latest news...

The Adventures of Perseus is proving to be a particular hit.

A couple of colourful professors play out the popular Greek myth with Gill making an impact as a particularly truculent Perseus and Bill taking on all the women's parts - very fetching as the beautiful Hesperides and suitably hideous as Medusa.

We're particularly pleased that the younger end of the age spectrum - Key Stage 1 - are so excited by the piece. Key Stage 2 tend to be studying myths and often have some knowledge of the Greeks, but even the younger ones are enthralled by the story.

The Labyrinth is our newest production for young people, currently playing in schools.

Daedalus and Ariadne - in their dotage - recount their adventures in the Labyrinth, including helping Theseus to slay the Minotaur and the tragedy of Icarus' fall from the sky.

We're particularly emphasising our age and the contrast between youth and experience. But with all the (youthful!) physical language, music and imagery that are expected of us.

We couldn't be happier with the response: the staff at one of the Infant Schools that knows us well have declared this to be the best yet!

The draw has taken place for Barnstaple'sFringe TheatreFest 13 and companies are in the process of confirming their participation.

Visit the website for details of the emerging programme:

www.theatrefest.co.uk.

Beast! is proving very popular 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, schools and community venues in the South West and beyond with great success.

The House Jack Built had its premiere performance at Studio@QT in Barnstaple at the end of January.

We had a further performance at Bristol Ferment from where we're gathering more feedback and we're assessing the impact of those shows before knocking it into a more definitive shape for Prague Fringe Festival at the end of May. We will then be looking to tour it widely.

Gill and Bill are architects. Their house is cracking, one of their daughters is missing and the other has gone into labour. While Gill sets out on a virtual rescue mission, Bill retreats into his video game. A mordant comedy.

Backward Glance, extensively reworked after initial outings at the Brighton and Barnstaple Fringe Festivals, proved a major success at Prague Fringe Festival in 2009, netting multi story the Kreativni Cena (Creative Award) as well as a glowing review from the Prague Post.

We reworked the piece again for The Bike Shed Theatre in Exeter, picking up a fabulous review in Devon Life. In the process we learned even more about the piece which meant further re-writing and re-staging before a performance at The Queen's Theatre, Barnstaple in the studio@QT season - and another great review!

We're particularly offering the play to Literary Festivals - since the piece centres around a literary couple - and are delighted to have played both Appledore Book Festival and Ilkley Literary Festival last autumn.

What was Josh's Monsters is now Every Mother's Son. Feedback from venues and promoters - especially Rural Touring promoters - indicated that the title Josh's Monsters was proving a confusion - that too many people were making the assumption that it was a play for young audiences. So after consultation and consideration we have re-christened the play for its autumn 2013 tour.

Firmly rooted in North Devon - and developed through the agency of Beaford Arts' Breathing Space programme - Every Mother's Son charts an agonizing countdown as a mother prepares to see her son off for a second tour of duty to Afghanistan and tries to persuade her husband that, whatever his qualms, he has to come with her to wave him off.

She is in the kitchen, he is in the cellar. They communicate via Skype. And he streams images of their past and their present and of conflicts both real and virtual to a couple of large screens.

We were working through February and March with a dozen young people from North Devon to create a piece of theatre inspired by the arrival of a group of Huguenot refugees in Barnstaple in 1685.

Barnstaple provided a safe haven and allowed them the use of St Anne's Chapel as a place of worship for the next 70 years or so.

The group met weekly. There were a couple of drop-outs which meant Gill and Bill finding themselves on stage but the two performances in St Anne's (now an Arts & Community Centre) on Wednesday 27th March were a great success.

The young people involved (aged between 10 and 14) acquitted themselves wonderfully well, finding a real maturity both of attitude and characterisation. It was very moving to see some quite profound personal journeys taking place during the rehearsal process.

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.