by Kerry Murdock on December 5th, 2009.
Fear Itself from Friction Theatre participated in First Bite last month, it was a thoroughly entertaining and varied night.
We prepared an under-10 minute ‘taster’ of our show, Fear Itself. (We were one of only three shows to actually stick to the under-10-minute rule, but we’re not going to mention that. Ahem.)
The plan was to give the audience the flavour of our idea. In this modern world of tabloid and lazy journalism facts are rarely checked and the word is deliberately sensationalised. Statistics are misleading and the net result is that the general populace lives in fear of ridiculousness.
Your children are more likely to be poisoned in their own home than abducted in a playground. You’re more likely to be struct by lightning than suffer the result of a terrorist attack.
Fear Itself plans to present the work of fear behind a backdrop of honest-normality.
Anyway…
Unfortunately we didn’t get a commission but that’s not going to stop us from making it happen! The two that did get commission were genuinely our favourites of the evening, so we’re not too disappointed. The lucky comissionees were: Al Bowlly’s Croon Manifesto by Untied Artists and You’re not like the other girls Chrissy by Caroline Horton.
We had a range of feedback comments, some very positive and some rather negative. But, as Bill Cosby says, “I don’t know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody.”
by Kerry Murdock on October 23rd, 2009.
A brand new showcase event from the team that brought you The Bite Size Festival in 2008. Come to @AE Harris to experience an evening of exciting, eclectic, extracts and ideas from some of the regions most daring theatre makers. This is your chance to help mould new work as it develops…Two of the pieces seen at the 2009 First Bite Festival will be selected for commission by mac and Warwick Arts Centre, all of them will be shaped by your feedback. Come and tell us, and them, what you think…
by Graeme Braidwood on October 21st, 2009.
Mother Courage and Her Children is all over now. A total of 600 people came to see the show over four days. We had wonderful feedback from the audience. Many thanks to all who supported the show. It’s not quite over yet – we are now touring with Brecht school’s workshops – and we still have some dates available. See our contact page for more information.
The Mother Courage Cast
by Kerry Murdock on October 20th, 2009.
There are plenty of ways to keep uptodate with Friction Theatre
Firstly you could follow us on twitter.
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by Kerry Murdock on October 6th, 2009.
Today we tech’ed and dressed in just one day! It was an incredibly tight fit to squeeeze it all in, but thanks to a fabulous lighting designer(Pete Watts) and two really wonderful people at the Old Rep: Adrian Littlejohns (Technical manager) and Andy we just about managed it.
Not to mention the poor old cast who had to stay concentrated for hours and practice their scene changes…
Graeme Braidwood also came and did his usual awesome job of taking photographs.
Tomorrow it all starts for real.
But to whet your appetite here are a few pictures from Graeme:
by Graeme Braidwood on September 29th, 2009.
It’s been another busy week at Friction Theatre HQ – this week’s main task is to get the set up and running. Meanwhile Carol is frantically sewing buttons on the army uniforms, Eloise is writing up the endless scene changes, Geoff is building the cart and Robert and I have been delicately painting the set.
- Set painting at work
It is the year 1632 of our grace.
by Marcus Hendry on September 26th, 2009.
It takes a lot of COURAGE to virtually give theatre tickets away in a recession but Friction Theatre is doing the MOTHER of offers by offering all tickets for its Friday evening performance of Mother Courage and her Children at the Birmingham Old Rep on 9th October for only £5!!!
Kerry Murdock, Artistic Director, explains: “You always hear of offers being given during the week but we want to buck that trend and allow people the chance to start their weekend with a theatre show and leave enough pennies in the purse to go out afterwards. Fridays and Saturdays are usually known for premium prices but we are giving everyone the chance to see a premium performance for a week day rate, what better way to beat the recession blues. The £5 ticket offer is cheaper than the majority of Amateur shows, so the public can get the chance to see a Professional performance at lower than Amateur prices”
Rehearsals are now in their final stages and after weeks of illness and recasting the production in on track to give the National Theatre’s production a run for its money. “We may not have the big budgets and star names like the National but I can assure you we won’t be sending people home at the interval like the London production was forced to do, as they hadn’t finished their technical rehearsals in time; we’re ready and raring to go!” Kerry adds.
To take advantage of the ticket offer visit the national ticket agent The Ticket Factory on www.theticketfactory.com and enter the promotional code ‘Friday Fiver’ or call the ticket hotline on 0844 338 8000.
by Kerry Murdock on September 25th, 2009.
Our opening night is drawing nearer and you can tell we’re getting close as our poster is now up outside the Old Rep Theatre. It looks blooming marvellous blown up to A1. Thanks to Aptronym for the poster printing/designing.
by Kerry Murdock on July 9th, 2009.
As a drama practitioner you know how difficult it is to find a theatre production that illustrates the Brechtian techniques you’ve been teaching in the classroom and studio. This academic year, though, Friction Theatre with Mother Courage has three solutions; ranging from a full-scale production at the Old Rep Birmingham to a cut down schools tour and workshop.
View our Educational page for more information.
by Kerry Murdock on July 9th, 2009.
You may have noticed the newlook website – our old one was looking just a little bit dated. If you spot any mistakes or typos – do feel free to contact us.
Many thanks to Matt at Aptronym for his endless patience with Friction Theatre.
