Our company founder, Laura Jury, recently entered a Shakespeare project run by the Globe Theatre. Her "angry drunk" Hamlet monologue was one of those picked for the Globe Theatre's Shakespeare Solo / Shakespeare from quarantine project - and there she is in the header image (middle of the far left column, holding the vodka bottle). :) Considering that the Globe is pretty much as prestigious as you can get when it comes to Shakespeare...that is quite a feat. You can view the link below at: https://www.theguardian.com/culture/video/2020/apr/23/all-the-worlds-a-stage-shakespeare-performed-around-the-world-in-quarantine-video Laura's original audition video can be viewed here. Apologies for the quiet as we have worked on rearranging auditions, looking at new ways of working, and looking at ways to respond to Covid-19. To clarify; that is now done. We have agreed on ways to keep our auditions for Jack The Ripper open as sheduled, as well as opening auditions for an online "lockdown" performance of Macbeth. The big change is that for the time of lockdown (and, if there are any especial demographics that need to isolate for longer), we will be accepting online self-tape auditions. These will have the same requirements as our usual "in-person" auditions - and should the lockdown be safely lifted before the Jack the Ripper auditions in July, then we will revert to our normal "in-person" castings. We also decided to create a lockdown "online" project, which is a full performance of Macbeth - yes, that show we won international awards for last year and had to tour twice because public demand was so huge. Most of the cast are returning, though we do have a handful of roles open to cast, so if you would like to join us, the details are all below. The great thing about the online Macbeth project? It doesnt matter where you are, as long as you have a digital device running Zoom, and are a strong reliable actor. (As Jack the Ripper will be live performances at venues (once lockdown is over!) our usual restriction of your needing to be based in South Devon, applies to Jack The Ripper though!) The usual arrangements of profitshare (until such time as we can find funding or sponsors for full rate pay, behind the scenes, our admin team are working daily on this!) plus portfolio material (recordings, photos etc) all hold as unchanged. All our current casting and audition information is over at our AUDITION PAGE If lockdown continues, there are also a number of other smaller projects that can be done online, that are in the works - and we would love to stay in touch with you; so, if you would like to keep informed on upcoming castings and projects, do please either follow our FACEBOOK PAGE or join our PUBLIC FACEBOOK GROUP
And here is the weekly update!
First of all, we hope you're all keeping well and safe! So, behind the scenes we have been battling away, looking at new ways of develoing our work. 1) The VE day film shot just before lockdown, is into post-production with a lovely contact of ours in Ohio, USA, and will be released in the early summer, although the VE Day commemoration events are, of course, cancelled. 2) We hope to have the first of the children's audio-books available online by the end of the week. This is a project where our actors collaborate with Southwest authors, on producing readings of thier books. The first book will be a wonderful short childrens story by our very own Alicja Bagier. 3) We are currently setting the dates and planning for online readings of both A Midsummer Night's Dream and Macbeth, which will go ahead at the end of May/ Beginning of June, subject to peoples availibility and equipment. 4) The open auditions in July for Jack The Ripper will take place, using online media if lockdown is still in place or people still need to self-isolate; so that date is unchanged, though the format of the auditions will be adjusted to the needs of the times. 5) We are in the process of moving the show dates for A Midsummer Night's Dream to late August/ Early September,. Obviously venues are struggling as much as we are to try to second guess when times will be better, so it is taking a while to get things all worked out. The Jack the Ripper dates seem to all be fine at this point. 6) Although funding streams of course are also hugely affected by the Covid-19 outbreak, we are still working hard behind the scenes on trying to locate funding streams which will be able to lead to our actors and crew gaining full wages for prductions, as an upgrade from the current profit-share situation. As always, we are online every day, so if you have any questions, etc, please get in touch! Laura This evening launches the first of our projects to try to generate remote online work for at least some of our wonderful self-employed actors and creatives, who have lost their usual work in theatre, film, and TV during the corona-virus crisis. We are a nationally, and internationally, awardwinning team, now making our expertise available to help those who are now studying from home. Our members who have current DBS clearance, are available to teach both adults and children, while the rest of us are available to teach adults. This can be done via Zoom, Skype, Messenger or email. There is a fee for this service, because this is an attempt to generate work for actors and creatives who, as self-employed, have lost part or all of their incomes but not been eligible for some of the government bailouts for those who have been in regular employment. EVERY PENNY they earn is directly forwarded to them - this is helping real, dedicated people pay their bills and buy food at these times. We have a wide variety of subjects, from basic to degree level: - Drama/ theatre - Media - English (including English as a foreign language) - French - Physics - Teaching (teacher training - may be of use to homeschooling parents) - Mathematics - Expressive arts - History We may take on some more tutors with additonal subjects/ agegroups - if seeking a tutor for a subject/ level that is not listed on our Online Tutoring Service, please contact us and enquire. [email protected] [email protected] DISCOVER OUR ONLINE TUTORING SERVICE HERE Shows & Performance dates:
