The Egg Incubator Delegate Programme 2017

#Incubator17

The Incubator SHOWCASE 2017 Developing excellence in new work for young audiences #Incubator17 facebook.com/theeggtheatre

Presented by Incubator Arts Scholars and Bath Spa MA Theatre for Young Audiences students

A good scratch is to carefully expose and successfully critique

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INTRODUCTION

Kate Cross, Director, the egg

At the egg we want to programme work that is any combination of contemporary, challenging, authentic, complex, spectacular and beautiful. Here are some other ingredients we seek: Extra-ordinary connections, lingual rhythms, physical interpretations, undiscovered stories that are current and relevant, even if the story is an old one, skilfully procured, visceral, joyful, exciting, shocking, gritty and nitty, honest and joyous… and speaking to a range of different people in an auditorium full of (young) people.

I have noticed how, when generating ideas that feel current and contemporary, some makers get blindsided by a self-imposed responsibility to change the world, make good the ills of society, make unhappy children happy, eradicate inequality and place the burden of responsibility for this utopian transformation on the shoulders of the young, and their parents, who are probably having a dim picture painted of them onstage. And for all this to happen within 45 minutes.

I would love these outcomes from one trip to the theatre but, so that we do not muddy the content of our work with ‘anticipated outcomes’, we set our sights a little lower. If everything around us has been normalised and settled before our birth; our class, our status, our health, our education, our perception of our place in the world, then of course we want to disrupt this view, give it a jolt, heavily question, shake it up. But we realise we cannot mend problems. A lightbulb moment is as much as we can hope for. After all, we are making art, not policy.

So at the Incubator we have been investigating how we can release artists from these social imperatives and allow them to spend some time (re)discovering their own voice and challenging their own (normalised) view of the world, if indeed they were normal to begin with!

This year’s artists went on a five-day retreat in the sort-of countryside between Bath and Bristol. We

curated some events – speakers and provocators (Tim Crouch, Jenny Sealy, Penny Hay, Jamie Luck), making workshops (Emma Finch, Deborah Aguirre Jones), mucking about, discussions, listening to podcasts and cooking the dinner. We wonder whether this was provocative and disruptive enough and if it wasn’t, we wonder what could have been.

We changed our view on mentoring this year. We realised that a good mentor is not necessarily someone who does the same kind of work as you. So we have started to consider a division of roles between a mentor (an outsider) and an industry champion – someone we admire for the work that they do.

Never let it be said that we don’t like a good product though. The precision that goes into crafting the process is so that we can get closer to a better product.

The Incubator is as much a business model as it is an artistic one. We give work the time and resources to develop at its own pace but we also believe that a paying public can be a production’s developmental saviour. We feel a sense of urgency to get the work produced. Without co-producers and arts council funding along with other sources of funding we cannot do this. Today is a brazen and bare-faced pitching process! Please lay aside any preconceptions you may have about the egg as sole owners or instigators of an idea; we invite ideas, we do not necessarily create them. This is an act of midwifery rather than parenting, bringing projects safely into the world and guiding them towards self-sustenance, even though this may occasionally require us to produce some of the pieces ourselves.

The Incubator 2018 scholars are largely in place.

We have a focus on early years, on young children’s participation and how we can make that authentic, on the dramaturgy of early years work and the curation of a touring art exhibition about (and for) children.

We will be getting on with this next week!

The Incubator is funded by The Leverhulme Trust The Leverhulme Trust disburses annual funds of around £60m to support research projects, fellowships, studentships, bursaries and prizes across all academic disciplines that demonstrate originality and help break down conventional barriers between disciplines.

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RUNNING ORDER Thursday 5th October 2017 egg Café

egg Auditorium

Roper Room

Ustinov

10.30 Arrival 10.45 and coffee Introduction 11.00 11.15 Hollow 11.30 11.45 12.00 Developing 12.15 New 12.30 Voices 12.45 13.00 Getting There 13.15 Q&A 13.30 13.45 Lunch 14.00 14.15 Panel 14.30 Discussion What 14.45 happens when 15.00 arts are cut from school 15.15 timetables?

