Month: February 2016

THE BROADWAY THEATRE

A NEW 400 SEATER VENUE TO BE BUILT IN 2016

30 MINUTES FROM LONDON

 

LETCHWORTH GARDEN CITY HERITAGE FOUNDATION TO MAKE MAJOR INVESTMENT IN THE ARTS

 

OLIVIER AWARD WINNING PRODUCER SUE SCOTT DAVISON BROUGHT IN AS CREATIVE PROGRAMMER

Olivier award-winning Sue Scott Davison, producer of The Railway Children, has been appointed Creative Programmer of a new 400 seat theatre in Letchworth Garden City, only half an hour from London. Construction on the Broadway Theatre,to be built as an extension of the art deco Broadway Cinema, will begin on Monday 22 February, and is due to complete in the autumn, ahead of a Gala opening in the autumn.

Sue will spearhead the creative side of a major investment in the arts by Letchworth Garden City Heritage Foundation, who are using the revenue from their unique Garden City legacy to make the town a major centre for the Arts. Sue, who lives in Letchworth, will create a diverse programme of theatre, comedy, music and dance for the Broadway Theatre, launching in early 2017, as well as overseeing the Broadway Studio, with further details to be announced later this year.

Sue said: “The opening of any new theatre is exciting, but to do so in such a beautiful, community-minded building is a tremendous opportunity. The challenge with every new space is how to develop an audience, but the success of the live screenings at the Broadway Cinema has proven that there is a desire for good, quality performance on which to build.

 

“To be charged with providing the town and the area around with a diverse schedule of theatre, comedy, music and dance is daunting, but as this will be the first fully-programmed, professional theatre space in the area, the advantages are considerable. Offering a new, small to mid-scale space to touring companies, performers and musicians, and so close to London, will help in securing the best.”

 

Plans for a new theatre follow the success of live screenings of National Theatre and Royal Opera House productions, which have proved hugely popular at Broadway Cinema and regularly sell-out in all four screens. The cinema has been top for several live screenings, selling a record number of tickets for events including the Royal Ballet’s The Nutcracker.

THE HOSPITAL CLUB GALLERY PRESENTS

ITS FULL 2016 EXHBITION PROGRAMME

 

EVERY THOUGHT COUNTS: ROBI WALTERS TRACES HIS REFLECTIONS ON

PSYCHOLOGY IN PAINTING

 

BRIAN DUFFY: A SUITE OF HIS PHOTOGRAPHS FROM THE PIRELLI CALENDAR, AS WELL AS HIS ICONIC IMAGES OF DAVID BOWIE FROM THE ALADDIN SANE ALBUM SHOOT

 

‘PUZZLE MAN’

PIONEERING INVENTOR, SCIENTIST AND AWARD WINNING AUTHOR IVAN MOSCOVICH PRESENTS HIS ‘HARMONOGRAMS’, FIRST PRODUCED FOR THE ICA IN 1968

 

CLUB TO HOST FIRST UK CRAFTS COUNCIL RESIDENCY

 

Following the huge success of the first exhibition of the year, the triumphant return of Rick Guest and Olivia Pomp’s ongoing project, What Lies Beneath – a series of stunning photographs of the world’s best ballet dancers – The Hospital Club presents a 2016 exhibition programme that cements its reputation as London’s leading club for creatives. The programme is made up of gallery shows that touch a number of creative sectors including fine art, design, craft, and photography, with a continued emphasis on innovation.

The 16th Bedroom (Feb 12-21) brings together contemporary artists championed by the club over the last 7 years – all of whom currently feature in the club’s 15 bedrooms. It brings together a range of talent including Rick Guest, Dominic Beattie (recipient of the recent UK/RAINE £10k painting prize), Julian Wild (vice president of the British Sculpture society) among others.

Every Thought Counts (March 24 – 27) marks a welcome return for artist Robi Walters, who has previously displayed mainly collage and multimedia at the club. This exhibition traces the reflections of his own personal psychology in his painting, and the topic more generally. It also features a panel discussion between the artist and several leading experts from the field of neuroscience and psychiatry. The panel will draw on themes dealing with the creativity and the mind, and discuss them in very conversational terms – questions such as “where in the brain does inspiration come from?”, “how do regular thoughts (positive or negative) become habits?”, “when does creativity become genius and genius, madness?” Experts participating in the panel to be announced.

