Theatre Hullabaloo

New Play, New Audience

2011-11-18T10:06:00.001Z

About Angel

Theatre Hullabaloo’s Creative Producer, Miranda Thain, explains the story of Angel and why she thinks it’s an important story for young audiences.

“I first read Kevin Dyer’s play, which was originally titled Fool on the Hill, two years ago and was immediately struck by how beautifully he had crafted this very unusual friendship between an eccentric old woman called Miriam and a lonely tomboy kid, Bill. The friendship is unusual, not just because of our characters, but because, outside of families, young people rarely spend time with older people. This is one of the reasons that I think the play is important because the relationship shows us that, however great the age gap, we can still play and laugh and enjoy each other’s company.

The play is also important because it shows us the devastating effect of dementia on the life of Miriam, who is funny and witty and brilliant, as she struggles with the frightening reality that she can no longer remember. The play addresses the difficult question that many families face of how we appropriately care for older people – the battle between institutionalised tidiness of the elderly and the fear that they are not safe. This is a play based on a real woman who lived in a house just like the one in the story. It is always a privilege for a company to premiere a great new play, but Angel is particularly special. It is a timely play for us all”

The Night Pirates Nominated for Offie Award

2011-09-15T17:42:00.001+01:00

Here are Theatre Hullabaloo, we are thrilled to announce that our production of The Night Pirates, by Peter Harris and Deborah Allwright, has nominated for the Off West End Award's Best Production for Young People.

The Offies (The Off West End Theatre Awards) are here to recognise and celebrate the excellence, innovation and ingenuity of independent theatres across London.

Read more about The Offies here...

The public vote opens on 31st December 2011 and will stay open until 14th February, so make sure you click on the link above and vote for The Night Pirates!

Thanks

FANTASTIC NEWS!!!

2011-08-01T10:23:00.000+01:00

Following our successful inclusion in the Arts Council's national portfolio and with support from the John Fell Foundation, Theatre Hullabaloo will be redeveloping our fantastic operetta, My Mother Told Me Not to Stare for national venue touring in the summer 2012.

The show will be directed by Nina Hajiyianni and is in association with Action Transport Theatre.

My Mother Told Me Not to Stare is currently booking and we have very limited dates available in June 2012, please contact Miranda on 01325 352 004 or email miranda@theatrehullabaloo.org.uk for details.

ANGEL, New Show for 10 Years Plus

2011-05-25T17:02:00.002+01:00

We are thrilled with the image that has been designed by Michael at Sumo, for our brand new show Angel, by Kevin Dyer.

This beautiful and witty play about childhood and ageing is a fantastic bit of new writing for audiences aged 10 years and above and should not be missed!

Angel will be touring nationally 24th Feb - 31st March 2012.

Bookings are now open, please contact Diann on 01325 352 004 or email diann@theatrehullabaloo.org.uk for more information.

FIVE at Darlington Arts Centre 2011

2011-04-11T14:54:00.001+01:00

We did a three week run of FIVE, our interactive dance installation about the senses, at Darlington Arts Centre in March. With three performances a day for three weeks, we bussed in most of Darlington's five year olds to see the show.

Here are some pictures from one of the shows:

Photos by Caroline Briggs

Responding to students interested in our work

2010-11-30T16:16:00.000Z

We often get emails from students asking us questions about what we do and why we do it. Here is an article we have produced in response to some questions emailed to us by Kim Baker, masters student in Children's Literature at Newcastle University, about our recent stage adaptation of The Night Pirates.

KIM: It says in marketing pack for The Night Pirates that you have kept the performance close to the book, whilst making the most of the theatrical environment. What interested you about the book?

MIRANDA: I was interested in the ‘kidology’ of the book which appeals equally to both genders. From an adult perspective, the story seems daft (i.e. adults always get hung up on the subsidence of the house etc!) but for children, the adventure has real resonance. They empathise with Tom’s fear and then delight at the idea of a night time adventure, they love the ‘twist’ that the pirates are girls, they are thrilled when they overcome the grown-ups and, at the end of the night, Tom returns safely to bed. It also has many extension opportunities – pirates are such a part of this age groups imaginative landscape – and lots of fun for us too.