Brixham - As you may have seen, most theatres have closed for the time being (our home venue Brixham Theatre is closed until May, as things stand). We have resceduled our performances of A Midsummer Night's Dream there for August (details now updated on our Box Office page). Brixham Brixfest - our excerpt performance of acts 2 & 3 of A Midsummer Night's Dream at Brixfest in May, is cancelled, as Brixfest, an annual festival celebrating local arts, culture and business itself is cancelled. We will be working with them to perform in 2021 - discussions have already commenced Plymouth - We are planning to reschedule oour performance st Stoke Damerel Church in Plymouth also to August, but we are currently awaiting a reply from the churchwarden to discuss new dates. When this occurs, all tickets bought for the current date will be honoured, or can be refunded (no quibble), if the new date does not suit. Bristol - We have discussed with Bristol Shakespeare Festival, who are working on the best case scenario to run still in July. Both the festival and the venue are very happy to have us, and so as things stand, this date will go ahead. If we are forced to postpone, we will postpone until later in August/ September, and then perform "under our own steam". We are also exploring the possibility of online broadcasts and readings/ performances. Rehearsals: The vast majority of our rehearsals have now moved online, to protect the health of our actiors and crew; using the video-conferencing programm / app, Zoom. Cast and crew should stay in regular contact via email or Facebook with the team, as we send the conference links out to everyone on a twice-weekly basis, and send out updates about online work opportunities for actors for our team. Castings for Jack the Ripper Our audition date in late July, remains as-is. We hope that the worst of the crisis will be over by then, but if it is not, we will be looking at alternate ways to cast the show and send out scripts etc to cast. Please keep an eye on our news, social media and the auditions page for any updates. People who have emailed us will be updated as well. Making online work In this current crisis, most work for actors and crew has dried up - even big TV series and film shoots have cancelled. This leaves the nations entertainers unable to pay rent or the bills. We are doing our best to help our team with creating various online work opportunities. All we can do is but try, and do our best, rather than giving up. Our first opportunity for our team is offering online tutoring for adults and children; chiefly in drama and English, but also in other subjects as well, by an expert team of creatives. We are in the process of setting up, but expect to have it done open for business by Sunday March 21st 2020. You can find it at ONLINE TUTORING SERVICE. In the interim, if you would like to be contacted as soon as this service is live, please email us on [email protected]. You or your loved ones will be able to access expert tutoring, and also support some of our nations entertainers and creatives, during this hard time. Filming today with some of our lovely team for a micro-short film about VE Day in 1945, for a community project by Brixham Future
VIRUS UPDATE
March 14th 2020. Due to the global pandemic situation, most show dates for A Midsummer Night's Dream are being rescheduled to later in the summer . Brixham is already rescheduled to August, and Plymouth is being rescheduled. We are awaiting updates on the excerpt performance and on the performance at Bristol Shakespeare Festival. Updated events on our Box office page, are marked "NEW DATE" and events awaiting confirmation, are marked as TBC. If you have already bought tickets for any performance and cannot make the new date, please contact us so we can help you arrange no-quibble refunds. CORONAVIRUS POST
At rehearsals Laura arrives early and disinfects main surfaces and door handles, etc. We ask all our team to follow current NHS safety advice. If we have a suspected case we may stop usual rehearsals until an all-clear is given or a clear quarantine period is over, in which case we will rehearse lines by video conference. Anyone needing to self isolate (or who is indeed off with the illness ) will not be penalised in any way and will retain their full contracted share of show earnings. We do require, in either case, that they do not attend rehearsals until all clear. Equity's guidelines are at https://www.equity.org.uk/news/2020/march/coronavirus-advice-to-equity-members An informal interview with one of our regular actors who works with a specially theatre-trained assistance dog (one of only three - two at the time of filming) in the world. We made this video to answer some regular questions our actor gets about this, and break down some misconceptions :) It isnt the most cinematic video, but hopefully will prove interesting, and useful to other actors, and theatre companies. |
Updated by our founder
|