RoguePlay Rehearsals

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2011-10-24T08:02:00.000-07:00

RoguePlay has gone young people mad this summer!

2011-08-04T02:01:00.000-07:00

L'ARBRE DE CIRQUE / THE CIRCUS TREE
Monday 22nd August-Friday 25th August: 10am-3pm daily
The Circus Tree, Cannon Hill Park

Roll up! Roll up! Roll up! CircusMASH and RoguePlay Theatre are coupling up
to offer a week long intensive aerial circus course. Aimed at those aged 14+ and held in the beautiful surroundings of Cannon Hill Park, you will find nothing else like this in Birmingham.

Working with circus performer, Joseph Fearn, you will spend a week developing impossible circus feats to amaze family and friends, as well as working with Kim Charnock of RoguePlay Theatre to develop your skills into a fully theatrical performance that will literally take their breath away.

From death- defying aerial acrobatic skills and the equally challenging art of balance, this week also explores characters, storyline and physicality with your feet either firmly on or off the ground! You will work with the beautifully graceful act of Aerial Silk and Corde Lisse, where the performer climbs to descend or drop on a piece of colourful fabric or rope. There is also Aerial Lyra; a spinning hoop as graceful as Aerial Silk. For amazing balance acts we have Rolling Globe; a huge ball found in traditional circus, as well as Rola Bola; stacked cylinders used for balancing. To top it all off there is group hand balancing and acrobatics! Less physical but equally challenging skills like juggling and plate spinning will also be available to learn. You will then turn all of this into a short piece of enchanting theatre using your new found aerial circus skills.

This week challenges personal boundaries, develops astounding confidence, excites theatrical minds and truly gives an insight into circus for performance. And guess what? There is no experience necessary.

Monday 22^nd August-Friday 26^th August: 10am-3pm daily

The Circus Tree, Cannon Hill Park, Birmingham

Course costs £55 and is for anyone aged 14 and above.

Book online: www.rogueplay.co.uk

Phone Kim @ RoguePlay: 07746 327284

YOUNG ROGUES AUDITIONS
Sat 3rd September, 12-2pm, South Birmingham College, Digbeth

DO YOU WANT TO BE AN ACTOR?
Well the Young Rogues are a group of young people from a variety of backgrounds, who perform on stage and in film and TV. Ages 8-18 years.

The Young Rogues meet every Saturday during term time and develop work and skills for public stage performance in Birmingham. We also work with a casting agent named The Young Actors Company who specialise in young people in TV and Film. That's not to say you would be out filming every week, but if it's an industry you want to get into then you will need an agent, and The Young Actors Company have been specialising in young people for nearly 30 years. You will have a webpage with professional photographs and voicereel created and then you are open for auditions and castings.

The focus however is on stage performance, and we perform almost every term around professional venues in Birmingham. To add to their most recent list of credits, the Young Rogues have performed at the International Youth Arts Festival in London July just gone, as well as will be performing at ArtsFest in Birmingham in September.

'The Young Rogues has opened up a world of opportunity for me, giving me the chance to improve my future prospects.' (Hugo Thompson, Young Actor)

If you are interested in auditioning you need to drop us an e mail or give us a call to book a place.
E-mail: info@rogueplay.co.uk / Tel: 07746 327284

Auditions take place at the home of the Young Rogues, which is South Birmingham College, Digbeth. About 10 mins walk from the city centre. Membership costs £169 per 11 week term which includes subscription to the casting agency, photos and voicereel.

YOUNG CREATIVE WRITERS COURSE
Starts Tuesday 6th September, 6-8.30pm, South Birmingham College

FROM IDEA TO PERFORMANCE.......DO YOU WANT TO BE A WRITER?

Our Young Creative Writers Course is open to budding writers between the ages of 15 and 25 years and is an 8-week course that culminates in a rehearsed public reading by professional actors.

Kim Charnock has been writing for RoguePlay, amongst other Theatre Companies, for a number of years and her work has been performed and toured across the country. Young writers will work with Kim through a series of writing seminars and workshops focusing in detail on form, structure, narrative, characterisation and stimuli. Whether you are at the beginning of exploring your writing of whether you have produced some writing in the past, this course will help find your style and give you the tools you need to broaden your ideas as well as practical advise on how to get your work out there.

It will run every Tuesday from 6-8.30pm at South Birmingham College's Digbeth Campus.
Course starts on Tuesday September 6th and runs for 8 weeks. At the close of the course there will be a month break for you to develop your work for a public rehearsed reading by RoguePlay's professional actors.

Full course: £120 (including the rehearsed reading)

Book online today at www.rogueplay.co.uk
or give us a call on 07746 327284. (Limited places available)

RoguePlay Theatre are Climbing the Walls in Preparation for New Show

2011-07-06T02:15:00.000-07:00

After performing to sell out audiences with their promenade adaptation of Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure last year, RoguePlay Theatre are preparing to transform a second unlikely space into a performance venue with their new piece, Climbing The Walls. Created in collaboration with Birmingham’s rock climbing community, RoguePlay Theatre present a new site-responsive piece of Physical Theatre involving the art of rock climbing and some daring rope work. To top it all off the performances will be held at two indoor rock climbing centres this July, with a view to touring the piece in February 2012.

The piece explores the concepts of balance and equilibrium. The balance between the belayer and the climber, the wall and the earth, the search for freedom and the world that keeps us trapped. A sister desperately trying to hold onto her relationship with her brother. Two friends, one who never gets the chance to speak what is on her heart, and the other doing all she can to get what she wants. All the while, the man they have as their focus makes a life changing decision for them all. The four are taken on a journey that leaves them exactly where they start, but in turn changes their world. The piece itself is humorous and touching, poetic and strikingly visual. Through a combination of physical theatre, rock climbing, text, song and contemporary dance, it discovers the complicated private lives of four individuals literally Climbing The Walls.

With funding support from the Sir Barry Jackson Trust, and support in kind from Vertical Limits and Creation Climbing Centre, Climbing The Walls proves to be an exciting night of theatre.

Climbing The Walls is on at the Creation Climbing Centre, Moseley, Birmingham on Thursday 21st, Friday 22nd and Saturday 23rd July at 8pm. And again at Vertical Limits Climbing Centre, Worcester, on Wednesday 27th and Thursday 28th July at 8.30pm. Tickets cost £8 and can be bought on www.rogueplay.co.uk or over the phone on 07746327284.

Poetry, Comedy and Rock Climbing!

2011-04-08T06:08:00.000-07:00

Lorna here. There's lots going on in the RoguePlay camp at the moment so I thought I'd do a bit of an overview on what I'm involved with since the new year. The Rhymes Slam kicked off the poetry in style in January with the fantastic Mark Niel crowned our new Slam Champ. He was up against some tough competition and we had a wealth of local talent. Highlights for me were Sean Colletti's suburban philosophy, Kesha's tale of young mothers and Donna Scotts jovial tribute to cake, footage of these and more will be up on the Rhymes facebook group soon. The Rhymes Out of Town Special was equally awesome with national talent from Bath, Brighton, Milton Keynes and London. A review by our good friend Gary Longden can be found on the facebook group too. For the next Rhymes, Mark Niel will be treating us to a headline slot for the Milton Keynes Takeover and will be joined by his three very talented friends Danni Antagonist, Donna Scott and Fay Roberts. So if you've yet to make a Rhymes event, May 18th at the Station Pub, Kings Heath 8pm would be a great introduction:) There's also the Funbags Comedy Cabaret, which kicked off again in February where we were joined by our original Mistress Overdone from 'Measure for Measure' Jenny Stokes with her new comedy character Dolly Grip and stand up from one of our top Funbaggers Aaron Twitchen who is rising higher up the comedy circuit with every gig! In the audience was special guest Jo Mailin from bbc radio west midlands researching comedy for her Comic Relief gig. The Funbaggers were on top form and will be unleashing their randomness again at The Station Pub, Kings Heath, 8pm on the 20th April, joined by stand-up Freddie Farrell and a comedy monologue from Aaron performed by Jane Campion-Hoyle. I've been helping out as an outside eye and also contributing text for our new piece 'Climbing the Walls', a physical theatre piece that literally climbs the walls, soon to preview at Creation climbing centre in Moseley. It's been an interesting process, as were kind of inventing a new genre as go along, which means not only do we have to figure out the rules but also decide how to bend and break them as well, it's quite time consuming, though is yielding some interesting results. The other climbers at the centre were certainly intrigued by Kim hanging off the wall in a wedding dress and all four performers sat on top of the huge boulder wall dangling apples over the edge singing. If your intrigued too, dont miss the previews on the 29th and 30th April, details on the website.

