stage@leeds autumn 2015 season brochure

stage@leeds Autumn 2015

Theatre | Dance | Installation

Welcome to stage@leeds As autumn begins to spread its cooling influence I can look back at a busy summer filled with warmth and success for the artists and companies we work with.

Our associate artists ‘Worklight Theatre’ had a huge hit at this year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe receiving a Fringe First award, a shortlisting for the Amnesty International Award and universal praise for Joe Sellman-Leava’s ‘Labels’ (see facing page). stage@leeds once again supported the Taiwan Season at the Fringe working with three of Taiwan’s most gifted and exciting companies, all of whom received fantastic reviews for their work.

Congratulations stage@leeds would like to congratulate our associate artists Worklight Theatre for being awarded a Fringe First award and being shortlisted for the Amnesty International Freedom of Expression Award for their extraordinary production ‘Labels’ at the 2015 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. We look forward to bringing this award-winning show to you when it tours in 2016.

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2016 marks the 400th Anniversary of the Death of William Shakespeare. It also marks the 400th anniversary of the death of revered Chinese playwright Tang Xianzu. To mark this occasion and the legacy of these two great writers we will be presenting a number of events celebrating both writers. We will be kicking off our ‘400’ celebrations with a very special show presented by the Shanghai Theatre Academy in the University Great Hall on Nov 9th.

The autumn 2015 Season will see stage@leeds hosting two premieres from artists very close to our hearts alongside a season of exceptional professional and student performance. We start the season with the premiere of Hannah Butterfield’s first solo show ‘21,000 Miles of Rail’ and stage@leeds Alumni ‘Manic Chord’ unveil their new work ‘Treading Water’ in October. We have exceptional dance and dance theatre from Hagit Yakira and Denada Dance Theatre and Sheffield’s ‘The Melting Shop’ will be performing ‘Striking Dilemmas’ three very human stories about the 1984-85 miners’ strike. Add in the award winning (and messy) ‘Feast’ from the acclaimed Clout and it all makes for great season of new theatre.

Steve Ansell Artistic Director and Theatre Manager stage@leedsvenues

This intimate new show from the award-winning Worklight Theatre draws on writer/performer Joe Sellman-Leava’s experiences of mixed heritage and racism. Labels examines the way we use words, the line between curiosity and fear, and the rise of anti-immigration rhetoric.

‘Powerful, important and funny’ (Emma Thompson).

Hannah Butterfield

Denada Dance Theatre

21,000 Ham & Passion Miles of Rail A daily journey A brief encounter A thousand stories

21,000 Miles of Rail is a one-woman show that attempts to unpack the rules of talking on trains and test the possibilities of chance encounters with strangers. It isn’t a show about one person or one story or one, one-way ticket. It’s a season pass taking you on a number of routes, through a number of stations, following a number of people making their way… somewhere. Somewhere between a musical, a theatre show, and a brief encounter – 21,000 Miles of Rail is about telling stories and confronting the realities of the morning commute.

stage@leeds

Wed 30 Sept 7.30pm Stage One £12.00 (£9.00)

“Daring, audacious, sublimely and riotously funny” The Stage

A feast of meaty and greasy dance soaked in a salsa of passion.

Kitschy, filmic and darkly hilarious, Carlos Pons Guerra has choreographed a gender-bending night of luscious, seductive, provocative and alluring contemporary dance theatre that perverts the senses.

Fri 02 Oct 7.30pm Stage One £12.00 (£9.00))

Hagit Yakira

In The Middle With You

Uplifting and inspiring… in the middle with you makes an emotional poem of the every day life.

Mouths of Lions

Superfunadventimes ‘high-octane, hilarious hour of action-packed theatre’ Camden People’s Theatre Chloe, Georgia, Louise and Rimi have been reading fantasy novels... and watching fantasy films... and getting into Dungeons and Dragons.

Featuring death-defying battle scenes and excellent dancing, SUPERFUNADVENTURETIMES is a new show about friendship and fantasy.

Mouths of Lions explore the personal journeys of four real-life, real-time friends alongside the epic tale of four unlikely sisters-in-arms as they try to defend the land of Forswornia from utmost evil and peril.

