29.5.14

10 Days To WeFund!








WE'VE GOT 10 DAYS LEFT TO WEFUND!

We're twenty days through our thirty day target and we've raised just over £500. Can we do it? That's up to you.


THE 10 DAY DESPERATE PLEA


Please like, share, poke, RT, post, etc this blog and that'll be donation enough.

That's it. Short and brief. More of a Vlog than a Blog.

Mucho

Justin x

23.5.14

WE NEED YOU!


WE NEED YOU!

If you're reading this you've probably seen that we're trying to raise funds to take our work Dr Frankenstein's Travelling Freak Show! to The San Diego Fringe Festival 2014.



We've almost managed to raise all the funds we need to take the work to America.

We really want to try and encourage the cross pollination of arts and culture between South Wales and San Diego, which could in turn become an exciting prospect for other companies residing and creating work in South Wales, whilst also being an exciting opportunity for the San Diego Fringe Festival it's self, potentially developing a long lasting dialogue and relationship with Wales based companies for the future.

So… The Sell.

We need your donations. As a small producing company that receives no revenue funding we have been working for the best part of 6 months earning/raising money to make this project viable, and now we're £600 away from our goal, with THE FREAK SHOW BUFFET event looming.

There are LOADS of ways you can help, and not all of them involve giving us any money:

- Donate a single quid to our WeFund.com project. Seriously, it might not seem like a lot but if 600 people gave us a quid each… CLICK HERE TO DONATE

- We get it if you're skint, whose bloody not these days, if you can't afford to donate then you could just share this blog on Twitter, Facebook or any other social media, or just tell someone about it, it really would be appreciated.

- You could help us with our impending Freak Show Buffet event. We need volunteers to help us run the event. If you're game for a bit of dressing up and have experience in events or bar work give us an email: tinshedtheatre@gmx.com

- Are you a Performer/Visual Artists/Game Maker/Actor/Artist/Circus Performer/Etc and want to get involved in THE FREAK SHOW BUFFET at Le Pub, then get in touch and drop us an email: tinshedtheatre@gmx.com


A HUUUUUGE THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HAS DONATED SO FAR!
Thank you so, so much. You have no idea how happy you've made us.


18.5.14

The Old Man - A Work In Progress Sharing


Hello lovely people,
Tin Shed Theatre Co. are currently developing, as part of WalesLab, a new piece The Old Man (working title).
The piece (at the moment) explores Britain's immediate social and political approaches to caring for elderly people, whilst also looking at some universal themes more connected to the human emotional state: How does it feel to grow old and what implications do cultural progressions and technological advancements have, as well as exploring the ideas around stories, the sometimes palpable nature memories (and how from a performance point of view to physicalise that notion), mental health and ultimately death.
The evening will consist of a short performance/show back of our work in progress, followed by a discussion with our audience on both, what they saw, and their opinions on the subject.
You can see more here: CLICK ME

If you'd like to know more or come and participate please get in touch: tinshedtheatre@gmx.com
Thanks,
Mucho,
Justin

17.5.14

Newport's Transporter Bridge


Yesterday we traveled in Victorian style, and this has nothing to do with Dr Frankenstein's Travelling Freak Show.


Yesterday Georgina, Antonio and I went to Newport's Transporter Bridge to meet Mike Lewis, the Museums & Heritage Officer for Newport to talk about making a celebratory performance that would take place on the moving bridge toward the end of the year.

Not only was meeting Mike and hearing about the history of the bridge an absolute pleasure, but we got to stand; braced and ready on the wooden platform awaiting the call of "All Aboard!" before the platform jutted and moved away leaving the safety of the roadside behind us as we drifted like ferrymen across the River Usk.

This video isn't our property it belongs to youtube user: michiel2006

Inspiring would be an understatement. We were in awe.

Only ever having gone to visit the Transporter Bridge as a stander-by I'd never actually travelled on it before, and the experience was not quite what I was expecting. 

Antonio has been on the bridge a handful of times as well as having walked over it

The atmosphere and sense of history the moving platform evoked as Mike explained the bridge was built for the steelworkers of Pill, who would pile on for trips across on early mornings, was awesome, and as our hands gripped the bright blue bannister and we saw the other side of the Usk bank slowly approach I think all our minds were full of ideas and questions.


I'd always had a thought about performing something on the bridge, and it seems the opportunity to create a piece of work that responds to the bridge and uses it's cultural heritage and history infused with people's stories as stimulus could become a reality.

To celebrate something that should be celebrated more. To try an re-connect the people of Newport to one of it's most under-polished jewels. Riding the bridge is an amazing experience, if you haven't done it I'd highly recommend it. Steeped in history, fuelled with adventure, the Newport Transporter Bridge is an engineering marvel that's beautiful, blue and on the ruddy doorstep.

So consider this another work in progress (to see fruition in September 2014)

A tired me holding my Transporter Bridge Blue-Prints bought from Newport Library.

On another note:

We are desperate to meet our WeFund.com goal of raiding £1,000 in donations towards taking our Newport made, home grown work to the San Diego Fringe Festival later this year. We have almost all the funds we need, but if you're feeling generous please donate and help us get there; To share contemporary Welsh Theatre with an international audience, to strengthen links between continents with the mind set to forming inter nation relationships that can cross pollinate artistic cultures here in Wales and in California.


If you'd like to donate please do: CLICK HERE to see donation page.

Thank you!

Mucho

J

14.5.14

Macbeth R&D


We had some good news today.

