Over the next few months, four artists are taking over our B2 auditorium for a week of research and development.
Ty’rone Haughton, Open Theatre Ensemble, Sam Barrowcliffe, and Dan Edge, Steven George and John Quinn will each be taking up residency in B2 for a week to work on exciting new projects. They are supported with funding and resources from the Belgrade Theatre, as part of a scheme to make the Theatre more inclusive and reach developing artists who have been unable to access our talent development opportunities before.
Get to know more about the artists and the projects they’re going to be working on.
Ty’rone
Ty’rone (tuh-rone) Haughton is a Jamaican born poet, performer and advocate for looked-after children. Ty’rone’s poetry is a vulnerable exploration of society and identity, which has seen him perform internationally. His debut poetry collection, HOODS, is due for release in November.
Ty’rone is working on transforming his poetry collection into a stage piece, Ducky, which incorporates spoken word, physical theatre and tap dancing. Ducky tells the story of a young boy affected by crime, exploitation and the care system in the search for a father figure. It asks the difficult questions of what happens when we outgrow and outlive our elders and grow wise beyond their lessons.
Open Theatre Ensemble
A group of emerging artists from Open Theatre will explore the possibilities of creating a non-verbal physical performance based on Anton Chekhov’s Three Sisters. They will explore themes based on the play and its characters, as well as drawing from music and their own experiences.
Open Theatre works with young people with learning disabilities to create quality art which reflects and celebrates their unique creativity. The performers in this project all have unique abilities in physical theatre, and this week will provide an opportunity to dig deeper into the themes of the play and work together.
The exciting opportunity will all be about finding out what such a physical performance of a text-based play might look like and how we might get there. So it’s a bit of a jump into the unknown! But it may involve clowns, aerial work, something about Moscow and a lot of snow…
Sam Barrowcliffe
Dan Edge, Steven George and John Quinn
Suppose you see yourself as a born star, but are then brought firmly down to earth by an unexpected and unfortunate twist of fate. Instead of the acclaim you have come to expect, you’re now treated as an inferior being – often like you’re an infant and sometimes not even as human.A Different Kind Of Attention is brought to you by a trio of disabled theatre creatives – writer John Quinn, director Steven George and actor Dan Edge. They have used their real-life experiences of being ‘othered’ to make a piece looking at the experiences of an aspiring pop hero, who loses his credibility, his fan-base and his sex symbol status. He sees a side of life that most ‘normal’ people don’t due to a medical trauma which has far-reaching consequences for him and his family. But maybe his love and knowledge of music can help get him through it and readjust to his new form of existence.Both Steve and Dan have many years of acting and theatrical industry experience, both on and offstage, while John is a first-time playwright who has used his previous career as a music journalist to create the character.