2011, NEWSFLASH

2011-02-15T06:12:00.000-08:00

Well you rogues, us rogues have been a little bit quiet of recently on this. We hope you accept our apologies. We have been v.busy beetling away in the office, planning, launching, applying, researching and auditioning for our programme of events in 2011. This means that our office is covered in LISTS, particularly on my desk. In 2011, RoguePlay are starting new projects as well as reviving old. This February, we start rehearsals for our innovative new piece, Climbing the Walls. A piece, that will be in research and development over the next five months, which explores the concept of balance. Due to be previewed in April at Creation Climbing Wall in Moseley, the piece will be extremely physical and devised from scratch with our 4 new company members. This Spring, we are also touring our comic classic, Portrait of An Actress As... Appearing at venues in Birmingham throughout March, RoguePlay seek to extend the tour throughout the West Midlands during April and May. Previous performances of this piece have led to comparisons to French and Saunders (Jeremy Williams, The Kaje, Sept 2010) and it has been suggested that it appeals to anyone who wants to be entertained (Ashley Smith, Independent Reviewer, Nov 2007). Dates and tickets are up on the website (www.rogueplay.co.uk). We are also working on a Theatre in Education piece looking at Road Awareness for addition to our schools program this summer. Meanwhile our Young Rogues, The Young Actors Company and The Young Creative Writers, are currently putting pen to paper for next month's preview looking to complete their work for showcases in April and May. The Young Actors are also applying for national youth festivals during the summer so keep your fingers crossed for them.

As for the general West Midlands theatre landscape, we are planning a road trip to Leicester (Yes, not strictly WM but...) to see Kneehigh's new piece and I have tickets to see Gecko's Work in Progress this Thursday at the Warwick Arts Centre. Having seen both their performances, The Arab and The Jew and The Overcoat whilst working at the Contact, I am very excited for this show. Stan's Cafe are also performing The Cleansing of Constance Brown, a much anticipated performance from this amazing performance group.

That's all for now. Although I have a feeling a few more announcements will so join this blog.

Lydia Rogue.

2010-11-30T06:48:00.000-08:00

Hi Rogue Fans, Lorna here, touching abse with the blogspot.

It's all go at RoguePlay headquarters with organising our awesome Fundraiser and I'm looking forward to giving my alter ego Darla July Daygwar (www.myspace.com/trailertrashhussy) another airing.

The Funbags Comedy Troupe will also be doing a turn and Claire Corfield from the group will be gracing the stage as her new comedy creation Lady Josephene Whittle. We're picking up new Funbaggers all the time and the group is thriving, but there's still room for more if you fancy a go at some impro goodness. Just drop me a line on lorna@rogueplay.co.uk.

Rhymes had a very warm welcome and an excellent evening at The Margarett Rose Abri cafe in Digbeth on the 18th and I was proud to host the new Birmingham Poet Laureates Roy McFarlane and Jordan Westcarr as well as the fantastic Fatima Al Matar and two upcoming talents from Birmingham University Creative Writers-Andy Cook and Sean Colletti. The next Rhymes will be a January Slam on the 18th at the new home of our Young Actors Company classes, South Birmingham College (tbc) and will have 15 former Rhymes poets battling it out to win. For more info about Rhymes you can join the group on facebook and check out audio and video clips on myspace.com/rhymesnight.

There's been lots of exciting stuff going on in Brum lately that the Rogues have been frequenting. I got through to the semi-finals of both the West Midlands and the Solihull Poetry Slams and did a turn at Birmingham's new actors showcase Monologueslam, back in the new year. It's a great way to practice your skills and be seen by the industry, they may even get Lenny Henny along to be a judge! There was also the Laffacino Subversive Cabaret at the Old Joint Stock as part of the Capital New Writing Festival where me, and seasoned Funbaggers Claire Corfield and Aaron Twitchen did a turn. Me and Claire also joined Funbagger Louise Stokes for new comedy night Laughter Lines at the Prince of Wales pub, hosted by former Rhymes poet and frequent reviewer of our work-Gary Longden.

There was also a double bill of poetry goodness from Apples and Snakes with the fantastic 'Spoken Word All Stars' Tour and a hugely successful launch for their West Midlands Co-ordinator Bohdan Piasecki's first poetry night in the region 'Hit the Ode'. Boasting an eclectic mix of local, national and international talent at a very complimentary venue-'The Victoria Pub' in town, it was an enjoyable night had by all and is back in the new year.

I've also been plugging away on Jan Watts local arts show The Crumble on Rhubarb Radio, check out the show online via their website or tune in on fridays at 12 to get the lowdown on the local creative news.

I've also discovered some great new talent on my travels, most notably 'Sharp Ugly Theatre/The Ugly Killers', a truly refreshing and hilarious performance group with a brilliant anti-Hollyoaks Mighty Booshesque 'Happening' piece. They will hopefully be performing at our awesome Fundraiser, which you shall hopefully be frequenting, and I look forward to seeing you there, and Darla will certainly be pleased to see all yer purty faces too, yehawww!

Free Mince Pies, Squirrels and Gypsy Rogues....all in a days work..

2010-11-25T03:24:00.001-08:00

Well it has certainly been a hectic month for the Rogues! To sum it all up in a creative sentence......we packed up and shipped out of The Fire Station (I'll explain in a minute!), Kim spent the month as a 15 year old boy called Sparks, Lorna got Wasted, Lydia went to Leicester......again and Collette has been manning the ship whilst the rest are off galavanting!

Yes, its true, after an exciting move and an exciting start to the Fire Station, there were unfortunately ongoing issues with a previous tenant and so we ended up with not much choice but to ship out and move on...again! So, we have made a covenant within the RoguePlay office, to make sure that we do not become known as Gypsy Rogues or Rogue squatters rather than RoguePlay and stay put in our new home, which is the New Life Baptist Church, Kings Heath. Actually it works out pretty well all round, as part of our working ethos is to try and support local artists and smaller creative Companies as much as we can. At the Old Fire Station, we weren't able to offer that much cheap space, but in our new home we can. We have some lovely rehearsal space, which is warm, well equipped and right on Kings Heath High Street that we can rent out very cheaply so take a look at our website if you're interested.

We have been working lots with young people and have now officially taken over the Birmingham Branch of the Young Actors Company. We have auditions on Dec 4th for actors between the ages of 8-18 years, with lots of exciting stage and TV opportunities, including the creation of a new play for application to the International Youth Drama Festival in London, a small schools tour at the end of next term and of course our very successful Improvisation Festival, where my favourite moment had to be when during an improvisation with Philip, Hugo was thinking of ideas to get rid of a body, stopped for a moment in contemplation before saying 'No, no..that would need too many squirrels!'

Young Actors are based at The South Birmingham College so if your interested in auditions then drop us an e mail or give us a shout.

I spent my month in Leicester working on a piece with Women and Theatre and the Y Theatre in Leicester, called Bare Drama. It toured schools, and is a gang crime prevention performance and workshop aimed at Year 7's, and supported by the police for the prevention of knife crime and the dangers of carrying a knife. There are three performers in the piece, and about 12 characters so I had fun playing my 15 year old boy, his mother, a Jamaican mother of one of the other characters, the 11 year old sister of another and a rude boy! Loads of fun and great for the kids, who really engaged with the piece. It toured 2 years ago and this proved to be a succeful follow up, so watch out for Women and Theatre with that piece around Birmingham.

