Upcoming Tour Dates
If you've not caught our exceptional new show- HMS Stormus- a wry look at the climate crisis and humanity through the medium of circus theatre, comedy, physical theatre and bilingual storytelling, then get these dates in your diary!
We've only a few performances left this summer, they are at:
July 12th Market Hall, Caernarfon
July 20th Pontio, Bangor. Rhythm Aye
July 21st Big Splash Festival, Newport
August 6th- Eisteddfod Genedlaithol.
Hope to see you there!
This announcement has been a long time coming, but it has been a busy spring. This year I will be making my directing debut with circus theatre extravaganza, HMS Stormus. HMS Stormus is set in a post climate crisis world, it is the year 2827 and the majority of the world is under water. Humans have only survived by living on cruise ships, endlessly traversing the oceans without much hope. Our 3 outlandish former enterainers are desperately trying to carry on with the ships' intenary and are controlled by the mysterious voice of the tannoy.
This is a fun, action packed circus cabaret that showcases the talents of Ellis Grover, Iago Morgan Jones and Daisy Williams. It weaves bilingual text with jaw dropping circus skills. Commissioned by the Welsh Outdoor Arts Consortium, it will be touring festivals the length and breadth of Wales this summer.
It is a big task to write and direct a show, now that it is all coming together, I am enjoying the challenge. I think it will always feel strange not being on stage, but I have an amazing team of performers who bring joy and enthusiasm to every rehearsal. I have also been well supported by the Articulture team, my mentor Gwen Thompson, writing mentor Kate Jones, who is also a prop making genius, and sound designer Daniel Rhys Lawrence. The work in progress showing at Machynlleth Comedy Festival went down storm (pun intended) We are now in our final rehearsals and the show will premier at Awen Trust's Seascapes Festival Porthcawl on June 1st. Click on the link for details, I hope to see you there.
https://awenboxoffice.com/whats-on/seascape-2024/about
Commissioned by the Wales Outdoor Arts Consortium (WOAC), supported by Articulture and the Arts Council of Wales. Comisiynwyd a Chonsortiwm Celfyddydau Awyr Agored Cymru (CCAAC), chefnogwyd gan Articulture Wales a Chyngor Celfyddydau Cymru.
Arthaus Berlin
The end of summer was a bit of a blur to be honest. Finishing up my Howl tour, with a great final performance for Span Arts in Pemrokshire. We were already set up and the audience were gathering as the rain started. It was touch and go to be honest, and I was sheltering in the gazebo with Dan (sound designer and musician) peering out with a feelign of despondance, when the rain slowed and finally stoppped. The Welsh audience were well prepared, and we were all happy to go ahead. Internally I thought, this is it, one last chance (for 2023) to do a great show. So we did it, and it felt like the best show of the tour, the audience were well behind us and there was a touch of magic in the air. It was a great show to finish on. From there, it was a whirlwind of packng down, dropping things off, packing a bag for Malawi and one for Berlin.
I mentioned in my previous post, my trip to Malawi. Straight from there, I went to Berlin to join a full time course- Devised Theatre and Performance. Doing this course has been a dream of mine for many years, but it felt difficult to take so much time out of my career, but this year I decided to take the plunge.
It has been one of the best decisions I have ever made, and I realise now that, had I have done the course sooner, I may not of got so much out of it, that I'm now in a place to really get so much out of it. Arthaus Berlin (formerly LISPA) is one of the highest regarded physical theatre schools in Europe. They take their training very seriously, the quality of the teaching and the culture of the school ensures a really fundamentally quality experience for the students.
The course is a deep dive into the practice of embodiement, and combines a movement based pedagogy with emotional resonance, voice work, writing practices, art, academic research and a deep devising process. It strongly encourages you to develop your own creativity in response to the provocations of the course.
It has been wonderful to be a student again, so refreshing and as I have already mentioned the quality of the tution is excellent, I feel my brain, body and creativity really coming alive,am stimulated and inspired by the course and my colleagues on it. It's also really fun to be in such a dynamic and happening city as Berlin, where there is so much going on, especially in the worlds of theatre, art, dance and film.
I'm doing the course part-time, so in Decemeber 2023 I completed term one, and willl now wait unitl Januar 2025 to return, which gives me plenty of time to digest and integrate the learnings so far into my life nad artistic practice.