Panel 15.30 Discussion You’ve got 15.45 half an hour...

16.00 I Wish I was a 16.15 Break Mountain 16.30 Panel 16.45 Discussion 17.00 Can you make a checklist for 17.15 great art?

17.30 17.45 Drinks 18.00 Reception 18.15 18.30

Friday 6th October 2017 Departing from egg Café

Getting There Bus #1

Getting There Bus #2

Getting There Bus #3

Getting There Bus #4

egg Café

egg Auditorium

Roper Room

9.30 Arrival and coffee 9.45 Introduction 10.00 10.15 Muckers 10.30 10.45 11.00 Developing 11.15 New 11.30 Voices 11.45 Break 12.00 12.15 I Wish I was a 12.30 Mountain 12.45 Getting 13.00 There 13.15 Q&A 13.30 13.45 Lunch 14.00 14.15 14.30 14.45 Panel Discussion 15.00 What sells and why?

15.15 15.30 End 15.45 16.00 16.15 16.30 More 16.45 drinks...

17.00 17.15 17.30

Ustinov

Departing from egg Café

Getting There Bus #1

Getting There Bus #2

Getting There Bus #3

Getting There Bus #4

After each presentation there will be the opportunity to talk about the scratch or ask questions.

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HOLLOW Luke is hiding. He’s 16, on the run and his phone won’t stop ringing. He finds an injured Barn Owl which needs his help. But he has no idea what to do.

Then Michael arrives.

Together, teenager and adult form an uneasy alliance as they attempt to help the creature. But what exactly is Michael doing here? And what is Luke running away from?

Using beautiful, innovative puppetry, Hollow is a story about trust, compassion and facing up to our actions.

Brunskill and Grimes is a creative collaboration between Andy Brunskill and Jimmy Grimes. They make work which has puppets in it. They like big themes, epic music and pushing their puppets to a new level.

Credits include: The Space Between (Young Vic), Longleat Safari Park 50th Anniversary Event (Longleat Safari Park), Duck, Death and the Tulip (Orange Tree Theatre)

For Hollow Leverhulme Arts Scholar and Creator Writer/Director Puppet Designer/Director Performers

Mentor Industry Champion

Brunskill and Grimes Andy Brunskill Jimmy Grimes James Backway Ashleigh Cheadle Sam Clark Nick Figgis Jamie Luck Annabel Arden

Brunskill and Grimes are Leverhulme Arts Scholars

At The Incubator Introduced by James Moore, Acting Head of Creative Learning for the egg. Post-scratch discussion chaired by Jamie Luck, Brunskill and Grimes’ Mentor.

Thanks to Jamie Luck, Bath City Farm, Kate Cross, Complicité.

Future Plans We would like to make this play and tour it to theatres around the country. We are especially interested in presenting this work in theatres or to audiences who wouldn’t normally engage in work that features a puppet.

We would love to collaborate with producers or venues on delivering this work.

Contact email address is info@brunskillandgrimes.com 4

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HOLLOW Your Doodles and Thoughts

On an attached post-it note, please write the name of the play, describe what you think it is ‘about’ and suggest the target age.

On another post-it note, please write the name of the play and suggest one action point for the artist.

Please give us your post-it notes at the end of the day.

What Can You Offer This Artist?

To take this project to the next stage, Andy and Jimmy would like...

2 weeks London based R&D

Support from a co-producer

Tour dates

Support from a tour booker

Something only you can offer

Ticked a box? You might be able to help... please do get in touch with Andy, Jimmy or a member of the egg team 5

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Developing New Voices:

SPINNING Bath Spa MA TYA Spinning explores a world between trauma and creativity, delving into the story of a young girl struggling to make her spinning world stable. Bringing together music, storytelling and puppetry, Amyah fights to have her story told beyond the therapy room.