I also zoomed down to Warwick to see KneeHigh's production of The Red Shoes, which had all 0f KneeHigh's usual artistic traits, such as live music and lots of singing. The performance was excellent, full of energy, colour and that hint of dark humour which makes their work so distincively memorable. I shall have the memory of an older gentleman dressed only in white y-front pants jumping up and down with his arm in the air desperate to play the role of the old woman! If you haven't seen it, I would recommend it, just as I would their production of Hansel and Gretal coming back to Warwick at Christmas.

So...the plan for us at the moment is to keep booking a tour of our comedy sketch show, 'Portrait Of An Actress' and prepare for our fundraising event on Dec 11th. It promises to be a FREE night of fun and frolicks with performances from The Rogues, Lady Josephine, Zoidberg, Irene Aserie, David Sol, Funbags Comedy Cabaret and the Young Actors Company! There's even free mince pies! So, how could you resist! Invite family and friends and drop us an e mail to reserve your free tickets.

Ok...I'm off to make tea and eat Jaffa cakes.....Kim

RoguePlay Presents... The Old Fire Station

2010-08-20T15:44:00.000-07:00

So, it is now official. RoguePlay Theatre are company in residence at The Old Fire Station. Where you ask!?! Well, The Old Fire Station, located on Moseley Road, Birmingham, is exactly that, the city’s original fire station, which on completion in 1915, cost the grand total of £10,000 to build! I bet David Cameron wish public spending was still that cheap hey! When the actual Fire Station was closed and rebuilt three doors down, after that it was taken over by Mark Brittan, a local business man and renovated in 2008. On the ground floor, there is now a theatre space which can hold up to 180 people as well as brake out space. On the other two floors, we have 6 other office spaces available for hire. There will be plenty more information coming through over the next few weeks so keep your eyes peeled. We are also planning on opening a small props store, which will be more akin to a stimulus library. Here, we hope to create a resource for new and established theatre companies to come and explore when working on new performance work. We hope to fill it with old curiosities, as well as diaries, postcards, newspapers, books and photographs. The props store will have a green side with all contents being donated or sourced in charity shops, second hand shops and at car boot sales. We are particularly excited about sourcing items from skips or tips and restoring the, or in some cases, redesigning them by working with young aspiring theatre designers. We will be creating a portfolio section where young designers can submit their CV’s and examples of work and will then be available to anyone seeking their services. In the long term, we hope to hold prop and set design workshops as well as expand the cupboard itself to include a devising space.

In other news, we are now planning bits and bobs for the next year including the use of some of the weirder and most wonderful features of our new space as well as hoping to adapt a few more classics with plans for a ‘GREEK WEEK’ on the cards...

Meanwhile, we have still had our eyes and ears to the beating heart that is the west midlands theatre scene. I (Lydia Rogue) went to London and experienced the BAC’s One-to-One Festival. Here I saw Stan’s Cafe’s Its Your Film. This approx 3 minute piece was like watching a slick film noir all performed live. I spent a significant amount of my short time trying to figure out how they were doing it guessing it was a mixture of lights and perhaps mirrors...I am probably wrong. Otherwise, the piece was seductive and beautiful. The soft lighting, dark music and private booth lulled you and you did feel in every sense that you were at an old cinema watching a 1920’s thriller. The masking of the techniques used to create this visceral piece added to the magic of the experience. On leaving, you want to watch it again and again, just to keep playing detective in order to understand how two live performers can be merged into one person before your very eyes. I would also like to tip a quick wink to their campaign for 17p VAT for the arts! See their blog for more details! If I did have to mention another special piece from the day, I would suggest that everyone try and catch up with artist collective Coney. Their piece was extremely private and encouraged you to interact without being pushy. You were given an mp3 player and guided into the BAC basement archive room . Then you were given eleven minutes alone to look around at labelled objects and pick one that holds resonance with a past, present or potential experience. Once chosen, you were invited to write yourself a promise or note about this object and given the opportunity to read others. It was emotional without being intrusive and you left the dark room full of thoughts. It’s nice to think that a box full of objects can mean so many different things to different people.

Rogueplay, The Home Of My Work Experience ...

2010-07-09T08:25:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago we had lovely Becky Salt who is currently studying for her GCSE's, As part of her experience we asked her to write a blog. Here's what she did for us.

So far, its been over a week that I've had the amazing opportunity to venture into the lives of the Rogues and what exactly their line of work entails, and like it says in the title of this Blog, the actual experience that I've gotten out of it is just awesome!

Before beginning Work Experience, I knew I had a bit of an advantage over others because I knew most people who work here; but needless to say that I still wasn't anticipating just what they had in store for me ... they're always coming up with ingenious ideas over busy days, cake and witty banter which means it was no easy ride.

So here I am now, sitting at one of their office computers, on a rather posh-looking chair [that yes, swirls!] having to come up with top tips about what its like working here, and really, I guess the only thing I could say, would be that different Theatre Companies would work in different ways, but this one in particular, doesn't quite work like any other ...

Tips On Props + Dealing With Props Before A Production

Be inventive ! Don't worry about any of your props looking a tad odd - that just makes them more intriguing to look at and have the opportunity to be adapted in other production.
Props Lists Props Lists and MORE Props Lists ! If you're in a production that has either a small or a ridiculous amount of props - Just make sure that you bullet point them all because its then so much easier to find and cross off all the things you have - or as I found going up and down Kings Heath Street - to find all the things that you might not have !
Whenever you need props putting into a car - ASK LORNA ! [she's pretty nifty when it comes to packing a lot of things into small spaces]

Acting Skills - Preparing For A Role

Always try to be confident and self-assured about both yourself and the character you are portraying
If you are in a scripted performance - learning lines earlier on in rehearsals is always a good thing to do as it means whilst you are performing - your focus can be absorbed in terms of empathising with your character - instead of it being drawn away because you're trying to remember lines and ques which can sometimes stunt your full potential in a performance

Ideas For Performances + Coming Up With Ideas For Devising Things

Theatre can be about absolutely anything, so it would be fair to say that you shouldn't confine yourself to specific boundaries when it comes to devising pieces - they can be adapted to suit a certain audience range or include mixtures of any genre whatsoever for the final outcome
Make your piece into something that you can explore and have a really good time with. When it comes down to actually performing your piece - your audience will see you up there in those spotlights, doing something that you're passionate about.
When coming up with a devising idea, it usually stems from something in real life - anything in life that inspires you - it can often spark one initial idea which you experiment with, which in turn will give you more and more ideas and leads you into several different mad directions - creating its own cannon effect which leaves you with loads of adaptable ideas to play around with, and incorporate into your devised pieces

Other Areas Of Work In The Theatre Industry

E-Mailing ! E-Mailing is one of the main sources of communication in the Theatre Industry as they are essential in contacting actors, employers, employees and other industries, to let them know about what RoguePlay are offering, what they are doing at different venues, and just generally what they have been up to.
Accountancy is also a major part of the Theatre Industry as keeping all of the money in order is really important. All receipts must be kept safely so they can be taken in, made sure they are up to date and toted up then be given to the accountant to sort out various things such as wages.
Tour booking is another main thing which Theatre Companies need to do and therefore have to be aware of other theatres and what they can offer.

Over-View Of The Young Actors Company

The Young Actors Company is a non-profitable organisation which offers kids age ranges from 5 to 18 - the chances to explore and develop their acting and performances abilities, with the assistance and guidance from professionally skilled practitioners - and even past students who wanted to come back to share their experience with new budding actors.

A wide range of stuff goes on during the Saturday AM / PM sessions at the Young Actors Company, and whilst learning about auditioning and rehearsing for either scripted or devised performances is a major part of the sessions, elements of backstage work is also explored.

This means that as a company the group gets to work on putting on a performance, but also get to have a go at :

- Devising Their Own Pieces
- Being Directors
- Helping Out With Stage Management
- Collecting + Making Their Very Own Props

Due this freedom and responsibility within the session highlights a lot of awesome pathways than just acting and tends to spark new found ambitions for the young people. They are able to go and do it all for themselves, getting real hands on experience, meaning that they don't always have to solely rely on the leader of their group to create their performances and everything in it, for them.

The Young Actors Company is a seriously wonderful way to nurture talent to its full potential, and along the way, gives young people the chance of meeting and making new like-minded friends.

