TCT - Spring Summer Friends Newsletter

10TH ANNIVERSARY YEAR 2 0 2 4

S U M M E R F R I E N D S N E W S L E T T E R

WELCOME TO SPRING SUMMER

Welcome to The Coronet Theatre’s second supporters’ newsletter, providing exclusive, backstage access to our artists, their process, and their time in London We’re delighted to bring you this second installment in special content, reserved for our members.

In our tenth anniversary year, we ’ re looking to the past as much as we look towards the future, reminiscing on the amazing ten years in our t b ildi d th j th t h t k

As we close our Taiwan Festival, we still have a full season of summer shows ahead, featuring music, poetry, and drama from all across the globe

From May to June, we’ll be welcoming artists from Norway, Ireland, France, Italy, China and Ukraine We’re delighted to be welcoming so many incredible performers as we step into the warmer months, and we hope that you will be able to join f d i d di f UK

3 YEARS OF PLANNING

1,475 AUDIENCE MEMBERS

553 VIRTUAL REALITY VIEWERS 93 WORKSHOP PARTICIPANTS

10,000 BAMBOO PIECES

350 PORTIONS OF TAIWANESE FRIED CHICKEN CONSUMED

31 ARTISTS

17 DAYS

1 PARTNER AIRLINE 5 U.K. PREMIERES

1,843 EXHIBITION VISITORS

12 PERFORMANCES

42 TEAM MEMBERS 1 WORLD PREMIERE

Cheng-Tsung Feng

CHENG-TSUNG FENG

W O R K S H O P S

As part of our Taiwan Festival, we organised a series of free workshops with our artists, which sought to build closer connections with audiences and provide educational experiences alongside our artistic endeavours. We were delighted to have welcomed almost 100 participants to these intimate events that saw all ages, levels and demographics. Here are some exclusive images and videos from our workshops.

“I came along to the event with four other friends and we all really enjoyed Cheng Tsung Feng’s teaching I found the whole team to be incredibly supportive and encouraging I loved the installation both outside and in The theatre itself is as one friend put it ‘ a hidden treasure We will definitely be back!’ Thank you for an inspiring experience and to a generous and sharing team! I hope to share the skills I am developing with the children I teach ”

T M A T O W O R K S H O P

“I REALLY CONNECTED WITH ONE OF THE PARTICIPANTS, SO I MADE A FRIEND!”

“I LEARNT ABOUT (SAFEGUARDED) TOUCH, INTIMACY AND PHYSICAL CONNECTION.”

RIVERBED THEATRE

W O R K S H O P

Alongside the highly anticipated world premiere of Riverbed Theatre’s "taking it down and putting it up, " The Coronet Theatre was excited to offer an opportunity to work with this award-winning experimental theatre group and their Artistic Director Craig Quintero

This exclusive two-hour workshop introduced participants to Riverbed’s unique form of imagebased theatre through a series of exercises and games addressing text, movement, objects, and space Geared towards emerging actors and directors, the workshop provided a creative environment for participants to physically embody the theory and praxis

“THANK YOU for doing these Amongst other things, it's beneficial for my professional development and industry/community-building ”

“Another very good and creatively stimulating experience and, again, very well-led”

A

N I N S I D E R L O O K

As part of The Coronet’s commitment to complete cultural exchange, we offered two fully paid internships throughout the festival to young professionals seeking experience opportunities in international theatre. Working closely alongside our team, we welcomed Mika and Arthur for a unique, exciting and varied three weeks of professional development. Here’s what they had to say about their experience at ‘London’s home of international arts’:

Hello! My name is Mika Shirahama and I was a producing and hospitality assistant for Taiwan Festival Maybe you have seen me in some opening nights or shows! Under Daphne and Lola (our wonderful Producer and Assistant Producer/ PA to Artistic Director!), my role was mainly to support the producing department including arranging artists traveling, catering, booking tickets and translating