Arts Council Wales have accepted our application for 3 days Research and Development working toward a large scale outdoor performance of Macbeth at Raglan Castle.

Readers of this Blog may have seen my post in December about Castle Hunting in Wales with Phil Regan from North Wilts Theatre (you can read it HERE).

Since then the project has come on leaps and bounds with support from The Riverfront and CADW, and with the roping-in of Cardiff based Contemporary Circus Company; Citrus Arts, as well as Katherine Goodenough (Out-Door Project Co-Ordinator), Chris Hall (Fight Choreographer) and Peter Farago (Multi-Platform Digital Artist).

An Old Image of Raglan Castle by Chopper.
Even though the project isn't due to come to fruition until July 2015, this R&D is an important step towards making the production viable and accessible for audiences, whilst exploring the feasibility of creating what we have in our minds: A bizarre, etherial, loud, violent, magical, large scale, classically inspired, digitally executed, out-door performance of Macbeth.

The research and development will focus heavily on the "HOW" rather than the "WHAT" of the project. When Phil and I wanted to approach Macbeth, we had different ideas of what we wanted it to be. So many conversations ensued, until finally we came to an understanding of what the project would be, now we need time, energy and expertise to explore how we make it happen.

Having never done a project on as large a scale as this the challenges that face us range from the monumental to the tiny. Our main questions centre around the narrative and how best to place it into the context, and also engagement; How will the audience watch it.



If you're interested in the project, process or are interested in documenting, becoming involved, or lending a hand as a volunteer you'd be more than welcome: Just drop us an email to tinshedtheatre@gmx.com subject line MACBETH


On another note:

We are desperate to meet our WeFund.com goal of raiding £1,000 in donations towards taking our Newport made, home grown work to the San Diego Fringe Festival later this year. We have almost all the funds we need, but if you're feeling generous please donate and help us get there; To share contemporary Welsh Theatre with an international audience, to strengthen links between continents with the mind set to forming inter nation relationships that can cross pollinate artistic cultures here in Wales and in California.


If you'd like to donate please do: CLICK HERE to see donation page.

Thank you!

For now…

Mucho,

Justin Cliffe

9.5.14

PLEASE HELP US GET TO AMERICA



WE NEED YOUR HELP!
Tin Shed Theatre Co. have started a WEFUND campaign to get Dr Frankenstein's Travelling Freak Show to America.
Specifically, we are looking to take the work to The San Diego Fringe Festival to showcase the work and ourselves as a company producing and performing work in Wales, internationally.

The show has gone from strength to strength, receiving numerous award nominations and some great reviews. We are hoping to connect with an international audience, and in doing so create a pathway between each place linking South Wales and San Diego.

We are also looking to take the piece of San Francisco to the oldest Horror Theatre, as a tribute to our routes as performance artists having all studied and fallen in love with Le Grande Guignol.



Every little penny helps from £1 to 1p and what ever you can give we'd be truly grateful.

So click the link and help us get to AMERICAY!
Thank you.

3.5.14

Dead Inspector The Old Man's Frankenstein Big Splash


Typically I'd spread this information out over three blogs. It all seems blog worthy, but unlucky for me I'm skint for time.

An Inspector Calls

We've just finished our first tour of An Inspector Calls as part of our educational remit (a self imposed remit, but a remit non-the-less) and it was cracking.

A massive thank you to our awesome cast and crew who worked hard to make the show possible. We had some amazing responses from schools and audiences which is really gratifying as this work is an important part of our companies ethos and eco-system and we love it as much as making our own unique things.

A thank to all the schools, venues and audiences who trusted us enough to interpret this classic, and supported our production.



Dr Frankenstein's Travelling Freak Show

So up next is Dr Frankenstein's Travelling Freak Show which will be returning to Landan Tan for one night as part of Incoming Festival at The New Diorama Theatre. It's at 7.00pm on the 26th of May so if you'd like to come alongs pleases dosies.



After that we hope the next outing of DFTFS will be in San Diego and San Francisco at the begining of July.

The Old Man - A Work in Progress 


At the end of this month, Working as part of National Theatre Wales #WalesLab, we will begin a research and development project into our newest personal project: The Old Man.

The project looks to deal with immediate social and economical issues surrounding the system of  treatment for the elderly in modern Britain, with an explorative journey into the human emotins, morals, collective responsibilities and soul questions surrounding this subject matter; such as confronting death, growing older and our responsibility as a community.

Already we have met and interviewed elderly people who recieve care at their own homes, but one other aspect we'd like to explore is residential care.

We're looking to collect stories, ask questions, play games, have conversations and make a performance - discussion with you.

On the 6th of June at Barnabas Arts House we will be hosting a Sharing of our work in progress, to which a small audience will be invited and asked for there thoughts on our work in progress. If you would like to come along to this event then please email: tinshedtheatre@gmx.com with the subject matter: THE OLD MAN

We have many questions at this point. Almost all of them are unanswered.

The Big Splash Festival 2014


We're currently working with Citrus Arts and other Welsh Performance Artists and Theatre Makers on a large scale performance to celebrate Newport's annual festival The Big Splash!

May 30th - June 1st

So far activities include a giant community whale mosaic project ran by Stephanie Roberts, a performance from Mr and Mrs Clark, and loads of other stuff. So get involved Newport, it's time to celebrate!

Check out more info here: BIG SPLASH NEWPORT

That's all from me.

Have an awesome sweet Bank Holiday Weekend.

Mucho

J