Blog

 

Welcome!

Hello and welcome to the Foursight blog page.

If you are looking for the dedicated blog for The Corner Shop, which took place in Nov 2009, and its associated education programme, click here. 

 

Monday 26 January - The Explorers! by Lisa Harrison - L&P Co-ordinator

In our first ever session, one child drew a picture of a church and told the group he’d like to visit one as part of this project. So that’s exactly what we did last week. The Explorers – a group comprising Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs - walked in brilliant sunshine up to St Peter’s Anglican Church in the centre of Wolverhampton.  We were warmly welcomed by a group of people who immediately invited us to get stuck in by doing some brass rubbings. The rector, David Wright, then gave us a tour of the church. We learned not only about the history and features of the handsome, impressive building, but also about rituals and stories from the Christian faith.

We all lit a prayer candle in the Lady Chapel, listened to the organ and rang the church bell – interestingly it was barely audible from inside the church. We finished off by singing Happy Birthday to two members of the group, and celebrated by eating the cake which we’d bought last week when we went shopping.

We all came home with our beautiful laminated brass rubbings as souvenirs. Thank you, St Peter’s, for going out of your way to make us so welcome in your church and for your kind hospitality.

 

Images by Foursight Theatre 

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Thursday 19 January - The Explorers! by Lisa Harrison - L&P Co-ordinator

Molineux stadium is right next to ASDA and both are within easy walking distance of the school, and so when two of the children suggested that we go to the local supermarket to do maths-based activities, and another to a football ground, an afternoon of activities presented itself most conveniently!.

We swung by the stadium first and estimated the length of the pitch, before measuring it with a trundle wheel – and yes, we did have the whole stadium to ourselves. At ASDA we split into 3 teams and did some serious healthy shopping to a budget of £8 within an allotted time. We all managed it! Linda, the Training Co-ordinator at the store, judged which was the healthiest and best value meal. The children got to swipe the goods at the training check-out and see how accurate their mental maths had been, and then handled real money to pay for some rather yummy goods which we shall all consume together soon.

Over the course of the afternoon it became clear that we have some rather good mathematicians in our group plus a trained chef!

Images by Foursight Theatre 

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Monday 16 January - The Explorers! by Lisa Harrison - L&P Co-ordinator

I can’t believe I forgot my camera, but then if I’d taken photos of our first session this term, you’d probably not have believed your eyes anyway!

Reunited as a group after the break, one person said: “It’s good to be back together again, like family”. We shared events that had happened over the break, and then each said what we wished for the year ahead: peace in the world, good health, reaching our personal goals, motivation to get on, a smooth house move, food for the needy and the poor, speaking and understanding English better, going somewhere new on holiday, becoming a better listener...

We played games and then got out some percussion instruments to have a jam. And then, the monkeys arrived! Yes, you read correctly: a tribe of life-sized monkey puppets! One of the dads suggested that those wanting to work a puppet did so to the dance rhythms of the musicians. So the group divided itself into puppeteers and percussionists! As I said, I had no camera to take photos of the session, but then some of the most magical moments can never be adequately captured on film. Perhaps they’re best imagined by the reader, and best written on the memories of the participants. Suffice it to say, we had much fun together.

A big thank you to the brilliant puppet maker Purvin from The Fetch Theatre Company http://www.thefetch.co.uk/ for so generously lending us his fabulous puppets to play with. One mother clung onto her monkey puppet at the end of the day, saying she wanted to take it home with her! Here’s a photo of one of the tribe, chilling on my sofa at home...

 

Image by Foursight Theatre 

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Monday 5 December - The Explorers! by Lisa Harrison - L&P Co-ordinator

Guess what – the sun was shining again on Thursday afternoon as we set off for our last trip this term. The Explorers went on their most daring adventure yet: suspended over the canal on what’s called the Tyrolean.

We harnessed up on arrival, complete with hard hats, and made our way to the canal’s edge where we each in turn climbed up onto a big tripod. There Stuart attached us to the pulley on the rope stretching across the canal to a tree on the other side. From the tripod we launched ourselves by leaning backwards and downwards towards the canal - yikes! We then had to pull ourselves across the canal. It was much harder work than we thought it would be. The most fun part was being pulled back to the tripod by all those on the canal side.

As investigators, I guess this week we were exploring our strength and our courage, as well as how well we can work together as a team. Without everyone literally pulling together, we wouldn’t have all got back in one piece onto dry land. Everyone did brilliantly, and much fun was had by all.

Thank you, Wildside, for yet another great afternoon.

Images by Foursight Theatre 

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Mon 28 November - The Explorers! by Lisa Harrison - L&P Co-ordinator

We’ve been so lucky! Each time we’ve been to Wildside for the afternoon, the sun has come out, which has made our trips even more special.

Our third adventure as The Explorers took us this time on top of the canal – yes, you’ve got it, in a canal boat: Wildside’s very own Trebalisa. This week we explored the past. Skipper Stuart boated us up to Aldersley Junction where Sue then talked to us about the history of the canal, including when it was built, and how sheep were used to help shape and harden the canal bed before the water was introduced! We learnt how locks work and discovered some remains of a lost village – an old hotel and a hexagonal toll house. 

On the way, we listened to each others’ stories about journeys we have been on – speed boats in Pakistan, boats through tunnels in Austria, seasickness in Turkey, delicious aeroplane meals, hot beaches in Spain, being sick when landing in this country for the first time, going to Paris on a coach... The most unusual story perhaps was from one parent who used to go to school every day on a boat down the River Nile in the Sudan.

We also wrote down words that came to mind as we motored up the canal. They sum up our impressions rather well...

 

Images by Foursight Theatre 

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Thurs 24 November - The Explorers! by Lisa Harrison - L&P Co-ordinator

We now have a name: The Explorers!

It sums up perfectly what we seem to be becoming – investigators of different environments. Having explored the woods above the canal in our first week at Wildside, last week we went in the opposite direction: below. Each child and parent was given a net to plunge into the canal. Afterwards they examined what they had fished out.

We were all amazed at the abundance of life we found, just from one scoop with the net: there were fish, water louse, leeches, water snails, and all sorts of plant life, to name a few.

Inspired by what we’d found underwater, we then went into the centre to mould multi-coloured creatures with plastercine. All sorts of hidden talents are being revealed - we have gifted artists and fisher folk in our group! Thanks, Sue from Wildside, for a fabulous session.

Images by Foursight Theatre 

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Mon 21 November - West Park Children and Parent Project, by Lisa Harrison - L&P Co-ordinator

Evaluative conversations with staff at West Park Primary after the Maths Project earlier this year revealed that, retrospectively, teachers and pupils thought it would have been a great project to have involved parents in.

This led me to pursue the idea of a project specifically focused on pupils and their parents, in which the group determined the direction of the project. After the thumbs up from the Head Teacher, I applied successfully for funding from Extended Schools Services. The project is now up and running.

I first talked to the Year 4 class who had participated in last year’s maths project, to run the idea by them. They enthusiastically suggested writing a letter home, inviting their parents to come and join in with the project.

We had a really good response. There are 16 of us, which is a great size for a group on a project like this. We started by finding out what people were interested in doing together. The suggestions ranged from visiting a church to doing outdoor activities, going on a boat, playing drums, dancing and doing some drama.

We started by getting to know each other through playing drama games before going on our first trip. We went last week to Wildside - an activity Centre in Whitmore Reans close by, which none of the group had been to before.

We had a fabulous time. We discovered what activities the centre offers, and then went on an ‘Earth Walk’ in the woods which focused on using our eyes, ears and sense of touch to explore the outdoor environment. We made pictures with different coloured leaves and berries, searched for objects with specific tactile qualities, and listened to the sounds of the woods. The latter proved the most challenging: it was so exciting to be in the woods together that some of us found it hard to be still and quiet!

We’re heading back this week for more fun at Wildside, so watch this space!

Images by Foursight Theatre 

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Tue 23 August - Bette & Joan: The Final Curtain at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival

2 more great review out today:

TV Bomb gave the show 4**** saying: "Thom and Toogood are unmistakable as Bette and Joan"

Click here for the full review.

Edinburgh Festival Guide says "sharp, irreverent and very moving." - 4****

Click here for the full review.

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Thurs 18 August - Bette & Joan: The Final Curtain – A wee blog from the Edinburgh Fringe
from Co-Artistic Director, Sarah Thom

So, quite a lot to report! Bette & Joan went into manically full on rehearsals at the end of June, rehearsing at our co-producer’s Jacksons Lane on week days and filming the projected sections of the show at week-ends and evenings – including various night shoots! The opening at MAC for 4 shows at the end of July went really well – and showing this brand new show for the first time in Birmingham, in front of a home crowd was a fantastic experience and we were thrilled that the piece we have been working on for the last 6 months on and off seemed to be touching the right buttons. The show is very technical – with about 12 filmed sections, many of which interact with the live action, so this has inevitably taken a good deal of our time in technical rehearsals, not to mention a very detailed and interactive sound design from Elena Pena which has been woven in through rehearsals. We have also been tweaking, honing and cutting the script, - a really important part of the process after testing the play in front of an audience.
In amongst all this, as well as co-directing the show with Rebecca McCutcheon, who it has been great to have as a consistent outside eye as we shaped the piece through rehearsals, I have been spending hours of my life listening to and watching Bette Davis. Sarah (Toogood), who plays Joan, and I have not been trying to do impersonations of  Bette & Joan, but trying to get something of an essence of each of the women – Bette’s accent changed throughout her life too, starting very new England, becoming almost English whilst she was in Hollywood and ending up sounding much more New York, not to mention having a stroke on top of all this, so I’ve been – and still am – experimenting with how to mix all this into the show – not to mention the myriad of characters that she played that are also there to draw on.
I am now writing this blog on a rare morning off in Edinburgh. We opened here at Assembly on 3rd August and the run is going well so far. We seem to be playing to consistently good-size houses so far and have now had four great 4**** reviews from the critics that seem to be in for every show (and one or two that didn’t get it or didn’t like it, - well… if anything is true from this crazy system I know you certainly can’t please everyone…) as well as, most importantly, some fantastic response to the piece from the general public, so we’re all very pleased with how Bette & Joan are fairing so far.
Next up, - 11 more shows up here before we take the show back down to Jacksons Lane for a run in September. In the meantime, I’m going to catch a couple of shows and see what other companies are up to – just off to see the Penny Dreadful’s ‘Etherdome’, who are also up here from Jacksons Lane. I haven’t had much time to see other work yet, but so far I’ve really liked Grid Iron’s ‘What Remains’.

