2016, what happened eh?
2016. Done. Almost.
Just a little round up of all of joue le genre's adventures and achievements throughout the year.
Big thank you to:
Holly Robinson, Phil Hewitt, Katharina Reinthaller, Julia Bentley, Amy Clamp, Matthew Dwyer and everyone at Pleasance Islington, Hannah and all at Playbox Theatre Company, Calum Finlay, Olivia Meguer and Matt Turner, Alaster Bentley, Josh Meredith, Anonymous is a Women Theatre Co and Action to Word, Jamie Smith at the Mill Studio, AND all our wonderful audience members. Thank you for investing your time, energy and creative wisdom into our projects.
...Quick Review
Shows of To She or Not to She = 7
Audience Members (ish) = 370
New show in the development about homelessness in the UK
January: EVOLUTION In January we take part in the Lyric Hammersmith's inaugural festival for young people, Evolution. We win a £500 grant to make some tweaks to To She or Not to She and rehearsal space at the Lyric. We work with director Katharina Reinthaller and lighting designer Phil Hewitt all through January. Emma performs the show to sold out audience on the 23rd of January and gain a cracking review from A Younger Theatre: "Funny, vibrant and energetic." We also feature in Dear Damsels, an online platform for young female writers, for the first time with a extract for the show: Reclaiming Shakespeare.
February: GREETINGS Shakespeare's 400th birthday approaches. We meet theatre company Action to the Word who invite us to perform as part of their Catford-upon-Avon festival at the Broadway Theatre Catford. Holly Robinson's article about audience and gender was published in Dear Damsel's February issue themed 'Privilege.' March: REACH We perform two shows in Catford on 16th and 17th March. Around 80 people see the show.
We also perform a show at the Arts Theatre West End Studio as part of Anonymous is A Woman's Women in The Westend Festival. We feature in the March Issue of UK Shakespeare Magazine and are interviewed on feminist radio show She Speaks by Katy Davis.
June: SCRATCH We take the show to Nottingham New Theatre as part of their 'Stuff' Festival; a student organised theatre festival of Edinburgh delights.
We return to the Pleasance Islington, for Pleasance Scratch to perform 10 minutes of our new solo show What Goes on in Front of Closed Doors. September: LEARN Emma begins Writer's Lab at Soho Theatre, where she will attend sessions over the next 7 months to write our next show, gaining mentoring from top London writers and dramaturgs.
October: SPARKLE
Emma, Director Calum Finlay and Dramaturg Anna Beecher do 2 days of Research and Development at Playbox Theatre Company in Warwick on What Goes on in Front of Closed Doors.
We take To She or Not to She to The Mill Studio at the Yvonne Arnaud, Guildford. Over two nights over 100 people see the show. The marketing department made a GIFF of Emma.
December: GROW A short film version of To She or Not to She goes into production in Beverley, a co-production with SeeGold Production, directed by Josh Meredith. Dear Damsels Annual is published with an extract of the show.
HAPPY NEW YEAR FOLKS. I raise a goblet of Shakespeare Ale to all you reading this which is probably just my mother. Next year we're dreaming of an Edinburgh comeback with What Goes on in Front of Closed Doors. In the meantime join us at Oxford Playhouse on the 9th January for one last To She or Not to She?
Emma X
