We’ve been so busy that we
have neglected our poor blog so this is going to be a big one! George will be
taking over later.
So in the last entry we were
preparing ourselves for the first stop of our festival tour - Latitude. What
can I say? We just had the most amazing time! We kicked off the programme of
acts in the Main theatre tent playing to an audience of over 500 people, our
largest audience yet. We had no walk outs, which in a festival like this where’s
there’s so many more things going on, was a great sign. Before our tour we had
an intensive R&D week (and I mean intensive!) where we spent some time
refining and adding a few bits in that we ran out of time to put in our last
show. It was great revisiting some of the ideas we had worked on in the
original devising process. The new bits of the show seemed to go down really
well with the Latitude crowd and the reviewers too
"Slick and
impressive, moving along at breakneck pace with some complex role-swapping and
multiple parts played by the seven-strong company...each performance is
flawless and a credit to an energetic and creative devising process that the
company so clearly enjoys... one of the most vibrant
and engaging entries into the theatre circuit in years."
What's on Stage
"...an accomplished
début production from the young company who, based on this showing, will be a
name to watch with great interest in the future."
The Public Reviews
You can read the full reviews
here:
For this leg of our journey
we were joined by the lovely Sam, our technician for the show. He was truly
fantastic, with expert ninja skills and a clean drivers license, he was he
perfect fit for us.
Having said that we did get
lost on the way there (not pointing any fingers...cough cough Sam!!) things
could have turned nasty when we ended up in a disturbing Royston Vasey-style
village. Luckily for us, the regulars at the village pub took pity on us
bewildered drama types and guided us to the glorious fields of Henham Park. We
arrived in pitch black and I spent the next 4 hours trying to put my tent up,
it soon became a 7 man job and I’m still not sure we did it properly. Next day
the sun was shining and it was hot hot hot resulting in a fair bit of sun burn
for the NORTH crew, especially poor Alex, I think she was glowing in the dark
at one point! George did us proud in an extremely sweaty mosh pit (apparently
people like to mosh to Bloc Party, who knew?!) We ate crisps. We danced in the
woods. Sam showed us all his secret ninja side and totally floored Michael. We
ate crisps. Michael bought his
trusty ‘Latitude’ hat, which never left his head, even when he was asleep. We
ate crisps. Alice provided lots of
glitter for which Stan was extremely excited about and Maria totally worked the
glowstick look.
Latitude is a beautiful
festival, the crew we met were so helpful and welcoming and for that we can’t
thank them enough. We feel extremely proud and lucky to have been a part of it
and we definitely hope to return next year.
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| We've arrived in one piece! |
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| Wrists of power...they got you into nice toilets and a green room with free tea. |
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| Workin' the crowd baby |
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| A performers present from the Latitude crew, these guys are pure lush man! |
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| Theatre arena, We heart |
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*SQUEAL!*  |
Next stop: Edinburgh fringe.
St Stephen’s August 20th 9pm.
Northern Stage at St
Stephen's is a new adventure for Northern Stage and some theatre-makers,
organisations and artists from the greater north of England. After the huge
success in 2012 they’ve decided to go back. Again they have a rich and varied
programme that really shows off some of the most exciting work from the north
of England. We cannot tell you how pleased we are to be part of something so
remarkable.
Thanks again to everyone who supported this tour, we couldn’t have done
it without you.
Megs x
Alright! George here. So we've not long got back from our debut
performance at the fringe and what a hoot it was. Northern Stage welcomed us
into their lovely venue St Stephen's church for a one night only lunar
spectacular. Having spent all day rehearsing amongst dusty pews and hymn books,
and chucking flyers about on the royal mile we were very excited to perform
'the man who thought the moon would fall out of the sky' to the fringe crowd.
And what a crowd. Not quite knowing what to expect in terms of numbers, we were
absolutely thrilled to sell out St Stephens stage 1, and a more welcoming and
most importantly loud audience we couldn't have asked for.
After the show, we played a free gig for the audience, welcoming them to
enjoy a casual drink and to listen to some folky hip hop mash ups. And we had
an absolute whale of a time doing so. Alice's famous egg shaker made a guest
appearance in 'No Diggity' and Stan remembered all the chords to 'somewhere
only we know'. Kit kats all round!
New name Our gig also served another purpose, besides getting St
Stephens to throw some shapes, we also came to announce our brand new name. As
the NORTH of 2014 draws nearer, we are ready to spread our hypothetical wings
and continue our theatrical journey. After many late nights of deliberation and
scientific studies we are proud to announce our shiny new name....
Our summer festival tour now reaches its final leg. In the wake of the
fringe we're now preparing for our next adventure. Tuning our ukuleles, packing
books into suitcases, searching feverishly for the egg shaker and putting our
sea legs on. BESTIVAL 2013 on the sunny Isle of Wight, here we come!
