Upstart Theatre

5 years on…

Tom Mansfield — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 10:31:41 +0000

Five years ago this morning, Brazilian electrician Jean Charles de Menezes was shot dead by armed police as he sat on an underground train at Stockwell station.

No individual has yet been held responsible for his death, or for the cover-up that took place afterwards.

To visit the website of the Justice for Jean campaign, click here.

In the aftermath of the killing, the media reported stories of a man jumping over barriers, carrying a rucksack, wires trailing from his coat. How and why this might have happened is explored in Steven Lally’s play Oh Well Never Mind Bye, which Upstart produced at the Union Theatre in 2009 and are planning to tour in 2011. To find out more about Oh Well Never Mind Bye, click here. To find out more about the 22nd July Project, Upstart’s long-standing theatrical response to Jean’s death, click here.

ADDENDUM:

It’s just been announced that no police officer will face charges for the death of Ian Tomlinson, the newspaper vendor who died after being struck by an officer during the G20 protests in April 2009. For more information, click here.

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Call for submissions from Pentabus Theatre

Tom Mansfield — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 09:00:57 +0000

The award winning Pentabus Theatre would like to invite playwrights from around the UK to submit a play for our 2012 season: WE ARE HERE

WHAT WE DO

‘You never know where a Pentabus production might pop up. It might be on stage at the Royal Court or Dublin International Festival – but it could just as easily be in a pub, a village hall or even a cave 200 feet underground. Pentabus has a history of making eclectic and innovative work that, while firmly rooted in the soil of its rural locale, branches out to embrace issues of national significance…It all boils down to people and place: where we are affecting who we are and how we are – that’s at the heart of everything ‘

-Orla O’Loughlin interviewed for TIME OUT 2010

AN INVITATION

We want to celebrate who we are and do what we do best by opening up a slot in our 2012 programme for an as yet undiscovered play.

Think you have an unproduced play that we might want to programme?

Then we would love to hear from you.

The deadline for submissions is 29^TH OCTOBER 2010

To find out more about PENTABUS THEATRE visit us at:

www.pentabus.co.uk

For full WE ARE HERE submission guidelines visit:

http://www.pentabus.co.uk/index.php/current-programme/we-are-here

Please feel free to forward onto anyone you think this might be of interest to.

Many thanks.

Pentabus Theatre

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Let us know your thoughts

Tom Mansfield — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 12:52:16 +0000

This is a hugely exciting time for Upstart Theatre. Following the success of Oh Well Never Mind Bye at the Union Theatre last year, plans are afoot to take it to audiences around the country. We’re privileged to be working with an incredible group of writers, actors, directors, designers, producers and many more, and it feels like our work is gaining more and more momentum as we begin the process of planning for the next few years.

And this is where you guys come in. As part of our strategic planning for 2011 and beyond, we’d like to find out your answers to the following two questions:

What do you think Upstart is for?

What, if anything, makes it unique?

We’ve been asking ourselves these questions at Upstart HQ and coming up with some surprising and invigorating responses. It would be brilliant if you could take a few moments of your time to share with us any thoughts you might have – whether it’s a couple of words or an extended essay. We’re interested in hearing from writers, actors, directors, designers, producers and artistic directors, but equally we’d love to hear from anyone who’s seen all of our shows, caught one or two of them, or just happened to stumble across this website. All thoughts, however obvious they may seem, are really helpful!

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Upstart to rock back to Tristan Bates’ Midnight Matinee

laura casey — Fri, 21 May 2010 12:51:25 +0000

Midnight strikes, coaches turn into pumpkins and the arty folk come out to play at the Tristan Bates Theatre. The Midnight Matinees are a monthly late-night happening that test and develop new work from some of the UK’s most innovative artists. In June, they’re celebrating with Pride London by asking all their artists to revel in freedom of expression and spontaneity. The infamous Spam and Beans will be hosting the night, which promises to be a spectacle of performance poetry, interactive new media installations, comedy, music and dance.

Upstart Theatre will create another immersive piece of performance that looks at what it means to be young and free in the 1960s. Delving into the inner world of the mods and rockers Upstart will look at what effect youth culture has on mainstream society.

‘People try to put us down… Talkin’ ‘bout my generation’

A whole generation of teenagers sparked a moral panic.

Where are they now?

Have we forgotten what it’s like to be young?

Mods vs Rockers. Whose side are you on?

Where?

Tristan Bates Theatre, 1a Tower Street, Covent Garden WC2H 9NP

When?

Saturday June 19th at midnight

How Much?

A mere five pounds.

See you there!

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New Urban Scrawl website online now

Tom Mansfield — Wed, 19 May 2010 16:02:36 +0000

The biggest online drama project of 2009 has relaunched its website.

Urban Scrawl, a project originated by TheatreVoice’s Dominic Cavendish and implemented by Theatre503 in association with Rose Bruford College, under the artistic direction of Gene David Kirk, brings together 53 plays by a combination of new and established writers, with one play for each station on the London Underground’s Picadilly Line.

Upstart writers involved in the project include Steven Lally, Dawn King, Sarah Sigal and Sarah Beck. There’s also work from Mark Ravenhill, Laura Wade and many many more of the UK’s most exciting playwrights.

Visit the Urban Scrawl website and lose yourself somewhere on the Underground!

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