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January - April 2024

Music | Theatre | Dance | Circus | Family www.takeart.org

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A Message From Ralph Lister Executive Director, Take Art As this year ends and another one begins, we are delighted to be getting stuck into new projects as well as delivering our firm favourites, such as the Rural Touring and Spring Forward programmes. Through our Theatre specialism, we’re thrilled to confirm the start of Cultivate’s Soil Story in January 2024, co-created in partnership with ARK at Egwood and Ramalife. This will be a land-based project for socially isolated adults with additional needs and home educated young people, using arts and food-related activity to transform our relationship with soil, each other, and our communities. You can also read about our new circus touring project, Circus Around And About 2, the successor to our outdoor touring project during Covid. Over 12 months we will be supporting five circus companies to perform 40

shows across the South West from the Forest of Dean to the tip of Cornwall, including Somerset! Read the full story on page 6. Our Rural Touring expertise is being shared with European colleagues through Sparse Plus and we will be contributing to a series of ‘Introduction to Rural Touring’ webinars for both local promoters in eight countries and for artists across Europe. It’s wonderful to get the word out about what we are doing to such a widespread audience. Read on for sneak peeks into our latest meeting with our partners in Italy. Would you like to have our future brochures delivered straight to you? Scan this QR code with your phone's camera to sign up. You can also opt in to our newsletter, which goes out every other month! Alternatively visit takeart.org to subscribe online.

Our Early Years work also has a South West regional reach that we will continue to explore and develop. This includes further in depth activity within Somerset and Dorset, partnering with the newly joined up Music Education Hub and Early Years education team. Our Turn, our Dance project supporting people living with memory loss has returned for a new season, and we welcomed a new assistant dance artist to work alongside the lead artist and our volunteers. Our weekly sessions support falls prevention, reduce loneliness and isolation and provide carers with respite. It's just a lovely place to be on a Monday afternoon! As we step into the New Year we want to thank you for being a part of our extended Take Art family, and for supporting us on our mission to bring joy, connection, and inspiration to people of all ages through the arts. We are sending warm wishes for a peaceful, happy and prosperous 2024 to you and your loved ones.

Ralph

See stars in the changing seasons and dance among them, shining. 2

Mary Anne Radmacher

Promoting For Joy, Growth And Community Spirit Interview by Danny Pedler

What kind of shows do you like working with the most? I like to promote things that I think are going to be interesting to people. I have a very eclectic taste and if I see something in the Rural Touring menu and I think, that's going to be good, I get feedback from the village hall committee and then book it. I feel I push the limits of my audience sometimes! A few people say to me ‘we don’t get anything like this, apart from in Roadwater’.

This appealed to all audiences and we had 3 generations enjoying a wonderful evening with plenty of interaction. Then in 2019 we had Shane Shambhu with Confessions of a Cockney Temple Dancer. It was a very popular performance indeed with the added excitement of Shane having to rush back to London afterwards because his baby was due to arrive the next day.

And how does that make you feel? Mary Coles

I’m here with Mary Coles who is one of our Take Art promoters based in Roadwater, a beautiful village nestled in Exmoor in West Somerset. How long have you been promoting with us, Mary? I think rural touring started here in 1998. I wasn't doing the promoting myself in the beginning so much but I got caught up in it eventually.

So very pleased. Very pleased. I feel very warm inside and it makes the huge amount of work all worth it! What shows have been your highlights over the years, Mary? I loved all the dance shows we had, and that circus day outside on the field. We had a big audience, everyone brought picnics and had so much going on, such a community spirit!

Shane Shambhu

I also have to mention Joan Cleville’s Dance Group with Solene Weinachter, who entranced us a few times with their wonderful shows. They held a residency here in 2019 to create and rehearse Antigone followed by their performance at our Hall in 2021.

In 2017 we had a lovely group bringing their show called The Head Wrap Diaries.

