the man who was peter pan

Adventures Past, Present and Future...

2011-12-30T04:31:00.000-08:00

As with a lot of people, I guess, I have had a think about 2011 and what it has meant, what it has been and what it has paved the way for in 2012.

Here are all the things that have occurred in 2011 with Belt Up, The Flanagan Collective and York Theatre Royal...

January -

We started the year touring Octavia in Jethro's homeland of Cornwall. A beautiful tour which, I now know, affected my ideas about making theatre.

We then headed to London, very early one morning, to do a fit up and get in for The Boy James at Southwark Playhouse which ran for three weeks. This was our first encounter with Mr Stephen Fry and my first play to run in London.

February -

Whilst running The Boy James we were rehearsing Antigone, Quasimodo and Odyssey which we were taking out on the road in Feb. We had a superb time at the wonderful Wyeside Arts Centre in Wales with Octavia, Quasimodo and Antigone. We stayed in the arts centre for the days we were there and were treated to a private screening of Black Swan in their cinema. Awesome.

We took Antigone, The Boy James and Quasimodo to South Hill Park Arts Centre too and met the brilliant Ron McCallistair and their beautiful building.

We also played in the basement of The Lowry for two weeks with Odyssey and Quasimodo in their Orchestra dressing room, which was an experience.

March -

This signaled Belt Up's very first musical, The Beggar's Opera. It was a main house show at York Theatre Royal for TakeOver Festival which was a Tory-Bashing, metatheatrical, anthemic couple of hours. It was hard - harder than we thought it would be I think - but thoroughly enjoyable and satiated an appetite we all have for musical theatre.

April -

And so came round our third production of Macbeth in Belt Up's history, this one in an underground prison in London - it ran for five weeks and was jolly successful, Stephen Fry came again, and it ended with Dom cracking his head open which was rather a shame. It was also Jethro's first independently produced show as Jethro Compton Ltd with Simon Cummin of SJC Productions, a relationship which seems to still be going strong and Jethro's ideas are getting bigger each month.

May -

We closed Macbeth and took Antigone and Lorca is Dead to The Lowry, this time in their studio. It ended with a very emotional goodbye to Lorca, Dom's beautiful play which we were all very attached to. Dom gave us all a spanish rose as a thank you, which I still have and will keep for as long as possible.

June -

The Boy James and Atrium got an outing at York Theatre Royal for a week in their studio, which is always nice to play on home turf. Myself, Joe and Dan were across at West Yorkshire Playhouse with Alan & Kully for the Transform closing party, Smoke and Mirrors which was superb fun and very much looking forward to the Transform Festival in 2012.

We also had the first Flanagan Collective show, Made For Radio. This was set up at 41 Monkgate to try and allow a writer, director and producer a low risk environment to make some work. It was a good project but one which needs more thought from us, I think.

We also ran another Flanagan Collective project in the market town of Easingwold. Lead by Abbi this was a 10 devising process with kids in years 7-9 to create a site-specific/immersive/promenade/experiential piece of storytelling. The project was called Spooked and was a very successful model which generated some superb work and a model which we can hopefully build on in the future.

July -

Here, Belt Up divided forces. Myself, James, Dom and Joe went in to rehearsal for Peter Pan, York Theatre Royal's big summer show as part of their In The Round Season. This was my first experience as assistant director working with Damian Cruden and was a wonderful experience and a big learning curve.

Jethro, Lucy and Dan went in to rehearsal for our Fringe season, again produced by Jethro Compton Ltd. The Boy James returned to the festival with two new pieces, Outland by Dom and Twenty Minutes To Nine by James.

For The Flanagan Collective we went in to rehearsal for our Fringe shows too.

August -

So Belt Up had a great season at the Fringe, a much smaller programme than 2010 but thoroughly successful - even hosting secret gigs with Neil Gaiman & Amanda Palmer.

The Flanagan Collective had William, a story for families, and Some Small Love Story, a new musical, playing for the month. For an unknown company the shows did very well with Some Small Love Story gaining superb reviews and award nominations and the beginnings of a future life for the show.

And in York we ran Peter Pan for 5 weeks with 10 show weeks and sell out houses. Very exciting and very lovely spending the month in a big theatre in York rather than a dark room in Edinburgh.