This poignant piece delves in the nature of human experience. At times light and playful, at times stark and entrancing, the choreography moves us in very personal ways. A cast of five dancers lure audiences in, with personal stories of love, friendship, loss and life to a more muted universe ultimately creating an intimate and surprising experience

Thur 08 Oct 7.30pm Stage One £12.00 (£9.00)

Thurs 08 Oct 7.30pm Workshop Theatre £6.00 (£4.50)

Clout

Feast ‘A smorgasbord of carnal horrors.

Left me unable to look at a melon the same way again’ **** Everything Theatre

The evolution of mankind’s relationship with food through the triptych of a daily routine: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner.

Multi award winning Clout Theatre return with their most ambitious project to date: a visual feast which traverses drastically different styles, this excessive, anarchic and wordless piece is peppered with absurdity, gourmandise and overtones of cannibalism.

‘Experts in the grotesque’ Exeunt

The Melting Shop

Striking Dilemmas 30 years ago the Miners’ Strike divided this nation...

Three plays, each one telling a different story, of ordinary people caught up in the momentous political events of 1984 -1985.

SCAB!!

Tells the true stories of two pairs of miners who found themselves on different side of the dispute.

The Blue Pawn A police officer born into a mining family, he finds himself facing miners across the picket lines at the infamous ‘Battle of Orgreave’.

Banners, Bands and Bitter Pills Two miner’s wives tell how the strike changed their lives, their attitudes, their community and their politics forever.

Fri 09 Oct 7.30pm Stage One £12.00 (£9.00)

Tue 13 Oct 7.30pm Alec Clegg Studio £10.00 (£7.50)

Manic Chord

Treading Water Manic Chord explore elite swimming and everyday sexism stage@leeds alumni Manic Chord return with their latest production ‘Treading Water’ Man and woman are genetically different, but why should the trajectory of what we become and how we get there be different?

A young female swimmer has a life goal of becoming an Olympic medalist, on her journey she is engulfed by a media splash focusing not on her athletic prowess but on her genetic make-up.

LUU Theatre Group

Boys

by Ella Hickson

Tonight marks the end of an era.

It’s hot. There’ll be girls.

Predict a riot The Class of 2011 are about to graduate, and Benny, Mack, Timp and Cam are due out of their flat tomorrow morning; five bedrooms, five chairs, four boys and one hell of a party.

Stepping into a world that doesn’t want them, the boys start to wonder whether there’s any point in getting any older. How will they find the fight to make it as adults?

Manic Chord explore everyday sexism and the world of elite swimming through their own distincitive physical and visual style.

stage@leeds Fri 16 Oct 7.30pm Stage One £12.00 (£9.00)

Tue 20 - Thur 22 Oct 7.00pm Banham Theatre £9.00 (£7.00)

LUU Open Theatre

LUU Open Theatre

The floor is yours…

By Laura Wade

2-4-1

Posh

Open Theatre’s devised show is back!

From the success of last year’s “Swipe Right” they bring you not one, but two shows back to back. The cast are given a concept, a piece of text and this year, the numbers 2-4-1. With a combination of comedy and tragedy explored through storytelling and physical theatre, Open Theatre bring totally original ideas to the stage, a chance to see fresh new talent at its best.

‘How can one man stand against the might of the f***ing Riot Club?’

Inspired by Oxbridge elite dining societies such as the Bullingdon Club, whose members once included David Cameron, Posh explores the British elite’s unquestioning sense of entitlement and a right to rule. In the Riot Club, wealthy Oxford students meet to get trashed and leave a trail of damage and debris in their wake. Tonight promises to be particularly riotous, with a prostitute and a private jet booked. Things unravel quickly though for the boys, in this new, innovative staging of Laura Wade’s 2012 West End hit.

Thur 22 - Sat 24 Oct 7.30pm Alec Clegg Studio £9.00 (£7.00)

Tue 27 - Thur 29 Oct 7.00pm Banham Theatre £9.00 (£7.00)

LUU Theatre Group

The Show Must

by Josh Ling and Robin Leitch

No matter what happens, the show must go on

LUU Open Theatre

Lysistrata

by Aristophanes translated by Alan H. Sommerstein

“No sex please, we’re pacifists”.

When a brave group of women decide to stand up for peace, they find a powerful, yet unlikely strategy to get their own way. They tell their men the sex stops unless they stop fighting.

Aristophanes classic text is given a modern twist and dropped into the middle of the 1984 miners strike in Open Theatre’s bold new take on this classic.