What do you enjoy most about being a promoter? I think meeting the artists and the technicians, and having people come together. I know lots of the audience so it's nice to see them at events, as I may not meet them often otherwise. If it’s a successful event, it’s good for the village, good for the people around here, and for me.

Antigone, Interrupted

The Head Wrap Diaries

I could mention many more but unfortunately time goes so quickly and my

memory isn’t as good as it used to be! How do you think your community benefited from Take Art shows coming to Roadwater? The shows make us think, which is really good. They broaden all our minds a bit to the arts and draw attention to the issues in the shows. They help us relate to people more. We’d also never be able to go and see anything like what we get from Take Art, because we wouldn't go and spend £25 or more on a ticket, when we’re not quite sure what we’re going to see. This way we spend around £10 per ticket, not travel, and get a quality show we can enjoy with our community and reflect together. Some of our readers might feel inspired to become a promoter for their community. What wisdom would you pass on to them? Not everything is going to go right! Be ready for the unexpected and enjoy the performances you have. The biggest thing is to try not to worry about getting a big enough audience. Definitely don't give up if things don't go according to plan, it all works out. Don’t worry if the first event has a small crowd, word gets around. Most importantly, you do need a small band of dedicated, enthusiastic people who help on a regular basis. I am exceedingly lucky with my group, I wouldn’t and I couldn’t do promoting without them.

Circus Around And About 2 The project Circus Around and About 2 (CAAA2) will build on the successful 2021 pilot tour, which had great success touring contemporary circus shows like Pirate Taxi (Pirates of The Carabina) and Roll Up, Roll Up (Simple Cypher) to rural communities outdoors during the periods of social distancing in 2021. CAAA2 will go to new lengths to foster the burgeoning UK contemporary circus sector and tour extraordinary circus shows to rural and urban communities across the region. This 21 month project is spearheaded by a partnership between Somerset-based Take Art, London and Ports-

Simple Cypher

mouth based Crying Out Loud and national touring collaboration Extraordinary Bodies.

What will this project do? Contemporary circus does not have the same access to funding, resources and touring opportunities as other forms of performance art. This ambitious new project will add value to the under-supported circus sector by strengthening resilience through training for organisations and venues, engage new audiences in circus breaking down barriers to participation, and increase touring opportunities for both professional companies and students.

September - December 2017 | Take Art

Pirates of the Carabina

This behind the scenes work conducted by the project partners with circus students at Circomedia in Bristol and volunteer promoters across the southwest will be accompanied by an exciting programme of public activity. CAAA2 will tour six high quality contemporary circus companies from the UK and beyond to approximately fifty venues across the southwest in 2024. Through this activity, we want to improve people’s access to contemporary circus in rural locations and to foster a circus loving audience in the South West. Accompanying our shows will be circus workshops and classes to bring in

young and diverse audiences and get people involved in circus.

Max Calaf Sevé - Anyday We kick off this project with a regional tour of Anyday, a heart-warming and hilarious trampolining show from Spanish artist, Max Calaf Sevé. Comic, absurd, surreal, Anyday excavates deep reefs of emotion. This show will tour in March 2024. See the page 18 for Somerset dates. To hear more about this project, sign up to our newsletter via the QR code in our welcome article, or visit takeart. org.

September - December 2017 | Take Art

Max Calaf Sevé: Anyday

SPARSE Plus Celebrates New Partnerships Take Art is providing support to the SPARSE Plus European funded rural touring project involving 11 partners from 8 countries for the next 4 years. Across the UK we are very lucky to have some amazing rural touring schemes, which bring top quality theatre, dance and music to local communities, giving people a chance to see shows in their village halls that they would normally have to travel into larger towns to see. Building on SPARSE's successes, SPARSE Plus will expand and deepen the rural touring network, providing access to high quality professional arts events in rural communities around Europe. We were delighted to attend a kick off meeting in Ascoli Piceno in Marche, Italy in October. The meeting was designed by the lead partner, AMAT (Associazone Marchigiana Attivita Teatrali) and centred around 50 new local promoters from the Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Poland and Romania. The idea was to give everyone an opportunity to spend a few days in a rural area, find out about rural touring, meet each other and of course, make