September -

We went straight in to rehearsal for 40 Years On by Alan Bennet, our second show with York Theatre Royal as part of their In The Round Season. We bid farewell to James from the Ensemble Season as he started his two years at Lamda. We said Hello to Luke James who joined the Belt Up Boys for the run.

October -

40 Years On ran at York Theatre Royal, again selling well and jolly good fun. I think we all learnt a lot from spending so much time working with York Theatre Royal - an invaluable experience.

I also started conversations with Tom Bellerby and Pilot about their Pilot Live scheme, about maybe getting involved there...

November -

Was when The Flanagan Collective stepped up our game. William started rural touring and is still doing so.

But the big event was The Little Festival Of Everything where over 50 artists came from near and far to perform, share, drink, sell, eat and chat at The Fauconberg Arms pub in Coxwold, rural North Yorkshire. The whole event was free to attend and has paved the way for some big projects and collaboration in the future. The festival was covered and streamed across the weekend by Pilot Theatre with over 700 views online. It was thoroughly and genuinely amazing.

December -

Tom Bellerby and I, after various collaborations and shows in the previous three months, teamed up with The Lamb and Lion pub in York to create a new version of A Christmas Carol. It was a communal dining experience for only 20 people at a time. It starred Dominic Allen and Michael Lambourne and was a real success. Luke James stepped in as Assistant Producer and was a hero. Expect more at The Lamb and Lion over the next year or so.

So all in all 2011 was a busy year, full of change and progression.

Other things that happened in no particular order:

Spoke at the Theatres Trust conference in London / Moved in with Veronica and moved to a new flat, so moved house twice in 2011 / Belt Up went to different parts of the country, no longer having Belt Up Towers in York / Spent a wonderful weekend in Brighton where I jammed with a funk band / Alan and The Bennetts, the York Theatre Royal staff band formed and have played 3 average gigs / variously panicked, dreamed, thought about and ignored the future / had no end of wonderful conversations and met no end of wonderful people...

And all of this just ends up as what leads in to 2012.

At the minute 2012 is all about:

Adelaide Fringe with two Flanagan Collective shows, two Belt Up shows and a cabaret with Damsel Sophie / Touring William and The Fastest Train To Anywhere wherever and whenever we can / Making two new big shows, Beulah with The Flanagan Collective and Therapy with No Shoes Theatre / RnDing Some Small Love Story and that starting it's life in the caring hands of Hartshorn+Hook Productions / Continuing and expanding The Little Festival Of Everything with festivals around the country and the second bigger and better festival in Coxwold in June / Big ideas and plans for Edinburgh Fringe / Potentially heading to Brighton Fringe too / Touring Hot, the cabaret with Damsel Sophie as much as we can / Building an exciting relationship with South Hill Park Arts Centre and a week on programming there in July / Beulah premiering for a week at York Theatre Royal in June / Plans to launch a new venue and artistic retreat deep in the Yorkshire countryside / Associate Director on the massive and wonderful project that is The York Mystery Plays 2012 with York Theatre Royal, Riding Lights Theatre Company and York Museums Trust / and more...

I can only hope in 2012 that I carry having such good conversations with such good people. The next year could bring such exciting things and lots of superb adventures.

Hopefully catch you along the way!

Happy New Year to you all.

Alex

The next while

2010-05-30T07:07:00.000-07:00

i have been a graduate for almost a year now and during that time have worked for myself and Belt Up Theatre. it's now lovely to no longer feel like a graduate, i no longer feel like i'm lying to people when i tell them that i work for myself and that i'm not a student.

it's exciting to assume that this feeling will only increase as time goes on and that i'll feel more and more part of the real world. having said 'the real world' i work in theatre, so perhaps that doesn't count.

as a member of Belt Up i have been incredibly lucky and hopefully will continue to be so. we've had some great breaks, some great opportunities and a lot of good friends and people supporting us along the way.

the more work we do the more comfortable i feel doing it and with the amount of work we've got coming up that can only be a good thing. in the next few months we are producing 11 brand new shows and hosting 1, all of which are as exciting as the next. i feel ready for these shows to take everything to the next level, the next step away from the student company we used to be.

fingers crossed.