Images by Foursight Theatre 

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Tuesday 16 August - Bette & Joan: The Final Curtain at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival

A 4**** review from What’s On Stage - "Rocketing between quick-witted comedy, teary eyed reminiscing and occasional black-humoured violence, the whole is overcoated with the glamour of Hollywood’s heyday."

Click here for the full review.
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Tuesday 16 August - Bette & Joan: The Final Curtain at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival

We’re getting some great audience reviews on our page on the edfringe.com website – here’s a sample:

Seren Wade: This play is simply wonderful - I give it the highest recommendations. The acting is superb from both actresses, the story holds your attention throughout and the set is just about perfect. The story of the play is written elsewhere, so I'm not going to go in to that - the video elements in the show are brilliantly done also. Please go and see this play - very highly recommended.

Howard Becke: 4 stars out of 5 and in my top 3 of 26 shows.Inventive and involving.Great venue as well.

Click here to see all of the audience reviews. 

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Sun 14 August – Bette & Joan: The Final Curtain at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival

 

Another 4**** review! This one is from ThreeWeeks “a compelling and original tale that Davis novices and fans alike should see.”

Click here for the full review.  
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Friday 12 August – Bette & Joan: The Final Curtain at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival

 

We’re got a great review in today’s The Stage. They don’t give start ratings, but they say that the show is a “glorious comedy… that takes a strong premise and makes it even stronger”.

Click here for the full review.
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Wed 10 August – Bette & Joan: The Final Curtain at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival

 

The reviews are starting to come in – here’s a 4*** review from AllTheFestivals.com – which says the show possesses the “warmth and familiarity of an old friend”.

Click here for the full review.
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Sat 6 August - Bette & Joan: The Final Curtain at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival

Our Edinburgh shows are going very well – and I’m delighted that audiences are already queuing around the block!

Image by Foursight Theatre
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Wed 3 August – Bette & Joan: The Final Curtain at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival

We had a great set of previews at mac Birmingham for Bette & Joan: The Final Curtain last week. The show went down really well with audiences and we’re really looking forward to playing at Assembly for the Fringe.
Today is our first performance, and I managed to grab a picture of our first two audience members!
We’re playing at Assembly George Square (One) at 12.15 pm (finish 13.35) for the whole festival (except 10 / 17 22 Aug).
Thomas Wildish – General Manager
 

Images by Foursight Theatre
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Pertencia comes to an end and looking to the year ahead (21 June), by Franecs Land

Just had a fantastic week in Lisbon and a very fitting end to our collaboration with Teatro Do Montemuro. We set out on our exploratory trip to the wild mountains of northern Portugal in 2003 with no idea that this might lead to us creating an international co production which would finish at the National theatre in Lisbon – a proud moment indeed.
Despite the fact that our arts council funding will cease at the end of March 2012 we are in a very full and creative year with lots of new work in development – and as Pertencia come to the end of it’s cycle Sarah is about to head into rehearsals with a great artistic team for our next production – Bette & Joan: The Final Curtain. Watch this space.
 

                                                                                Image by Foursight Theatre
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Pertencia in Lisbon (16 June), by Frances Land

So here we are at the National Theatre in Lisbon with a huge image from the show adorning the front of the building.

The theatre is very beautiful and Lisbon is stunning plus scorching hot - although most of our time so far has been spent in a dark theatre - we just emerge like moles at the end of the day blinking in the daylight.

We have just done a run of the show especialy for the press so fingers crossed.

 

 

 

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Culmination of “Count On Us!” Maths Project                 (Tue 29 March), by Lisa Harrison L&P Co-ordinator

West Park Primary stars packed the Newhampton Arts Centre Theatre for two showings of their “Count On Us!” performance. Parents, pupils, staff, community members, people who had helped the children along the way on their various trips, even a Portuguese theatre company, all came in their droves to watch something truly unique: a performance inspired by maths in Whitmore Reans.

The children were awesome! 60 of them were on stage throughout the half hour performance. And we really could “Count On Them” to keep audiences gripped throughout.

The trips they’d been on, and the mathematical explorations through dance, music and drama at school, formed the starting point for devising the piece. What had they discovered and seen, what maths had they used, what new things had they learned? And how could they best interpret and show these things on a grid in a theatre to an audience?

Let’s take subtraction, for instance, which we’d used in the Molineux Club Shop to work out what we’d saved in the Sale: one group came up with the idea of a game of skittles to demonstrate ‘taking away’. One child became the ball, and 6 others became skittles. The ball rolled forward, knocking over 3 skittles, which left how many?

How could we demonstrate the passing of Time? “We could count seconds in our head and then all do something together at exactly the same time?” came a suggestion from one child. So, silently to themselves, the performers counted 4 seconds and on the fifth, all 60 children suddenly dropped to crouch down on the floor, before then exploding up into the air simultaneously, after another specific number of beats.

There were dances set to recorded sound scores created by the children using their own voices; there were call-and-response maths songs, sung by football supporters in the Wolves stadium (“How many sides does a pentagon have?” “Five sides! Five sides!”; “What is a ½ in percentages?” “50%! 50%!”); there were 360◦ zulu spins, demonstrations of shapes, perimeter, area, proportion, perspective, coordinates, octagonal bandstands, incredible sound scores... and  much, much more!

Congratulations to the Yr 3 and 4 pupils and teachers of West Park Primary, and to staff at all the places we visited, for embracing this project so wholeheartedly, and daring to experiment with maths in new ways! Teachers believe that certain aspects of this project will now become a regular part of the delivery of their maths curriculum in school, since they’ve proved so successful. There’s no doubt that right now amongst Year 3 & 4 pupils, maths is cool, fun and very useful. And, as they’ll tell you, maths is everywhere, once you start looking.

There’s much to mull over. Those of us who worked on this project think we’ve just scraped the surface of something which could potentially go much further. I personally hope there are plenty more opportunities to explore maths further in this way in schools. It has been a hugely rewarding challenge.

Images from the Count on Us! show, by Foursight Theatre

'Count On Us' is a project delivered in partnership between Foursight Theatre, West Park Primary School and Creative Partnerships.

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Life on Tour with "Pertencia" and the Portuguese (Mon 21 March), by Lucy Tuck

So far so good! 

We opened at Hereford Courtyard Theatre, a venue that I always enjoy performing at and a fish pie in the restaurant that I always enjoy eating...

Food in the UK was a concern for the Portuguese contingent I know and for me too since I have taken it upon myself along with Sam Fox to be social secretary to the company and trying to re-create wherever possible, the communal lunch/dinner pre-show that suits all palates. 

We have played to the home-crowd of Wolverhampton Arena and squeezed ourselves into Ledbury and Stamford Art Centres, adapting well, but my favourite theatre to date is the Lawrence Batley in Huddersfield. Spacious, friendly and a very good audience for our first show including a group of students learning portuguese which really brought Pertencia's layers into full creative relief as they reacted to the duality of the text.  Afterwards we had a post-show discussion and it was a satisfying opportunity for the students to pose questions in portuguese and for us to get thoughts from them. 

Audiences in general have been positive and thoughtful, including my own parents whose taste for theatre is definitely light entertainment rather than dark, grotesque theatre and both were of the opinion that you couldn't fault the performances, found it 'gripping' and were glad they came. 

So, we are acheiving what I hoped we would in this unique play - bringing a difficult subject matter to the stage, reaching the audience regardless of language and keeping them on board for the duration.

 

Poster Image from Pertencia, by Foursight Theatre

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“Count On Us!” - Maths at Molineux                                    (Wed 02 March), by Lisa Harrison - L&P Co-ordinator

From West Park Primary’s school grounds you can see the distinctive bright yellow structure on top of the football stadium looming large. Because it’s so close – just a 10 minute walk away - it was entirely understandable that children suggested it as a place to go maths-exploring.

Children living in Whitmore Reans are familiar with the sounds of fans cheering from the stands at Molineux - especially during last Saturday’s 4-0 win against Blackpool – but it turned out that many from year 3 and 4 were entering the stadium for the first time when we visited.  And what a treat it was: we had the whole stadium to ourselves.

This time we took trundle wheels, stop watches, calculators, clip boards and pencils. We needed the equipment to measure the perimeter of the pitch accurately and work out its area, to find out how long it takes to walk its length, and calculate the costs of building up our own dream team!

Amongst many other maths activities, we calculated how many seats there were in a block in the Billy Wright Stand, how much money we’d saved in the Sale in the Club Shop after buying gifts, and in the Press Room, worked out how many buses were necessary to bring 3,000 Away supporters to the stadium.