new friends! It was a stimulating and thoroughly enjoyable few days in unseasonably warm Italian sunshine. We toured around the beautiful Marche region meeting local people and artists, while sampling the local culinary delights. As an icebreaker, each partner was asked to bring items of food, clothing, and culture that was representative of their area. These items were laid out on tables and promoters were asked to try and match each table’s offerings with the country’s flag. At the end of the session the tables were placed together to make one long SPARSE Plus partner table! I particularly enjoyed the Estonian black bread soaked in freshly pressed, peppery olive oil from Tuscany! Additionally, partners were asked to bring a song and a dance prepared to teach the whole group should it be pulled out of a hat! Partners were both petrified and excited to be asked to do this, but in the end, it was great fun and a lovely way to meet one another. There was another memorable group exercise, where we were all asked to help and make pizzas for the group. There was delicious cake to follow as well and samplings of local, homemade grappa. We all attended a traditional folk music concert, which brought the house down and would have worked equally well in one of our Take Art village venues. Led by a charismatic col-

lector of Italian folk songs from the last 50 years, the trio were a guitar, accordion and percussion and voice combination. The last evening was a celebration of the previous few days, with a few tears and hugs and a sense that SPARSE Plus had truly been born. After the final meal, a few gathered to party and finish off the various local alcoholic beverages brought along for the first icebreaker – my favourite was the Hungarian palinka! Partners left on their various journeys home the following day and it felt like the kick off meeting had fulfilled its objective – to welcome 50 new local promoters to the SPARSE Plus project. A mentoring programme started in December, with first tour preparations in January 2024, and the first tours taking place from May to September. The mentoring programme will support 50 local rural touring promoters and artist companies to learn the mechanics of rural touring. There will be 150 performances by at least 45 artist companies in 50 rural communities to 7.500 audience members in Europe.

Our Turn Our Turn is a Take Art arts intervention using dance and movement to help the health and happiness of vulnerable adults living with dementia or memory loss. The sessions are led by specialist dance artists and help support falls prevention, improve physical and mental wellbeing, reduce loneliness and isolation, and provide carers with respite. The sessions take place weekly and include a dance and movement 10

class, and a meet and greet with refreshments to provide some social time. We have been working in partnership with Somerset Partnership and SPARK Somerset, and have also received input and guidance from the Community Mental Health Team at Magnolia House to help shape the project.

Dates & Details Mondays | 1pm-4pm | St Peter's Community Centre, Yeovil | £10 | email ourturn@takeart.org to join us

Nurturing Your Early Years Music Provision Join our training event created for EY teachers, music practitioners, childminders, students and anyone who has an interest in Early Years music education. Explore simple and effective ways to make music with EYFS children and increase your bank of ideas and activities with Take Art’s Jane Parker and musicians Charlotte Gibbs and Lucy Vines. Hear from Deputy Headteacher Matt Perrett and musicians Eliza Wylie and Jean Broadbent on how they developed Early Years music

provision in their school through Take Art’s SoundWaves Network SW programme. Book by midnight Thursday 11 January 2024.

Dates & Details 15 Jan | 7.30 pm – 9.00 pm | via Zoom, recording will be available after the event | £7 | book via takeart.org/whats-on

Blair Dunlop:

John Osborne:

Live

The wonderful singer-songwriter Blair Dunlop is touring Somerset with Take Art in 2024. Extremely popular, Blair has toured around the world with his music, finding chord with people whether they’re into rock, folk or mainstream pop. Blair is an award winning (BBC Folk Award, Premio Ciampi) singer/songwriter and guitarist who has toured the globe. What sets him apart from his peers is the lyrical and musical maturity with which he writes. He has released 4 studio albums with ‘Gilded’ and ‘Notes from an Island’ receiving particularly high critical acclaim. He has also toured extensively

John Peel's Shed in Europe and Australia, appearing at festivals such as Glastonbury, Cambridge Folk Festival, Port Fairy and Woodford.

