The Corner Shop
Show Information
A celebration of the corner shop from the stories of the families behind the counter and the customers in front.
The corner shop is a vital aspect of British heritage that has been shared by many cultural groups, owned and run by members of different communities. It is a shared landmark and - in the light of its decline – its continued existence on our streets, in the face of the increasing threat from the all-conquering supermarket, becomes a shared struggle.
In 2006 The Evening Standard reported as part of their ‘Save Our Shops’ campaign that, in the previous five years, 7,000 family or individually-owned convenience stores had disappeared in Britain. As this long-loved institution at the heart of Britain’s community life begins to disappear from our streets, a new site-specific theatre performance, The Corner Shop, celebrates the changing faces and cultures of the corner shop over the years.
Black Country Touring have been collecting memories, photographs and documents of shopkeepers, their families and customers of the shops in the Black Country, ranging from traditional English to South Asian to Iranian. Using this material as a starting point, Foursight Theatre have created a new theatre production, supported by volunteers from the local community.
The production takes place in a disused shop unit in central West Bromwich, immediately opposite the building site for a well-known supermarket chain's next mammoth development. The audience will promenade around the shop while the performance takes place around them. With performers behind the counter and exhibits on the shelves, the whole environment serves as a battlecry on behalf of the Black Country’s corner shop community and gives life to their stories.
The Corner Shop is part of a much larger project in partnership with Sandwell Museum Service, Sandwell Community History and Archive Service, and The Public. The project is supported by the National Lottery through the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Sir Barry Jackson Trust. The project will be documented throughout, resulting in a touring multimedia exhibition in 2009. The new oral history recordings and any artefacts gathered during the project will be lodged at local and national archives and on the web as an ongoing community and heritage resource. The project also includes an education strand with local schools.
Performances: 26th September – 4th October 2008
Audience meeting point: The Public, New Street, West Bromwich, B70 7PG
26th Sept: 1pm, 7pm;
27th Sept: 1pm, 4pm, 7pm (VIP & Press performance by invite only);
28th Sept: 1pm, 4pm*;
29th Sept: 1pm, 7pm;
1st Oct: 1pm, 4pm, 7pm;
2nd Oct: 1pm, 7pm;
3rd Oct: 1pm, 4pm, 7pm;
4th Oct: 1pm, 4pm, 7pm.
To book tickets, call The Public on 0121 533 7162
* - This performance and the post-show on-set tour with the creative team (a unique event exclusively available to ticketholders of the 4pm performance on 28th September) is part of 'Open Weekend 26 - 28 September', the national celebrations to launch the Cultural Olympiad of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. For further info, including all Open Wekeend event listings, see www.london2012.com/culture.