KIM: How important is it to balance the textual and visual elements of the book and how did you do this? What issues arose in the adaptation process and how did you overcome them?

MIRANDA: The adaptation has been challenging – the visual language of the book is so strong that we have had to make a very clear decision to embrace that and try and replicate it on stage. The designer has found it particularly frustrating because her job is usually to find a visual language and here she has had to adapt and problem solve. Also, there is very little ‘drama’ in the book, it is very ‘thin’ for the stage, but again we have embraced that and, using only the text as written, found models of theatrical, musical and dance storytelling to fill those gaps and make the piece fuller as a theatrical experience.

KIM: Do you feel that the performance has added anything to the experience of reading the book?

MIRANDA: We hope that the world of Tom and his night time adventures will become even more enthralling and engaging for the children in terms of enhancing their experience of the story – whether we achieve that will be down to the audiences of kids who we preview to.

KIM: The Night Pirates has some interesting stylistic aspects, in terms of text and structure on the page, did you choose to translate this theatrically? If so, how?

MIRANDA: The structure of the language on the page led us to a dance interpretation because the arrows indicated dance notation and movement journeys.

KIM: Theatre Hullabaloo stages both adaptations and devised or original work so there is obviously a balance in your company between the two. Why choose to adapt and what are the advantages and disadvantages of doing so? What is the role of adaptation, and those of picturebooks in particular, in your company and the wider context of theatre for children? Does their success hinder opportunities to create original work or can they open doors to new possibilities?

MIRANDA: The clearest advantage of adaptation, particularly of a book as popular as The Night Pirates, is the way it generates box office. Venues are very keen to book and we are doing remarkably well in terms of ticket sales. My reservation about adaptations is that I think they can sometimes be theatrically lazy as the children know the story and the characters and so the Creative Team is engaged with giving them a theatrical identity rather than being able to create a new world. I think that is why we have chosen such a departure in our use of ballet as a central part of the storytelling, so we are sure that we are creating a very vivid new experience for our audiences.

For a company such as Theatre Hullabaloo, I think an adaptation in amongst new work helps to support the company’s repertoire, but I would not want us to just produce adaptations – we want children to understand that the theatre is a place where original worlds and stories can come to life rather than somewhere that simply dramatises known worlds and characters.

KIM: Is it important for children to see and experience theatre? Do works for children have to be educational or do you think there is more of a focus on cultural learning? The book is not overtly educational and yet the themes, such as bravery, are very relevant (the section of your marketing document on how to sell for schools is really useful). How are these themes presented theatrically and do you feel that the experience of theatre is just as important as the educational focus?

MIRANDA: It is crucially important that children have opportunities to experience theatre that is created for them and with proper investment, high production values and artists of the highest calibre. Why? For the same reasons that any of us ‘need’ theatre, or for that matter, art – it helps us to view the world and our place in it in a different way, to value a ‘live’ experience shared with others, to appreciate that magic can be created through ideas rather than just CGI. Too often children’s theatre is ‘dumbed down’, low quality, cheap laughs or overtly didactic – none of these things make for good art and we send a dangerous message to young audiences about the quality of experience that they should expect from the arts if we don’t challenge this. There is a place for education in art, but it’s a much more sophisticated position than the ‘play about drugs’, its about creating safe spaces for us to imagine and learn and about convincing the grown-ups that these are important things to nurture and protect.

Download The Night Pirates Marketing Pack

Read more about The Night Pirates

Lyn Gardner's Blog on Arts Cuts

2010-11-17T17:55:00.000Z

Lyn Gardner featured as a speaker at Takeoff Festival last week. Here are her thoughts on the damage that proposed arts cuts will do:

Want to know the damage arts cuts could do? Visit Darlington

Countdown to Takeoff!