12 12

In 2002, John Osborne won a box of records in a competition on John Peel’s Radio 1 show. This storytelling show is an ode to radio, those records that were once owned by John Peel, and anyone who’s ever sought solace in wireless. John has toured throughout the UK, with appearances at Glastonbury festival, Soho Theatre and the Edinburgh Fringe, and he also appeared in village halls, community centres and pubs across the country.

Warm and personable in its delivery, this beautiful piece filled pubs, cafes and village halls in November 2023 through Take Art.

Luca Silvestrini's Protein:

May Contain Food, May Contain You Join Protein for a highly entertaining evening with friends and famil! Transforming your local venue into a restaurant, you are invited to bring a dish to share whilst you sit at decorated tables to watch, savor and digest a playful mix of dance, theatre and song that unfolds around you. Your charming, multi-talented hosts will win your affections with dance and humorous monologues. With interludes including baking a cake and trying your luck in a raffle, this

sumptuous gathering promises to make you smile and enjoy the curious relationship we all have with food.

Spring Forward Spring Forward is back in 2024 with the most exciting and inclusive platform in the Somerset dance calendar, bringing together hundreds of dancers of all ages to perform on some of Somersets professional stages. Now entering its 19th year, this year's Spring Forward will be showcasing the best and brightest of Somerset's young dancers alongside a striking array of community dance groups, including adult and older dancers.

1414

Enjoy an exciting mix of styles and choreography including Jazz, Contemporary, Street Dance and Dance Theatre, along with fun and feel-good performances and digital dance offer14

ings from local schools, youth dance companies, adult community dance groups and dance schools from Somerset and across the South West.

Dates & Details 7 March | 7pm | The McMillan Theatre, Bridgwater www.mcmillantheatre.com 22 March | 7pm | Tacchi Morris Arts Centre, Taunton www.tacchi-morris. com 28 March | 7pm | The McMillan Theatre, Bridgwater www.mcmillantheatre.com 15

Teatro Vivo:

Cri Du Canard: The Village Bal

The Regulars

Are you ready to (French) ceilidh!?!

Have you ever wondered who might have nursed a pint at this table before you? Who propped up the bar a decade ago? Or who stood in front of that fireplace telling tall tales 200 years back?

Folk trio Cri du Canard have a special offer for you: a night of lead French dancing. Known as a ‘bal’, a French ceilidh is a much less frantic night of social dance. Grace Smith, Sam Partridge, and Dave Gray intertwine fiddle, flute and melodeon through an exploration of the traditional folk-dance repertoire of France.

In Teatro Vivo’s show THE REGULARS of the past sit shoulder to shoulder with the pubgoers and bar staff of today. Designed specifically for performance in pubs, it is a celebration of the outlandish, sometimes incredible stories you hear over a pint. Pull up that stool, lean in close, and as the drinks flow you might start to wonder how blurred the lines are between fact and fiction.

Dates & Details 13 March | 7pm Lord Nelson Norton Sub Hamdon | £30 including 2-course meal bookable directly 01935 881 473 limited amount of £10 show only tickets available online

Audiences can learn some simple French and Breton dances as well as enjoy the music from the sidelines. So get ready to take to the floor for some Schottisches and Bourrées,

or sit back and enjoy the energetic and joyful music.

Max Calaf Sevé:

Anyday

Flibbertigibbet Theatre:

The Farmer And The Clown

A circus show like no other and a day in a life like no other! Max lives on a trampoline, with only his little pet bird for company. Every day his life is the same, but Max decides he wants a change, so they embark together on an adventure.

tale that transmutes the clangs and boings of unbearable hope to make our spirits soar.

Follow the two friends in their funny, bouncing daily routine, with breathtaking trampoline skills and hilarious clowning, in a brilliant and unique new show for all the family.

