The tour... Week Three/Four(ish). Up's and down's. Hit's and misses.
I think the nature of all exploration is to become a little lost at some point, tread in unknown territory and generally be adventurous. When we started this tour I don't think we intended it to be an exploration, but as in life; the actual task is very rarely the actual reward or reason. It's this thing that you do that allows you to do a whole host of other things: Have a road trip, visit different cities, play games, meet new people, find new things, develop new ideas, become lost in a world you felt most familiar with and learn something totally new.
I was going to list each venue we've been to and describe it to you in deftly accurate detail from the pastel tones of the wallpaper to the toast crumbs on the curtains, but I won't, because I have found a common thread: The Recycled Venue. Mostly all of the venues we've been to haven't been "conventional" theatre spaces, in as much as the building wasn't built to be a theatre, but somehow some awesome people have imagined, modified (and in some cases squeezed) a theatre in between some bricks, and each one had heaps of charm, a loyal audience and loads of atmosphere.
Firstly - The Bike Shed Theatre & Bar - Exeter
In 2009 David Lockwood, Fin Irwin & Deborah Bucella formed Particular Theatre Company with the aim of producing new work in unusual spaces. I don't know the full story but with a few trails and tribulations they began working in an old Chinese Restaurant under a bike shop in Exeter. After a few months of working in there they secured a lease, held the first ever Exeter Fringe Festival and aptly named the place The Bike Shed Theatre, with the help of an award winning Mixologist they opened an amazing (and I mean amazing, I know I hyperbolize a lot but I mean it this time!) amazing cocktail bar adjacent to the theatre and the whole thing is history. They've ended up with this quaint, throughly welcoming, absolutely beautiful venue. The theatre it's self my favourite part, a small brick lined performance space that sit's around 60, the concrete floor and the victorian features still in place just adds to the whole sense of Recycled-Venueness.BIKE SHED LINKAGE: http://www.bikeshedtheatre.co.uk
Secondly - Three Minute Theatre - Manchester
This one... We can safely say... Blew us all away. It used to be a clothes shop in a (semi-synonomous) arcade shopping centre called Afflecks Arcade in Manchester. It was a sort of blink-and-you'd-miss-it type venue, and we kept missing it as we circled it like moronic lemmings unable to find a parking space, the actual venue or any sense of direction in the heaving city centre of Manchester. I called the venue:
"Hi, is that John?"
"Yeah it's John, where the bloody hell are you?"
"Sorry John, we're in Manchester and we think we're close to it, but we're really not sure where to go?"
"What can you see?"
"Um... Buildings, a Nando's, a bright yellow newsagents..."
"I know where you are. Head down towards the traffic lights, take a left and then you'll see a load of porno shops, XXXX and that on the right, take the first right and you'll be able to... I'll tell you what, stay where you are and I'll come meet ya"
We had to drive on as all the cars we we're holding up formed a vendetta and began mass hooting. I called the venue again:
"Hi, is that John?"
"No it's Gina, John's ran outside looking for ya"
"Oh has he ("oh for f**k sake") well, we're not where we said we were anymore, we had to drive on, so he won't find us there, what does he look like and we'll look for him"
"Well, he's shortish, stocky, wearing a suit jacket with a cheeky face and a head full of hair"
"... Right"
Before we knew it the side door of our LDV Convoy was wrenched open as we were still actually moving and a man with a cheeky face and a head full of hair burst into to.
"Hello, I'm John, keep going this way, past the porno shops, Christ it stinks in here."
The next five hours in Gina and John's company we're some of the most relaxing, rewarding and happy we've spent on this tour, they were lovely and there venue is amazing. The Three Minute Theatre Manchester founded, made, built and created by Gina and John husband and wife. They had an amazing charm about them and that charm is transposed into their theatre space. It's intrinsically them, but at the same time it feels like everyone else's. We felt totally at home there. The walls adorned with trinkets, charms, posters, paintings, sculptures, objects and things that told stories. The seats a bright orange cinema style donated to them from a closed down cinema in Manchester. The stage a simple black raised platform, then when an audience of locals and unknowns alike showed up it all blended together to make an amazing evening.Thirdly - The Lantern Theatre - Liverpool
Our penultimate show took place on the second storey of a block of Warehouses. We had to load our set in through an old crate elevator and the moment we walked into the venue, we all knew we were going to love performing in their. It was a small 70 seater with back stage access through two black curtains which made up the back of the performance space. Margret, who I found humbly working behind the bar is the owner of the venue, she took it over in 2009 and since then has been dedicated to programming new, exciting work pre-fringe and studio/experimental alike. Aesthetically the place was beautiful and technically speaking from a performance point of view well laid out. We didn't have much chance to speak to Margaret o r Siobhan who run the venue, but it's clear that they feel strongly about representing the under-represented in a city that, lets face it, has a pretty thriving theatre scene when all is said and done. This venue, like all the other venues felt like unearthing a gem, finding something beautiful where it's not expected. As you walk up the steep concrete stairs to The Lantern Theatre you think "How is a theatre going to fit up here?" but it does, and in The Lanterns case it does it so well.
The startling difference between visiting these small "recycled" venues in comparison to larger more main stream conventional venues is how transparent they are in their intention. Each one is a unique, hand crafted labour of love... Because let's face it, no one builds a theatre to make heaps of money... They're made for the pure pleasure and joy of celebrating theatre that's being made by people outside of the conventions, like it should be. But these venues must exist all over the country and we were lucky enough to find three of them, all three of which we fell a little bit in love with.
And that's part of the adventure, to go into the unknown, walk up the flight of concrete stairs, through the shopping centre or underneath the old bike shop and unearth something beautiful and strange, a place that feels like it has a pulse, that has texture and personality and history. I never expected to be so involved in what our venues are but I have just become totally inspired by the whole thing.
This has been a long blog... A Blong if you will... But thanks for reading.
Here's a review we collected from Liverpool -
http://www.thepublicreviews.com/dr-frankensteins-travelling-freakshow-lantern-theatre-liverpool/
Now onward to our home-town-venue. We are so proud to be perfoming our last show at The Riverfront, Weds 29th, 8:00pm. It's ya last to see Dr Frankenstein's Travelling Freak Show this tour. We're nearly sold out and hopefully having some live music play after us by the band who gave us the sound of our show, the incredible INC.A. So come along for a night of theatre, networking and freakishness!
Book Here: http://www.newport.gov.uk/theRiverfront/index.cfm/whatson/225841/
Danke Schon,
Mucho,
Justin
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