A Jabberwocky spring approaches

Published: 15 March 2019
Reporter: Peter Lathan

Jabberwocky Market
Now Is the Time to Say Nothing
Juliet and Romeo
Tensile Srength
Eurohouse Credit: Jack Offord

Jabberwocky Market, which aims to present world-class theatre in Darlington, returns for spring 2019. April and May will see performances, installations and workshops in a number of venues across the town.

First, from 11th to 13th April in the Quaker Meeting House (various times) is Now Is the Time to Say Nothing by Reem Karssli and Caroline Williams, an interactive sound and video installation exploring the role of screens in observing global conflicts. It follows the real story of Syrian artist Reem Karssli as she captures her daily experience of the Syrian conflict on camera. We see what emerges when she is contacted by a group of teenagers from the UK who want to see beyond the footage they’ve watched on their TVs.

It is an intimate exploration of what it means to stay connected to each other and of what happens when war and the need for survival gets in the way.

Suitable for age 12+.

On 17th April (at 11:00 and 2:00) Big Little Gigs returns to Jabberwocky with a fun family pop up choir led by Jennie Brewis who has toured the UK, performed at Glastonbury and on BBC6 Music with her band The Cornshed Sisters, and is a community musician who has worked with The Sage Gateshead and New Writing North and who runs Sunderland’s Pop Choir Project.

This welcoming, lively and supportive singing session for 0-10 year olds and their families will be at Liddiard Theatre at Polam Hall School, Grange Road. Tickets include a small snack and drink plus Easter egg trail. The two sessions will feature different songs.

On 20th April (2:00 and 8:00), also at Polam Hall, Lost Dog Dance presents Juliet and Romeo, the real story. They didn’t die in a tragic misunderstanding but grew up and lived happily ever after. Well, they lived.

Now they are 40ish, at least one of them is in the grips of a mid-life crisis, they feel constantly mocked by their teenage selves and haunted by the pressures of being the poster couple for romantic love. They have decided to confront their current struggles by putting on a performance about themselves. Their therapist told them it was a terrible idea...

At The Hullabaloo on Saturday (4:00) Holly Gallagher presents her one-woman show Tensile Strength (or How to Survive at Your Wit’s End), a performance about Stress and figuring out why so many of us feel it to an unhealthy degree. It’s about fear, pressure, uncertainty. It’s about sadness and mental health and how we help ourselves. It’s about feeling like things are all A Bit Too Much and… then the cat goes missing.

Commissioned by ARC Stockton, Tensile Strength is suitable for age 13+.

In the same venue on the same day, at 8:00, two performers – one Greek, one French – dance and shout, cry and sing, agree and disagree, about life in the Eurohouse. Made in transit between Greece and the UK, Eurohouse brings this difficult relationship to life through a darkly comic look at the EU’s founding ideals, and what got lost along the way.

On 10th and 11th May at Middleton Hall Retirement Village, Middleton St George, Kid Carpet and the Noisy Animals present Noisy Holiday, A ridiculous and funny story for the whole family about going on your holidays with silliness and mischief. Expect flying tents, diving bears, massive carrots and Ibiza anthems, along with a mix of live music, theatre, comedy, puppetry and animation.

This season features two workshops: Drama on 12th April and Dance on 19th April.

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