ROYAL COURT: TOTTENHAM AUGUST 2015
· As part of its three year engagement with community groups, artists, young people and businesses in Tottenham and Pimlico, the Royal Court Theatre is to host a series of events and performances to take place across Tottenham this summer.
· The events are incorporated under TOTTENHAM’S OWN, TOTTENHAM PRESENTS andTOTTENHAM FIRSTS.
TOTTENHAM’S OWN is a celebration of work made by the local community and will include workshops and performance nights for home grown talent in the Tottenham area.
Under this strand, the Royal Court Theatre will be working with Tottenham residents in collaboration with theBruce Grove Youth Club, Haringey Shed and The Wellside Project to create new pieces of theatre inspired by issues important to the area.
TOTTENHAM’S OWN will also feature the return of the performance night for Tottenham artists, Platform Tottenham which will invite artists of all genres to perform in front of an audience at Haringey Irish Centre’s main hall.
TOTTENHAM PRESENTS is part of the Royal Court Theatre’s efforts to bring world class art to Tottenham residents.
For TOTTENHAM PRESENTS Quang K Van will lead an opening ceremony of the programme with a promenade dance performance performed by community dancers and drummers across Lordship Rec. There will also be a special appearance by students from Pimlico Academy who the Royal Court are currently working with through their engagement with the SW1V area.
Royal Court Associate Designer Chloe Lamford will be leading two design workshops focussing on design for theatre and visual culture more broadly.
Selina Thompson will also bring her full length theatre piece Chewing The Fat to Haringey Sixth Form Centre.
TOTTENHAM PRESENTS will also include The Five Step Plan: The Massacre of the NHS and How to Fix It, a newly devised piece of theatre by The Tottenham Community Cast of Michael Wynne’s recent verbatim play about the NHS, Who Cares. Directed by Debbie Hannan the piece is an impassioned plea for the future of their community, combining personal testimony and fiction.
TOTTENHAM FIRSTS will include a strand of events by leading theatre makers from around the UK where they will try out new ideas and previously unseen work for Tottenham audiences. Rob Drummond, Rachel Mars, and Islington Community Theatre will all perform new pieces.
The events will take place in parks, community centres, schools and theatres and will feature a range of performances, workshops and collaborations with residents from Tottenham.
TOTTENHAM’S OWN
A celebration of work made in by the local community.
This strand of events includes:
Bruce Grove Youth Club
with Hamish Pirie
Taster session: Friday 24 July from 3pm
Join in: Every Wednesday from 29 July – 26 August, 2pm – 4pm
Sharing of work Friday 28 August, 1pm
Bruce Grove Youth Club, 10 Bruce Grove, N17 6RA
Free
Royal Court Theatre Associate Director Hamish Pirie will work with Bruce Grove’s young people aged 11 – 19 on a piece of theatre about the issues that matter to them.
Based in Tottenham, Bruce Grove Youth Club delivers a range of activities for young people.
The sessions will culminate in a free sharing of work on 28 August at 1pm at the Bruce Grove Youth Club.
Hamish Pirie is Associate Director at the Royal Court. For the Royal Court his directing credits includeViolence and Son, Who Cares and Teh Internet is Serious Business.
His other theatre credits include I’m With The Band and Demos, Quiz Show, Love With A Capital ‘L’, 3 Seconds, Most Favoured, Bravo Figaro and The Last Bloom (Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, where he was previously Associate Director) and Salt Root and Roe (Donmar Warehouse’s Trafalgar Studio season).
For more information, tickets and to book your place in the sessions, email:[email protected]
Haringey Shed’s Children’s and Youth Company
Join in: Monday 3 August – Saturday 15 August, 9am – 4pm
Sharing of work on Saturday 15 August, 2pm and 4:30pm
White Hart Studios, Haringey Sixth Form Centre, White Hart Lane, N17 8HR
A Royal Court writer and director will work with Haringey Shed’s children’s theatre (ages 7-10) and Youth Company (ages 11-16) to create their summer show. There are spaces available for members of the public between the ages of 7 and 16 to join in.
For 15 years Haringey Shed has been delivering performing arts workshops in Haringey and surrounding boroughs. They provide inclusive workshops where participants have the opportunity to learn performing arts skills in an environment where everyone is encouraged to realise their potential.
For more infomation, tickets and to book your place in the sessions, email[email protected]
Children’s Workshops with The Wellside Project
Join in: Tuesday 18, Thursday 20 and Friday 21 August, 10am – 1pm
Sharing of work Friday 21 August, 1pm
Parish Hall at Holy Trinity Church, Tottenham, Philip Ln, N15 4GZ
Free
The Wellside Project, which seeks to bring people together to serve their community, present a series of workshops for children exploring why they love Tottenham and what it means to them.
Suitable for ages 7-12
For more information and booking email [email protected]
Platform Tottenham
Friday 28 August, 8pm
Haringey Irish Centre, Main Hall, Pretoria Rd, Tottenham, N17 8DX
Free
The second performance night for Tottenham artists of all genres who want to share their work with a friendly audience.
