latest news...

Poor Jack is now our principle show for theatres, arts centres and the rural touring circuit, having played in schools over the last academic year.

It's time for Jack to leave home. He has ideas buzzing in his head about a castle of grey and a lady in green. But Jack finds it difficult to leave. He keeps coming back to tell his mother about his amazing adventures.

When eventually he reaches the castle, Jack finds a Giant and a little hairy man who set him some impossible challenges. Where will he find help?

Music plays an important part in the story-telling - alongside the extravagant physicality for which multi story have become so famous.

Fringe TheatreFest09 - Barnstaple's Fringe Theatre Festival - is accepting applications until January 23rd. The draw to determine who takes part will be on January 25th. There will be slots for 22 companies each presenting 3 performances over the 4 days of TheatreFest. Wall-to-wall theatre in 3 venues in Barnstaple. It's already developing into a low-cost, high-integrity Festival with bags of character.

Details at www.theatrefest.co.uk

Beast! is proving a big hit with secondary schools and colleges.

An amalgam of fact and myth, the hunt for the Beast of Exmoor provides the framework for a taut psychological drama about our need for Beasts and what happens as we hunt them. The hunter becomes the hunted and hero and beast are in danger of becoming indistinguishable.

This is entertainment with substance for adult and student audiences.

We've played a large number of colleges and schools in the South West and beyond with great success. The play is very effective and our only disappointment is that only one of the Rural Touring Schemes has come on board. We thought this would be ideal fare.

We are taking Backward Glance, our latest play for adult audiences, to the Prague Fringe Festival in the Summer.

Backward Glance is a Fringe creation having opened at Brighton Festival Fringe last year with further performances at Barnstaple's TheatreFest08.

The play was very positively received and well reviewed but we are taking the opportunity to develop and re-arrange some of the material before Prague. We have an interim performance at Truro College in February.

You can reach a description of the play by clicking the image.

Prague preview video

 

 

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ACTORSandCREW.com

Clever-Clogs and the Cunning Princess is our latest production for the 5-11 age-group and is currently playing in schools around England.

The play is our own take on a couple of versions of the Russian folk-tale, Yelena the Wise.

Clever-Clogs and the Cunning Princess compete to tell their version of what happened when they met, with an underlying question of whether the Princess would really have gone through with the punishment that she threatened if Clever-Clogs hadn't managed to carry out the task that she set.

We're absolutely delighted with the reactions of children and teachers - this being one of those productions that seems to work particularly well right across the age range.

We are now beginning to offer Clever-Clogs and the Cunning Princess to theatres and rural touring schemes for next autumn.

Over the last year we have been working in partnership with Arts and Learning to tailor theatre-visits, workshops and extension activities around the differing requirements of a number of primary schools in Cambridgeshire.

We have performed specific productions as requested by the schools to dovetail with curriculum and themed work. In some cases we have provided follow-up drama workshops ourselves. In other cases Arts and Learning have taken the work into other areas ranging from dance, to kite-making and ceramic murals.

The project, supported by Cambridgeshire County Council, has encouraged schools to think imaginatively about how to get the best value out of a theatre visit and additional creative input.

We are now about to start Phase 2, inviting a new group of a dozen schools to a performance and introductory discussion before rolling out the programme over the autumn and spring terms.