Jaydean Dawkins is a MA student, theatre practitioner and the founder and director of Confessions of the Youth Theatre Company - a company devoted to creating new pieces of devised theatre through the thoughts and experiences of the youth.

Jaydean is passionate about creating theatre that gives youths a voice through creative freedom. She has been working within youth theatre companies and schools from a young age and is enthusiastic about the difference theatre can make to individuals trying to find their place in the big wide world. She is particularly interested in work that both challenges and tackles current issues, specifically to do with the lack of diversity and groups that are under-represented in theatre, which is reflected in her current work.

Director Performer

Jaydean Dawkins Amelia Rodriques-Dawkins

At The Incubator Chaired by Kate Cross, Director, the egg.

Thanks to Reuel Palmer for being the inspiration behind this story and Amy Lewin for helping me bring my vision to life.

Jaydean is a trainee director at the egg as part of a Three-Month Placement through the Regional Theatre Young Director Scheme - RTYDS. 6

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SPINNING Your Doodles and Thoughts

On an attached post-it note, please write the name of the play, describe what you think it is ‘about’ and suggest the target age.

On another post-it note, please write the name of the play and suggest one action point for the artist.

Please give us your post-it notes at the end of the day.

What Can You Offer This Artist?

To take this project to the next stage, Jaydean would like...

Support from a co-producer

Support from theatres who are interested in work by BAME artists

A mentor who is interested in the themes and concept of her piece

A playwright

Something only you can offer

Ticked a box? You might be able to help... please do get in touch with Jaydean or a member of the egg team 7

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Developing New Voices:

MÁS DE UN COLOR Bath Spa MA TYA Like many ten year olds, April tries to find any excuse to avoid doing her homework, especially her Spanish homework.

She would much rather be making up one of her fantastically whimsical stories. But tonight’s story is even more unusual.

Together three excitable multi-rolling storytellers bring to life her bilingual (English and Spanish) story of three fables. Before she knows it the storytellers and the story itself seem to have completely taken control, surprising and shocking her as the fables unfold.

Más de un color invites the audience into the world of Argentina and beyond, where the Spanish language, music and brightly painted props help add colour and cultural content to each of the stories. Jumping back and forth constantly between the three fables, we learn of each peculiar protagonist’s tale. All are misunderstood, unfairly stereotyped and challenge in some way the role that their society has placed upon them.

Translated and adapted from Argentine writer Liliana Bodoc’s book Sucedió en colores.

Amy is a MA TYA student, an emerging theatremaker, playwright, performer and facilitator.

Born in South Africa and brought up in England, Amy can be described as a woman of the world. Having lived in over five countries she has always had a passion for travel and culture. Amy initially developed her creative eye through her work as a photographer. Most recently she lived in Argentina for six years where she worked as an actor, touring with a company performing plays in English to Spanish speaking young audiences around Latin America.

For Más de un color Playwright & Director Performer

Amy Lewin Samuel De La Torre Xavier De Santos Louise Ann Limb Amy Lewin

At The Incubator Chaired by Kate Cross, Director, the egg.

Thanks to St Martin’s Garden Primary School in Bath and Saint Mary Redcliffe Primary School in Bristol for being involved in the research process by allowing us to perform this piece and conduct drama workshops with their Year 5 classes. To Petcharat Maneenut (Soy) and Jaydean Dawkins for all their help and support during the development of the piece. To Matt Clayton for assistance with lighting and sound for the performance at St Martin’s Garden Primary School.

Future Plans Amy is currently in the process of setting up her own theatre company creating bilingual plays (specifically Spanish and English) and accompanying drama workshops with the aim of using theatre and drama to engage young people with foreign languages and culture.

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MÁS DE UN COLOR Your Doodles and Thoughts

On an attached post-it note, please write the name of the play, describe what you think it is ‘about’ and suggest the target age.

