If you get a chance to go down to Greenwich during this week and catch some of the performances of the Greenwich+Docklands International Festival I compel you to not miss that opportunity. It is a wonderful initiative where you are exposed to a number of different companies producing short outdoor performances of mostly physical theatre/dance and acrobatics – free of charge for everyone.
Presented as part of the LIFT festival 2014, Belarus Free Theatre return after a successful run with their show Trash Cuisine and with them bring the thought-provoking ‘Red Forest’. Focusing on the issue of man-made destruction, the production follows protagonist Aisha as she travels the world in the search of safety for herself and her daughter.
Note: This show was a staged reading of a work in progress, after only a day of rehearsals.
After Rikki Beadle-Blair’s energetic introduction, the audience were thrust into the show, ‘Jamaica Boy’. Surrounding the cast on stage was an audience being brought into the process of writing a play. ‘Jamaica Boy’ is far from finished, but once it has been polished this play has the potential to become a real diamond of a piece.
The 20th June witnessed the start of the Greenwich and Docklands International Festival 2014. Throughout the day various sound checks and rehearsals attracted muted attention, but nothing compared to the enthusiastic turn out for Acrojou‘s outdoor show, ‘Frantic’.
It didn’t take long for me to be completely immersed in this creative storytelling production of the familiar tale of the Jungle Book. It is a puppetry and shadow theatre show by Indigo Moon Theatre aimed at children and families and indeed whilst I was watching, I shamelessly went back to being a child, giggling and in awe of the tricks, the puppets and the colours.
“You’re silencing it. You get people here by calling it ‘Sunday’, then they find out it’s about lesbians.” So went one woman’s feedback about the title of Joy Gharoro-Akpajotor’s hard-hitting, hair-raising solo playwright debut. We the audience were very split on this point, and the discussion raged, facilitated by award-winning writer and director Rikki Beadle-Blair as he darted from left to right, negotiating the rush of raised hands: “It’s getting serious!”.
The show Idomeneus has its UK Premier at the Gate Theatre, opening on June 19th. It has been directed by Gate Associate Artist Ellen McDougall. I spoke to cast member Alex Austin about the show and his career…
You are currently working on Idomeneus at the Gate’s Head Theatre, how are the rehearsals going?
Its good thank you, we’re in the fourth week of rehearsals, getting ready to get in to tech for next week. There’s been a lot of exploring and that but it’s going good.
How would you describe the overall rehearsal process?
It’s very ensemble focused. We spent the first two weeks working very closely with the director, Ellen (McDougall) and the design team. They’ve been in rehearsals for a lot of the time so we’ve been working very closely as a group creating the language of the play, which flips between narrating and characters. It’s exciting it’s the UK premiere and it’ll be wicked to be a part of that!
Most novels, movies and plays about crime focus on the criminal; the police that are trying to catch the perpetrator, or even the victim. There is a fourth group however, the innocent bystanders that happen to live in the area. When the Ipswich Serial Murders occurred in 2006, the people of London Road found themselves in surprisingly the most infamous streets in England, through no fault of their own.
A talented singer and song writer in her own right, Sheila Atim has always had a passion to act. With both the Theatre and Music worlds working hand in hand, Sheila has been able to showcase her musical abilities within theatrical arena. She’s currently starring in award winning playwright, Ché Walker’s production of Klook’s Last Stand, where she plays the feisty Vinette. Ahead of press night, I was able to speak to Sheila about working with Ché, working in a small cast and why it’s important to surround yourself with artistic people!
You’ll be starring in Ché Walker’s play, Klook’s Last Stand at The Park Theatre (from Wednesday 11th June). Could you describe what the play is about?
The play is a love story between two people who are in very interesting places in their lives. I’d say the experience that they share together will change the course of their life, both of them forever.
Ché Walker’s newest work presented at the Park Theatre is yet another breath of fresh air in the scope of London’s music theatre. Set in an intimate space the audience becomes part of a conversational performance – a play with songs – in which the actors unpretentiously tell us their story, their past converging to a present of togetherness.