Right ! I think that's about everything from me if you've managed to get this far down the page reading everything ! So keep checking out what's going on with the Rogues and their amazing work - I know I will be ...

Posted By Becky.

RHYMES

2010-06-29T04:51:00.000-07:00

Lorna again. Rhyme's first anniversary Speed-Dating Special was a subtle success and I'm really chuffed with how the night turned out. The back room at The Station was the perfect space for an intimate evening, 'intimate' being the buzz word in the posistive feedback I got from audience and poets alike. We didn't get a huge audience, but it actually worked better because there was room for each audience member to sit on their own while the poets made the rounds, so it was proper speed-dating, which gave the poet and spectator a whole new experience. The only disadvantage as the host was that I couldn't see everyone individually, but it was fun just to walk around and catch snippets. I definately want to keep the speed-dating format for one-off future events and it was a great way to end Rhymes' first year and as a middle format between the old and the new, cause all new Rhymes; back in August, will have a different structure, but still with the emphasis on top-notch poetry of all varieties, so watch this space :)

My First Two Weeks as a Proper Rogue

2010-06-22T04:15:00.000-07:00

Lorna here. Thanks to Creative Alliance, I'm now 'officially' working for RoguePlay in an associate artist/administrator role. My new duties include social media and representing RoguePlay at creative meetings and such. It's going well so far. I've recently attended a 'Speakeasy' creative meeting about funding in the arts which was really helpful, and they were all really impressed with how much RoguePlay have got done without funding. I think it's a testament to us that we have made four very different original shows at our space using big props and large casts, without any backing and they've been a success. If we can achieve all this without it, it's inspiring to think what we could achieve with it. I also attended one of Scripts workshops, linking playwrights with actors to try out new material. It was really helpful to see how a playwright puts things together and how input from actors early on can help them develop ideas. The event was held at Pentabus Theatre's space in Ludlow, which was lovely, a creative hub in the middle of a field of sheep!
I'll be going on Rhubarb Radio this Friday, 12-1 to talk about what RoguePlay are up to over the summer, so tune in to get the low down on our first summer tour. We kick of with rehearsals for our 3 Henley Fringe shows-Measure for Measure, Not Just a Suitcase and Portrait of an Actress next week its going to be intense and exhausting, but jolly good fun! http://www.henleyfringe.org/

2010-06-10T07:42:00.000-07:00

Hello all you rogues...
Well what a busy few weeks it has been for me, Lydia Rogue, since my last blog, but more about that in a minute.
Firstly, I want to tell you about someones birthday coming up very soon. It's time to break open that 10 year old packet of Tom and Jerry sponge cake mixture and transfers sitting at the back of your kitchen cupboard because on Saturday 26th June, it is RHYMES 1st Birthday and time for CAKE! In all seriousness though, this is an extremely exciting event. Not only are we celebrating rhymes birthday, but also its new format. From this point onwards, Rhymes is on the road travelling to different venues in Birmingham with specially themed nights to boot. The first, hosted and organised by the lovely Lorna Rogue, is a speed dating session at the Station Pub in Kings Heath. You will get to experience intimate moment as you are passed from poet to poet every three minutes whilst scoring their efforts along the way. How exciting. For more information on that, please go to http://www.rogueplay.co.uk/ where you can also purchase tickets.

So, me busy-iness explained. I recently recovered from a theatre seeing drought by drenching myself in theatre tickets to exciting stuff all over the shop. I started by seeing Electric Hotel in Bristol as part of the city's Mayfest. The show, which subverts the site specific element by touring with a flat pack hotel ready to be erected wherever, is viewed from the outside by an audience with headphones. Like a strange audio museum tour, the story unfolds in a series of repeated scenes of contemporary dance and music inter-fused with the occasional human sound. It's cinematic portrayal and visual beauty certainly distracted from its somewhat odd plot, which I am pretty sure had something to do with aliens but couldn't hand on heart confirm. Overall, the most overwhelming element of this experience was the mixed sense of isolation as well as belonging as an audience member. You are immediately locked into your own world as the music starts to funnel through the headphones, but at the same time are constantly aware that you are not the only one listening. This is very eerily pointed out when outside world noise is played and you are caught in between believing that the show has ended and understanding that it hasn't when you quickly recognise that none of the audience's mouths are moving and they too are looking around in utter confusion concerning the bubble of conversation in your ears. I left the show feeling, dazed, confused and desperately seeking a storyline but also inspired about the true potential of this strange mime and radio drama hybrid.

That weekend I also saw SS Arcadia by Stand up and Stare, and on my return to Birmingham went to see the Royal Court transfer, Random. I will, however, leave, these works till next time as I feel I may have whittled on slightly.

So don't forget, Rhymes, 1st anniversary special, Saturday 26th, bring yourself as a gift.

Posted by Lydia.

Space hunting and other Rogueish shennanigans!

2010-06-02T07:16:00.000-07:00

What is going on the RoguePlay and The Mixing Bowl Theatre I hear you cry!

Well, I can't tell you officially as yet but we have a good couple of prospects in our midst with innovative new spaces for the Rogues to set up camp. So you'll just have to keep your eyes peeled for info and we shall satisfy your ears with an answer as soon as we can. But it is true that we are relocating the Mixing Bowl Theatre somewhere else, and so those that are interested in utilising space for performance and rehearsal should get in touch so we can keep you informed of our new digs as soon as they have been confirmed.

What else has been going on in the world of the Rogues? Well, my cat RosenCrantz is much bigger now, although he does still use me as a ladder to get onto the sideboard, (its really hard to tell off a cat!), and I am still on the hunt for a Gildenstern to keep him company, if anyone has a mummy ready to drop. Otherwise, our regular poetry event Rhymes is on the roam as well. We have decided to go out and about with Rhymes and experiment with some new places in Birmingham to host the night so we are starting out with some speed poetry (speed dating but with poetry!) at The Station in Kings Heath- so keep your eyes on facebook and our mailing lists for all the info about that. Notes is set to be a spectacular one next time as well, with some great bands playing and I am also in a band named AudioColour who make up part of the Hat and Flannel Club in Birmingham, and we are playing at New Life Baptist Church, Kings Heath on Saturday 12th June, 7.30pm- FREE ADMISSION!- if you fancy a bit of world funk!

The Rogues are on the roam this summer with our tours coming up and we are heading back into rehearsal with three different shows this June and July, so they'll be much laughter to fill the RoguePlay Rehearsal blog with. I have to confess I have not seen much Theatre this month to report back to you with but I do have to rant and rave about two bands, one named The Julian Tulk Band who played at the last Notes. Based in London they are a fresh mix of alternative folk and soft rock- check them out on YouTube if you have the chance and also at Glastonbury if your getting your wellies out over there this summer as they are playing.

The other musician is a lady called Holly Taymar- a cool and kooky acoustic folk singer- rather much reminded me of Noah and the Whale type stuff- so she is well worth checking out as well.

Ok, I think thats it. All I have left to say is love, peace and Rogueishness to all....

Kim

Collette's Diary...

2010-05-26T04:38:00.000-07:00

Wow! March was my last blog hasn’t time flown by? Where do I start?

Well firstly, I went to see a couple of the shows on at our lovely Mixing Bowl Theatre. One of these being Portrait of an Actress as.... I have never laughed quite so much in my life. It was a fast paced performance from Kim Charnock and Lorna Meehan who between them covered every possible scenario that wannabe actors can imagine. From auditions to the dole office, how they managed to get into character so quickly from one to another just amazed me. I was so pleased I’d invited my friend who enjoyed it just as much as me. Then more recently I saw Not Just a Suitcase (see picture & have a peek at the video on YouTube) which is a totally different piece that relies on the visual and physical side of theatre.Their use of facial expressions was engaging and really powerful during this performance. The lighting, live music and different characters (again played by Kim Charnock and Lorna Meehan) gave a real sense of darkness and light in this imaginary world. I think between both Portrait of an Actress as... and Not Just a Suitcase, I would have difficulty choosing a favourite just because they were so well done and each of them having there own individual styles. As you all know I haven’t worked in the theatre long so I’m enjoying every minute of the performances I’m able to see and most times dragging my friends along too.

