tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36328202011-07-07T23:34:59.446-07:00Adventures in round theatre and other experiments in participationMicknoreply@blogger.comBlogger191100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3632820.post-855279742002-10-05T04:01:00.000-07:002002-10-05T04:09:13.000-07:00

Is coming up at the New Victoria in Newcastle under Lyme. The epic scale of this beautiful arena style theatre should suit Webster's classic. Opening night is 25th October.

Micknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3632820.post-853978942002-08-30T09:43:00.000-07:002002-08-30T09:43:49.786-07:00

I am sure this strikes a few chords.

Micknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3632820.post-853978902002-08-30T09:42:00.000-07:002002-08-30T09:42:40.860-07:00

Micknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3632820.post-3853075342002-08-02T04:20:00.000-07:002002-08-02T04:20:48.420-07:00

The audience are restless. We stare up at the stage, at the mute and heavy back curtain. The arch rising above us seems empty - it certainly isn’t brimming with the prospect of imminent theatre. A voice suddenly pipes up from the wings, its message sure but at the same time pathetic in proportion to the empty space it has been thrown into. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God.”

Simonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03576924250330880940noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3632820.post-852961112002-07-28T04:13:00.000-07:002002-07-30T03:44:58.000-07:00

The driver was benignly confused as the coach pulled out of the High Street. But then none of us was certain what was about to happen over the next two hours, except for Simon our host. "Only two rules" he said, "We must keep to the rules of the road, and not ask the driver to do anything he feels is perilous to the bus - otherwise we decide were we go, and the meaning of everything we see!"

Micknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3632820.post-852959892002-07-27T11:08:00.000-07:002002-07-30T05:26:04.000-07:00

Poverty, water, rain, industry, leaking roofs, cold religion and the cruelty of the militia. Coyote Dream Theatre filled a small part of Dorset with the waking dream of a Calder Valley resisting the implementation of the Poor Laws - broad Yorkshire vowels and all. Based on real events from the local resistance in 1838 to the imposition of the Poor Law Amendment Act, led by local MP John Fielden.

Micknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3632820.post-852883312002-07-27T08:59:00.000-07:002002-07-29T01:12:48.000-07:00

Dimitris Lyacos is is a Greek poet who spends much of his time haring back and forth between his London home and various readings in different parts of Greece. For summer he prefers Athens to England, but he came to the Round Festival for one evening and an afternoon. Extracts of his fourteen part poem were read by his translator, Shorshe Sullivan. "Sea of Iron. Moon silent as pain in the depth

Micknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3632820.post-852789202002-07-24T10:39:00.000-07:002002-07-24T10:39:26.000-07:00

The Orange Tree Theatre was founded in 1971 by Sam Walters, in a room above the Orange Tree Pub. Over the years which followed the theatre and its reputation grew.[more] You can keep in touch with upcoming programmes through a mailing list.

Micknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3632820.post-852750822002-07-23T09:27:00.000-07:002002-07-23T09:27:09.976-07:00

The next stage is about inviting everyone in to join him in the new found space. On Saturday at this year's Festival is a circular walk around the two sections of the River Allen. If you are coming, you will need your wellie boots!

Micknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3632820.post-852744192002-07-23T06:21:00.000-07:002002-07-23T07:44:48.000-07:00

Midday on Tuesday and the town is thronged with a hectic summer mix of locals and visitors. A very tired Simon Clarke sits on the bank for a few moments after returning to dry land. "...towards the end I didn't want to get out of bed. Despite the fact I was so close to the hustle and bustle of the thoroughfare, I felt relaxed and happy. It's funny though I got a mix of reactions this morning.

Micknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3632820.post-852739012002-07-23T01:52:00.000-07:002002-07-23T05:32:21.000-07:00

Having had a warm breakfast Simon Clarke and Pete Graham have thrived on their night on the river. They had had an impromptu gathering of friends and passers-by. By one they were alone again. By two they were asleep. Though a giant rat came and sat on a wall for some time just watching them. Simon continues on the connection between dreams and theatre-in-the-round: "A lot of the nature of 'the

Micknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3632820.post-3852733512002-07-22T19:49:00.000-07:002002-07-22T20:08:07.000-07:00

At 3.35am, all is quiet, except for the faint sound of a burglar alarm on the other side of the Minister and the faint night breeze through empty streets. Simon and Peter are asleep with the fishes.

Micknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3632820.post-3852724832002-07-22T13:41:00.000-07:002002-07-22T13:42:40.000-07:00

The Royal Exchange is in it's closed season at the moment, but is possibly the theatre-in-the-round which attracts most attention from the London media. The number of stages that can be adapted for work in the round makes it difficult to map where productions are taking place. The form is not that old. The Penthouse Theatre at the University of Washington claims to be the oldest fully

Micknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3632820.post-852724142002-07-22T13:19:00.000-07:002002-07-22T20:33:04.000-07:00

At 7.45 this evening Simon Clarke and colleague Pete Graham had just finished the day shift in the first half of his twenty-four hour 'bed-in' in the River Allen in Wimborne. From 12 till seven Simon invited local people to write out their dreams, wishes aspirations and fears on small pieces of paper; each hour reading them out to the passers-by. As you might imagine his 'performance' has aroused

Micknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3632820.post-852713442002-07-22T08:09:00.000-07:002009-10-12T13:49:02.097-07:00

Michael Billington asks what will theatre of the future be? And concludes it will be strictly pluralist: "And the only parallel I can think of is with the church in the 19th century. Some spectators will demand the equivalent of the High Mass, full of ritual, colour and spectacle. Others will find the truth and the life in appropriated buildings or outdoor assemblies or revelation in the

Micknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3632820.post-3852713302002-07-22T08:05:00.000-07:002002-07-22T08:35:27.000-07:00

Elsewhere in the UK there are various productions in-the-round: The New Victoria hosts Outside Edge by Richard Harris: "A comedy set against the back drop of a cricket pavilion about the trials and tribulations of the players and their wives and girlfriends. Roger has his work cut out as he desperately tries to assemble a cricket team to play against the British Railways Maintenance Division

Micknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3632820.post-852712812002-07-22T07:50:00.000-07:002002-07-22T10:47:41.000-07:00

The artistic director of this year's Round Festival, Simon Clarke, took the small Dorset town of Wimborne by surprise today when he took his bed and planted it in the River Allen at midday today. Press, television and radio were there wish him well on his endeveour to spend a day and a night there. Simon hopes to raise money and profile for the Festival, the only one in the UK that focuses each

Micknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3632820.post-3852424612002-07-12T06:08:00.000-07:002002-07-12T06:08:16.596-07:00

MacBeth opera-in-the-round draws major crowds in Cape Town.

Micknoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3632820.post-852423702002-07-12T05:30:00.000-07:002002-07-12T05:32:17.000-07:00

Following the success of last year's event, the next UK Round Festival is taking place in about two weeks.

Micknoreply@blogger.com0