“The actors are preparing for their fourth night of the Farce ‘Nothing Untoward’ and final checks are being made by the stage manager. But an agent is coming to watch the show, one of the cast’s props has gone missing and the actors are beginning to suspect one another. This energetic comedy jumps between the original Farce; ‘Nothing Untoward’ and the dressing room of the actors as they argue, accuse and attempt to figure out who is behind the suspected sabotage.”

Thur 29 - Sat 31 Oct 7.30pm Stage One £9.00 (£7.00)

With hugely comedic elements of physical theatre and exaggerated characters, this offbeat adaptation is a vibrant 80s take on an ancient greek classic…and not a toga in sight!

Tue 03 - Wed 04 Nov 7.30pm Stage One £9.00 (£7.00)

Shanghai Theatre Academy

Shakespeare Through Chinese Eyes

LUU Theatre Group

Arcadia

by Tom Stoppard

Commemorating the 400th anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare and his continued global influence, Shanghai Theatre Academy present excerpts from four of his works using traditional Chinese operatic and puppet styles.

Blooded Hands (adapted from Macbeth), Kunqu Opera Midsummer Night’s Dream ,Yue Opera.

The Taming of the Shrew (in English) Chinese Rod Puppet’s Hamlet (in English) Chinese Marionettes A rare and exceptional night of stylised theatricality, highly-skilled singing, dance and puppetry: breath-taking acrobatics, fabulous costumes and striking makeup make this a performance not to be missed

Tue 10 Nov 7.00pm Great Hall £10.00 (£7.50)

In a large country house in Derbyshire in April 1809 sits Lady Thomasina Coverly, aged 13, and her tutor, Septimus Hodge. In the same room 180 years later, two academics of very different temperaments clash over their attempts to uncover historical ‘scandals’ said to have taken place when Lord Byron stayed at Sidley Park. Truth and time, science and poetry, noise and heat, the classical and the romantic, all fuse together brilliantly in Stoppard’s wickedly funny and poignant masterpiece

Tue 10 - Thur 12 Nov 7.00pm Banham Theatre £9.00 (£7.00)

PCI Society

Hansel & Gretel

Manic Chord and stage@leeds

Generate

by Phil Jones

In the midst of the candy credit crunch crisis, we have given up hope ...

‘After the huge success of the first ever PCI Soc show ‘Pussy and Her Boots - These boots are made for clawing’, The Panto is back for its second year with another Phil Jones twisted adaptation of a classic story we all think we know so well. Bigger, camper and with more glitter ‘Hansel and Gretel - You are my candy girl’, is not to be missed

Wed 11 - Fri 13 Nov 7.30pm Stage One £9.00 (£7.00)

Generate is the culmination of nine weeks of workshop sessions in a celebration of new, devised physical performance.

Working with a group of 16-18 year olds from Leeds, Manic Chord will create a new show exploring contemporary ideas and issues using Manic Chord’s disctinctive physical and visual style.

Generate is a new programme led by Manic Chord Theatre in association with stage@leeds.

Generate has been supported by Leeds Offers Fun For The Young (LOFFTY) and the University of Leeds Footsteps Fund.

Sat 14 Nov 7.00pm Stage One £7.00

LUU Open Theatre

PCI Production

Wind in the Willows

Backstage to Front

“Poop poop”

Backstage, front-of-house, wings, prompt corner, dressing rooms, fly floor, gallery, the auditorium, the orchestra pit….

Wind in the Willows is a charming children’s story about a community of animals and their riverside homes… or is it?

Ever thought about what happens in all of these spaces while you are watching a performance? We invite you to join us on a journey which brings the inner workings of live performance into view.

This project (written, devised and designed by students) promises a theatrical experience that delves into the hidden lives, rituals, deceits and concealments of theatre itself.

Through playful theatrical design, verbatim material and new writing, the nature of performance is unravelled.

by Alan Bennett

Alan Bennett’s retelling of Grahame’s classic tale, inspires the imagination and brings these much-loved characters to life. The company will use anything and everything they can get their hands on to create the river bank, the wild wood and the wide world!

‘All along the back water, through the rushes tall, ducks are a-dabbling, up tails all’

Thur 19 - Sat 21 Nov 7.30pm Alec Clegg Studio £9.00 (£7.00)

Photo: Malcolm Johnson @ malcijphotography

Thur 26 - Sat 28 Nov See website for show times Stage One £9.00 (£7.00)

LUU Theatre Group

The Boat

By Stephen Rainbird and Stuart Cook

PCI production

Electrified A new musical theatre work taking inspiration from Graeme Gooday’s book Domesticating Electricity.