In between my play time, I still do have to do my job which is hiring the Theatre space out to people and doing the admin jobs I’m paid to do. I have a confession though, it has to be the best job I’ve had if only because of this new found experience of theatre! Now we have moved, I am looking forward to finding out more about site-specific work!
Till the next time!

Posted by Collette.

RoguePlay are Relocating.

2010-05-14T03:55:00.000-07:00

So it falls upon me to inform all of you that RoguePlay have decided to pack up our bags and find a new home, but don't worry we are taking everything including the stage with us!

From the 21st of this month our offices will no longer be at the Custard Factory and from the 31st of July, we will no longer be in residencein the theatre.

Why? I hear you scream...Well, for a number of reasons. Whilst, we do love the wealth of creativity that is located in the offices of the Custard Factory with companies such as Punch! records, 7 inch cinema, Envision, Fused Magazine and Tindal Street Press only a staircase away, trying to run a theatre which aims to embrace and nurture young talent has been made almost impossible when clashing with raves and road closures. We appreciate the long standing reputation of the Custard Factory as one of Birmingham's biggest party places but the knock on effect this has had on our customers and facilities has become too much.

HOWEVER, please don't think that we are simply shutting down The Mixing Bowl Theatre...Oh no no. What we are actually doing is MOVING. Over the last few months, we have been looking at many exciting spaces in Birmingham which have included Railway Stations as well as arches, Churches, Post Offices, discussed Shop Fronts, pubs and even an old car forecourt and will be re-opening the Mixing Bowl Theatre in one of these unique performance spaces. This move away from the traditional theatre space will allow us to follow our creative wishes with a more versatile staging area and a inspiring back story. To avoid a gap in our programme of events, we will be aiming to be open by September of this year.

Our search is far from over however and we need your help.

We all know that there are places all over this city that look amazing on the outside but have no clue what is going on inside. So if you've ever walked past a place that looks unloved and has the occasional buddleia sprouting out of it...please let us know...We want your suggestions.

OR if you own a venue that you want revitalising into a new innovative theatre and performance space by a young but experienced theatre company. Then also, let us know.

Send all your suggestions and comments to events@rogueplay.co.uk.

In other news, Lovely Lorna is spending the next few nights sleeping over at the MAC for Stan's Cafe. Tuning Out with Radio Z is what I would define as a interactive durational performance which looks at the time that radio forgot! Please go watch her, we will be.

Posted by Lydia.

Semper Station Event for New Playwrights

2010-05-03T11:51:00.000-07:00

I (Lorna Rogue) recently attended my first Semper Station event, where frequent RoguePlayer Louise Stokes premiers scripts. Its a monthly event at The Station Pub, Sutton Coldfield for new playwrights run by Semper Theatre. Scripts are given to actors on the night and showcased and voted for by the audience, with the clips of the extracts put up on their blog. I had a enjoyable evening and will be getting involved as an actor and maybe even a writer! Here's some more info about Semper if it sounds like your kind of thing either as a performer/writer or audience member;

Semper is a small, independent group of playwrights and directors based mainly around the English Midlands, a spin-off of the Momentum young playwrights’ project in Nottingham. Our previous experience includes Broken Holmes (2009) and Cows – The Musical (2001) at the Edinburgh Fringe, Experiment (2009) at the Accidental Festival in London’s Roundhouse theatre an Gods (2007) and Creosote (2004)at the Leicester Comedy Festivals for those years.
Other projects inlude Semper Sumo (2007), a collection of short plays and exerts as part of Leicester Ladyfest 2007 and the organisation behind ongoing Semper Station, a a local writers competition and showcase in Sutton Coldfield, which premiered in October 2009.
http://sempertheatre.com/

Posted by Lorna

WARNING, Rogue Aeroplane's on the loose.

2010-04-20T09:01:00.000-07:00

Whilst the fate of many real aeroplanes hang in the balance, we here at RoguePlay have discovered that some of our's have escaped and are now hanging in precarious places in and around the Custard Factory.

If you see them and are intrigued, please go to the box office and you'll find out all you need to know... While you're there take a quick look at our brochure. If your flight was cancelled and your spring break destroyed, don't worry as, we can send you on a trip of the imagination next bank holiday weekend with our performance of Not Just a Suitcase. More details can be found on http://www.rogueplay.co.uk/

In other news, we received the new mac programme through the post yesterday and are looking forward to all the lovely theatre coming our way with work from Motionhouse and Stan's Cafe and loads of other lovely people.

Little Easter Rogue Family

2010-04-06T02:00:00.000-07:00

Ok...it's blog writing time again...and there's a lot to say, but I must start with a big Happy Easter from all the Rogues, we hope you all enjoyed at least one well deserved day off and didn't over indulge too much! I know I did.

I thought I would also grace you with the Rogue family above, so now you have all met Kim's brothers, sisters, relevant partners and of course my dad. (He's the one with the glasses and the tool belt). Princess Conswaila however is my personal favourite. So as you can see Kim has had an extremely busy weekend with much productive work going on (if only).

However, April Fools Day did see us through the performance of RoguePlay's comedy sketch show- Portrait Of An Actress, which is one of the pieces that shall be showing at Henley Fringe Festival in July, so shame on you if you missed it, but you do have another chance to see it. Where else can you watch the joys of life on the stage played out with fairy wings and wire scarves? Seriously I ask you!

So this week we have lots coming up as well including on Sunday 11th April our next Notes Music Event. Last month proved a great line-up of fantastic acts including Tom Greenhalf's jazz trio, the crazy electro-ness that was Roses For The Madman and the beautifully lyrical Robert Lane (http://www.robertlanemusic.blogspot.com/ ), and this month proves to be no different. Again, I'm afraid you will have to endure a new set from me, followed by guitarist Paul Wood, a Nigerian hip-hop band, and a great new and young jazz band headed up by Jordan Daniels. So it proves to be a night not to miss....so don't!

Also rehearsing this week is Not Just A Suitcase a physical piece of family friendly theatre we have performed previously. However, its going back into rehearsal to incorporate singing and live music as well as a few more foreign languages. Intrigued? Of course you are! Well, you shall have to come see it. Performing Friday 31st April 1.30pm and 6pm, and Sat 2nd April 2.30pm and 6pm. I'll keep you posted with rehearsals but the plan for April is to develop the physicality of the piece so it is physically more demanding on my character in particular. Involving various acrobatic movements, as well as developing the character relationships. The characters don't actually speak much in English so its a case of expanding the current languages we do have to get more of a bi-lingual dialogue happening between the characters. The music is played live on stage and combines acoustic guitar, cello and electronic beats and bass-lines, as well as of course some harmonic singing. So..that means there's no more playing around making stupid faces with Easter eggs for Kim, now there's serious work to do (like throwing yourself around and singing little songs!).

Right, that's enough from me....have a joyous week and keep us informed of what you people out there are up to.

Kim

Handling Henley.

2010-03-29T07:26:00.000-07:00

Hello, Yes the baton of blog writing has once again been passed to me, Lydia. So, what is going on with the Rogue's at the moment. Well the answer is A LOT. We have had our heads firmly down making funding applications and planning a regional tour. One date confirmed is at the Henley Fringe Festival (yes, I know, not technically the midlands but...). This particular date is going to be wonderfully busy as they have programmed three shows from our past productions. We cannot wait for this despite having to perform 15 times over 3 days because as our slogan say's, it's Hard Work but always Playful. In other news, we have been developing our links with schools and taking our newest production, Not Just a Suitcase out on the road. We are very much looking forward to this show going into rehearsal for some development as we will be incorporating lots of colour and live music! This is definitely not just a show for kids so if you want to indulge in a bit of magical theatre, we are showing the piece on the 30th April and May 1st. For tickets see http://www.rogueplay.co.uk/.
In terms of theatre, I am very excited about the current tour that The Happiness Patrol are doing, I am hoping to see their Tales of Terror piece in the Botanical Gardens in July. I am desperate to see some amazing theatre having just seen a dull version of The Tempest at Bristol's Tobacco Factory. Cool venue, but lacking innovation unlike their rivals with Juliet and Her Romeo at the Old Vic at the other end of the city.