On the pitch, a man was refreshing the white lines.  We could see why it was necessary to measure lines on the pitch: so that people could then estimate how much paint they’d need to re-paint them, and how long it would take to do the job.

On the way back to school, one child said: “I think we should go to the cinema to see if we can find maths there”, and another added, “...yes, and to a museum”. 

But the trips now have to stop, because we have a performance to devise!

Over the next three weeks, in just under 5 days, we are going to create a show, inspired by the maths we’ve found and applied over the course of last half term, both on trips and during sessions at school. 

Musician Heather Wastie, dancer Dan Lowenstein from 2 Faced Dance Company, and drama practitioner Lisa Harrison from Foursight Theatre will be working with years 3 and 4 to create something extraordinary. It will be performed in the Newhampton Arts Centre theatre, across the road from the school, where Foursight is based.

Images from the Molineux trip, by Ken Champken

'Count On Us' is a project delivered in partnership between Foursight Theatre, West Park Primary School and Creative Partnerships.

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“Count On Us!” - Maths in the local Community              (Fri 25 Feb), by Lisa Harrison - L&P Co-ordinator

Interview questions, measuring tape, calculation booklets and pencils in hand, off 60 children trekked into Whitmore Reans. This time the searching was for maths in local shops, cafes, restaurants, barbers', and the Post Office.
We visited a total of THIRTEEN establishments!
"What are your opening hours? Approximately how many customers do you get on a busy day? Which are the busiest days of the year/week/day?" were amongst the questions asked. Children worked out how much it would cost for their whole family to have their hair cut, and the time it would take for the barber to do it; they found out the difference between a first and a second class stamp; the difference between the weight of dough before it goes into the oven, and then after the bread is baked; how long it takes to prepare and cook food prior to serving it to customers at a table; they budgeted for a weekly family shop; measured and costed up a newly tailored suit; worked out the number of specific goods that can be stacked on shelves; they chose furniture from the charity shop to fit into a specific area... and much, much more!
All those interviewed helped the children beautifully, and we returned with pockets (and stomachs!) bursting with goodies given us along the way.
Thank you Whitmore Reans! Once again, you came up trumps!
On the way back to school, a Year 3 child asked me: "Can we do this project right until the end of Year 5?" Wishful thinking, I thought, but one thing is certain: we're discovering there is so much maths to be explored outside the classroom.  And in the process these children are meeting members of their community and finding out more about their working lives.
This week the Year 3 teacher told me that a child in her class had written her a letter announcing that she now liked maths, and that she was going to learn her 10 times table at home. And a boy had come up to her during break, saying that he'd just found loads of maths in the playground.  There are signs, then, that these children are looking at the world around them in a different way as a result of engaging with maths outside the classroom.
Next stop: The Molineux Football Stadium!

Images from the shops trip, by Foursight Theatre

'Count On Us' is a project delivered in partnership between Foursight Theatre, West Park Primary School and Creative Partnerships.

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Bette, Joan, Chocolate, Black Bottoms & The Never-Ending Iron Lady (23 Feb 11) - by Sarah Thom - Co-Artistic Director.

Photograph, by Foursight Theatre

Well, after finishing 2010 with a fantastic week on Katherine (as detailed in my last post), 2011 has kicked off at a rapid pace. I've been busying myself - like everyone else on the theatre planet - with funding applications, business planning, several research and development projects, and much-appreciated time on the Cultural Leadership Programme's Wayfarer Pathway, with the fantastic People Create and BAC - a brilliant development opportunity for artists in positions of leadership, - which I am relishing. The highlight so far of the programme was a retreat week-end at The Hurst in Shropshire, exploring personal approach and ways of thinking in the company of some exceptional folk, from sculptors to hip hop dancers, theatre directors to film-makers... I was also pleased to see the picture (posted above) which was serendipitously hanging opposite my bedroom door; we kick-started the creative year at Foursight with 2 days research and development on our new upcoming show inspired by women who were born of and influenced by the Cadbury Family, The Chocolate Ladies.

The other big artistic project for me this year is Bette & Joan - a brand new devised & scripted piece based on the relationship between Bette Davis and Joan Crawford, - some may remember we did a very rough scratch in 2010 at Bitesize, following three days development and exploration. We have now just completed 6 days initial devising on the show, with our co-producer's Jackson's Lane in London (the show's also supported by mac in the Midlands). The week was run by the director/dramaturg Lu Kemp, and we've gone a good way to creating a first route through the show. James Greaves, who's developing the idea with us - (he suggested the idea to Foursight back in 2007) - will be scripting a first shaping based on this week - which Sarah Toogood and I will then devise from in 6 weeks time at our next stage of the process. Highlight's of the week for me include: Sarah Toogood mastering (or should I say mistressing - in her own special way) Joan Crawford's flapper dance, ‘The Black Bottom', learning and trying to emulate something of Bette Davis singing her own song ‘Single' (her singing probably wasn't quite in the same class as her acting ability...), discovering a whole new dynamic through impro, - particularly with the two crazy ladies that were Hedda Hopper and Louella Parsons - and the beginnings of understanding and finding some depth to the relationship between Bette and Joan. I was also very excited by a potential holding frame we've found for the show... More to follow as this is explored... I should also say we were very lucky to have the incredibly able assistance of two recent graduates from Central School's Collaborative and Devised Theatre BA, Meghan Treadway and Pippa Wildwood, who did a sterling job, - on everything from researching Christian Scientists and Numerology to documenting the entire process. On first reflection, it promises to be an eclectic show...

One last note. With the news that Meryl Streep is now to join the ever-increasing list of Thatcher actresses, Kath Burlinson called me last week to say she'd been tracked down by Radio 5 to share what it was like to play one of the 9 Thatcher's on Thatcher the Musical! -  I think we'll all be talking about that show for some time still to come... Whatever one may think of her, as she-herself declared,  "Well-behaved women seldom make history".

Images from Bette & Joan development week, by Foursight Theatre

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“Count On Us!” - Maths in Unexpected Places        (Thurs 10 Feb), by Lisa Harrison - L&P Co-ordinator

The project gathers pace. If you remember from the last blog on the maths project, the children suggested all sorts of places they could visit to find maths. Wolverhampton dwellers may have seen Years 3 and 4 of West Park Primary School out and about, sniffing out all the maths they can find.

They snaked out of school, weaving their way around the Molineux stadium, through the underpass, up past the University and The Art Gallery and arrived at the doors of The Grand Theatre which were thrown open to the hungry hunters. Greedily they lapped up all the maths the building had to offer, rampaging through the Foyer, Stalls, Dress Circle, bar, dressing rooms and onto the stage. They worked out how old the building was, the length of the current show, which sweets and drinks they’d be able to afford in the interval; they found individual seats in the auditorium through co-ordinates, estimated the capacity of the stalls, calculated individual seat prices in the Dress Circle boxes, how many ice creams fitted in the ice-cream container; they measured themselves for a Panto costume and paced out the area of the stage. And once they’d gleaned all they could, they stormed across the road into the Art Gallery.

They were still hungry.

So they ate their packed lunches.

But the real nourishment they craved was in the spaces around them. They found Tessellation* in the Victorian Room, explored Perspective in the Georgian Room, examined Size and Proportion in the Sculpture Room, and mapped out their personal responses to specific pieces of art in the Contemporary Art Room.

At last, they were satisfied, and back they snaked to school, exhausted but stuffed, having eaten all the maths they possibly could in one day. 

Next up: the local shops, cafes and restaurants...Watch this space!

Images, by Foursight Theatre

*juxtaposition of shapes in a pattern, eg in tiling – for those of you who didn’t know!

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John Wright Workshop (Wed 15 Dec), by Sarah Toogood.

On Saturday 4 and Sunday 5 December we hosted a weekend workshop led by the director John Wright on his very particular style of clowning. John is the co-founder and an Artistic Director of Told By Idiot, co-founder and former Co-Artistic Director of Trestle Theatre Company, as well as a renowned teacher and highly-respected director in his own right.

Sarah Toogood, a workshop participant who will also appear in our production of Bette & Joan next year, has written a blog about the weekend.

Last Saturday I took part in a 2 day Clown workshop by John Wright... Somehow, looking back, it feels more like a week’s workshop, but in a good way...
Here are a few thoughts about the weekend...

Day 1.

Up at 3. (baby troubles) Up at 7. Taxi at 7.30. At station far too early. 43 minutes to chose which coffee and croissant to consume, and from which coffee and croissant stand to chose it from. Exhaustion. Grit- behind -the - eyes tiredness. Definitely not feeling very funny.

10.23 Arrive at Wolverhampton.  Minutes before, I realise that the Master himself, (John Wright) is actually sitting adjacent to me tapping away on his computer.. I time my introduction carefully so as not to appear like some mad Physical Theatre stalker. Phew. John Wright is a nice person. Not a scarey guru- type. Things are looking up. Maybe I can be a bit funny today.

The Day was incredibly productive and enjoyable. John led us very carefully through exercises which awakened our senses and reminded us what it feels like to be really present and ‘in the moment’. In short, reminding us of what children do naturally, of how to ‘play’, By ourselves, to an audience, and with each other.  It was interesting to see how application of these kinds of exercises could really enrich a devising process. Of how simple ideas or beginnings of ideas can be mined so richly and with so much ‘life’ and with genuine meaning. Here is a list of my experience and some stuff that made me think.

Pressure to be funny
Surprise of enjoyment
Addictive nature of laughter
Freedom that laughter releases
Confidence from that freedom
Empowerment of the clown
Brain- roaming- journey into nonsense land. A place where anything could happen
Less is more
More is delighted upon

 

Day 2.