The experience at The Coronet Theatre was magical for me since I had a chance to closely see how to bring the international artistic work on a stage and I have learned a lot about the professional attitudes towards the artists and works, which has been my dream since little Due to the international aspects, the team always cares about creating an inclusive environment for both artists and audience

The moment I really liked at Coronet was that we held a welcome breakfast when each visiting company came in Getting ready to work together, we broke the ice while having coffee and pastries Although the artists were a little bit nervous when they arrived, they started joking with us after this cup of coffee and the space brightened up a lot

I think The Coronet provides a space for not only the artists but also everyone I am impressed to see everyone come down to the bar after the show to discuss and talk about the performance they have just watched, sometimes meeting the artists or new friends there The VR experience by Riverbed Theatre happened in the VIP bar during the festival and also effectively drives the conversation (Thank you Front of House Team for handling this so well!)

If I had to describe it in one word, the team is like a FAMILY, the team always supports and communicates with each other to develop the work and overcome the challenges in the environment

It was my pleasure to participate in this festival as a Coronet Theatre Team member and I hope all the artists and audience enjoyed the culture and innovative ideas

(See you next time!)

--Mika Shirahama, Festival Producing Assistant

“Stepping into The Coronet Theatre for the first time was on the day I came to interview for the position of production assistant for the Taiwan Festival. Pushing open the doors into the circular foyer, I looked around at the vintage yet whimsical decorations, wondering if this would be the space where the Taiwan team would perform in London for the first time. Like the theatre itself, which has undergone multiple transformations in its history, even boldly redefining the stage space by raising it a floor and converting the original first-floor area into today's ground-floor seating, The Coronet is an outwardly centenarian but internally nonconforming and boldly challenging theatre

For this Taiwan Festival, three large-scale works by bamboo artist Cheng-Tsung Feng served as anchors Hanging on the face of the building in Renaissance style is a helm of ship symbolising Taiwan's journey toward the world, while the foyer cradles a fish basket for every audience member entering the theatre In the Studio, a bamboo forest sways with the airflow Feng is delighted to facilitate a dialogue between Taiwanese bamboo and The Coronet Theatre across th O igi ll i tibl E t d d

Just as Taiwan, despite its modest size as a tiny island on the world stage, radiates with remarkable vibrancy, symbolising diversity, innovation, and an unwavering drive towards the future, so too is The Coronet Theatre In the London theatre landscape, it shines as the brightest beacon of diversity and hope ”

-- Arthur Pai, Festival Production Assistant

GOOD LUCK, CATHRINE FROST!

“I am an actor, a nurse and an improviser, living and working in Norway And then I had a baby And for a little while, everything fell apart It was a very traumatic birth where my child and I both almost died And when I got home, it felt extremely empty and lonely I had the sensation that I had done something completely existential, life-altering and deeply human But I lacked the vocabulary, the words, the philosophical thinking about the process that I just had been through, the cultural references to hang my own experience to This is how the show came about, to fill the void I felt, so that other fellow human beings could have what I had needed

This project started small with a tiny budget, with five planned performances. But the response was huge and it’s become massive, so we ’ ve already performed over 60 shows and counting in Norway. I am very excited to finally perform this show outside of Norway for the first time, and it’s an honour to be invited to do so in The Coronet Theatre. It scares me, and delights me all at the same time!

I think maybe it became such a success because I tell a strong story about a topic that we almost never talk about or we only talk about in a specific way with determined people This show opens up the way we can talk about it and many people have longed for this conversation, whether they were aware of it or not This show is playing a small part in changing the culture of how we talk about being a mother and growing and giving birth to human beings

Having a baby, all the procesess going on in my body and mind, felt extremely lonely, at least in my culture And as I researched material for making of this show, I realised that an overwhelming amount of people had gone through the exact same experiences Therefore I hope that my show can make us come more together, feel a stronger community, specially in that fragile phase of our lives that is early motherhood Find out that we are more similar and have more fellow experiences than we may be aware of But also, I made this show first and foremost for men So that they could have a better understanding of what it means to carry and give birth to humans, and what that entails I love performing this show because it gives me great sense of community I can feel a strong connection to the audience, every single time I perform it ”

-- Cathrine Frost

Hello. My name is Andrew Poppy, a composer, and Mister Poppy, a performer.