Collette's Diary

2010-03-17T09:49:00.000-07:00

Hi, my goodness time has really flown by I can’t believe it’s been 3 weeks since my last blog. Well it certainly has been a busy few weeks, with phone calls and e-mails from people wanting to hire the Theatre space. It never ceases to amaze me the diversity and uniqueness of some of the performances. When people put so much effort and energy into their events, you can fully understand their relief when all goes well.

March is going to be a very busy month with most weekends booked up. Take a look at our website to see the events that are happening. I’m hoping to get come along to a couple.

The Indian Boy. Crescent Theatre

2010-03-08T09:55:00.000-08:00

As if I didn't see enough theatre over the weekend, I also went to see this play by Rona Munro, directed by Colin Simmonds, a lovely bloke and top notch director I've had the pleasure of working with. Its based around the indian prince from Midsummer Nights Dream being found in a tree in modern day England much to the confusion and fascination of those who encounter him. Thats where the link with Midsummer ends although the deep and unpredicatable way he effects those around him could almost be described as magic. It's left up to you to decide how much the silent boy is controlling the forces he opens up in the staff at the psychiatric ward where he is locked in ( so he doesnt get run over when in pursuit of the tree he consistenly stares at through the window) and the hot-headed business man who found him and whose alterior motives run much deeper than you imagine. Though he speaks to the audience in jilted cryptic bursts, he remains a silent catalyst for the rest of the characters to bounce off, some of fall out for the better, some for the worst. The reoccuring theme being the conflicts between nature and the modern world, with tree roots literally bursting through the wiring. The boy changes everyone who encounters him seemingly without realising, but as if the nature of change, he has to change too. A very unsual, thought provoking and unpredictable piece with some great Kate Bush tracks in the mix.

Bitesize Festival Part Two

2010-03-08T09:31:00.000-08:00

All theatred out, but still there was more. Next were four ten minute taster performances. The first by Foursight was based around the tempermental relationship between Bette Davis and Joan Crawford, the performers definately got the two-faced venom/smile for the camera mood over and I'm interested to know how they will sustain it/mess around with it through a full length performance.
Onethousandladders was a refreshingly original and visually intriguing piece about four incredabily English gents trying to make it to the moon, the fact that they were played by four girls adding a lot of humour. Again I was interested to know where this idea will go as it was already moving into unexpected places.
Spanner's 'Wronghead' about a guy to afraid to go outside and his friend who seems to want to keep him there was another unsual piece that went from funny to unerving but always unpredictable.
Last of the tasters was a moving monologue about the aftermath of a car crash from Pentabus. For the slot time it didn't need anything more that the character telling his story, but I'm intrigued to see what else will go with it in the full length show.

Another highlight and something I wasn't expecting to enjoy so much knowing nothing about the guy was the 'Al Bowlly Croon Manifesto', this fluid piece mixed acting and and live music to tell the story of the popular crooner in a way that made it accessible and enjoyable even if you'd never heard of him. The musical interludes moved the story along even though they didn't involve any plot as you saw Mr Bowlly go from a nobody to a somebody and back again. The audience interaction was good fun, as unsuspecting members we're dragged up to waltz and be 'in the movies', a very immersive and enjoyable piece of 'music-theatre' rather than musical theatre. It's a shame this wasn't the last performance as although Stan's Cafe's Brechtian take on the recession in 'The Just Price of Flowers' was very well crafted, it was a bit too dense and samey for the end of a hard days work theatre watching. However, the parallels it drew between the Tulip craze of the 17th Century with the Credit Crunch were both amusing and unerving.

All in all a fantastic day of performance and lots to inspire. Next one is on the 1st April, watch this space.

Bite Size Festival

2010-03-08T07:27:00.001-08:00

'Have I just done a massive fart on your heart?'

This is just one of the many memorable bits from the plethora of performancy goodness at China Plate's Bitesize Festival, showcasing new work from companies based in the west midlands. As I was 'representin' the Rogues, I got to see the lot-it was like Edinburgh Fringe without the hills. So here's a brief overview of the good, the not quite so good and the awesome.

Before I even got in a theatre, there were two interactive installations, 'I Am Active' by Vanessa Oakes, who invites you to pick a t-shirt from a rack, on which she has put statements of varying degree's of ambiguity, I went with 'Quick, look over my left shoulder', just to see how many people actually did. Other favourites were 'If you walk away now you'll only regret it' and 'It hurts when you don't look at me'. I thought this was an effective idea but its a shame that more people didn't go for it as it hindered the aim of making your own performance. I can imagine it works best when lots of people are doing it at once. The other was right up my street; 'The Story Exchange' by Needle and Thread, where you can pick any book to take away, in exchange for a story of your own, which you can record, write or type on an old fashioned type writer, then store in the category of your choice. Again a simple and enjoyable idea that has lots of millage for getting people to express themselves without feeling self conscious or unsure as to what there meant to do. Incidentally, I exchanged 'The Postman Always Rings Twice' for a true story about my sister once thinking her dad was Elvis.

On to the performances;

If you've never heard of them before, you might think New Art Club's, This is Now, sounds like a very pretentious post-modernist piece , far from it-it was in fact a hilarious p*** take out if this very idea with comedy genius' Pete Shenton (who I incidentally shared a wendy house with a few months back where I had to put him in a gingham dress-that's another story), and Tom Roberts (who have never shared a wendy house with but would be happy to if the occasion came up as he seems like a thoroughly nice chap) merging mock-dance with anecdotes and double-act chemistry, all based around Tom's illegally copied 'Now That's What I Call Music 1983'. The buddy humour was the 'beating heart' of the piece if you will, but the content was equally amusing and even a tad poignant in places, the highlight for me being Pete dose doeing with the audiences invisible school friends. A great way to start the festival and quite simply the best eighties mullets/track suits combo's I've ever seen.

The next piece by Kindle was an extract from-Eat Your Heart out. We we're led in to a banquet setting by a hostess straight out of a Tim Burton tale, with an amazing vocal range, going from deep to screeching in seconds and despite her sinister appearance, you couldn't help but be drawn in though you felt in the back of your head something horrible was going to happen. This feeling was put off briefly while the three cooks playing live instruments and the ghoulish narrator recounted the sad tale of the kingdom going to waste and famine sweeping the land. When it gets to the part where some new guests have arrived, but alas there is nothing to feed them, you know the poor guy chosen by the hostess to be guest of honour won't be coming back as he is led off to a song about the knife being his friend. But whereas I expected the fine chinaplates to get piled up with a cannibalistic feast, and gluttony to ensue, they did something all together different and a lot more effective and I left with red hands and a hint of chili on the tongue and a hankering to see the complete show after having the appetite stirred with this 'taster'. A very effective atmosphere was created where you weren't quite sure what was going to happen and I'm looking forward to finding out what happens next.

A favourite from the fest was- Your Not like Other Girls Chrissy, a one woman show about a kooky and instantly lovable french woman who packs her life story about love in war time into the brief time between when she's at the end of a queue to when she finally makes it to the desk, only to have her hopes dashed at the last minute, but it all works out OK in the end. A nice surprise was the revelation that it was all based on a real woman's story. Caroline Horton was utterly capacitative and likable and created a delightful and moving piece of theatre which didn't need anything more.

Another highlight was Paperwork by New Macho, with three talented young performers presenting a ad hoc lecture about Paper. Not only did they make such a random thing completely engaging and unexpectedly hilarious, but their constant interruptions of the material with bickering, flirting and ulterior motives made it all the more amusing. The geriatric greeting's card designer Elisabeth's bile filled poem to her ex-lover and the revelation that they had to perform so early in the day because one of them has an asbo from organising OAP Fight Clubs was a superb bit of script writing. Hilarious and highly original and I look forward to seeing more of their work in the future.

