JUNE 2020, APRIL 2022
STOKE-ON-TRENT & SHEFFIELD
CO-PRODUCTIONS WITH FESTIVAL STOKE AND UNSHUT FESTIVAL, SHEFFIELD
The playgrounds were empty. The car batteries had gone flat. Even Wetherspoons was closed. The towns of Stoke and Sheffield are deserted.
And in the silence, the Tiny Folk - faeries, insects, and enchanted toys - have crawled out of the shadows to reclaim their territory. This Tiny world is a place of protest, love, art and conflict. Here, miniature raves pop up inside lamp posts, snails paint slugs with mucus and slime, and iconoclastic fairies topple garden gnomes. Grab a map - or use your phone - and discover this mischievous piece of street art that’s suitable for all ages.
We created two ‘tiny’ productions in 2020 - A Tiny Revolution for Unshut Festival, Sheffield, and The Tiny Folk of Stoke for Festival Stoke, Stoke-on-Trent. The former was themed around protest and rebellion; the latter around making art. Both were conceived as essentially lockdown-proof; a self-guided walk that might slot into people’s daily excursion outside the house.
The Tiny Folk of Stoke featured a number of community performers, who lent their voices to a number of short audio plays, soundscapes and songs; audience members could choose to ‘listen in’ to the tiny worlds depicted in the installations. Eventually, The Tiny Folk of Stoke was postponed to April 2022 due to increased restrcitions in England’s second lockdown.
Designer: Maeve Black
Director: Joe Bunce
Creative Associate: Matilda Reith
Motown Composer: Ashley Wall
‘The Observers’ The Tiny Folk of Stoke Festival Stoke, 2022
‘The Alliance’ A Tiny Revolution
Around The World in Eighty Days
2022
‘The Faithful’
The Tiny Folk of Stoke Festival Stoke, 2022
‘The Planners’
The Tiny Folk of Stoke Festival Stoke, 2022
A TOURABLE IMMERSIVE PERFORMANCE & LEARNING SPACE
SUPPORTED BY MIGRATION MATTERS, TALES FROM THE PLAYGROUND & MONTGOMERY THEATRE SHEFFIELD
The Nest is a warm, cosy multi-purpose venue for performance, poetry, workshops, storytelling, film screenings, and more.
It was built in Autumn 2021, with support from Tales from the Playground, Migration Matters and The Montgomery, Sheffield. Our aim was to create a tourable structure that could bring a rich, textured, immersive set into schools & community settings just as easily as theatres or art centres.
The design process focused on flexibility - a canvas upon which other shows can be built. Even its seating blocks (which double as storage for technical equipment) can be arranged in the round, end-on, or indeed entirely removed for maximum floor space. But it is not a black box - even while empty, the venue is full of character.
With floor projection, two video screens, six-channel sound system and an LED lighting rig, we have control of the space’s environment - with the ability transforming the look and feel of the space at the touch of a button. It has been designed to fit in the back of a van, to be powered from a single 13A socket, and to be built in a short day by two technicians.
So far it has been used to develop a new show, Around The World in Eighty Days, and for a scheme of holiday arts activities for recipients of free school meals.
Designer: Maeve Black
Carpenter: Jack Poole
Technical Director: Tom Robbins
SUPPORTED BY MIGRATION MATTERS, TALES FROM THE PLAYGROUND & MONTGOMERY THEATRE SHEFFIELD
Phileas Dogg, the famous adventuring hound, and Pusspartout, her feline butler, seek a heroic crew for an unforgettable journey..
By steam train, camel, or hot-air balloon, you must decide what route we take, from Samoa to Goa to Mount Krakatoa. Will you battle pirates in the Atlantic? Master haikus in Japan? Climb the peak of Mount Olympus?
Around The World in Eighty Days was originally commissioned by Migration Matters as a digital, choose-your-own-adventure show for their online festival in 2020. There we pushed Zoom to its limits - integrating simple video games, augmented reality make-up, and green-screen video to build an at-home adventure with a community cast of volunteers across the world.
Building upon that productions’ success, Eighty Days has since been developed as the first to utilise The Nest, our new tourable immersive space. We use video, projection, lighting & sound to transform a single space into dozens of global locations, and live and recorded multi-roling performers become its many citizens.
In late 2021 we completed an R&D for the show in Sheffield, and we are currently fundraising for final development & touring.
Writer: Joe Bunce
Director: Matilda Reith & Joe Bunce
Designer: Maeve Black
Dramaturg: Nicole Sawyerr
Composer: Luke Murphy
Sound Designer: Chirag Machar
Technical Director: Tom Robbins
Ashleigh Cordery as ‘Pusspartout’
Jordan Laidley as ‘Phileas Grogg’
Around The World in Eighty Days
2022
Around The World in Eighty Days
2022
Nicole Sawyerr, Abey Bradbury, Millie Roberts
2022
2022
Nicole Sawyerr as ‘Professor Twiga’ Around The World in Eighty Days
Matilda Reith as ‘Anders Elk’
Ashleigh Cordery as ‘Pusspartout’ Around The World in Eighty Days
