One North East company, The Six Twenty, and one individual, Zoe Murtagh, will be supported by Bridging the Gap this year to develop new productions, which will be presented in the autumn.
Now in its seventh year, Bridging the Gap is an initiative designed to aid the creation of new theatre work within the North East and the participating venues are ARC Stockton, Alnwick Playhouse, Arts Centre Washington, The Customs House in South Shields, Live Theatre, Northern Stage and The Maltings in Berwick.
These venues work together to offer a joint package of in-kind support to each recipient, which includes box office and marketing support, technical support and performances dates at four venues.
The support includes:
- Four weeks rehearsal space—one week at each of the four venues
- Eight performances—two nights in each of the four venues
- Regular meetings with ARC as the project manager, and other venue representatives to offer advice/support, including guidance around funding applications
- 1-2 days dramaturgical support; venue staff are also available to attend rehearsals / sharings / work-in-progress to give feedback
- Support to develop an audience development plan
- Marketing support: the company are responsible for producing leaflets/posters, but venues will support by distribution, press, direct e-mail, web site and online listings etc.
- Support to develop an appropriate package of participatory and engagement activities to accompany the show.
- Technical support—each venue provides a technician for the get-in / performance days (but not during rehearsal period). In addition ARC provides a technician for the production week, and help draw up a technical specification for the show.
- Box Office—full box office services available at all venues to manage ticket sales.
- Advocacy and PR—as the selected company for this project, all four venues act as ambassadors for the company’s work, both in the lead up to the performances, and post-performance in terms of recommendations to potential touring venues etc.
Melanie Rashbrooke, Artistic Director of The Six Twenty, will be developing FANS.
Part theatre show and part music gig, her vision is to draw together a “hilarious, heart-warming and electric mix of stories” told through live music, comedy and verbatim theatre. Based on people’s love affair with music, the show will fuse together true stories, scripted elements and music fan confessions.
Performance maker and spoken word artist Zoe Murtagh will produce The Lamppost Petition, a show that is about celebrating and remembering stories that have been passed down through the generations by our grandparents. It is an exploration into the politics of identity within the ageing body and mind.
Our lives are lived and then our stories are shared with friends and family and our stories are lived through them, but what if these could also be lived through several audiences full of people? What if that audience of people go on to share those stories again?
Murtagh will share her own experiences and stories and those of the various people she will talk to through focus groups.