News

And the winner is - Mark Daniels for 'Coronavirus - A Great British Farce' - bravura, absurdist writing - KEEP THEATRE ALIVE!

In association with #PropsMentalHealth our #short #playwriting #competition final last night with 4 plays for the judges to choose from.

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Well done and richly deserved Mark!

Superby well acted by Martin Nicholls and Lachlan Forlong who joined us from #NewZealand.

One of the finalists zoomed in from #California, Stephanie D Lewis for her play The View from the Middle.

Jon Platten's Black Dogs and Danish Men won plaudits as did Rock, Paper, Scissors by Rebecca Colmer.

Other actors featured were - Ruby Campbell  Ida Casilli  Mary Chater  Tiffany Parker  Emily Rayner  Florence Roberts

Martin Vaughan Lewis  Paul Westwood



It was a close run thing as the writing was forensically observed, absurdist and poetic in the four selected - such a difficult choice had to be made.
Several more potential finalists' plays will be read on Friday #March19th. They are also extremely accomplished pieces of writing.

A #review of the plays by #SimonJenner is below. #itsgoodtotalk #teamwork

The Eleanor Rathbone Charitable Trust awards us funding for a new project at The Venus Centre, #Bootle

The Eleanor Rathbone foundation has awarded us a grant to work for a second time with women at #TheVenusCentre in Bootle, #Liverpool

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Ebbing and Flowing in a Brave New World,
is a Shakespeare inspired theatre-based resilience and leadership project which will be delivered to the users of our partner charity, The Venus Centre in Bootle, Merseyside.
The project has been designed by our co-founder Mary Chater in collaboration with mentor
and community employer specialist Tonya Easter. It re-elaborates the concepts of shipwreck,
adaptation to a new world and development of resilience/leadership skills as seen in
The Tempest and Twelfth Night, to identify and work with issues specific to women and especially those badly affected by the pandemic.

We are thrilled to have been awarded this grant.

Actress, applied theatre practitioner and Member of Shakespeare in Italy, #Edinburgh based #IdaCasilli will lead the work later this year. 

We are looking for additional funding to support this project, if you are interested in sponsoring then please contact Mary Chater at info@shakespeareinitaly.org.uk  

#EleanorRathbone #Liverpool #Women'sSuffrage #TheVenusCentre #Bootle #TheTempest #TwelfthNight #Merseyside

#Masterclass video with #BillAlexander at #PlaygroundTheatre March 2nd 2020 on #TheMerchantofVenice just before lockdown

With #DramaStudio graduates #CarolineOliver #OliviaGosling #LachlanForlong #ConnorSheridan

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In preparation for Bill Alexander's production of his #6character version that he is calling A Merchant of Venice, on 02/03/2020 he led a public masterclass on Shakespeare's text at The Playground Theatre in Latimer Road London W10. 

4 recent Drama Studio graduates took part - Connor Sheridan, Lachlan Forlong, Olivia Gosling and Caroline Oliver

Enjoy!

#TheMerchantofVenice #DramaStudio #HonoraryAssociateArtistRSC #BillAlexander #BeforeCovid #beforefirstlockdown

#HonoraryAssociateArtistBillAlexander #ThePlaygroundTheatre

#BBCNewnight interview with actor #CyrilNri re: new visa requirements for theatre professionals working in #EU

An interview with actor #CyrilNri re: current bureaucratic requirements for theatre professionals and musicians working in #EU

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A letter has been sent to Boris Johnson by #Equity members to express the impossibly high cost of now working in EU as an actor, musician, dancer etc since #Brexit visa regulations came into force. Cyril mentions Shakespeare in Italy and the affect this will have on small companies. 

"Shakespeare in Italy takes directors like Bill Alexander to do workshops in Italy, taking Shakespeare and spreading our culture and yet this is being killed at the knees. This is not about your Benedict Cumberbatches and the Tom Hiddlestones, this is about where we find the next Daniel Kaluuyas, the Michaela Coels, the Kingsley Ben-Adirs, we need places where companies like this can travel. Spending £100 on visas for travel will make it economically impossible for small companies. 

"People are going to stop employing us and we are going to lose a cultural exchange and the ability to bring in huge amounts of revenue into this country and develop the actors of the future. There are 47,000 members of Equity, and 43 per cent said they were being affected by the rules seeping in plus with the double whammy of the pandemic the effect is huge."


Please see Cyril's interview. https://mobile.twitter.com/BBCNewsnight/status/1361818482111893510?s=20

 

Ian McKellen and Julie Walters join stars to call for visa-free touring

Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart and Julie Walters are among more than 100 names who have signed a letter to Boris Johnson, warning that visa rules for European touring will deal a “disastrous blow” to the industry.


#Equity #BillAlexander #EnglishSpeakingTheatreofVienna
#actorsabroad #actorsinEU #touringinEU #IanMcKellen #patron #PatrickStewart #JulieWalters #BorisJohnson #disastrounsblow

#DailyTelegraph article ' Feeling blue? You need some Shakespeare ' by #ClaireAllfree 05/02/2021

The therapeutic qualities of our greatest playwright can offer solace in our current crisis

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An article by journalist Claire Allfree in Daily Telegraph 05/02/2021 about the restorative power of Shakespeare and our company, Shakespeare in Italy.

'There is a great comfort, even a shared humanity, to be found in the shock of recognition you can get from his plays.'


https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.telegraph.co.uk/theatre/what-to-see/feeling-blue-need-dose-shakespeare/amp/

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