2010-11-10T14:09:00.000Z

Friends and colleagues are arriving at Darlington Arts Centre in advance of tomorrow's Takeoff Festival, the 23rd Takeoff and the third consecutive festival hosted with our partners at Darlington Arts Centre.

Takeoff is a celebration of the best of children's theatre from the UK and abroad and a meeting place for the sector to come together to discuss the issues that face us as makers, funders, promoters and programmers of theatre for young audiences.

The festival is packed to the brim with treats, a sell-out with more delegates attending than ever before, but it is sadly overshadowed by the news of proposals from Darlington Borough Council of the plans to remove the Council's subsidy of the arts by 100%. This will almost certainly mean the sale or closure of both the Arts Centre and the Civic Theatre.

The partnerships at Darlington Arts Centre have ensured a brilliant offer for children and young people through Theatre Hullabaloo, National Association of Youth Theatres and the professional programme of theatre in the Arts Centre which will be lost to Darlington if an alternative venue is not secured. Theatre Hullabaloo will need a new home and we will need to take the festival with us. This is sad for us and for the local schools, children and families that have inspired our work, but it is particularly sad for future generations of Darlington children and young people who have had such a uniquely excellent arts offer, particularly through Takeoff, that has not directly cost the Council a penny, but has benefited so many.

The savagery of the cuts to Local Authority budgets, in combination with nearly 30% cut to funds distributed by the Arts Council, will hit arts provision of all kinds across the country and we will be much the poorer for the loss of a local arts centre, the closure of a rural touring company, the reduction in youth theatre provision. We must reinvent and refocus ourselves in response to this new climate and much good will come from the creative thinking that is needed to salvage the best of what we have achieved.

In the light of the extent of Darlington Council's cuts to its arts provision it is difficult, however, to escape the fact that these cuts are an attack on the very essence of our communities, that precious place where we can come together to dream of a better world. We need that place now more than ever. Miranda.

An Extra Pair of Hands

2010-09-28T13:28:00.002+01:00

We are lucky enough to have the help of Anni Butler, a student at Dartington College of Art, as an intern during one of our busiest times of the year!

Anni is doing a degree in Devised Theatre and she contacted us earlier in the year with an interest in learning more about young people's theatre and the use of theatre to aid development in the very young.

The timing couldn't be better as we are currently in the middle of rehearsals for our delightful new show for 3 - 5 year olds, a stage adaptation of the much-loved picture book, The Night Pirates. We are also in the busy run up to Takeoff Festival 2010, for which tickets are selling out fast.

Learn more about Anni's experience here at Theatre Hullabaloo by following her blog.

Here are some of the photos Anni has taken during The Night Pirates rehearsals.

BOOK YOUR TICKET FOR TAKEOFF 2010 NOW!!!

2010-09-01T15:01:00.000+01:00

Ticket sales for Takeoff 2010 opened at 9am this morning.

Takeoff Festival is the annual sector-development festival for those working in the field of theatre for young audiences. We invite a range of companies from the UK and abroad to present their work and provide a forum for debate and comparison to raise awareness of the achievement and potential of our field amongst funders, producers and promoters.

There are four routes to choose from at this year's festival and delegate packages are £150 each.

EARLY BOOKING DISCOUNT

10% discount if you book your place before 10th September
(maximum of five tickets per organisation)

Takeoff Festival Successfully Launched!

2010-07-05T11:53:00.014+01:00

Takeoff 2010 was launched at LIFT (London International Festival of Theatre) on Friday 2nd July.

Miranda and Lucy embarked on the 'long' train journey to London (it's actually only 2 and a half hours from Darlington on the right train) to attend a panel discussion on Theatre For Young Audiences: An International Perspective. Presented by LIFT, TYA-UK and Takeoff Festival, the event was a unique opportunity to find out about and discuss international perspectives in theatre for young audiences. The discussion also included a presentation by Miranda and Steve Ball, the festival programmer, to launch this year's Takeoff Festival.