Tickets available on the door.
Submissions should be sent in to [email protected] by 21 August. Entrants must be over 18.
Soup Stories
Your kitchen
Whenever you choose
Royal Court Theatre Associate Director Hamish Pirie wants to tour the kitchens of Tottenham, tasting your homemade dishes, hearing your stories and chatting about the role of food in different countries and cultures. He might even do the washing up…
For more information and to join in email [email protected]
TOTTENHAM PRESENTS
World class art on your doorstep.
Opening Ceremony: Bunny Dance
Saturday 1 August, Gather from 6pm for a 6:30pm start
Beginning at Lordship Hub, Lordship Recreational Ground, Lordship Lane, Harringay
Free and unticketed
An invitation to move and an invitation to party.
Quang K Van’s Bunny Dance plus special guests performance from our sister project in Pimlico, the Pimlico Academy Performing Arts BTEC, with If You Don’t Stand For Something, You’ll Fall For Anything.
Choreographer and dancer Quang K Van will lead an ensemble of local drummers and dancers through the Lordship Rec in a promenade performance. In creating the piece, Quang has taken inspiration from the East Asian legend of the Moon Rabbit and the energy of the people of Tottenham.
Community dancers are invited to join in the procession.
Quang K Van’s dance credits include Miaan, SisGo, Innocence (Scottish Dance); Blake Diptych, Disgo(Darkin Ensemble); View from the Shore (Jacky Lansley Dance); O (Michael Clark Company); Mystere(Cirque du Soliel); Interview, Flying the Rainbow (Oxytoc Dance Project); Tchaikovsky Trilogy, Hamlet, Midnight Express, Romeo & Juliet, Kermesseni Brugge, The King, HC Anderson (Peter Schaufuss Ballet);Othello, XXX CLOSEUP, Where I End & We Begin, Ultimate Ophelia, Loose Ends, Magma (Skanes Dansteater); Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake (Adventures in Motion Pictures). His opera includes Skin Deep(Opera North); Ariodante (English National Opera).His theatre includes Teh Internet Is Serious Business(Royal Court).
For more information and to join, email [email protected].
Entrants must be 16 and over. No experience necessary.
Design Workshops
With Chloe Lamford
Location TBC
Monday 7 and Monday 14 September, 7pm – 9pm
Royal Court Associate Designer Chloe Lamford will host two workshops introducing elements of design for theatre but also looking at visual culture more broadly.
No theatre experience or knowledge is necessary – just an interest in any form of visual expression, from street art to sculpture.
Chloe Lamford’s credits for the Royal Court include, Roald Dahl’s The Twits, How to Hold Your Breath, God Bless the Child, 2071, Teh Internet is Serious Business, Open Court, Circle Mirror Transformation. Her other theatre credits include Salt Root & Roe (Donmar/Trafalgar Studios); Praxis Makes Perfect(National Theatre Wales); Lungs (Schaubühne, Berlin); and 1984(Headlong/Almeida/West End/tour). Her awards include Theatrical Management Association Award for Best Theatre Design (Small Miracle); Arts Foundation Fellowship Award for Design for Performance: Set & Costume.
For more information and to join, email [email protected].
Chewing The Fat
By Selina Thompson
White Hart Studios, Haringey Sixth Form Centre, White Hart Lane, N17 8HR
Friday 7 and Saturday 8 August, 8pm
Tickets £3
Chewing the Fat Workshop
By Selina Thompson
White Hart Studios, Haringey Sixth Form College
Saturday 8 August, 3pm
Free
Glitter, chicken legs and lots of rice pudding: Selina invites you to her own version of a midnight feast, somewhere between the confessions made over coffee at weight watchers, and sloppy drunken story-telling over a 3am kebab.
Chewing The Fat began at the University of Sheffield as Selina’s dissertation piece. After performing at Emerge Festival (Leeds) in 2012, she was invited to develop the work into a full length piece at Theatre in the Mill, Bradford – supported by West Yorkshire Playhouse.
Since then, the work has toured to ARC Stockton, PULSE Ipswich, returned to the University of Sheffield for a sell-out performance and has been invited to perform for two weeks as part of Northern Stage’s prestigious programme at Kings Hall.
Selina Thompson’s recent work includes: Pat It And Prick It And Mark It With A B (National Theatre Studio / Compass Festival, Leeds), Dark & Lovely (East Street Arts) and It Burns It All Clean (West Yorkshire Playhouse / FIERCE Festival).
Book at royalcourttheatre.com or call 020 7565 5000.
The Five Step Plan: The Massacre of the NHS and How to Fix it.
Directed by Debbie Hannan
Saturday 29 August
Performances throughout the day times TBC
Secret NHS Location, to be announced
Tickets £3
The NHS was a key electoral issue for Tottenham residents. In the aftermath of the General Election where and what should be done next?
