Richards Love

This Wednesday, 25th March - 7.30pm:

"Sarah’s Mother was a funny kettle of fish. She had once been bright and lovely all skipping silvery scales. But dark was the trawler that dragged her quick and thoughtlessly in, and dark was the fisherman who saw her flapping and beautiful in her little kettle…"

Bric a Brac Productions takes you into a magical and muddled world to tell tale of Sarah, her unlikely hero Richard and her tricky Mother, who is determined to stand in the way of their love.

Beautifully intricate shadow puppets, quirky characters, a fun soundtrack and some impressively fast costume changes!

Tickets are £6 for adults and £5 for students.

Letter to Strange Face

I was going to write a review on the play we saw last night, but figured this letter I just sent to them says it all. Go and watch them!

Hi Strange Face,

I just had to write to say thank you for last night! After receiving the brochure from Salisbury Art Centre, I was intrigued by your publicity, so decided to organise a work jolly as a birthday treat for our boss. Eight of us from our small theatre headed out from Swindon to watch the show.

We ALL thoroughly enjoyed the performance. It was full of energy and enthusiasm, the characters were delightful and endearing, the story was interesting and fun and the music was brilliant! I don't think it was quite what any of us were expecting, but when the landlady burst into song, it stepped the story to another level!

Working at a school theatre we get to see a wide variety of productions, from some really excellent professional companies. I have to say that I truly enjoyed your style of storytelling. I love theatre that entertains just for the pleasure of a good story. Throw puppets, masks and live music in to the mix, and for me, you're on to a winning formula.

As I hoped, our boss David Calder is really interested in booking you to come to Bradon Forest. We're really excited about The Christmas Carol, but to be honest, I could happily sit through The Last Resort again!

Thank you all again for a wondrous evening. Hopefully we'll see you again very soon!

I should probably add, that the Salisbury Art Centre is a delightful venue, and they don't make a bad tomato soup either! Make the effort to take a visit.

Shifting Sands

So, a little late with this entry for Shifting Sands. It's a really busy time at the moment, and the rest of last week was taken up with the Science department's Wow Show. The Devil's Doctor was superb though. These are one of our favourite companies, and it was great to have Gerry Flanagan bring the cast back to the theatre for their latest show. With warnings of loud bangs, potions and flashes, the play was a bit of a preview to the Science experiments we saw on Friday!

The Devils' Doctor tells the story of The 16th Century Swiss alchemist and physician Paracelsus, one of the pioneers of modern medicine. The story weaves it's way in and out of science and comedy, in an exciting and enthused adventure through history, showing the ups and downs of Paracelsus and his new way of thinking. Because there was a lot of information to get in to the hour and ten minute show, at times the script was a little text heavy, but this was the only point of criticism. The three actors were full of energy throughout the entire performance and the audience really buzzed of the atmosphere. The visual elements were well executed and added greatly to the story, with perfect comic timing as always.

Shifting Sands are a great company to book in to your venue, or to go and watch. I urge you to check out their website and see them at the next opportunity.

R&J, not SAT

For the second year running, the Bradon Forest theatre are supporting the English department with the provision of Shakespeare workshops and performances. Despite the SATS being cancelled, the workshops are going ahead in the interest of student learning. Leanne Thompson, a member of the English staff, says;

"We have decided to run the workshops as we feel it is important that the students get an all round experience of Shakespeare - and this workshop approach helps the students to understand Shakespeare's theatricality. Shakespeare is vital to the English curriculum whether part of the SAT exams or not."

Dominic Waldron, the theatre's in-house professional actor, will be leading the workshops alongside Jack Baverstock from Swindon Young Actors. They will also have the assistance from a few of the Key Stage 4 Drama students. In each of the ten scheduled workshops, each with a different class, they will look at Act 3, Scene 1 using two main exercises. Firstly, the students will be asked to look at the key sentences of the scene and decide how each of them should be spoken. The second task will enable to students to direct themselves, giving them a sense of themes and emotional states throughout the scene. The workshop will not only increase learning through participation, but will also develop empathy and understanding of the characters, and consequently, the text.

Dominic says; "I want the students to realise that Shakespeare isn't about big words and sitting behind a desk. It's about passion, comedy and excitement."

The workshops will also be supported by two lunchtime performances of the scene, again by Dominic, Jack and the students, to give the English students an opportunity to see the characters in action. This project is supported by our Specialist Status.

Theatreworks Info

TheatreWorks is looking for new writing for performance to be part of a showcase and development event to be held in the Salberg Studio in the Salisbury Playhouse on 21st May 2009.

They welcome submissions from first time, emerging and experienced writers. It is the potential of the extract and of you as a writer that they are looking for.

Submissions must be:

• From writers living or working in the South West
• From writers able to attend the Dialogue event
• Between 10 and 20 minutes long
• Require no more than 4 actors to be performed
• Typed in a clear and easy to read format with two copies posted to TheatreWorks
• Sent without the writer’s name on the script. Only the application form should have the writer’s name and the title of the script together
• Received by TheatreWorks no later than 5pm on Monday 20th April
• Interesting and engaging, showing promise, skill and imagination

Due to the number of submissions they are expecting, written feedback cannot be given and submissions cannot be returned.

Experienced script readers will select 3 or 4 pieces from all the submissions. A professional director and actors will then rehearse and perform them script-in-hand in the Salberg Studio on the 21st May 2009.

On the night, all writers will receive feedback from the audience and a panel of professional judges. Informed by the feedback the panel will choose one writer to receive individually tailored support to develop the script and their skills.

The chosen writer’s developed piece will then be rehearsed and performed at the Script Factory at the Ustinov Theatre, Bath, on 14th Jan 2010.

This is your opportunity to explore ideas, give new characters a run out, and win the chance for real professional development. So get writing, and they’ll see you at the Salberg Studio on Thursday 21st May.

By submitting your application to Dialogue, TheatreWorks is given permission to use this information to promote its aims and celebrate artistic excellence. This in no way affects copyright of the work.

For more information see www.theatreworks.org.uk. If you have further questions or would like to talk through ideas, call TheatreWorks on 01793 509048 or email mike@theatreworks.org.uk.