On another post-it note, please write the name of the play and suggest one action point for the artist.

Please give us your post-it notes at the end of the day.

What Can You Offer This Artist?

To take this project to the next stage, Amy would like...

2 weeks Bath based R&D

Support from a co-producer

A designer

A mentor

Support from a tour booker

Something only you can offer

Ticked a box? You might be able to help... please do get in touch with Amy or a member of the egg team 9

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GETTING THERE “Someone described it to me as an invisible army of people.

Sometimes it’s an invisible army of people helping their mums, their dads, their brothers, their sisters to go to the toilet.

Sometimes it’s an invisible army of people bathing and showering their mums, their dads, their brothers, their sisters.

Sometimes it’s an invisible army of people having to measure very accurately the very powerful medicines that keep their mums, their dads, their brothers, their sisters alive.

It’s always an invisible army of children.”

Getting There is a play for audiences aged 8+ inspired by and created alongside Young Carers. It’s a play on a moving minibus. There’s interactive karaoke. You will laugh, you will sing, you might cry, and with a little bit of luck we’ll get there. Warning: May contain balloons.

James Baldwin is a theatre maker whose credits include the National Theatre, the National Theatre of Scotland, the Old Vic, and the West End. James is the recipient of the Lilian Baylis Award for Theatrical Excellence, the Ideastap Innovator’s Award, and his projects with vulnerable young people have won multiple Koestler Awards. James is published by Oberon Books and is the Literary Associate at The Marlowe Theatre.

For Getting There Stage Manager Performer Mentor Industry Champion Inspiration

Cheryl Curley Becky Barry Dr. Sophie Moysey Alan Lane The team at Bath Young Carers and the hundreds of young people I have interviewed along the way.

James Baldwin is a Leverhulme Arts Scholar

At The Incubator Introduced by Laura Knight, Creative Learning Coordinator (Maternity Cover) for the egg. Discussion chaired by Dr. Sophie Moysey, James’ Mentor.

Thanks to Elgiva Field, Jenny Sealey, Tim Crouch, Laura McFall, Peta Maurice, Jamie Luck, Somerset Work Tops, Rachel Drazek.

Future plans I want the play to tour to regional hubs, where collaboration between venues and young carer services will incite the evolution of the script. Your region’s young carers will inspire the version of the play that is performed in your venues and schools, giving representation and introducing audiences to the concept of children being carers. Getting There has the potential to start difficult conversations between young carers and their classmates, their teachers, their parents. This play has the potential to help your audience see the invisible.

Contact james@jamescreates.com for more information.

Supported by the National Lottery through Arts Council England, and the Peggy Ramsay Foundation.

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GETTING THERE Your Doodles and Thoughts

On an attached post-it note, please write the name of the play, describe what you think it is ‘about’ and suggest the target age.

On another post-it note, please write the name of the play and suggest one action point for the artist.

Please give us your post-it notes at the end of the day.

What Can You Offer This Artist?

To take this project to the next stage, James would like...

Theatre partners to act as regional hubs, and venues/schools within each region to book the show

Young Carer Organisations to partner with regional hubs

Match funders

Something only you can offer

Ticked a box? You might be able to help... please do get in touch with James or a member of the egg team 11

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MUCKERS Two muckers mucking about.

Dancing and dressing up and not getting caught.

Not getting caught when Big Luce shines brightly at them.

“It’s not serio” Pijon tells Paloma. “It’s all for the fun.”

Then one day somehow it is - serious.

Paloma stops mucking about, cleans up her act.

After all, there’s a name for girls like that.

An early stage sharing of an irreverent new show made by a Spanish-British company aimed at 7+ yearolds about letting girls muck about muckily.