Day 2 concentrated much more on creating material together, either as a pair or a threesome.  We also worked a lot on ‘Tragic Clown’, and the play between master and servant. This is really enjoyable to watch, as apart from being very funny if the complicite is working well, it always seems to have resonances of basic human relationships... power struggles and the delight of watching the underdog far more powerful in their playing of the fool, than the person desperately trying to keep the power.

For some reason, despite finding the work of other’s fascinating and exciting to watch, I found myself getting a bit brain-stuck, Unlike the previous day, I found myself feeling a bit panicky and slightly sick at the prospect of getting up and ‘having a go’. Here are a few thoughts, again in list form about the second day with John.

The fear
Getting things wrong
Doing too much
Not doing enough
Delighting in others progression
Slight despair in own mental cage building
Thinking too much
Overcoming thinking too much
Wishing I had overcome it a bit quicker since the day has ended and I’m ready to pounce again.

As much as anything, the two days with John Wright have been extremely useful. Particularly with a view to creating devised material. The weekend was a jam-packed, rich and challenging experience which left me with much to chew upon. It seemed to me that the cogs between my brain and my body had had a good ole oiling. And despite its personal frustrations and challenges, a return to this discipline of working would be extremely useful when creating work.

A huge thank you to all at Foursight for inviting me to come along to this workshop, and to John for creating such an inspiring weekend.  

Images from the Workshop, by Foursight Theatre

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Maths in the Park? Pardon me? (Wed 01 Dec),                 by Lisa Harrison

The maths project – YOU CAN COUNT ON US! - has commenced!

On a beautiful crisp November morning, 54 children from Years 3 and 4 of West Park Primary School, Wolverhampton, enthusiastically took up the challenge of seeing if they could find any maths in West Park, opposite their school.

The park rangers, gardeners and cafe staff were all eager to help in the quest. The children returned to school triumphant with an abundance of evidence! They’d found maths in shapes – eg the octagonal bandstand, the playground structures, buildings and shelters; in calculations - eg working out their change when buying sweets in the cafe (each child got given 50p), and how many seedling pots they could put in a variety of seedling trays; through measuring – eg the age of a tree through counting its annual growth rings, and the length and breadth of a tennis court; and through data gathering – eg tally charts on the number of squirrels, dogs, geese, ducks, etc, they’d spotted. “I wish maths was like this every day,” said Amandeep, and Anisa realised: “I learned that I know things that I didn’t know I know” 

Now they’d conquered the park, they were ready to take on the world! Where else, they were asked, do you think you might be able explore and find maths in your community? The answers came thick and fast: in my bedroom, in shops, in snowflakes, in the theatre, the Art Gallery, the Molineux...The rest of the project was being mapped out for us by the children. And so if you think you can find maths in a theatre, I asked, what about through drama? YES! And music? YES! And dance? YES! Really? YES! And so that is what we are also now investigating together.

The idea for a Maths Project was inspired by initial research on Forever in Your Debt. When thinking about possible links, I was reminded that the local Credit Union opposite West Park Primary comes into the school each Monday morning. So with the change some children had after their West Park cafe trip, they have opened up Credit Union savings accounts, making first steps at a young age to be Forever in Credit!

Foursight is partnering with Creative Partnerships on this project. Together we are exploring the question: “How can more creativity be introduced into maths provision in West Park Primary School in order to help pupils understand maths within real life contexts?”

Images from Maths in The Park, by Lisa Harrison 

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Winding down from the mountains (Thu 25 Nov),            by Lucy Tuck

I first wrote of my arrival to Campo Benfeito all those weeks ago and finish with our leaving of it at the end of this week and all that it has given me in between. 
‘Bom Dias’, ‘Boa Tarde’ and ‘Boa Nuit’ is not much of a portuguese repertoire, but it goes a long way with the people here and it has gone down as one of my small pleasures when they warmly greet me back. 
In the work, smatterings of the language reach my comprehension, but we continue to find our way through playful exchange and it seems that the Company that “eats together, stays together” as we are a very happy crew on the pre-show dinners that come as part of the arrangement between visiting companies and the venues that book them. This feeds (ha ha) happily into the work as from a very concentrated beginning we as a company are relaxing into each other’s performances and enjoying the mix of language that proved such a challenge in rehearsal.
Back at base, I have been experimenting with soup-making and have come to greatly appreciate the hand-held whisk! However, it has given lease to some lesser-known concoctions being foisted upon unwitting colleagues at the dinner table… but Frances Land and Penny Gaize are forgiving types and it’s good to be given a bit of free rein in the kitchen, every now and then.
Fire-making has been hit and miss, but I think I’ve got the knack now and am a new convert to the wood burner as a focal point in the living room for comfort and relaxation of the mind (when the flames aren’t going out) at the days end. 
The mindfulness of the villagers stock piling wood, gathering twigs (or whopping great big branches in the case of the very hardy-looking elderly lady I saw dragging one behind her), planting, tending, drying chestnuts, storing onions and potaoes in the out-houses, or fermenting wine and the general tasking that goes on daily, weekly, monthly for the days / seasons ahead, has been a been an impressive and thought provoking constant. As the anticipation of winter comes, ushering us into our homes, I will recall this experience as fulfilling one. Light a fire and keep a flame burning until we meet Teatro Montemuro again UK side. Prepare!

Images from Pertencia Tour, by Foursight Theatre

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Pertencia on Tour (Wed 24 Nov), by Frances Land

One week left of our Pertencia tour in Portugal and we have three days of performances at the company base in Campo Benfeito before we head south for our last two shows.
Had a great show in Villa Real in the north of Portugal at another very modern cultural centre last week. A good and extremely receptive full house and we were each presented with a bottle of lovely Douro wine after the performance.
The tour here has been really good and the company and different venues just great. Despite what have often been extremely long days with get outs frequently finishing well after 1am the tour has felt pretty relaxed – maybe that is in part down to the two large meals a day that are programmed into our schedule. We have one and a half hours for what is usually a three course meal with wine (for those brave enough to drink before a show)in a restaurant  mmm – things are going to feel a bit different in the UK!

Images from Pertencia, by Robert Day

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Pertencia on Tour (Wed 17 Nov), by Frances Land.

This week our tour has taken us to a very modern cultural centre in Ilhavo near the Portuguese coast and to the small town of Castro Diare just 15  minutes down the mountain. The audiences are lovely although the performance times still take a bit of getting used to – the show in Ilhavo didn’t start until 10pm.
Next week we head south and finish at a theatre festival – hoping we might see a bit of sunshine before we head back to a wintery UK.

 

Images of Centro Cultural de Ilhavo, by Frances Land

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Pertencia on Tour (Tue 09 Nov), by Frances Land.

Last week we performed in a beautiful old theatre in the town of Viseu, a lovely old town with a magnificent cathedral. We had a fantastic crew at the theatre supporting us with the get in and looking after us – a bit different to some of our venues coming up where we will be completely self sufficient, no pampering with a plentiful supply of water, towels and baskets of fruit in our dressing rooms.
The show is quite mad and enjoyable to do, despite its rather dark subject matter, lots of characters and quick changes and no time to relax – back stage is a show in itself. It will continue to be a challenge with the need to constantly go back to our scripts to remind ourselves of what is being said in the other language so that we are always making sense of the dialogue. So far our comments from audiences are really positive, loving the way in which the two languages work together, along with the music and the equal balance between male and female performers.
We have a few days off now and the weather up the mountain has most definitely turned autumnal. The rain is coming at us from every direction and the wind is howling ferociously.  The electricity comes and goes – a bit hard for working on the internet and I think it is time to don my waterproofs and brave it back along the road to light my fire and empty the pan beneath my leaking roof.
 

Images from Pertencia, by Robert Day

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The last week of rehearsals and the move to Porto (Wed 27 Oct), by Thomas Wildish

I’ve been in Portugal for the past week, to see the final few days of rehearsals - and also to experience the remoteness of the village of Campo Benfeito, where our partners Teatro do Montemuro (TRSM) are based. We are now in Porto for the opening of the show.

It’s been wonderful seeing the company breathe life into the ideas we’re been talking about for months; particularly as this is the first show I’ve seen through from beginning to end as General Manager at Foursight (in just my second week in the job, in Dec 09, members of TRSM came to Wolverhampton for a couple of days to thrash out the concept for the show).

The companies have gelled together really well, thanks partly, I imagine, to the two weeks of R&D we did in May. The different languages in the piece (Portuguese, English, live music, song, physicality) all fuse very well and one of the main aims - making sure the piece will be understood equally by Portuguese and English audiences – has, I think, been achieved. I also think we have made a show that truly reflects both Foursight and TRSM, and one that will be a powerful piece of theatre.

I got to Porto on Saturday, and I’ve seen posters for Belonging are all over town. (The show is called ‘Belonging’ in Portugal and ‘Pertencia’ in the UK. ‘Pertencia’ derives from the Portuguese ‘pertencer’ which means ‘to belong to’). And Teatro Nacional São João have done their own artwork for the show – which I have to say I quite like (see image below). We are having production shots done in Portgual, however, and from then on all of our marketing will be led by images from the show.

Pertencia (Belonging) opens in Teatro Nacional’s Carlos Alberto auditorium this Thursday 28 October. We started the get in on Monday and yesterday finished the plotting, and I’m really looking forward to seeing the fully formed show and gauging the response of the first few Portuguese audiences (we have a full house on Thursday!).