Combining personal testimony and fiction, a community cast (including several Tottenham residents) have collaboratively devised a piece that makes an impassioned plea for the future of the NHS in their community. This is an immersive piece that will take place in a secret NHS location. Performance times TBC
Debbie Hannan’s directing credits for the Royal Court include Primetime 2015, Who Cares (as Co-Director)and Peckham The Soap Opera. As Assistant Director for the Royal Court her credits include How To Hold Your Breath, Teh Internet is Serious Business, The Nether, Primetime 2014, Birdland and The Mistress Contract. Other directing credits include Notes from the Underground (Citizens Theatre), Panorama, Roses Are Dead, You Cannot Call it Love (The Arches), Yellow Pears (Swept Up) and Grimm Tales, Nights at the Circus (Theatre Paradok). She was a previous trainee director at the Royal Court.
Book at royalcourttheatre.com or call 020 7565 5000.
TOTTENHAM FIRSTS
Leading theatre makers from around the UK try out new ideas and previously unseen work for Tottenham audiences.
The Hole of My Heart
by Rob Drummond
Friday 21 August, 7.30pm
Beehive Pub, Stoneleigh Rd, Tottenham N17 9BQ
Tickets £3
When Rob was eight years old doctors found a hole in his heart and advised his parents he had only a few months to live.
Join him now in his thirty fourth year as he investigates his past medical health and examines the possibility of knowing his future with the help of human genome scientists in America who, for three thousand dollars, will tell him how he is likely to die.
Rob Drummond’s theatre credits include Mr Write (National Theatre of Scotland), Rob Drummond: Wrestling (The Arches), Bullet Catch (The Arches) and Quiz Show (The Traverse).
Book at royalcourttheatre.com or call 020 7565 5000.
Ask
In collaboration with Islington Community Theatre
Saturday 22 August, 3pm and 7pm
Bernie Grants Art Centre
Running time: 45 mins
Age guidance: 11+
Free but ticketed
On 23 June 2014, fifteen year old Helawit went to her friend’s birthday party in north London. They watched a film, ate pizza and made terrible rap videos on their phones.
On the same day, on the other side of the world, Helawit’s dad – a British democracy activist – was kidnapped, hooded and illegally rendered to Ethiopia. A year later, he’s still there – held in solitary confinement and facing a death sentence for crimes he didn’t commit.
Ask is an intimate new scratch play created and performed by Helawit, a long-standing member of Islington Community Theatre, and her friends. It’s about what it means for your dad to go missing in one of the most important years of your life and why the British Government won’t ask for him back.
Islington Community Theatre is one of the UK’s leading companies making theatre with young people. The ICT is currently at the National Theatre performing their newly devised piece, Brainstorm created by Ned Glasier, Emily Lim and the company.
www.islingtoncommunitytheatre.com
A free post-show discussion will take place after the 7pm performance.
Book at royalcourttheatre.com or call 020 7565 5000.
Our Carnal Hearts and Sing It! Spirit of Envy
by Rachel Mars
Saturday 5 September, 5pm
St Mary’s Church, Lansdowne Rd, Tottenham, N17 9XE
Free but ticketed
Two pieces by Rachel Mars which continue her work on the theme of envy in song and text.
This fairy comes round your house.
You, she says, are in luck.
Ask for anything you want. Anything in the world and I’ll give it to you. But whatever you ask for, your neighbour gets the same thing, but double.
Great. You say. Fine.
Cut out one of my eyes.
Our Carnal Hearts is a celebration of envy. A place to whoop at our own fragility and delight against our better nature. A show that seeks to prove that envy makes us better.
Sing It! Spirit of Envy! is a short song piece about greed and envy, solo pursuits and communal contentment. Made anew with a pop-up choir of local singers each time it is performed, it puts two joyfully waggling fingers up to glib, economic politco-bullshit speak.
Rachel Mars plus special Tottenham guests The New Tottenham Singers.
Rachel Mars is a performance maker with a background in theatre, live art and comedy. Her theatre credits includes The Way You Tell Them (CPT, Summerhall, Norfolk & Norwich Festival, Contact Theatre, Machynlleth Comedy Festival, further UK Touring and Wildside Festival, Montreal, The Butterfly Club, Melbourne), The Lady’s Not For Walking Like An Egyptian (Ovalhouse, Royal Exchange, Norwich Arts Centre, The Albany, further touring Autumn 2015) and Sing It! Spirit of Envy! (Buzzcut Festival, Forest Fringe, Lyric Hammersmith, Machynlleth Comedy Festival).
The New Tottenham Singers are a non-audition choir based in North London, open to all, which aims to unite and represent the wider community through a joy of singing.
There will be an open rehearsal day for The New Tottenham Singers on 29 August at Bernie Grant Arts Centre from 2pm – 6pm. For more details email [email protected]
Book at royalcourttheatre.com or call 020 7565 5000.