Caroline’s work as a theatre maker includes: You’re Not Like The Other Girls Chrissy, (Olivier Award nominee); Mess (Best Ensemble, The Stage Awards) which continues to tour internationally; Islands (The Bush and British Council Showcase); Tranklements (New Vic) and Penelope (Derby Theatre). Her radio work for BBC includes: Paris, Nana & Me (Imison Award shortlist) and long-running series Home Front. She’s currently developing a piece with the RSC and a new solo show, All of Me with producers China Plate. @carolineplays

For Muckers Writer/Deviser/Performer Deviser/Performer Outside eye Outside eye Mentor

Caroline Horton Ignacio Mateos Ed Jaspers José Tronosco Cris Blanco

Caroline Horton is a Leverhulme Arts Scholar

At The Incubator Introduced by Alex Duarte-Davis, Theatre School Executive Director. Post-scratch discussion chaired by Jamie Luck.

Thanks to Sarah Argent, Rocio Bello, Alessio Meloni, Aimar Perez Gali , Escuela Popular Prosperidad, Centro Cultural Ciudad Pegaso, Peter Brooke-Tyrell, Alex Merino Martinez.

Future Plans Our ambition is to find British and Spanish partners to support the making of the full show following this early work-in-progress performance and to tour it in both countries together with a workshop about feminism for young people. caroline@carolinehorton.net 12

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MUCKERS Your Doodles and Thoughts

On an attached post-it note, please write the name of the play, describe what you think it is ‘about’ and suggest the target age.

On another post-it note, please write the name of the play and suggest one action point for the artist.

Please give us your post-it notes at the end of the day.

What Can You Offer This Artist?

To take this project to the next stage, Caroline would like...

A Spanish co-producer to provide rehearsal space, artist support and ideally capital investment

Support from a British co-producer

Tour venues

Something only you can offer

Ticked a box? You might be able to help... please do get in touch with Caroline or a member of the egg team 13

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I WISH I WAS A MOUNTAIN

On the day of the famous annual fair, the town of Faldum receives an unexpected visit. A wanderer offers to grant a wish to anyone who wants one. Before long, the city is transformed.

Mansions stand where mud huts once squatted, and beggars ride around in horse drawn carriages.

And one man wishes to be turned into a mountain.

If you could have one wish, what would it be?

Written and performed by former Glastonbury Poetry Slam Champion Toby Thompson, I Wish I was a Mountain uses rhyme, live music, and just a smattering of metaphysical philosophy to boldly reimagine Herman Hesse’s classic fairytale for audiences aged 7+.

Do we really need the things that we need? What do mountains feel? How did time begin? Adults are kindly requested to leave all answers to these questions at the door. Children, come as you are.

To witness Toby Thompson proclaiming his message of love and wonder is to peacefully commune with your deepest innermost self. He’s written commissions for the RSC and the National Portrait Gallery. He’s performed his work at festivals and venues including Latitude, Shambala, Leipzig Book Fair (Germany), Harare International Festival Of The Arts (Zimbabwe), the Photographers’ Gallery and the Natural History Museum. In the words of Kate Tempest, “Toby Thompson is the future.”

For I Wish I was a Mountain Writer/Performer Director/Mentor Designer

Toby Thompson Lee Lyford Anisha Fields

Toby Thompson is an egg Arts Scholar attached to the Leverhulme programme

At The Incubator Chaired by Lee Lyford, Toby’s Director and Mentor.

Thanks to Kate Cross, without whom all this would be nothing but a latent glimmer in my eye. To Battersea Arts Centre for providing spaces to use for writing and rehearsals, as well as for giving me my board and lodging for the last five months! I’m also very grateful to Foundation A, TRB Theatre School group for letting us try the material out on them and for offering such valuable feedback.

Future Plans Our idea is for the show to be fairly low tech, easy to tour, with just the one performer and perhaps a technician. Creatively, we need time to further explore the language of the piece. The questions on our minds are how best to ensure that the visual design, the use of music, and the physicality of the piece all match up conceptually with the tone of the writing. And, of course, the writing itself still needs a lot of work.

