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The shows Corinne is most looking forward to at Ignite 2014

Choosing three picks was tough, not least because there is an adaptation of Beowulf in the festival and there are very few times in life when I could legitimately roll out the fact that I have read Beowulf in its original Old English. Having held in any obnoxious showing off, however, my three picks are:

The Very Thought – Rose Biggin

One of the most interesting blurbs in the festival: feminism and pole dancing. I know a fair amount about one and nothing about the other (I’ll let you guess which is which). Plus the blurb also makes it sound like we’ve got an unreliable narrator going on, which might be my favourite writing device ever.

Stuff – Juncture Theatre

Last year at Ignite not only did Juncture Theatre perform the beguiling A Little Nonsense they also united with WBN on Cathedral Green to triumphantly complete the I crossword (with only one cheat). Even without those credentials, however, as a genetically pre-disposed hoarder, my own relationship with, well, stuff would have me intrigued.

Help – Viki Browne, Jointventure Theatre

At the start of our residency last Autumn the Bike Shed asked if a local, recently graduated director could observe during some of our R&D time. We said yes, and the director turned out to be Viki (on an entirely unrelated note, whose dresses I’d admired from a distance during Ignite 2013). Not only did Viki engage with and give us some incredibly valuable feedback on Blueprint she also ended up performing in Walking Stories. I’m a sucker for a one-person show (see Rose’s above) and I’m properly excited to finally get to see Viki’s own work.


The shows Andy is most looking forward to at Ignite 2014

My top 3 picks for Ignite:

1. Gloriator– Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday at Bike Shed.
A Very Very Famous actress (and her brow-beaten PA) attempt to perform all of Ridley Scott’s Gladiator armed only with some small cardboard props and one big ego. An absolutely hilarious piece of clowning- two very talented performers getting themselves into all kinds of absurd tangles. You have to see this.

2. Wildbore– Thursday, Friday and Saturday at Exeter Library
Solo performer Jesse Meadows reflects upon her life with her grandmother. A poignant examination of aging, bereavement and love between generations, told with humour and optimism.

3. Current Location– Thursday, Friday and Saturday at Exeter Library
Fellswoop theatre make really good shows. This is a tense and thoughtful play about a small, tightly-knit community facing catastrophe.


The shows Charlie is most looking forward to at Ignite 2014

Since it has been launched, I have been scouring the new Ignite website for shows I want to see. And I am excited. Because there is lots I want to see.

Gym Party – Made in China

Lovely friends from the MA at Goldsmiths here. I missed it at Edinburgh thinking I would see it at the BAC. Then it clashed with our residency at the Bike Shed – so I am glad I’m going to get another chance to finally see it!

Threnody For The Sky Children – Jack Dean

WBN’s first ever project was in Brixton Village Market where we did countless (as in I lost count) adaptations of Ovid’s Metamorphosis. Plus, we know the lovely Jack Dean from his time at the Bike Shed. Intrigued.

Parliament Town – New Model Theatre

I was really gutted last year that I missed Static. Everything I heard about it was really positive, it sounded like a show that would’ve been right up my street and further more one of the cast said lovely things about our show Beneath the Albion Sky. This, coupled with the fact that their company name and logo always makes me think about one of my favourite bands ‘New Model Army’ – means I cannot miss this show.

These are my picks. The rest of WBN might chip in with their picks soon.

Charlie

 


WBN @ Ignite 2014

We’ve been excited about this for some time, but, since the Ignite programme launched today we can properly announce that we’ll be taking two shows to Exeter this year.

First up we’ll be premiering Blueprint at the Bike Shed from 3rd – 5th June. We developed Blueprint during our residency at the Bike Shed last autumn so, really, there’s no other venue we’d want it to start its adult life in. Continuing our preoccupation with how and why people tell stories, in Blueprint we’re exploring how a character named Kate narrates her life story (all filtered by her brain in the moment before she dies). It also includes some physics, a stopwatch and some distinctly disturbing Mark Owen masks…

Second up we’ll be doing a one off performance of Joseph Mills Presents…Reasons for Listing: 16 Facts and One Story About Things That Make Me Happy at Exeter Library at 4pm on the 4th June. As well as being a love letter to libraries, this show also means that anyone who saw Beneath the Albion Sky last year and would like to spend some more time with Andy Kelly telling them a story has the opportunity to do so.

It’s probably safe to say that, such is our all-consuming love for Ignite after our adventures there last year with Albion, even if we hadn’t been invited back we’d be turning up. Plus this year they even have THEIR OWN FESTIVAL ALE. Seriously, can you imagine a better festival?


Regeneration: The work-in-progress showing in numbers


SpikeLee001 B&W1
tea trolley during the tech (something of a first for all us, and something which is definitely going on our ongoing spreadsheet of the foodstuffs offered by venues we work in).

40 pieces of velcro keeping our drawing paper on the wall of the studio.

2 moments when Estelle, Charlie and I thought that, despite those bits of velcro, the paper was going to fall off during the performance.

2 uses of an expletive which made me acutely aware that there were a couple of under 13s in the audience.

1 visible scene list which proved that London audiences like a visible scene list equally as much as Exeter ones do.

New York B&W6 different cities where a scene of the play took place.

6 different areas in London where Myles’s character lived.

2 moments where Andy got to do “awkward flirting”.

3 variations of the name “Lucy”.

1 scene that took place on a ferris wheel.

1 scene in which Myles made Andy draw a horse, much to the audience’s amusement.

1 speech by Margaret Thatcher.

2 speeches by Boris Johnson, only one of which got a groan for one of Boris’s “funnies”.

1 speech by Spike Lee that caused a woman in the audience to exclaim “it’s exactly like that!”.

Lego0031 fact about ‘right to buy’ which made the audience audibly react.

1 joke which is only ever going to work for audiences in West Yorkshire.

1000s of pieces of Lego which were thrown across the stage during the final scene.

(11 audience members who stayed behind to help us clear up – and play with – the Lego)