You know it's going to be a good day when...

... you receive the copy and images for the new Gonzo Moose show!

Pegasus presents Gonzo Moose in…
GRIMM and GRIMMER
The Misadventures Of The Brothers Grimm

1806. It was cold. It was dark. It was almost certainly snowing…

Brothers Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm and their beloved sister, Lotte travel into deepest Bavaria. They are assembling what will become the greatest collection of fairy tales ever published.

But now reality and fantasy are colliding and the family Grimm find themselves trapped in a twisted fantasy world of their own fairy tales.

Are the hapless heroes in grave danger? Yes.
From what? We can’t tell you.
Will they make it back alive? I hope so.

Having previously thrilled audiences with hit shows Is That A Bolt In Your Neck? and You Don’t Need To Know That!, Gonzo Moose are back with a comedy fairy tale adventure bursting with physical comedy, absurd jokes and magical illusion.

Featuring special guest appearances from Rapunzel, Hansel and Gretel, Tom Thumb, Little Red Riding Hood and Rumplestiltskin…subject to their availability.

I'm so excited already! Make sure you have November 17th in your diaries!

Arts Award Pilot Scheme. Done.

I have great news! Our first five Bronze Arts Award students have passed with flying colours! I received the moderators comments through last week, but had to wait until I'd told them all personally before announcing to the world. As part of the Bronze Award, the youngsters had to complete four parts:

1. Be the audience
2. Take part in the Arts
3. Arts Heroes and Heroines
4. Arts Apprenticeships

They led dance classes and workshops, instructed warm up sessions for Drama Club, performed in shows and competitions and filmed a review chat show after watching a professional performance. Their research was presented as story books and power points and one Bronzer even wrote her research on Freddie Mercury as lyrics to a medley of all her favourite Queen tracks!

All five Bronzers showed creativity and dedication and I think that not only did they all enjoy the award, they all learnt something from the experience.

"The five Bronze portfolios submitted by Jennifer from Bradon Forest School were part of a pilot scheme within the school and have succeeded excellently! These five portfolios were thorough and very creatively presented (especially the diary from Ania for her Part B - excellent). Good levels of evidence in all parts. The young people have obviously benefited a great deal from their Arts Award. Well done."

- Dannsia Iwaszko

Congratulations to Claudia Brinkworth, Fleur Calder, Chloe Stollery-Clarke, Bradley Williams and Ania Witka. Now for the Silver Award and the next phase of Bronze...

Trinity College 2011 Playwriting Competition

Plays for children and young people can excite and inspire writers, performers and audiences. Now in its second year, the International Playwriting Competition encourages new writing in this field, recognising the very best with cash prizes, performances on the London stage and publication with international distribution. Writers are asked to submit a one-act play that is either:

• suitable for performers aged 11 years and under

or

• intended for an audience aged 12–16 years.

The competition is open to writers of any age, of any level of experience and from any country. All plays must be written substantially or entirely in the English language.

Prizes in each category:

• cash prize of £1,000 for the winning writer
• Trinity College London will publish the winning plays in a collection of plays from the competition
• winning play to be performed at a gala event at a London theatre in January 2012
• travel and accommodation costs for the writer to attend the gala performance.

In addition, up to six ‘Highly Commended’ awards:

• cash prize of £500
• Trinity College London will publish the winning plays in a collection of plays from the competition.

Awards will also be made for The Most Promising Playwright(s) aged 11 years and under and The Most Promising Playwright(s) aged 12–16 years.

For full details see the Trinity College website, or click here to enter the competition.

Big Arts Day Big Choir

This year the Big Arts Day team want to end the day with a spectacular community arts finale involving hundreds, if not thousands, of local people of all ages.

As part of the overall vision they want to create the largest ever community choir in Swindon and they’ve organised a meeting where you can find out more and help them work out if and how they can do this. Everyone is welcome to come and find out more, you don’t have to be part of a choir, just keen to get singing and keen to be involved.

The launch meeting will be held on 18th May 2011 at The Platform, Faringdon Road, Swindon SN1 5BJ from 17.30 to 19.00. Please confirm to Jeanette Ketcher (phone 01793 465023) to let them know if you can come, so they can make sure they have got enough coffee, tea and biscuits ready.

Please help them by spreading the word about this meeting and please do invite anyone else you think would be interested.