22 March | 6.30pm | North Curry Parish Church | £15/£10 students under 12’s free ticket includes a welcome drink available from North Curry Post Office

A little reluctantly at first, the farmer takes the clown in. As time passes, they discover that by being with each other they find something new in themselves.

This show is the first of many, brought to the UK by Circus Around And About 2. Set to an original score by Matt Huxley, Anyday is a charming

26 March | 6.30pm | Holyrood Academy, Chard | £9/£5 child/student 01460 260100

Flibbertigibbet Theatre has adapted this charming picture book into a new wordless play for all ages.

An old hard-working farmer lives alone. One day, a baby clown accidentally bounces off a passing circus train and is left in the middle of nowhere, separated from family and friends.

Dates & Details

What's On

The Farmer and The Clown is a story of unexpected friendship told through physical comedy, dance and performed with an original live soundtrack by Bristol music duo JOW.

Dates & Details 24 March | 3pm | Hatch Beauchamp Village Hall | £9/£4 child 01823 481909

17 19

Opa Rosa:

I Piano

Live

Oh no! The piano has lost its music! But a little girl wants to help the piano find it again, and together they set off on a magical adventure..

shadow puppetry and live audience interaction. A special show not to be missed.

They fly up out of the house and around the world, meeting dancing dinos, monks on scooters and a swooshy octopus! They play games and hunt down clues, and explore everything from Beethoven to boogie-woogie, but will they find music? Can you help?

Dates & Details

I Piano combines thrilling theatre with stellar piano playing, enchanting

20 April | 2pm | Crewkerne Methodist Church, South Street | £10/£4 children under 16 £18 family (1 adult & 3 children) 079673 01747

Deeply rooted in Balkan traditions, Opa Rosa’s music aims to explore and reinvent the motifs of Eastern Europe by subtly drawing from other musical influences such as Post-Rock, Classical and Jazz. Enjoy a collection of vibrant and soulful melodies played with fiery precision, and let Opa Rosa take you on a foot-stomping journey

through the Balkans and beyond!