Brian Duffy (April 29 – May 3): This exhibition features the work of one of the key avant-garde British figures of the 60s. Duffy was one of the few photographers to shoot three Pirelli Calendars (1965, 1973 and the Cinturato calendar, also in 1973).  Duffy’s work with the 1973 calendar in collaboration with pop artist Allen Jones led to the ground-breaking airbrushing techniques that became part of the iconic Aladdin Sane album cover.  Duffy shot five sessions with David Bowie and this exhibition will feature a selection of the Aladdin Sane images.

Hospital Club member Julia Noble (23 – 26 June) will present an exhibition of large scale multimedia paintings, as part of the club’s commitment to supporting its creative community. Her works tend to incorporate multiple processes, involving painting, embroidery and printmaking techniques.

In July/August, the club will host the first UK Crafts Council Residency (July 18 – Aug 29). The Crafts Council will inhabit the gallery space over a similar period for the next three years, with new work and specially produced limited editions exclusive to the club’s exhibition. The programme will also include various talks and events, curated by the Crafts Council in conjunction with the hospital club’s exhibition programmer, Ali Hillman. Details of the 2016 exhibition will be announced in the spring.

And finally, the Club is very proud to host an exhibition of work by pioneering inventor, scientist and award winning authorIvan Moscovich (Sep 22 – 25). The exhibition will feature a very limited body of work, his ground breaking kinetic art, called Harmonograms. They were first produced for a milestone exhibition at the ICA in 1968, Cybernetic Serendipity, which achieved record breaking attendance. They are rendered by an original invention created by Moscovich called the Harmonograph, a pendulum operated machine that formed the centre piece of the famous ICA show. Moscovich stopped making Harmonograms in the 70s, having exhibited internationally at  International Design Centre, Berlin; Museum of Modern Art, Mexico City; Didacta Exhibition, Basel; Science Museum Tel Aviv to name a few.

Live Theatre welcomes three thought-provoking pieces of visiting theatre in March, all powerful shows with strong female lead characters. The plays cover themes from a young woman out of control on drink and drugs in Cardiff, to a mother discovering her young son had been shown pornography by a classmate and one woman’s hilarious quest to find ‘the one’.

Iphigenia In Splott  which comes to Live Theatre at 7.30pm on Friday 11 and Saturday 12 March looks at the world through the eyes of Effie, a hard-nosed, unemployed young woman who spends her days in a careless spiral of drink, drugs and drama.Whilst the story is set in Cardiff, this is a tale that is relevant in every city across the UK.

 

Inspired by the enduring Greek myth Iphigenia In Splott is written by Gary Owen, whose play Crazy Gary’s Mobile Disco was a success at Live Theatre in 2001.

 

Sophie Melville received the Stage Award for Acting Excellence 2015 and has also just been awarded Best Actress in the English language at the Wales Theatre Awards for her portrayal in the lead role of Effie. This powerful drama also won the Best Play in the UK Theatre Awards 2015 and was nominated for Best Playwright in the Wales Theatre Awards.

Punching the Sky at 7.30pm on Wednesday 9 March, a new play about porn, parenting and pressure is a very personal response to the extraordinary national media storm that followed when writer Lizi Patch dared to blog about her 11 year old son stumbling across some hardcore online pornography. It delves into the democratic space of the internet and shines a light on the contradictory nature of our feelings about sex, censorship and parenthood.

Memoirs of a Bunny Boiler at 8pm on Wednesday 16 and Thursday 17 March is a hilarious one woman show about a girl’s desperate attempt to find ‘the one’ and her encounters with cult leaders, Oxford graduates and junkie lookalikes. It is written and performed by Spotlight nominee, Rachel Jackson and was a success at last year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

 

For more information and to buy tickets for all Live Theatre’s performances call Live Theatre’s box office on (0191) 232 1232 or see www.live.org.uk.