Photos: The Importance of Being Arty

The Importance of Being Arty, a set on Flickr.

WORST CASE SCENARIO:
You don't have tickets yet for The Importance of Being Arty. Your friends see the show tonight. They come in to school tomorrow and tell you how amazing it was. You want to see it. So does everyone else. Thursday's show sells out. You miss out!

You can prevent this situation!
There are still a few tickets left for both performances.
Come and buy yours today from the Arts Office in the Dance Studio!

The Importance of Being Arty
Wednesday 11th and Thursday 12th May
7.30pm - 8.15pm
Tickets: £3 students, £4 adults

Youth Dance Summer School at Gloucestershire Dance

I've just had a mail through to let us know about this years summer school at Gloucestershire Dance , so I thought I'd pass it on! It's a three day workshop in July and looks pretty good, so I'd recommend booking early. See their website for more information.

BTEC Students pack out local Riffs Bar

Our Music BTEC students hosted a great performance night at our local live music venue, Riffs Bar. The group of seven students had to organise the evening as part of their course, including booking the venue, selling tickets and publicising the event, whilst also rehearsing their own set list!

The gig was held on Wednesday 6th April and was a complete sellout. Tickets were £2.50 in advance or £3 on the door. With all proceeds going to charity, the group made £300 and have chosen to donate it all to Cancer Research UK.

They also booked 3 other bands from other local schools to make a four band line-up - that's value for money!

• This Way Up - New young cover band whose main influence is Paramore.
• The Unknowns - Bradon Forest BTEC group performing classic covers.
• Frosted Teacakes
• Beyond the Break

Miss Hedges, The Unknown's music teacher, said; "I'm so proud of the students! All their hard work in organising the event really paid off and it was a truly successful evening, enjoyed by all."
Andy Pett, the manager at Riffs, commented; "Well done. Let me know if your students want to perform again in the future as we'd be happy to have you back!"


A big congratulations to Callum Brocks, Jay Cowsell, Vicky Edgerton, Andy Edwards, Josh Griggs-Burton, Rhianne Groom and Luke Robotham.

The Importance of Being Arty

Imagine a grey, dull school filled with bored and indifferent faces, trudging from class to class. A school with no colour, brightness, inspiration or joy. A school without music or art or performance. This is Dullston School. Then a new student called Chloe joins and this school will never be the same.

Devised entirely by the KS3 Drama Club, this is an interesting piece of drama that illustrates their passion for the arts and the necessity for it in our everyday lives.

This is our first performance after Easter but tickets are on sale now. With a cast of over 30, it's a great chance to see the amazing talent we have at Bradon Forest!

Directed by Phillipa Bradfield.

Best of Luck!

Wishing the very best of luck to our three GCSE groups performing tomorrow afternoon in front of the external examiner. You've all worked incredibly hard and will be great!

If you'd like to sit in on the performance, please see Mr Calder or Mrs Stimson as soon as possible.

Ooh... we're looking forward to November already!

Get Thursday 17th November 2011 in your diary... Gonzo Moose are coming back! We've booked them for their Christmas show and are just a little bit excited about it all. As you know, the Arts are being cut all over the place. We haven't yet been given our budget for the year, but don't want you to miss out on their Christmas show... so make sure you save this date and come and support us. Gonzo Moose are one of our very favourite companies and they never fail to entertain. Let's make this a sell-out!

The Gonzo Moose Winter Show (Working Title) 
A magical comedy adventure for the whole family

"We have yet to decide the title of the show or what the story will be but rest assured it will have all the trademark Gonzo Moose touches of silliness and madcap humour suitable for the whole family.

This wonderfully inventive and gripping comedy will feature three fearless and daring actors, playing over 20 roles in 75 minutes of fast-paced fun and thrilling action. Packed full of hilarious slapstick, verbal wit, live music and magical illusion this show will have everything.

Suitable for audiences from ages 8 to 80, this is an ideal family show: packed full of hilarious slapstick, verbal wit, and magical illusion.

Over the past five years Gonzo Moose has toured all over the country to great critical acclaim and been compared to Peepolykus and Spymonkey. With irreverent humour and a vivid physical style the show is extremely accessible, visually inventive and very, very funny. "

 A Co-Production with the Pegasus Theatre, Oxford.