21 April | 2pm & 5pm | Croscombe Village Hall | £9/£4 children £26 Family (2 adult & 3 children) 07771814270

Date

Time

Company

Event

Venue, Sat Nav, Postcode & Tel

Mon 15 Jan

7:30pm

Take Art

Nurturing Your Early Years Music Provision

Via Zoom | sign up via Take Art website

Page

Date

Time

Company

Event

Venue, Sat Nav, Postcode & Tel

Page

Fri 12 April

7:30pm

Opa Rosa

Live

Roadwater Village Hall | TA23 0RE | 07745 318486

Sat 13 April

7:30pm

Opa Rosa

Live

Ditcheat Jubilee Hall | BA4 6RB | 01749 860444

Sat 27 Jan

7:30pm

Blair Dunlop

Live

Wootton Courtenay V. Hall | TA24 8RH| 01643 841067 or Villagers’ Stores

Fri 9 Feb

7pm

John Osborne

John Peel's Shed

Lamyatt Village Hall | BA4 6NJ | 07477 655185

Sat 20 April

2pm

I Piano

Crewkerne Methodist Church | TA18 8DB | 079673 01747

Sun 21 April

2pm & 5pm

I Piano

Croscombe Village Hall | BA5 3RE | 07771 814270

Sat 10 Feb

7:30pm

John Osborne

John Peel's Shed

Penselwood Village Hall | BA9 8LS | 01747 84060

Sun 11 Feb

7pm

John Osborne

John Peel's Shed

Langport Town Hall | TA10 9PR | 01458 250679

Thur 22 Feb

7:30pm

Blair Dunlop

Live

Holford and District Village Hall | TA5 1SD | 07463 674230

Fri 23 Feb

7:30pm

Blair Dunlop

Live

Chaffcombe Village Hall | TA20 4BH | 01460 64592

Sat 24 Feb

8pm

Blair Dunlop

Live

Curry Mallet and Beercrocombe Village Hall | TA3 6SY | 07787 148516

Sun 25 Feb

7:30pm

Blair Dunlop

Live

Charlton Horethorne Village Hall | DT9 4FY | 01935 814199

Fri 1 March

7:30pm

Luca Silvestrini's Protein

Might Contain Food Might Contain You

St Andrew's Church Wiveliscombe | TA4 2LR | 01984 624442

Sat 2 March

7:30pm

Luca Silvestrini's Protein

Might Contain Food Might Contain You

Caryford Community Hall | BA7 7JJ | tickets online or Bailey Hill Bookshop

Thur 7 March

7pm

Take Art

Spring Forward

McMillan Theatre, Bridgwater | TA6 4PZ | book via Take Art website

Sat 9 March

7:30pm

Blair Dunlop

Live

Martock United Reformed Church | TA12 6JN | 07522 437237

Wed 13 March

7pm

Teatro Vivo

The Regulars

The Lord Nelson | Norton-sub-Hamdon | TA14 6SP | 01935 881473 or online

Thur 14 March

8pm

Teatro Vivo

The Regulars

The Bell Inn, Curry Mallet | TA3 6SY | donations at the door

Fri 15 March

7:30pm

Teatro Vivo

The Regulars

Easton Village Hall | BA5 1EP | 01749 870763

Sat 16 March

7:30pm

Teatro Vivo

The Regulars

Rose & Crown, Lanport | TA10 9QT | 01458 250494

Thur 21 March

7:30pm

Cri Du Canard

The Village Bal

Kilve Village Hall | TA5 1EA | 07814 613908

Fri 22 March

7pm

Take Art

Spring Forward

Tacchi Morris Arts Centre, Taunton | TA2 8PD | book via Take Art website

Fri 22 March

7:30pm

Cri Du Canard

The Village Bal

West Pennard Village Hall | BA6 8RT | 07733 308900

Fri 22 March

6:30pm

Max Calaf Sevé

Anyday

North Curry Parish Church | TA3 6LJ | tickets from North Curry post office

Sat 23 March

7:30pm

Cri Du Canard

The Village Bal

Kingsdon Village Hall | TA11 7LL | 01935 841402 or village shop

Sun 24 March

3pm

Flibbertigibbet

The Farmer And The Clown

Hatch Beauchamp Village Hall | TA3 6SG | 01823 481909

Tue 26 March

6:30pm

Max Calaf Sevé

Anyday

Holyrood Academy, Chard | TA20 1JL | 01460 260100

Thur 28 March

7pm

Take Art

Spring Forward

McMillan Theatre, Bridgwater | TA6 4PZ | book via Take Art website

Thur 28 March

8pm

Teatro Vivo

The Regulars

The Art Bank, Shepton Mallet | BA4 5AA | tickets from Art Bank directly

Sat 30 March

8pm

Teatro Vivo

The Regulars

North Cadbury Village Hall | BA22 7DP | from North Cadbury village shop

Sun 31 March

7:30pm

Teatro Vivo

The Regulars

CABRA, Cheddar | BS27 3QA | 075330 00884

Events On The Map 1. Caryford 2. Chaffcombe 3. Chard 4. Charlton Horethorne 5. Cheddar 6. Crewkerne 7. Croscombe 8. Curry Mallet 9. Ditcheat 10. Easton 11. Hatch Beauchamp 12. Holford and District 13. Kilve 14. Kingsdon

15. Lamyatt 16. Langport 17. Martock 18. North Cadbury 19. North Curry 20. Norton Sub Hamdon 21. Penselwood 22. Roadwater 23. Shepton Mallet 24. West Pennard 25. Wiveliscombe 26 Wootton Courtenay

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Take Art Ltd The Mill Flaxdrayton Farm South Petherton Somerset TA13 5LR Reg. Charity No: 298671 Reg. in England: 2203943