I have spent much of the last week writing copy and working with Ben to produce marketing materials. I keep having to remind myself that I'm doing this for two shows – and that's why it feels like so much! The postcard flyer for Treasured is well under way and I'm very excited by Ben's simple but very satisfying image and font for The Woods marketing.
The rest of my time is spent in preparation for TSJ devising which starts next week for two weeks. I'm working with a really great team of people:
Performers: Sam Fox (of Kindle), Jake Oldershaw (of Untied Artists), Natalie Wilson (of Needle and Thread), Louise Platt (of The Other Way Works).
Design team: Rebecca Hurst (set, costume, props), Lewis Gibson (music and sound), Ben Pacey (lighting).
Joanna Carr (of Untied Artists) is going to Produce and Chris Keenan (of Prime Objective) is on hand to do publicity photography/filming and documentation.
At lunch today Ben and I popped into the Created In Birmingham shop – situated in the heart of the Bull Ring and entirely dedicated to art made in Brum. It is going to be a wonderful thing - lots of opportunities for everyone, and a chance for the arts to infiltrate the consumer driven centre of Birmingham and give it some soul, perhaps. I'm going to have a good think about what I can offer to the enterprise.
I'm just on my way back from a sharing by Little Wonder of their new performance We Live by the Light of the TV at Norden Farm Arts Centre in Maidenhead. The show is about anti-social behaviour; Katherine and Sara (of Little Wonder) live on an estate in King Cross – an area of high social deprivation, and are very into community spirit and giving back. Even at such an early stage of development the show is a fascinating mix of personal experience, social comment and characterisation. Most impressively it manages not to preach. It will be fascinating to see how teenagers and those who are really exposed to anti-social behaviour in their area react to it.