On the 1st June I’ll be performing a spoken, sung and electronic piece called JELLY. After a performance last year someone said that the experience of JELLY was like actually being ‘inside the sounds themselves’, and that is a great description of its world The voice swims like a jellyfish or some other creature inside the continuous evolving and transforming electronic throb.

My process of making music and shows works with building a dialogue between a live acoustic performance and technology. Recording and mixing play a part of creating something and also part of performing it In JELLY the electronic sound is a net of material that the live spoken and sung voice swims though or gets tangled up in

I try to play the piano and vocalize every day This work goes into whatever I’m writing or performing or working on in the studio In preparing for a show, I’ll run some or all of the pieces as part of my daily routine. For a new show, I have at least a day of technical rehearsal with Fred working on sound and Julia working on video and staging (The photo is from a technical rehearsal in the Film and Drama Studio at Queen Mary University )

It’s something of a confirmation of certain values to be included in The Coronet’s open-minded, genre-fluid and multicultural program The venue continues in the spirit of the independent theatres, cinemas and music venues that have been the hub of London’s cultural life since I was a student in the 1970s I'm very pleased to be performing there on 1st June

The performance includes video by visual artist Julia Bardsley and live sound mix by Fred Defaye

OF AN ICON THE HISTORY PART 2

In the first instalment of our supporters’ newsletter, we looked at the origins of our beautiful home in the heart of Notting Hill and its artchitecture. By the 1960s, The Coronet had been a cinema for almost fourty years, and twas running second run, offrelease, moving over films from other local first run cinemas Late in 1972, The Rank Organisation who operated the cinema put in plans to demolish the building The plan was to build shops and offices on the site, but a huge outcry and a petition, which included the support of film star Deborah Kerr, thwarted this The local Council stepped in and declared the immediate area a conservation area and the supporters won the fight Rank relented and refurbished the cinema, but in 1977 sold it to an independent operator, Panton Films, who changed the name back to The Coronet

The new owners further reduced the capacity of the cinema to 399 seats by re-seating the stalls and dramatically increasing the leg room, but another threat came along in 1989 when plans were put forward to convert the building into a McDonald's restaurant Again this failed and the building was Listed Grade II In 1996, permission was given to open a small 151 seat screen on the stage area, providing it could be reinstated back into theatre use, if and when required

In recent years the cinema has featured in many films, TV programmes and adverts. Famously, the cinema featured in the 1999 film Notting Hill, where a sad Will Thacker (Hugh Grant) watches a film with his big love Anna Scott (Julia Roberts), after they have separated David Cameron is reported to have watched Brokeback Mountain in the cinema on its opening night The theatre is also the home for the superheroes in Matt Hatter Chronicles, an animated adventure series that plays on ITV and Nicktoons

When the cinema was put up for sale in 2004, the sale attracted a lot of controversy and media attention Various schemes were put forward including one from Stelios Haji-Ioannou, the founder of EasyJet, to turn the cinema into London’s first EasyCinema Hollywood stars Joseph Fiennes and Gillian Anderson got involved in a petition along with filmmaker Bernardo Bertolucci Once all the dust died down, the cinema was bought by a local church, The Kensington Temple

Without the continuous and generous support from our Coronet family, none of the unique and ambitious performances, cultural experiences, educational opportunities detailed in this newsletter would be possible

We want to take this opportunity to thank you all for championing our distincitve international mission, and allowing us to continue to bring the most pioneering artists from around the world to the heart of Notting Hill

There is still a lot more to come this season To check out our programme and avoid missing out on tickets, head to our website here:

ttps://www.thecoronettheatre.com/w hats-on/