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I WISH I WAS A MOUNTAIN Your Doodles and Thoughts

On an attached post-it note, please write the name of the play, describe what you think it is ‘about’ and suggest the target age.

On another post-it note, please write the name of the play and suggest one action point for the artist.

Please give us your post-it notes at the end of the day.

What Can You Offer This Artist?

To take this project to the next stage, Toby would like...

Paid writing time

2 weeks R&D in either London, Bristol or Bath

Tour dates

£12,000

Something only you can offer

Ticked a box? You might be able to help... please do get in touch with Toby or a member of the egg team 15

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PANEL DISCUSSIONS Thursday 5th October 2017 2.30pm - 3.15pm What happens when the arts are entirely cut from school timetables?

- egg auditorium How do we create a curriculum fit for theatre? Join us as we unpick the current education system and the ways that we can still invest in cultural capital by reaching out to the teachers in our communities.

Chaired by James Moore, Acting Head of Creative Learning

3.30pm - 4.00pm You’ve got half an hour to teach me how to be a dramaturg - Ustinov auditorium

Help 2018 Leverhulme Scholar Raphael Bez-Cryer unpack the work of a dramaturg on an Early Years production. How do narratives carry on after the show has finished? Can they start before?

How do you script spontaneity?

Chaired by Raphael Bez-Cryer and John East, Artistic Director, Theatre Royal Bath Theatre School

4.45pm - 5.30pm Can we make a checklist for creating great art? - egg auditorium

We work longer hours, rehearse for weeks on end, R&D until we’re blue in the face. Yet still, often, we fail. Is it possible to give ourselves a head start? Can we make a checklist for creating great art?

Chaired by Kate Cross, Director, the egg

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Friday 6th October 2017

2.30pm - 3.45pm What sells, and why? egg auditorium Using data provided by showcase delegates, join us as we dissect and discuss the top 5 box office trends in the TYA sector, and discover the best companies making the work.

Chaired by Dr. Sophie Moysey, James Baldwin’s Mentor and Deputy Director, Pound Arts

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FURTHER INFORMATION For Incubator enquiries, please contact: Tim Bell, Creative Producer - The Incubator Kate Cross, Director, the egg Tom Baughan, Development Manager

tim.bell@theatreroyal.org.uk kate.cross@theatreroyal.org.uk tom.baughan@theatreroyal.org.uk

For The Incubator Showcase: Stage Manager Becky Vowles Deputy Stage Manager Jen Sherlock ASMs James Darnton, Nicole Roper, Emmaline Clarke Filmmaker Screenology www.screenology.school Photography Jack Offord www.jackofford.co.uk Visual Minutes (Thursday) Liv Bargman www.livbargman.co.uk Visual Minutes (Friday) Bethan Mure www.bmurecreative.co.uk Programme Design Nick Morris www.wallisagency.co.uk

For the egg: Director Creative Producer - The Incubator Manager Acting Head of Creative Learning Creative Learning Coordinator Engage Programme Coordinator Engage Administrator Artistic Director Theatre School Executive Director Theatre School egg Administrator Chief Studio Technician Deputy Studio Technician Financial Administrator Press

Kate Cross Tim Bell Lindsay Baker James Moore Laura Knight Joe Spurgeon Tracey Cook John East Alex Duarte-Davies Emma Battcock Lloyd Evans Phil Coote Emma Bryant Farrows Creative

The egg is pleased to be in a Creative Partnership with Bath Spa University. In addition to providing industry experience for undergraduate Performing Arts and Theatre Production students, this October the university will welcome its fourth cohort of post-graduate students onto the MA in Theatre for Young Audiences degree course, only the second of its kind in the UK, closely linked with the egg and the Incubator.

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GETTING AROUND Map of the egg

Entrance to the Ustinov auditorium is via the egg cafĂŠ 19

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