'Sex Idiot' by Bryony Kimmings was also hilarious and unpredictable and made all the more so when I realised the 'I'm not sure what I'm doing' bits weren't pre-planned in any way and that she was sparking off the ad-hoc nature and interaction with the audience. Fantastic costumes, shamelessly explicit song lyrics and a few swigs of JD later and I got one of the most memorable and unnerving performance experiences ever as I watched Bryonys sellotape moustache, covered in the pubes of one of my old uni lecturers (I abstained from offering some of mine, though for a second I considered it) slipping into her mouth as she sang a love song to her current boyfriend.
It's testament to her that she has the confidence and verve to make an autobiographical piece about sex without it resorting to cheap gags, shock tactics (even the pube collection was done in a warm fun loving manner) or making some kind of moral statement blah blah blah, it was pure silly fun.
posted by Lorna

Part two coming up..

Lorna's Blog Week

2010-03-01T09:43:00.000-08:00

Well Rogue Fans, you have the pleasure of my ramblings this week! It's been a month since 'Measure for Measure' and I'm just about recovered-I think! It's weird but since then I've heard of two other versions knocking around the West Midlands area, but I bet they haven't got a floating prison! We're currently putting some feelers out to take it to several summer festivals, so watch this space for M4M tour details.

I thought I'd write a bit about my role at RoguePlay. For those of you who don't know, I run RoguePlays regular performance poetry night Rhymes, showcasing the best in Brum poetry talent. Since starting in May last year we've had an amazing variety of local poets. Everything from the toilet humour of former Brum Poet Laureate Spoz, to the subtle yet hard hitting politics of 16 year old Dan Cullen. Spoz won our end of Year Slam in Decemember and Dan was our youngest headline act so far this February. As for the future of Rhymes, we've got big plans. Apples and Snakes, THE Performance Poetry organisation for the UK, want to offer their support in terms of getting national acts involved, which will be great for the Brum poetry scene and Rhymes, not to mention the fact that there are still a number of Brum poets that haven't had a crack at Rhymes yet. So things can only get better poetically speaking :)

As well as Rhymes, I also run Funbags, a comedy improvisation group, which has recently formed a kind of Super Comedy Group with our stand up night-Giggles. Me and Lydia have joined forces to pack as much comedy variety into one RoguePlay night as we can, rather than trying to publicise two at the same time. So now, as well as 'Whose Line is it Anyway' style games, the excessively talent troupe will also be doing original sketches, character comedy and stand up. We have a variety of actors, comedians and general show offs in the troupe, for which I act as referee-Clive Anderson style-only with more hair. I'm also known to jump into a game or two. We are always on the look out for new Funbaggers, so if you fancy having your funbags squeezed :), come along to a practice session, Monday nights 7-9 and find our group on facebook.

Well, I think I'm spent for now, just one more thing. I saw a great production of Kennedy's Children by Robert Patrick at the Old Joint Stock on Friday. I'm a huge fan of the play and must admit that when I saw it was the first production of a group of drama school graduates, W.A.T.B, I wasn't sure if they would be up for the challenge, what with the play basically being a selection of monologues from five characters that don't interact with each other-i.e, its all about the acting drawing you in from the word go and keeping you there. I'm happy to say I was proved wrong as they were all fantastic performers, lots of light and shade,subtlety, humour and pathos. The girls had the edge over the guys, yet all five had clearly spent a lot time getting into their characters heads and it paid off. I look forward to seeing future productions. I'm off to Bitesize Festival at Warwick Arts Centre this saturday to represent the Rogues and see what local theatre companies are doing at the moment. I'm also looking forward to seeing 'King Lear' at last, at Stratford, so will let you know how I get on. Mean time, keep it Rogue yeah :)
Posted by Lorna, 1st March.

Out For Dinner With The Rogues

2010-02-19T06:03:00.000-08:00

Well these last few weeks have been busy busy busy.......
Not only did our A Cappella Rogues sing like heaven's angels at their first live concert, but our Young Actors have been working like little troupers, creating, writing and devising two new performances for showing in March.So keep your eyes peeled for 'Hopeless High- Class of Chaos' by our budding Senior group, and 'Rivalry Road' by my favourite little Juniors.

So we decided the best thing to do was chill out with an evening of pizza, pasta and witty banter! Well, just about...considering Lydia was suffering with a cold, Collette was freezing by the open door and Lorna was the only one in a pretty frock!But despite all that we still managed to chinwag our way through musings on physical theatre, onions and cheese!

So what else are we up to this week? Well, this fine evening I'm toddling off to Warwick to see KneeHigh's production of Hansel and Gretal, which I'm very excited about. I'm hoping they'll blow my little socks off with their usual stunning visual imagery and physicality. Then Tuesday night promises to be fun-filled as we pop over to Wolverhampton's Arena to see Foursight Theatre's 'Forever in your Debt', which sounds like a sweet tale very fitting for our recession plagued society. So its Theatre, Theatre, Theatre- we'll let you know what we think.
We're also in the process of tour planning for our two shows 'Ultima Censura', a time-based installation based on the Ten Commandments, where ten tents represent each of the Ten Commandments. Spend forty intimate moments and seek to discover where your fundamentals of life and law really lie. We're also tour planning for our Rogueish version of Measure For Measure, which went down a storm at The Custard Factory last month.

So, at the moment that means that Kim is drowning under a pile of year planners, venue information and budgets! Ah, the joys of life on the stage!

Collette's World.

2010-02-15T02:29:00.000-08:00

Hi, my names Collette and I’m one of the office staff here at the RoguePlay head office. Well what a few weeks we’ve had with Measure for Measure being such a huge success which was brilliant after all the rushing around to get props etc. It was quite an experience to actually come to the performance and see it come to life was spectacular. This week was the first ever A Capella Rogues concert at New Life Baptist Church in Kings Heath which was equally brilliant but in a totally different way. Before I started this job in October I hadn’t really experienced much in the way of theatre productions, but I can say hand on heart now I have, it’s opened my eyes to an area I’ve never thought much about before. All the effort of helping to get props for sets and then seeing how they’re used is totally mind blowing. I’m looking forward to the next production!

Next week, its back to Kim and she'll be telling you all about our plans for the next few months.

A word from Louise

2010-02-10T02:01:00.001-08:00

Here is how the very eloquent Louise Stokes felt about working with RoguePlay Theatre on Measure for Measure

What a way to begin the year! Snow and below freezing temperatures were unable to put a halt to RoguePlay's production of Measure for Measure, rehearsals beginning as soon as the New Year Festivities were out of the way and culminating in 6 performances over 3 nights at the end of January. The whole experience was fantastic, the cast and everyone involved professional, friendly and just generally fun and great to work with. As one of the degenerate whores I found it disturbingly easy to get into and relish the role! As the first night approached I think we all had a few concerns about the cold, and indeed, it WAS FREEZING! However this just added to our characters being able to have a moan and comment on anything and everything that was going on as we tried to ply our trade with the audience. As the nights wore on I learned a trick or two.....how to wear loads of clothes to combat the cold and yet still look as if I was wearing very little! My two particular highlights still make me laugh when I think of them now. The first, after Escalus, played by Gary Longden had addressed the audience with his Shakespearean monolgue, after Mrs Overdone has been dragged off to prison, us whores would make responses in our cockney accents of 'Wot was 'e on about?' 'Didn't understand a word he said' 'Load of rubbish if you ask me' , which seemed to bring on the desired amusement from the audience. The second highlight.... and I have still got the bruises.....was being thrown across the stage each night in the final scene; I discovered that I do actually have the ability to fly. This was due to the consistently brilliant guard performance by Radley Russell, who manhandled the whores with utter conviction in his role! The chapel scene was one of my favourite scenes, it just gave the audience every experience, their visual and olfactory senses being catered for with candles, incense, the conversion of an empty space into a chapel complete with huge cross, altar, lilies, the lot, to complement the powerful drama of the scene between Isobel played brilliantly by Lorna Meehan and the equally talented Alex Nikitas playing Angelo, as the whores (Miriam, Neetu,Wendy and myself) looked on and jeered. The reviews following the performances confirmed that RoguePlay had totally succeeded in producing an exciting and powerful piece of theatre which left the audience with a night to remember! I certainly hope to be involved in future RoguePlay productions; with Kim Charnock and Lorna Meehan at the helm, there is the knowledge that whatever the production, it will ooze quality and an innovative theatre experience for all involved.