For those of you who don't already know, TAKEOFF FESTIVAL is the annual sector-development festival for those working in the field of theatre for young audiences. We invite a range of companies from the UK and abroad to present their work and provide a forum for debate and comparison to raise awareness of the achievement and potential of our field amongst funders, producers and promoters.

Takeoff is an important part of Theatre Hullabaloo's offer as a member of the European Small Size network. Each year we work with our colleagues from the UK and beyond to present a programme of work within the festival that focuses particularly on theatre for the very youngest. Takeoff 2010 retains an Early Years element as well as presenting a range of work for young people across the age spectrum.

This year's festival programme includes a great range of shows, an opportunity to see a presentation from WebPlay, be 'In Conversation With...' representatives from the world of children's TV, the commercial sector and the media and share scratch performances in our Departure Lounge.

Takeoff 2010 will be hosted at Darlington Arts Centre on 11th and 12th November. Delegate packages are £150 and bookings will open 1st September 2010. Tickets will be available on our website

Don’t forget to follow all the latest from TakeoffFestival on Twitter

Become a fan of Takeoff Festival on Facebook

Read more about LIFT, London International Festival of Theatre

Excellent News!!! FIVE Nominated for Award

2010-06-22T13:51:00.008+01:00

FIVE, our contemporary dance installation for Early Years, has been nominated for Outstanding Production in the Theatre for Young Audiences category of the Toronto Theatre Awards, The Dora Mavor Moore Awards.

This is very prestigious, a real achievement for the exchange with Theatre Direct and fabulous recognition of this very lovely piece which has now been in our repertoire for nearly 3 years.

We are particularly pleased that the nomination will attract more profile in Canada for Early Years work. The awards ceremony is in Toronto on 28th June – fingers crossed!

FIVE is available for week long residencies and festival bookings in Spring and Summer 2011. Please contact Diann on 01325 352 004 or email diann@theatrehullabaloo.org.uk for more information.

Find out more about FIVE

Casting Call for The Night Pirates

2010-04-14T13:48:00.001+01:00

We are currently casting for our autumn touring production of The Night Pirates. We are looking for a talented ensemble of four with a range of complimentary skills:

One Male Puppeteer to play: Tom

A highly-skilled puppeteer is required to manipulate and voice the puppet of little boy, Tom. There may also be some other minor puppetry work. Performer with a good singing voice preferred.

One Male Performer (actor/musician) to play: The Moon and others as cast

This performer must be a sensitive and playful story teller. Ideally they will play a musical instrument. An ability to play multiple roles and a good singing voice are essential.

One Female Performer (Contemporary Dancer) to play: the ensemble - girl pirates, Captain Patch and others as cast

This performer must be trained in contemporary dance to a high standard. A knowledge of ballet is also an advantage as is a playful and inventive approach to physicality. The ability to play multiple roles and a good singing voice are essential. Ideally they will also play a musical instrument.

One Female performer (Ballet Dancer) to play: the ensemble – leader of the Girl Pirates, grown-up pirates and other as cast. This part is already cast.

Download full casting information

My Mother Told Me Not to Stare Promotional DVD

2010-03-22T14:23:00.002Z

Fab promotional DVD for My Mother Told Me Not to Stare by Ian Paine,

Thanks Ian

Visit the My Mother Told Me Not to Stare Website

2010-03-10T15:31:00.004Z

If you haven't done so already, why not check out our website for our latest touring production, My Mother Told Me Not to Stare. It is regularly updated with blogs from the cast and creative team, along with photos, video clips and reviews.

http://mymothertoldmenottostare.wordpress.com

We're half way through the tour and we'd love to hear what you think of the show by leaving your comments on the site.

Next week we have a 5 day run at the Unicorn in London which we can't wait for, hopefully we'll see you all there!