Images from Porto, by Foursight Theatre

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Port, Prams and Piggies (Thur 21 Oct), by Samantha Fox

Last weekend Ms Cooke, Ms Tuck and Ms Fox gate crashed a Quinta (port house) near Vila Real. After a bit of mime work some local ladies called the proprietor, a portly (ha ha!) Richard Attenborough lookalike who was very happy to let us sample his best ruby, tawny, extra dry white, sweet white and vintage ports, along with his new brand of 14% wines. Then we were given the grand tour and he proceeded to pour port down our necks (actually from the bottle into our mouths) and stare at our rear ends as we admired beautiful chestnut caskets and bellowed down gigantic metallic vats with cathedralesque acoustics. Needless to say our boot was substantially heavier on the journey home!

 

In other news, I am totally addicted to espresso and have made a new friend in Rossão. DONKEY!

 

We went to Capuchinhas to be measured this week and were surrounded by hundreds of women bubbling and nipping and tucking and folding and creasing and debating the length of our sleeves. This weekend I will return to the workshop where my costume is to be built onto me...how exciting.

   

In the rehearsal room we are working very hard. Only one week before we leave for Porto so the pressure's on. I've been working out how I can pretend to breastfeed a child whilst playing my baby harp, Paulo's been imagining that mercury is flowing through his system rather than the usual ten pints of blood and Frances is focusing on negotiating tight corners of the set whilst fashioning a giant pig's head. Lucy can perform all sorts of new tricks with Officer Blink's truncheon, and Abel, as well as adjusting to becoming a father again (baby Clara was born last Saturday weighing 2.5kg, a little yellow but perfectly formed) has been polishing his bleat for Chibo/Goatboy. Ricardo is growing an extra pair of hands so he can play four instruments simultaneously and Eduardo is busy drawing up his props list of cow's heart, cleaver, pram, animal bones and monopoly money.

The music is coming on nicely, there's always plenty of cake and all of the people involved in Pertencia are utterly delicious. Having a really rubbish time all in all!

Onkey donkey that's enough on week 3 methinks. Eh oh.

p.s. Here's a pic of my little lady harp enjoying a window seat on the flight over:

All photographs by Sam Fox

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UK Life, Planting Seeds & Katherine Mansfield                (Wed 13 Oct) by Co-Artistic Director Sarah Thom

Whilst most of the company are currently in Portugal at the moment beavering away on Pertencia there are still a few of us keeping irons in fires in the UK. Thomas and Abigail are working hard in the office keeping the cogs of the company turning and Lisa is about to start work on a new education project. Pertencia is the first show that I have not had an active artistic role in since becoming Co-AD with Frances three years ago. Whilst part of me is wondering how I managed to opt out of the international gig and a chance to work with the fantastic TRSM, the other half is thankful for the thinking space and time to invest in planning and developing ideas for our forthcoming artistic programme. I am currently working on the development of three projects (more in-depth details to be revealed soon) and am currently focusing on a rather special collaboration with the company I co-founded several years ago with the director, Rebecca McCutcheon, Angels In The Architecture. Some readers may remember me taking time out from Foursight in early 2008 to work on the site-specific production of Dido, Queen of Carthage at Kensington Palace with Angels. At the end of next month, we are embarking on first stage research and looking at creating a co-production concerning the life and work of the brilliant and somewhat under-represented short story writer, Katherine Mansfield. I will write more of Katherine and the project as the time approaches, but just thought I’d point out a rather fascinating retrospective blog project created by the Katherine Mansfield Society… “What was KM thinking and writing 90 years ago today? The ‘KM blog’ posts daily extracts of her letters and notebooks written almost 90 years ago...”. You can link to Katherine’s blog here.

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Pertencia Rehearsals - Week Three, (Tue 12 Oct), Frances Land

The designers have been hard at work on the set over the weekend – we are now at the stage when it would really help to have our set to play with so we can explore the different possibilities it might offer.
We will be working with two levels  - the butcher’s world on the lower with its hooks and carcasses and the street level above on which the dodgy character of Doctor Mamba lurks. The set includes a variety of spaces such the shady area  inhabited by the character of Pertencia with her children and babies, the counter area of the shop with it’s butchers block, meat display and exceedingly scary knives and a plastic curtain behind which we glimpse deals being done and money changing hands.
We have just finished working our way through the whole script, working in the songs and fleshing out the characters. A major job has been ensuring that the narrative thread weaves through coherently in the two languages – I suppose we will only find out for certain when we play to an audience who only have the one language.
And now we will start again at the beginning although we are one actor down – Abel and Paula’s baby girl decided she would arrive a week early – a great reminder that some things in life are just more important than theatre.

Images from Campo Benfeito, by TRSM and Frances Land

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Peter Cann's week in rehearsals (Mon 8 October)

Although I have been to Campo Benfeito many times and in many seasons I have never been here when so many English, and Welsh ladies have graced the mountain. Foursight's finest have witnessed The Serra Do Montemuro in many of it's moods in the few days since I have been here from pastoral idyll to the kind of icy ,wind whipped rain that not even a werewolf would be out on the moors in. There was, however a lot of howling in the village last night. I am more or less certain that it came from a variety of canine sources but one can never be sure in these parts. The work that the two companies are engaged in is, as one would expect, interesting and challenging. One of the more prosaic difficulties that working in two languages with an evolving script has presented is that every member of the company has a different text and although everybody has roughly the same material it is in a different order and on different pages. Which is why I was awake during the howling hours trying to collate the script.

The only sad thing is that Cesarina is still in hospital and there is no bar in the village.  The lack of a meeting place is evident and I have missed speaking bad Portuguese to the many people who have laughed at over the years. I also miss Cesarina herself who banned me for life on my first visit for riding a donkey into her bar. She revoked the ban next time I came back.  She probably realised it was Eduardo's idea in the first place.

Image: Peter Cann. By TRSM

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Goats, Coats and Barking Dogs (Wed 06 Oct), Mary Keith

Arriving in Campo Benfeito in the middle of the night, after a rather arduous journey, was rather magical - fresh mountain air, warm welcoming hugs from Eduardo, Abel and Paula in their spotless kitchen laden with freshly harvested tomatoes and squash, then onto our temporary homes, and a table laid out with wine, pears, grapes and the most heavenly squishy goats cheese imaginable. My travel tiredness soon dissipated and I got into the lovely relaxed, but fruitful way of being that was to dictate the rest of the week.

For me the priority for the week was to get all the songs I had been working on taught, so that I could leave at the end of the week confident that at least they had all been gone through, if not learnt in detail. Apart from a few language discrepancies this was an easy job such was the enthusiasm and willingness of all actor/musicians and the rehearsal room was soon filled with rich harmonies. I had only heard the songs in my head or with my own voice, multi tracked, so I was not really prepared for the richness and depth of sound from the three men's and three women's voices, a complete contrast to the rather incessant dog barking that was the musical accompaniment to most nights.

Herds of goats around the village are protected by fierce looking dogs with wolf-proof spiked collars. As I walked to rehearsals each morning, I would brace myself as one particular dog would always be particularly vehement in letting me know I should keep away from his flock. Since our show is about belonging, it was rather appropriate to be reminded of this every morning in such a direct way. These dogs roam the village all night, keeping watch and occasionally breaking into a frenzy of barking and scuffling. We never knew what prompted such outbreaks and we often cursed the break in sleep, but maybe we should have all been reassured that we were part of the flock too.

I was also not really prepared for the complete lack of retail opportunities, so as Lucy has already described, the Capucinhas co-operative was a welcome, but entirely practical, distraction.  We had a fine hour trying on every item, though I went for an off the peg number as opposed to Lucy’s bespoke one, but I suspect both will be really useful in the distinctly chilly mountain air.

I’m back in England now, reunited with my own “flock”, but I shall be returning with my coat in two weeks to finish my job, when I look forward to seeing how all the songs will be seamlessly woven into the rich fabric of the show.

Images from the Capuchinhas Workshop, Campo Benfeito, by Mary Keith

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Grappling with scripts (Tue 05 Oct), Frances Land

It is quite an interesting challenge working through a script in two languages, ensuring that you understand what is being said and that you are familiar enough with the other language to recognise the key words for your cue.

We have had some rather bonkers moments as we are all working off different scripts - some all in English, some all in Portuguese and others in both languages all with different page numbers so that referring to a particular point in a scene or making an alteration to the text causes complete chaos.  Luckily we have Peter Cann with us this week and as well as working on new sections of text he is creating one version of the script that we all work off. - hoorah !

After a blissful week of brilliant sunshine the weather broke on Sunday and we were hit with lashing rain and wild winds. Autumn has definitely arrived and our wood burning stoves are all going full blast - the village now has a sweet aroma of wood smoke as well as cow pats.

Images from Rehearsals and Campo Benfeito, by TRSM

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Lucy Tuck Arrives At Campo Benfeito! (Mon 04 Oct), Lucy Tuck

At half past midnight on Friday 24th September Campo Benfeito arrives out of the late evening mist in a rural, magical understatement. My suitcase makes unsteady work over the uneven but neatly cobbled street towards our granite stone house, which is up a short, but very steep, hill.

Although some of the modern world has made it up here, this place feels very, very ancient: two milk cows are walked daily into their stable next door to us, bells gently ringing; a sturdy 70 year old pulls 2 sizable tree branches behind her for the wood pile to ensure the fire can keep burning throughout the long hard winter; cow carts trundle over the cobbled streets.

Two warnings were extended prior to my arrival here: "Lucy, there are no bars.  No shops".