Once upon a time...

Once upon a time, a man named Noah was sent by God to save all the animals of the world on a big boat.

Once upon another time, God forgot to send them home.

Oops.

The cost of progress in the late 19th century provides the background for a piece of theatre that combines stories based on true events with music, song and dance. This devised production will explore technological developments and their impact, reflecting on the ‘end of night time’ as well as the effect on musical theatre spectacles of the period.

Thur 03 - Sat 05 Dec 7.30pm Alec Clegg Studio £9.00 (£7.00)

Thur 10 - Sat 12 Dec 7.30pm Stage One £9.00 (£7.00)

stage@leedscompany “Outstanding… as if a dream came true ”

Wan Fang Author of Poison (Poison, Northern Stage 2014) Working with classic and contemporary texts from around the world, the stage@leedscompany creates dynamic and emotive ensemble performance.

Membership is open to all University of Leeds students and no previous performance experience is necessary.

stage@leedscompany 2015/2016

2016 is the 400th anniversary of the deaths of William Shakespeare and Chinese playwright Tang Xianzu. To mark this event the stage@leedscompany will present two shows over the course of the year.

Join the Leaders

The School of Performance and Cultural Industries offers innovative courses designed to meet the needs of today’s graduates and cultural industries professionals MA Applied Theatre and Intervention allows you to explore the use of theatre as part of a process to facilitate individual and social change. Through practice and theory we investigate the potential of theatre and the extent to which it has impact on the lives of people and their communities.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare Feb 2016 (stage@leeds, stage one) A Dream Under the Southern Bough by Tang Xianzu June - Nov 2016 (stage@leeds, Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Tour of China)

MA Culture, Creativity and Entrepreneurship provides an academic grounding in the cultural & creative industries, focussing on arts management, creative entrepreneurship and cultural policy & development.

AUDITIONS (for both shows) Wed 23rd & 30th Sept 1.30pm stage@leeds

MA Performance Design deals with performance that uses visual, spatial, time-based and technological means. We explore how design leads to innovative ideas for performance including immersive theatre, design-led and spectacular performance, site-specific performance and new forms of audience engagement with performance.

Further details available from the stage@leeds foyer and online

MA in Writing for Performance and Publication explores the art of creative and

dramatic writing. It is aimed at students wishing to experiment and to see their work published or produced.

For more information please visit our website: www.pci.leeds.ac.uk

1616 - 2016 A 400 year legacy

School of Performance and Cultural Industries

Gi60: The international One Minute Theatre Festival...

The world’s most famous One Minute Theatre event.

Now accepting play submissions for the 2016 Festival.

Performances in Leeds, New York and Christchurch, New Zealand.

Over 800 one minute plays on line, over 98,000 hits.

Full details of how to apply at: www.gi60.blogspot.com.

Gi60 UK Live Sat 07 May, stage@leeds.

Operators are standing by...

Lttle i

Leeds Fringe Student fringe festival

03-06 May 2016

screamingmediaproductions stage@leedsfestivals

For full details about the festival and how you can be involved follow us on facebook or visit the theatre. stage@leedsfestivals

INTERNATIONAL CONCERT SERIES

The University Concert Series presents a diverse range of repertoire and performers with free Friday lunchtime recitals and a variety of evening performances.

14 October, 7:30pm - Richard Strauss Song Series I Songs by Strauss, Mahler, Thuille and Pfitzner Johnny Herford (baritone) Joseph Middleton (piano) 25 October, 3:00pm - Sacconi Quartet and Friends 15 November, 3:00pm - Handel: Music for State Occasions Leeds Baroque Choir and Orchestra 18 November, 7:30pm - Ensemble Interface

28 November, 7:30pm - Beethoven and Improvisation Martin Roscoe 29 November, 3:00pm and 7:30pm - Undream’d Shores Grand Union Orchestra with ensembles musicians and singers from the University of Leeds School of Music and SAA-UK 5 December, 7:30pm - Leeds University Percussion Ensemble with Nobojsa Zivkovic