Lydia in Leicester and London...

2010-02-08T01:59:00.001-08:00

Hello everybody.
First things first, I must introduce myself. My name is Lydia Martin and was appointed by RoguePlay in October 2009. This is my first job having graduated from Manchester University in July and it has been one fast learning curve since. The week before last I took part in my first RoguePlay road trip accompanying Kim and Lorna to Leicester for a day's worth of performances at Rawlin's Community College. My role was basic techy and the day started at 5am. We had to be at the school for 8am and as I live in Wolverhampton, I had to get to Birmingham to meet Kim and Lorna at 7. My efforts were rewarded with a small bed being made for me amongst the set in the car and a nice nap during the drive. The day kicked off with a group of around 150 students attending our performance of Not Just a Suitcase and having only done a tech run in my head prior, the performance went extraordinarily well. A post show Q&A session proved the effectiveness of the techniques used in the performance as the students asked thoughtful questions and were enthusiastic in their response. Only out of 'big' school a mere four years myself, I expected some resistant pupils, which of course we got with even gaining a few ping pong balls for our store cupboard as they were chucked at us during our tea break. Otherwise, the most significant development I noticed about the behaviour of school kids was how high tech they had got. Iphones were glowing throughout a majority of the performances. Lets just hope they were twittering about how good the show was hey! The school, as a Performance Arts Specialist school, had some lovely facilities and the day itself was a hive of creativity where fifty other workshops were happening simultaneously throughout the school. It gave me a real desire to join the girls on all their road trips.

In other news, I went to London this weekend and whilst there went to see the revival of Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, Tom Stoppard's brilliant tale about a mental patient who believes he is the conductor of a 24 hour orchestra sharing a cell with a sane man put there for his political beliefs. The action is beautifully accompanied by a full orchestra which plays for the majority of the piece. The acting was first class with a very poignant performance from the young boy who played the sane man's son. I give no name as the three main protagonists share the same name, Alexandra. The most striking technique was the use of the orchestra as actors with an interesting scene showing the violent nature of the Russian Regime. Extremely physical with elements of modern dance, it genuinely struck a cord with me and built on the empathy we felt with Alexandra (the sane man). This piece balance the bleakness of the regime with superb elements of comedy from the doctor and the 'conductor.' At an hour, it is just enough to make a connection without dragging. I highly recommend it.

News...

2010-02-03T03:11:00.000-08:00

Hello,
We have received a lovely package in the post this morning, 50 prints of Richard Davenport's (www.rwdavenport.co.uk) lovely production stills! However, we are now struggling to decide which to use where as they are all so GOOD! Decisions, Decisions.
In other news, the RoguePlay Blog is expanding. That's right. Everyone in the office will contribute to this space once a month about all sorts. Some will be in reference to what's happening behind the scene's, other's will be to do with our commitment to the West Midlands Theatre Pledge, (Find out more at http://www.stanscafe.co.uk) and others will be about the arts generally.
This week, expect one from our Press and Education officer, Lydia Martin, on the National's (Yes I know its not in the midlands but still) Every Good Boy Deserves Favour and the goings on of an educational RoguePlay Road trip.

To keep you interested for now, Please read on for Gary Longden's thoughts on playing Escalus recently.

Show week for myself as a debut Rogue Player was a fascinating experience. What surprised me was that the calm professionalism which had been a hallmark of the production from the start, continued over the traditionally fraught period of final rehearsals and opening night. The informal good taste of the cast seemingly knew no bounds. When I cautiously confessed to having found the critically acclaimed film "The Road".........well, boring, Graham "the Duke" Brookes exclaimed "So did I", confirming I was amongst friends! And then there was David "Lucio" Ault who found time to swap memories of the declensions of Latin and Greek verbs. I was fortunate to be working predominantly alongside Alex "Angelo" Nikitas .He seemed to know all his lines and exits and entrances from day one, his soliloquy at the end of scene two was a consistent highlight of the play.
Non-speaking roles can be tedious and unfulfilling, but the whores ramped up their enthusiasm for their roles to become a vital part of the show for the audience, and an ongoing source of entertainment for other cast members. As dress rehearsals wore on, they seemingly assumed individual "Spice Girl" type identities, Wendy as "Baby Whore", Neeta as " Mini Whore", Miriam as "Posh Whore" ( with that fur coat), Louise as "Wild Whore" and Jenny, "Mistress Overdone" most definitely as "Scary Whore"! Their success as an ensemble was in no small part due to their considerable individual talent being prepared to eschew personal ego for the greater good. Miriam's preparedness and ability, to play the part of Mariana for one show only, before returning to whoring, spoke volumes for both her personal talent and the overall psyche of the cast.
When I first saw the makeshift pontoon on the lake, in fact a floating prison, I was convinced that disaster was imminent. Indeed while I was helping Kim with some essential repairs, and it became apparent that someone else was required afloat, I was faced with a dilemma. Do I help and sink? Or refuse to help, appear awkward and stay dry? Fortunately Danny "Pompey" Hoxton, certainly less than half my weight, appeared on the horizon and I called him over. Although he protested that he knew nothing about pontoons, floats, string or knots, I reassured him that this was an excellent opportunity for him to learn. As he tip-toed, flirting with submersion, I observed from terra firma.
Of course the real star of the pontoon was Tom "Claudio" McCarron whose nightly vigil in freezing, wet, conditions constantly tormented by the fear of sinking was testament to Director Kim's considerable powers of persuasion. Whether his penchant for black plastic undergarments remains after the show , only time will tell.
Rarely have I witnessed one person put more effort into a show than Kim Charnock. Set Builder, props acquirer, lighting rigger, Marine Engineer, Director AND principle actor. She seemed to be everywhere, and to have thought of everything ( except perhaps the effect that harsh white light has on a thin skirt!). However this paled into comparison with my own wardrobe malfunction when a "Rogue" nail succeeded in tearing the seat out of my trousers on the first night. Although "Angelo" assured me that I should continue, with the errant ragged trousers "in character" with Escalus, on the second night it became evident that the said garment was both indecent, and cold. Probity was restored for night three. But if one person epitomised commitment, and method acting, it was Lorna, bloodied and bruised, and whose "Raging Nun" persona was typified when in rehearsal she obliterated the entire box office flyer display in righteous indignation. All moveable objects were kept well clear of her thereafter.
My most fond memory of show week? No question, Radley "the Guard". On paper this looks a functional, minor role, in practise Radley bullied and battered the cast and audience every performance with obvious relish. All soon learned that when he said "MMMMMOOOOOVVVVEEEE", he meant it.

Measure 4 Measure

2010-01-05T09:52:00.001-08:00

Well, you'll be pleased to know that we're heading towards our RoguePlay version of Measure For Measure rather swiftly, and it proves to be a chilly one as this January looks to be set to freeze our audience to the pavement for the promenade version!
As usual, RoguePlay are shaking things up a little bit, by taking this performance from the railway arches in the Custard Factory, through the reception, across the lake, in and out of the gallery, through the Kitchen Cafe, into the Theatre and out of the fire exit! All this thrown into the mix with oversized characters, a floating prison and candle-lit church........ooohhh!

Monday's rehearsal saw us working on the last scene, (a mammoth one to start the year with, but needs be to get the big bit sorted first!)We dealt particularly with the concepts of power and manipulation- particularly from the point of view of the Duke. His character is ultimately calculated, and though much of the time he reminds us of a school child banging his bits of train set about, he chooses his moment to step back into the limelight with well-thought out precision. So, we experimented with puppetry (think of Polish theatre), moving other actors about a bit rather than them moving themselves, physically restraining them with rope, making it physically difficult for them to move....placing them in a physical situation that replicates their societal one.

All in all, Measure For Measure pretty much reflects the human condition across the levels of status and power- not far off what we experience ourselves today. Ruling from the powers that be whose personal lives only reflect the very laws and restrictions they are attempting to lay down.........

Watch out for RoguePlay's hour long promenade version of Measure For Measure, Monday 25th - Wednesday 27th January. 7pm and 8.30pm, (earlier performances available for school group bookings). Wrap up warm! Visit www.rogueplay.co.uk for tickets