THE NIGHT PIRATES - BOOKING NOW FOR AUTUMN 2010

2010-02-08T16:36:00.001Z

Following our successful Grants for the Arts National Touring Award, we are now booking our Autumn 2010 touring production of

The Night Pirates

A fantastical ballet with puppets and pirates for children aged three years old and above and their families to enjoy

Inspired by the book of the same name by Peter Harris and Debrorah Allwright. Directed by Sarah Argent, choreographed by Kitty Winter with music by Wayne Walker-Allen.

Read more about the production on the Theatre Hullabaloo website.

A New Year & a Fab New Show - My Mother Told Me Not To Stare

2010-01-04T12:33:00.003Z

Check out some of the photos from R&D week in December 2009:

See Takeoff 2009 on Flickr

2009-11-25T15:01:00.001Z

Takeoff 2009 Pictures

We're Loving Bek Palmer's Puppets

2009-11-03T16:30:00.000Z

This is Lucy McGee, she turned her back to the sea...

See more of Bek Palmer's AMAZING puppets that she is designing for My Mother Told Me Not To Stare, our deliciously dark operetta for curious children and their grown ups.

See the rest of them on Nina's Flickr slideshow. Nina is directing the show.

Beneath The Banyan Tree Production Shots

2009-10-26T12:07:00.000Z

Great Review in The Stage

2009-10-12T15:16:00.012+01:00

Beneath the Banyan Tree

Published Monday 12 October 2009 at 13:15 by Kevin Berry

This first staging of Emil Sher’s popular story reaches out in such admirable fashion. It draws children and their parents in and they are thoroughly absorbed. There is vivid, exciting colour in the costumes and the props, such as an adorable peacock fan, and sweet exhilaration in the free ranging physicality.

Anjali is a young Indian girl, newly arrived in the cold, damp UK. Initially bewildered and unsure of what to do, she gradually gains the courage to be herself. Anjali loves dancing and we see her perform in the Bharatanatyam style, from Southern India. English and Indian cultures meet and share. Going to school becomes a dance, as do playground antics. Archana Ballal plays Anjali with affecting sincerity. Grethe Jensen gives crucial support as her grandmother and an initially unpleasant schoolgirl.

An interesting element is Sher’s dialogue. Pure and simple, yet having reassuring truths that children will recognise. They will respond to its clarity and immediacy.

A banyan tree dominates the stage, roots spreading around the performance space. Its trunk is a frame on which John Afzal and Paul Conway climb, hang and swing. Afzal has a delectable voice and he keeps it beautifully toned. Conway is excellent as Anjali’s first new English friend and his playing of the spoons is sure to inspire children who see him.

Beneath the Banyan Tree is Theatre Hullabaloo’s first venture under what is a new name. The company was formerly known as CTC theatre and is celebrating 30 years of theatre making.

Read on-line here

Meet the Team - Beneath The Banyan Tree

2009-09-14T11:31:00.003+01:00

From back to front, left to right, we have - Alison Ashton - Set and Costume Design, Dorcas Pye - Communications Officer, Anna Harris - Office Manager, Lynda Hill - Director for Theatre Direct, Diann Allenby - Tour Coordinator, Lucy Ridley - Takeoff Festival Coordinator, John Afzal - Actor, Gretha Jenson - Actor, Paul Conway - Actor, Miranda Thain - Creative Producer for Theatre Hullabaloo and Archana Ballal - Actor

Theatre Hullabaloo's Brand New Website

2009-09-08T15:22:00.000+01:00

Thanks to Graham and the team at Edward Robertson Web Design and Mark at Fusion Creative Services our brand new website - www.theatrehullabaloo.org.uk.

We are really happy with the way it looks and works and we hope you enjoy it too!!!

Five Production Shots

2009-09-01T16:32:00.005+01:00

Building the Set for Beneath The Banyan Tree

2009-08-26T13:49:00.000+01:00

Mitch is busy in the studio painting the set in time for the rehearsals for Beneath The Banyan Tree, our Autumn touring production.

2 weeks until rehearsals start - VERY EXCITING!!!