22 November, 3:00pm - Laurence Cummings

For full details of our programme visit:

concerts.leeds.ac.uk Box Office: 0113 3432584

T U O LD

SO

Tuesday 27th October stage@leeds

creative opportunities stage@leeds

ProfessionalArtistDevelopment

stage@leeds

YoungEntrepreneursProgramme

The PAD (Professional Artist Development) programme provides professional theatre and dance makers with a rehearsal space, technical support, mentoring and management advice within a relaxed and creative environment. The programme runs during the summer and Easter breaks. Interested artists and companies should contact Steve Ansell (s.ansell@leeds.ac.uk)

KEY A = Alec Clegg Studio (located in the stage@leeds building) B = Banham Theatre (located at the main entrance to the Michael Sadler building) C = Clothworkers’ Centenary Concert Hall G = Great Hall P = Parkinson Court (Stanley & Aubrey Burton Gallery) S = Stage One (located in the stage@leeds building) W = Workshop Theatre

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stage@leeds can be hired for conferences and events. Availability is limited and will usually be during the Summer or Easter breaks. If you would like further information about hiring one of our spaces please contact Events Administrator Alice Clarke (a.j.clarke@leeds.ac.uk)

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B

W stage@leeds S A

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Hiring our spaces

stage@leeds programmes two seasons of work each year, Sept - Dec and Jan - June. We programme at least three months in advance and all the work is curated by the Artistic Director and the theatre’s creative team. We are always looking for exciting and dynamic new work so let us know via email about what you are up to. Please include links to any reviews, images, videos of your work for evaluation. Steve Ansell s.ansell@leeds.ac.uk

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UNIVERSITY OF LEEDS

booking stage@leeds Putting on your work at stage@leeds

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YEP (Young Entrepreneurs’ Programme) provides professional support and mentoring to students interested in a career as theatre makers together with the opportunity to produce work for performance at stage@leeds. YEP companies and company members have gone on to win critical acclaim and awards at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and the National Student Drama Festival.

If you would like to be considered for the YEP programme or would like more information please contact Steve Ansell (s.ansell@leeds.ac.uk)

stage@leedsvenues

Date Production September 30

21,000 Miles of Rail (Hannah Butterfield)

October 02 08 08 09 13 16 20 - 22 22 - 24 27 - 29 29 - 31

Ham & Passion (Denada Dance Theatre) In The Middle With you (Hagit Yakira) Superfunadventuretimes (Mouths of Lions) Feast (Clout) Striking Dilemmas (The Melting Shop) Treading Water (Manic Chord) Boys (LUU Theatre Group) 2-4-1 (LUU Open Theatre) Posh (LUU Open Theatre) The Show Must (LUU Theatre Group)

November 03 - 04 10 10 - 12 11 - 13 14 19 - 21 26 - 28

Lysistrata (LUU Open Theatre) Shakespeare Through Chinese Eyes (STA) Arcadia (LUU Theatre Group) Hansel and Gretel (PCI Society) Generate (Manic Chord and stage@leeds) Wind in the Willows (LUU Open Theatre) Backstage to Front (PCI Production)

December

03 - 05 The Boat (LUU Theatre Group) 10 - 12 Electrified (PCI Production)

*£5 with Manic Chord - ‘Treading Water’ ticket.

Venue Key: A B S W G

Alec Clegg Studio Banham Theatre Stage One Workshop Theatre The Great Hall

Box Office: 0113 343 8730 Online: www.stage.leeds.ac.uk stage@leeds University of Leeds LS2 9JT

Time

Price

Venue

7.30pm

£12.00 (£9.00)

S

7.30pm 7.30pm 7.30pm 7.30pm 7.30pm 7.30pm 7.00pm 7.30pm 7.00pm 7.30pm

£12.00 (£9.00) £12.00 (£9.00) £6.00 (£4.50) £12.00 (£9.00) £10.00 (£7.50) £12.00 (£9.00) £9.00 (£7.00) £9.00 (£7.00) £9.00 (£7.00) £9.00 (£7.00)

S S W S A S B A B S

7.00pm 7.00pm 7.00pm 7.30pm 7.00pm 7.30pm Various

£9.00 (£7.00) £10.00 (£7.50) £9.00 (£7.00) £9.00 (£7.00) £7.00* £9.00 (£7.00) £9.00 (£7.00)

S G B S S A S

7.30pm 7.30pm

£9.00 (£7.00) £9.00 (£7.00)

A S