Midsummer Nights Dream

Octavia

Second Start To The Right

Metamorphosis

Lorca is Dead

Antigone

Atrium

The Boy James

Quasimodo

Odyssey

Eslewhere

Macbeth

it struck me the other day, whilst i was running around a secondary school in costume and make-up, that i was at work. this is a bloody good job.

and so...

2009-10-19T09:30:00.000-07:00

on tuesday i saw krapps last tape at york theatre royal.
kenneth alan taylor is wonderfully fragile in the role.

on wednesday we were at the lowry to see slung low's betond the front line.
some nice and, relatively, exciting stuff here.

friday we popped to the west yorkshire playhouse for caucasian chalk circle.
pleased to see some accessible and enjoybale, non-preachy, brecht.

saturday, however, probably changed the world.

went down to royal court to see time crouch's the author. now i am already a massive fan of tim crouch's work, so was in eager anticipation. but, of all the things i have thoughts, written and learnt about his previous work, these have been subsume, consumed, flipped on their and our heads.

there is, over a long period of time, a contract drawn between the audience and the actor, each mixed within one another in their banks of seating; a contract of trust, interest and safety. there are, during these times, moments of joy, of sorrow, of lust, awkwardness and of genuine friendliness. this all ends with crouch, the man with his name on and in the text; the real and the fictional. this is, i think, one of the greatest acts of betrayel i have felt in the theatre. so simply, so perfectly crafted and utterly destroying.

there are ways and rules between the actor, the performer and the audience. these are, by and large, adhered to: not one if us is hurt, physically touched, personally abused. but i think probably all leave winded. get out clauses are set up, but few use them. we all sit, and listen and hate every word of the text, spoken from the authors mouth.

i think crouch is right. i don't doubt that some people may not forgive him.

a genuinley brutal and, theatrically, beautiful betrayal.

Spring Awakening

2009-05-23T04:26:00.000-07:00

speaking to a friend of mine the other day, he described us as being at the beginning, or at least in the need of a rennaissance.

at the risk of sounding like a horrific cliche, i tend to agree - the winds of change seem to be mustering ever-so-slightly. this may, of course, be for a variety of reasons; not least that our winds of change must blow, as we tentatively step in to our relative next stages.

for me, this is exciting. i imagine this entire experience could be terribly lonely. the thought of leaving a lifetimesworth of comfort, support and habits to be on one's own may indeed be a daunting thought. however i am happy to be in a slightly different position.

although i cannot pretend to boast prospective success, riches and waltzes in the world, i can happily say that i shan't be lonely. no matter what happens, whether i am to dive, sink, flounder or swim, three other worthy gentlemen shall be doing exactly the same at my side. and this is honestly nice to know.

although none of us really have a grand plan and none of us have any assurances as to what will happen over the next while, knowing that whatever does it will happen to all four of us is jolly nice.

so wherever these winds blow we shall race through them and in them respectively, hands clasped and hoping for the best.

as for the rennaissance, i hope to catch sight of it and jump on board. but then again maybe it is just myself and my friend who feel this shift on its way, and if so then quite why is inexplicable. but, equally, a two-man rennaissance may be all the rennaissance we need. we shall see, i guess.

whether towards bohemia, rennaissance or hard work and administration, i think that the four of us are poised and ready to jump, entirely without the aid of safety nets.

the very art of blogging

2009-05-06T08:03:00.000-07:00

i think there are, at least for me, a million reasons why i would never have a blog.

i would assume that this very act would make me a little ego-centric. the assumption that others will spend their time reading my various thoughts.

in this vein, my thoughts are exactly that: mine. ordinarily i have no means, desire or need to publish them. they remain, as do most peoples, cosily holed up in my head, tucked in around other tasks of the day. this, then, is one of those tasks between which the toughts are kept, stolen and, now, slid out on to the page.

i cannot promise to be of any interest, although i shall do my best to try.

currently i have little divulge. hopefully this may change. anyone reading this may be witness to wordly and inspiring thoughts on any number of subjects. then again, you may not.

one can only hope and keep one's fingers crossed. for now.