiring to see so many children get stuck in to music, and to also get to listen to ViVA playing Astor Piazzollo's 'Four Seasons of Buenos Aires' as well as some Bartok in between each specially composed piece.

 

It was a privilege to have been part of something that introduced so many kids to some great music, but as well as that it was FUN! Kids can be hilarious.

 

If you didn't get to see it this year, please PLEASE try and make it next year (fingers crossed it will be going ahead next year) - you won't regret it!

-Hilary Shepherd, Marketing Officer

This Is Just To Say... 26.11.12

"Would you call yourself a serial apologist?" asked Hannah Walker of the 12 people gathered round the table for her discussion-come-poetic-performance of 'This is Just To Say'.  How often do you find yourself apologising on a day-to-day basis?  Is 'sorry' always the right thing to say and do we always mean it?

For this exploration of apology, the Room Upstairs was transformed into a cosy, twinkling, confessional as guests drank wine and pondered the 'terribly British' overuse of this get-out-of-jail-free tool.  We measured the validity of one apology against another, we shared our own apologies, we read apologies from people from all over the country and we listened as Hannah twisted and turned the words into insightful, sometimes tongue-in-cheek sometimes heartfelt, verse.

This wasn't an average theatre experience.  You couldn't sit back and let the evening wash over you - the content was too real and too personal for that.  As Hannah gently questioned, explained, and shared her own experiences, we scribbled thoughts and ideas, asked our own questions and confronted our own lost apologies. 

For an hour I shared a conversation with a group made up of friends and total strangers, got lost in thought, and was moved to the verge of tears before laughing so much that my sides ached.  The discussions we had, the lines she spoke and the words I wrote stayed with me long after I had returned home and for me, that's exactly what theatre should do.

- Charlie Kemp, Audience Development and Participation Project Worker

BEHIND THE SCENES - "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs"

Pantomime season has begun!

That means that everything Jamie Marcus Productions could possibly need from now until January 2nd is in our Auditorium as we speak...

 (Coming into work Monday morning shows that since Friday things have even spread into the Cafe Bar)

As well as all the backdrops there are numerous props hanging around - you may be able to guess who some of them belong to or where they appear in the story...

But the crew found it hard work shifting and lifting everything....

And here's a sneaky preview of the first dress rehearsal in the Drill Hall - in real pantomime style!

-Hilary Shepherd, Marketing Officer

Lunchtime Literature with Dr Jane: Middlemarch 28.10.11

Dr Jane, the lady in white. 

The stage is a chess board for this evening’s musical (see the Chess post).  Dr Jane is the White Queen; she can move in any direction. 

This month it’s Middlemarch by George Eliot, brick-sized and dense, ‘the book Tolstoy said made his great novels possible’. 

We settle down for an hour of biography, character analysis, political, social and religious context, text analysis.  Guess what?  It’s fun.  George Elliott becomes a friend we’re gossiping about (in a nice way, of course, most of the time).

The lights go up.  ‘Oh!  Look at you all!’ Dr Jane beams and we beam back.  Now for questions.  There’s never enough time.  It’s over too soon.

We spend an hour with a different genius each month.  It lifts us up, broadens our horizons.  Next month we’ll find out all about Erich Maria Remarque – All Quiet on the Western Front.  Can’t wait.

-Jenny Clarkson, box office assistant

Click here for info on All Quiet on the Western Front and find out about our other lunchtime literature talks

The Ice Book - 28.10.11

Technologies old and new are cleverly combined in Davy & Kristin McGuire’s miniature projected theatre performance, The Ice Book. Part animation, part book art and part performance, the show’s use of back projection onto pop-up book sets result in an experience that is both intimate and immersive.

It also conjures up the spirit of Georges Méliès and early film experimentation, Russian folk tales, magic lantern theatre and eastern European animation. So far so good – all of my personal interest boxes ticked.

The mechanical aspects of the performance – the lightbox and book – are well crafted and work beautifully. And you can sense how the origins of the miniature stage sets lay in full-scale theatre.

The McGuire’s had long held the dream of creating a theatre performance that opened up like a pop-up book and The Ice Book was created as a demonstration model to lure funding.

The back-projected animations play automatically during the performance while one of the artists, in this case Davy, turns the pages of the large pop-up book by hand to reveal each new scene.

However, I found that The Icebook’s story itself is the weakest part of the show. It’s familiar and simple (as folk tales are, I know), telling the the story of a mysterious princess who lures a boy into her magical world to warm her heart of ice.

Given the technical ingenuity on show, I would have liked to see a story with more invention and ‘magic’. It all just felt a bit flat and, well, one-dimensional. This is a minor quibble though (I’m beginning to sound like Barry Norman!) as the it is a special and unique piece of theatre and I’m genuinely excited to see what Davy and Kristin get up to next.

-Gavin Street, Marketing Manager