However the proximity of the Capuchinhas Workshop, - where they produce the traditional cape worn in the region by the shepherds and more modern collections of clothing -, means that I am actually in heaven. Having gone through the clothes rails and woollen knits, which are produced in ready supply for the designer shops of Portugal, I am already 150 euros down with the ordering of a bespoke coat!

So, I am delighted to start this remarkable theatre experience with a purchase from a unique SHOPPING environment. Still looking for the bar…

However, our first week has seen us celebrate the birthdays of Steve Johnstone (Co-Director on Pertencia) and Abel Duarte (performer on Pertencia) as well as crack away at the play and I am confident we will continue to have a lot to celebrate about this project all the way into the new year and our UK tour!

But let’s get Portugal played first! (if I can afford it……..)

Images from Campo Benfeito, by TRSM

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First day of rehearsals (Mon 27 Sept), Frances Land

We've just spent the morning going through some of the wonderful music that Mary & Ricardo have been working on, learning songs and making the most of having Mary Keith before she returns to the UK for a couple of weeks. The design team have been beavering away in the space next to us building the frame for the set and cleaning bones, which look like they have come from an archaeological dig.  A great collection of bones from horses, sheep, cows and goats, giving off an extremely unpleasant odour - I suppose that's what you get when you set a piece in a butchers.

Yesterday we read through the script discussing any areas that weren't clear to us - a long process as we worked through in the two languages. The piece is so reliant on the music and physical work that it is hard to feel a sense of the whole with the text alone. Yesterday we also revised some of the work from our devising in the UK - it was a great reminder of the trust and physical language we had already established and of how strong this ensemble of actors already feels.

Mary said I should mention food, as everyone is interested in food. Well it is harvest time up here and Abel has given us bags of green peppers, onions, squash and tomatoes. We have been busily munching our way through it all, but we have almost exhausted our recipies for squash, so any ideas will be gratefully received!

Images from the first day of rehearsals, by TRSM

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Preparing for Portugal - 22 Sept, by Frances Land

Just a couple more days before we depart for our mountain home for the next 9 weeks our thermals and hot water bottles at the ready. 

I can't say I feel sad about escaping the build up to the spending review, trying to predict what lies ahead. I shall be pushing all of this to one side for just a short while to focus on the job in hand creating a bit of theatre.

The show heads back to the UK in March but in the meantime we shall be posting regular blogs as the show evolves and then tours in Portugal 

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Gearing up for Pertencia - 3 Sept, by Frances Land

Whilst we have all been off on our holidays Pete has been busily scribbling away, shaping and pulling together draft one of a script from the devising weeks. Working with a writer alongside the devising process is still a fairly new approach for us and it is fantastic to see how Pete developed the script staying true to the work and ideas that were developed on the floor.

As one of Teatro Do Montemuro's associate artists, Pete has many years of experience in writing for a Portuguese audience.  Pertencia will of course be for a UK audience as well, crafted so that the two languages are completely interwoven ensuring that audiences in both countries can follow the narrative.

Other members of the team have also been beavering away, the Portuguese designers, Ana & Maria Jao have sent in a picture of this lovely pig along with their first thoughts on the design and the musicians, Mary & Ricardo have been batting the music  back and forth between the two countries as they grapple with the complexities of translations and scanning.

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The Special Correspondence Book - 08 July 2010

The Special Correspondence Club book has arrived! Why not click on the link to preview it or even order yourself a copy?

Book title: The Special Correspondence Club, By: Foursight Theatre, Category: Education

http://www.blurb.com/books/1421747

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Pertencia R&D Video - 29 June 2010

Over two weeks in May, we worked with TRSM to develop material for our new co-production Pertencia. Here's a short video giving you an insight into the process.

Click here to visit the show page for more information on the show.

 

 

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Pertencia next stages: Friday 28 May 2010, by Frances Land.

Sadly our two weeks of devising with Teatro do Montemurro is now over and so the next stage of the work kicks in. We have 4 months until we meet agin and during that time  will be drawing on the work developed together so far to create a draft script ready for  rehearsals at the end of Sept. Some great songs and musical styles were already emerging,  we now need to decide what the additional songs will be and get Mary and Ricardo on the case to develop the music.

The design team from Portugal also joined us last week sitting in on the process to get a feel for what this new show might be and spending a bit of time at a local butcher's shop to get a few ideas.

And so with just a few months to polish up my Portuguese I am off for my last lesson before the summer.

Ciao

image: from left to right Paulo Duarte, Eduardo Correia, Frances Land. photo by Robert Day.

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Pertencia R&D: Week 2 Day 1 - Monday 17 May 2010, by Frances Land (Actor/Deviser & Co-Artistic Director, Foursight)

As we enter our second week I've been reflecting on the first, and I'm delighted to say we've already developed a very strong sense of this ensemble. Our two musicians Mary and Ricardo have been improvising and responding to the devising, and setting Peter's lyrics to music. We've been working with text and playing with the two languages; and looking at how language can also have its own musical score.

This week we will also return to the butcher's shop, a potential holding frame for the show that we explored at the beginning of our first week. We will see how we can play and push the grotesque elements of the show and its dark humour, and find conventions for pulling in contemporary stories and references; stories which in themselves are hard to believe: of children being lost, abandoned, taken and sold on as if they were just a commodity. No longer a child, just another animal passing through into the dark world at the back of the butcher's shop...

Image: Mary Keith (Co-Musical Director) and Frances Land

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Pertencia R&D: Week 1, Day 4 - Fri 14 May 2010, by Lucy Tuck (Actor/Deviser)

Earlier this week the four strong vibrantly male contingent that is Teatro do Montemuro moved into my flat. "Three's a crowd" they say, so four in my 2 bedroom flat must be! I'm well out of it, and on 'holiday' staying round the corner at Co-Director Naomi Cooke's house, happy to be the absent hostess. But the boys have my house-proud number already, and take pleasure in teasing me about re-arranging my whole flat by my return at the end of next week. Ha ha ha!

A good sense of humour, I note, is common ground for our two companies. In the rehearsal room we are finding our working route through in exciting and co-curious steps as we negotiate the complex environment of devising in two languages. We are discovering the performance frisson of the piece with more than usual attention to clarity, as we bear in mind the cross-cultural audiences we will be performing to, as well as the cross of culture we are performing with!

But it feels strong so far and after just a few days in the rehearsal room with this experienced mix of people, I feel very happy to be on board with Pertencia, my 7th project with Foursight Theatre.

So onwards and upwards, and as they say in Portuguese, OBRIGARDA!

Image: Lucy Tuck (second left) with members of Foursight & TRSM

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Pertencia R&D: Week 1, Day 2 - Wed 12 May 2010, by Frances Land (Actor/Deviser & Co-Artistic Director, Foursight)

 Fortunately the cloud of volcanic ash lifted above Portugal just long enough to allow Teatro do Montemuro to get across to us for the next couple of weeks.

We are now into our second day together having spent a day sharing stories that each company unearthed during their research.

Working with a mixture of English and Portuguese I think and hope we now have a shared understanding of these stories, which will form our starting point for the devising process.

And so today we've been on our feet, just beginning to explore how we find a shared language with our team of devisers and musicians, writing and improvising on themes relevant to the piece.

Over the next few weeks, myself and members of the Foursight Team will be blogging on the devising process. I hope that these insights will excite you, and whet your appetite for the full production. We look forward to welcoming you to a performance with us either Portugal or the UK.

Image:  Frances leading a warm-up

 

Pertencia Research & Development: Week 1, Day 0 - Mon 10 May 2010

This week (from tomorrow) and next we welcome members of Teatro do Montemuro to Wolverhampton to begin work on our new production Pertencia. Each of us have our own style and approach but something crucial in common: a commitment to creating vibrant new theatre. 

A new piece of devised theatre that tours Portugal in the autumn and the UK in March 2011, Pertencia moves between the real and the fantastical using characters and imagery from folk tales, fairy tales and urban myths to explore deep seated fears and desires. Mischievous and irreverent, Pertencia touches on themes that are ageless and contemporary: loss, abandonment, displacement, kidnapping. The fears of children and the terror of adults.

Image: Marketing image for Pertencia

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Preparing for Pertencia - Wed 28 April 2010

Our cast is now in place and things are cranking up a gear as we prepare for 2 weeks devising  for what will be our first foray into the world of international collaborations.

We have been recruiting performers not only with multiple skills in devising, acting and music but also willing to rehearse and live up in a small mountain village this autumn, potentially very cold, very wet, no shops, bars, central heating - not the Portugal of sunny beaches that usually springs to mind. So our hardy team will have to be up for a bit of an adventure and willing to invest in thermal underwear and hot water bottles,

So back to the prep work, trying to find our starting points and framework for the devising period, pulling out the key stories from the reams of research and getting it translated for the Portuguese actors when they arrive on the 11th May.

More to follow in May

Frances Land

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Forever in Your Debt opens at The Courtyard, Hereford - 12 February 2010

As we open Forever in Your Debt, which tours throughout February and March, here is a note from Sarah Thom, Director of the show and Co-Artistic Director of Foursight.

Click here for tour dates

"Its some 14 months since my partner at Foursight, Frances Land, had the idea to approach Talking Birds about co-creating Forever in Your Debt. And what a journey it’s been since then. It’s been a real pleasure to work with such an eclectic and fantastic team. And, to quote Nick Walker, it’s certainly been quite a job to create a play “about an abstract noun”. Debt. An abstract noun that affects so many. It’s been a fascinating and revealing starting point.

"The original idea was to create a show inspired by true stories of women affected by debt. And that was indeed our first port of call. We heard account after account of people who had spent up to hilt in desperation on their credit cards, students who had spiralled down with repayments on loans, debtors who became collectors in their own communities, families destroyed, faked identities and indeed deaths faked in order to escape credit lapses. It was relentless.

"Yet the one image that kept haunting us throughout the process was that of the woman on top of a tower block. Again. A true event. The teetering on the edge of the iconic building, the inevitable fall that in itself seemed to be a metaphor for all the other stories. Who might have witnessed this? Who could have helped? And what of the tower block itself? The financial institutions that it houses? How stable that all is in the end. From that point on a whole new creative journey emerged that lead towards the surreal, hopeful but ultimately hopeless world that the play sits in today. How do you tackle such bleak truths? Well, perhaps, as we witnessed in the human spirit from some of those we heard who were at their lowest ebb, and, as Vera says at the end of the play, maybe “better a song than a scream”.

"I hope you enjoy the show and that we might manage somehow to honour in some small way the true stories that inspired it."

Sarah Thom

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International Collaboration blog entry - 27th January 2010

Frances Land

Whilst Sarah is busy down in the wondrful new rehearsal space at Warwick Arts Centre working on our current collaboration with Talking Birds I am beavering away in the Foursight office gearing up for our next collaboration  which will be with with Teatro do Montemuro (TRSM).

Our relationship started with the company in 2003 with Naomi Cooke and I visiting the company at their base in the wilds of northern Portugal under the heading of Urban Girls meet Rural boys. Since then we have been back and forth a few times with a recent visit from TRSM to a chilly Wolverhampton just before Christmas.

The company spent a couple of days with us exploring potential stories and themes, and the huge number of practicalities to consider when working with a company from another country and another currency. There are so many things to consider, such as coming up with a title that has the same impact in each language, the cost of flying various members of the team back and forth, working with two languages and so on..

And so  the first show is booked in the National Theatre in Porto, the show will be called Pertencia, the first draft of the marketing material is now being translated into Portuguese and I will be speaking to our designer tonight about possible images for the publicity - an empty pram, a shadowy figure in the background.....more to follow in May.

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Workshop Participant Blog Entry - 12th October 2009

James Greaves - Frankie Armstrong Vocal Workshop 26th/27th Sept

It was with heart in boots, lump in throat and knot in stomach that I realised I was the ONLY man in the workshop. A singing workshop. Set up by a renowned female theatre company. Led by a renowned female. This was something my father warned me could happen one day if I became an actor and wasn’t careful. That and ending up cornered at a party by a man wearing lipstick. But then my father is quite strange and I have never been cornered at a party by a man wearing lipstick. Not yet anyway.

I should also add that as a forty something year old actor who gets more and more cynical and intolerant of all things actory as the years go by, I was fairly apprehensive about the whole malarkey anyway. The last time I went on a course of any description was for the manly sport of sailing when I nearly drowned and spent most of the time shivering and screaming like a nine year old girl. (Enraged nine year old girls please do complain to Foursight.) In my defence it was very windy and so was I as I sat in the circle in front of Frankie Armstrong reciting my address with my tongue hanging out of my mouth.

I’ve always maintained that the point of an exercise is to have one. A point that is. Or else it all gets a bit too Nicholas Craig for comfort. Also that if a documentary crew were filming the exercises for TV to avoid the points where the viewing public at home would sit with slackened jaws wondering what we were doing and why and thinking to themselves ‘what a bunch of prats’. I am very glad to report that each exercise did indeed have a point and there weren’t any ‘prat’ moments. Apart from possibly the rolling around on the ground making baby noises one. (Again I saw my father’s ‘I told you so’ expression in my mind’s eye.)

For two days we chanted, resonated, located our head and chest voices, bridged, characterised, cast furtive glances around the circle to make sure we weren’t the only one drooling and played with our fricatives (which is perfectly legal between consenting adults apparently). In other words we had a fine old time and this particular fuddy duddy enjoyed it no end. I thought about voice technique with a more open mind than I have done since drama school and about my own voice for the first time in years. I didn’t get grumpy, I didn’t seethe with luvvie loathing and no bile rose in my throat. I felt I had purged some of my cantankerous old self. But as Frankie pointed out “There’s nothing like a pigmy yodel to bring up a bit of phlegm.”

 

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Co-Artistic Director Blog Entry - 3rd October 2009
Sarah Thom - 2 years on. Crazy days

It has been an incredibly full on few weeks here. I have hardly had time to sit and reflect on anything, but am finally taking a moment, particularly as this is my 2nd anniversary of becoming a Co-Artistic Director.

Over the last two years, it became an ambition of Frances, Michelle and I to have a running programme of work, with potentially more than one project happening simultaneously. We have finally reached that stage, with currently 4 shows in pre-production for the next 18 months, - the pending return of The Corner Shop, Forever In Your Debt, the much-awaited co-production with TRSM and plans for a re-mount of Can Any Mother Help Me?, supported by our co-producers in Hereford. This full programme has ironically matured just at the point when Michelle was accepted onto the Clore Fellowship Programme (we miss her and wish her well), so amongst all this, Frances and I have been interviewing for a new General Manager, - Thomas Wildish will be joining us is December, - and are now currently wearing about 4 hats each, with the much-welcomed help of Jo Carr, who is working with us in the interim, and the amazing baptism of fire of Abigail, our administrator. Lisa has been doing some brilliant work in the Outreach department, - and is about to re-mount her Corner Shop Schools Project at West Park school, we have just had a great weekend with the voice trainer, Frankie Armstrong, - it was good to see so many of our Associate Artists, as well as some old and new faces, - Toni Midlane, Katie Day and the like, singing about frogs and learning the ins and outs of fricatives. This month we’ve also had a very productive day with Pat Abraham and our board, completed an intensive research and development process on Forever In Your Debt, the build has started on The Corner Shop, we’ve cleared out the store, had numerous co-production meetings, held auditions… and so it goes on!

So much is happening in the company that it does feel good to reflect in amongst the mania, on the journey we have travelled as the new team of Foursight over the last 24 months. It seems a long time since we sat in Tixall Gatehouse during our first month together and talked about our hopes and dreams. I think we’ve gone some way to realising quite a few of them… but as ever, there’s always so much more to do…

Sarah Thom

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Associate Director Blog entry - 30th September 2009

Naomi Cooke on Frankie Armstrong Voice Workshop, 26/27th Sept 2009 

The legendary folk singer and vocal practitioner Frankie Armstrong led a 2 day workshop for about 16 of us gathered at the Foursight base in Wolverhampton. This was the first event of what will become a regular part of Foursight’s programme, offering training to Associate Artists and practitioners in the West Midlands.  

Frankie has been singing professionally since 1964 and has teamed up over the years with other folk legends such as Peggy Seeger, Ewan MacColl and Louis Killen. In the 1970’s Frankie began teaching voice and singing through developing a variety of workshops. She was an initiating member of the Natural Voice Practitioners Network which grew out of the Voice Teacher training courses that she has been running in the UK since 1988. 

As Frankie says: “Having been involved with folk and political songs since the 1950s, I’ve always been fascinated by the way that voice can enhance an individual’s sense of well being and can also develop a sense of community between people. It can link us to the thread of song that comes down to us from our ancestors. Hence I’ve always been interested in exploring voice and song in its historical, cultural, political and spiritual dimensions. I also see the voice as a tool to aid self-expression, creativity and confidence. Over the past two decades I have particularly focused on the body- voice connection, having worked and trained with a variety of bodywork and movement teachers.”  

So it was not surprising that over the two days, Frankie combined various approaches to enable participants to find and free their natural voice. Working almost always with an imaginative stimulus, we explored the relationship of body, breath and voice, and in particular how to strengthen and sustain the voice. Using songs from around the world, we explored the different textures and timbres of the human voice alongside the way vocal harmony is created. We wholeheartedly joined in with ‘vocal events’ – or vocal improvisations – building wonderful journeys of vocal exploration.  

It really was a privilege to work alongside such a gifted and gracious woman and to leave feeling reconnected, energised, open and just wanting to sing!

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Education and Outreach Co-ordinator Blog Entry - 12th August 2009
Lisa Harrison reflects on the Special Correspondence Club schools project in Spring this year:

One of the challenges for me on this project was staying true to the starting point of the project, the book Can Any Mother Help Me? which was also the starting point for Foursight’s touring production of the same name. Neither the book nor the show was aimed at 9/10 year olds - the age group I was working with.

How was I, without referring to the book or show, to honour the richness and intimacy of the deeply personal stories of the women of the Co-operative Correspondence Club (CCC) in a project with sixty Year 4/5 pupils?  Having read the book and worked on the R & D for the show, the integrity of the women’s stories, and their courageous honesty in addressing difficult subjects was something I had grown to hold dear. Although the school project was to be celebratory, at the same time, I thought it crucial to create the space for the unexpected to be revealed, and for potentially awkward and sensitive issues to be raised.

I started by taking the idea of the CCC writing initially as strangers to each other, from all corners of the British Isles. I needed to find out, myself a stranger to the schools, if the children were up for sharing aspects of their lives with children they didn’t know, and who lived in a different environment to them.  I wrote a hand-written letter to two classes: one in a rural school and one in an inner city school. Here are some of the responses:-

Thank you so much for your hand-written letter - it was a fantastic surprise to us all!
We are really excited about your project and can’t quite believe that you chose us.
We will make sure that you won’t regret it!
We think it is an excellent idea and would really like to take part.

Once the interest had been established, the nine week project unfolded, starting with the two classes writing letters to each other. All sorts happened along the way. They wanted to hear each other’s voices, so voice recordings were sent. Then came from one child: “I think we should send them photographs, so that they know what we look like.”  Disposable cameras were bought for each child, a professional photographer hired, and many photos taken and exchanged. A word-based artist came in at another point to stimulate poems and story-writing.

Questions went to and fro between the children: Do you go to holy places? Have you ever been to Wolverhampton? Where do you want to go when you are older? What do you struggle with? What does it smell like in the country? What are your school rules? Do you have a library? How do people behave in a rural school? What’s the weather like where you live? Is pollution worse where you live?  One child wrote she was sorry to hear about the children with disabilities in the other school’s class. She was quickly put right by the girl with a hearing impairment, who explained that there was no need to be pitied.

In short, any concerns I’d had about making space for the participants to explore and express what they struggled with in life, as well as what they were interested in, and fun stuff, as the women of the CCC had done, were quickly banished by the children driving the project.

Both classes decided they wanted to meet each other. Each class took full responsibility for planning their hosting day. They both performed a play devised specially for their guests. This was inspired by their written stories on the themes of friendship and co-operation. Parents were invited to join us on both days. Bhangra, Dholi drumming, Maypole dancing and banners welcomed the guests, tours were organised, seating plans, drinks, and home-made food were prepared and farewell ceremonies arranged. And of course, time for play and chatting together was scheduled in.

What was so moving to observe was the care and pride each child took in preparing for and hosting their visitors. A thoroughly good time was had by all. It was hard to say goodbye at the end, but to make it easier, the children have decided to stay in touch through writing letters to each other.

Please see the E & O page for participant quotes and images from the project.

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General Manager Blog Entry - 22nd July 2009
Michelle Knight - One & Other: Method in the madness?

Last week I hired a car and drove down to Trafalgar square for midnight to witness Jill Dowse's hour on the empty plinth as part of the One & Other project (see Jill's post below). I thought I would have lots to say about this, and have contributed to the discussion on the subject on Foursight's Facebook page , but now, after the event, it turns out that I think this little video I've made sums it all up better than lots of words. Was it a totally bonkers thing to do to drive down there at midnight for an hour, returning home at 4am? Yes. Was it one of the most inspiring, baffling and brilliant professional experiences of my career? Absolutely! Is it art? Yes, it can be. Is it thought-provoking? Certainly. Congratulations Jill and thanks for a magical hour.

 

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Associate Artist Blog Entry - 15th July 2009
Jill Dowse - My hour on the plinth

Jill has been selected to have an hour at midnight tomorrow night on top of the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square as part of Antony Gormley's latest public artwork One & Other. Here are some of her thoughts in the run-up to the event; do keep an eye out for live tweets from the hour on Twitter, tomorrow night and we'll be posting pictures online the next day, so you can see what she got up to, and hopefully a bit of video too in case you miss the live webstream online. Over to Jill...

"I am interested in widening the imaginative and participatory field of potential performance beyond myself [but] at the moment, I'll just be glad when it's all over. I think my real fear of heights, combined with my performing profession, has led to the whole thing taking up a huge amount of my mental space and actual time. I'm currently regarding it as a challenge which must be faced: and this, too, will pass... I can't believe what this 'thing' has provoked in me."

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Co-Artistic Director Blog Entry – 29th June 2009
Sarah Thom      -    Democracy Rules….?

Foursight has always based a good deal of its practice on research and development, and since the new team took over the helm we have been looking for a way to formalise this. The last two weeks have seen the company embark on a practical research project as part of our newly established Training and Research programme.

Kate Hale, founder member and former Artistic Director of the company is currently in the midst of an MA looking at the possibilities, pros and cons of a democratic creative and rehearsal process. Frances, myself and Associate Artists, Lucy Tuck, Lisa Harrison and Naomi Cooke have just been the guinea pigs of a practice- as- research process, conceiving, researching, rehearsing and performing a piece of theatre in 2 weeks under the rules of democracy.

This has been a challenging and very informative 2 weeks. As a company that puts collaboration and shared thinking at its very heart, it has both thought-provoking and enlightening to test the rules of democracy through every aspect of process. All be it under a controlled time -scale.

What did we come up with…? The variety of suggestions coming from the demos were numerous and very colourful, (and far too exciting to make public just yet!) but it was interesting that the team, particularly in light of our next show,‘Forever in your Debt’, opted for the theme of cabaret. The final showing offered a surreal and contemporary cabaret, mingled with offerings inspired by the dada-ist influences of the first cabarets of Paris and Berlin.

There is no question that to apply a process such as this to all aspects of a full-scale production would be a time-consuming, and some might say, frustrating, endeavour, but to really test the actor-centric process to its extreme has for me, as both an actor and director, been inspiring. Despite its complications, it is clear that to rest the responsibility of artistic content solely in the hands of the performers on the floor can present a richness of colour and ideas that may well not arise in a traditional director/writer hierarchy. Of course, both processes clearly offer their merits but I think this was a timely experiment for Foursight.

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General Manager Blog Entry - 29th May 2009
Michelle Knight - Toying with technology

Having fun discovering new bits and bobs of technology at the moment - I'm on a social media course run by the brilliant people at Fierce Earth . So, just for fun - because sometimes you really don't need a better reason - I thought I'd share a couple of 'wordles' - pictures of clusters of words based on how often certain vocabulary features in a piece of text. The more frequently the word occurs, the bigger it appears in the picture.

This one is made from all the e-mails and letters we've received from audience members of our latest tour, Can Any Mother Help Me? . We've fed all your comments into the magical wordle website and here's what they look like:

 

Lovely, huh?! And, not being able to stop once I get going, here's one based on the thoughts of the schoolchildren who participated in our Special Correspondence Club education project recently:

Hours of fun! Have a go yourself with any text of your choosing - family trees, love letters, birthday greetings, your own twitter / blog posts, favourite e- mails, shopping lists, whatever. It's nicely revealing! Simply go to the wordle.net website and punch in your words.

All images remain courtesy of http://www.wordle.net/ .

Admin Blog Entry - 20th May 2009
Hannah Nicklin - Can Any Mother Help Me video.

Just a quick entry to say that there is a new video up from Can Any Mother Help Me? at Theatre Severn, Shrewsbury. The video documents the original Cooperative Correspondence Club member Angharad meeting the cast of the show.

Also, your last chances to see this "beautifully crafted piece...a real credit to West Midlands theatre" (The Birmingham Post) are coming up - it's at Warwick Arts Centre until Thursday 21st and Greenwich Theatre in London on 23rd & 24th May. Don't miss it!

Co-Artistic Director Blog Entry - 20 April 2009
Sarah Thom - Portuguese possibilities

It’s been a while since I’ve had time to sit down and write an update for the blog. An awful lot has happened since my last entry during The Corner Shop. Directing Can Any Mother Help Me? was a massive undertaking; working in the way that we did on that particular project, devising from the book, left me with very little time for anything else, as every spare minute I had outside of the rehearsal room was dedicated to scripting the play. I am now very happy to see the show playing so successfully on the road, with a great company, both onstage and off. I think I speak for all of us in the new creative and management team at Foursight, to say we are very proud of the show, and are so happy that Jenna Bailey agreed to allow us access to her book. And of course, we pay huge respect to the women and families of The Co-Operative Correspondence Club, whose lives are laid bare in this remarkable writing.

 Frances and I have just got back from an enlightening (and freezing!) trip to the Portuguese mountains, where we have just spent 3 days with TRSM - Teatro Regional da Serra do Montemuro - a male-driven theatre company, borne out of a small village, Campo Benfeito, in the mountains of northern Portugal. Foursight’s relationship with TRSM began a few years before I arrived on the scene, which in itself was borne out of an initial relationship when Steve Johnstone (Co-Director on The Corner Shop and Apna Ghar) and Purvin (long-time designer and collaborator with Foursight) went, as far as I understand, with Pentabus nap-sacks on their backs, hunting through the nether- regions of Portugal to seek out unsuspecting would-be collaborators to bestow their talents upon. TRSM were the very lucky victims of this initial adventure, and have since worked with Steve and Purvin on a number of occasions. Time went on, and eventually Frances and our previous Artistic Director, Naomi Cooke, embarked on a process to see if there might be a creative exploration around the idea of ‘British Urban Girls meet Portuguese Rural Boys’, and whether from this there might at some point be a possibility for a co-production between these two very different, but somehow complementary, companies. This led to two separate encounters and workshops in Portugal between the two companies.

 Frances and I have now taken up the mantle as the Portuguese explorers and have just spent 3 very interesting days looking at a possible idea for a new show to be created in co-production. We are still in early stages, so it’s probably a bit too soon to go into detail on the blog, but do watch this space and we will keep you up to date as plans are put in place.

 In the meantime, if you need any tips on how to create an emergency hot water bottle, do get in touch, as I think we may have cornered a new market…

Administrator Blog Entry - 12 March 2009
Hannah Nicklin -Can Any Mother Help Me? audience feedback.

 Hello all, and thanks again for reading the blog. Foursight have been working very hard over the past month and a half to produce a wonderful , poignant and orginal piece of theatre. But don't take our word for it, here are some audience comment from both our website, and directly emailed to us:

"[...] It was great, very versatile actors, great choreography and very moving. the clapping was very British so we were sat frustratedly wanting to shout out, so I was glad to see the actors as we were leaving the auditorium and have the opp to say thanks that was brilliant. I was actually moved to tears but tried not to show it, what are we like, I suppose were used to being British by now. Thank you so much, I want to go to the theatre every month now, its so much better than Emmerdale."

jo