A Conspiracy Of Clowns

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 AUDITION NOTICE: Performer-Manipulator

Written by Lara Foot, and developed in collaboration with Leila Henriques, Brian Webber, and Joss Levine, Womb Tide was first performed to high acclaim in 1996.

At its heart, Womb Tide is an unconventional love story. Told through the memory of a child, Womb Tide is at once deeply moving, funny, dark, heartbreaking, and ultimately redemptive. Set in the mid to late twentieth century South Africa, it follows an eccentric and somewhat dysfunctional family through a story of love, loss and hope, and paints an impressionistic portrait of the complexities of family life.

More than just simply a remounting, Womb Tide is a complete overhaul of the original story, given FTH:K’s approach to creating fresh, startling, visually accessible work. Featuring a stellar crew of collaborators, Womb Tide is a paean to love and perseverance and a tour de force of visual and physical storytelling.

Directed by Rob Murray

Design by Craig Leo, Leila Anderson, and Emilie Starke

Sound Design by James Webb and Brydon Bolton

AUDITIONS (in the form of a workshop) will be held:

Date: Wednesday 28 April 2010

Venue: Arts Admin Theatre, Corner of Wesley and Milton Road, Observatory, Cape Town

Time: 09h00-12h00 (please arrive 08h30 to register)

We are casting for the character of the KID. In the play, the KID injects a chaotic energy into the lives of his mother and father that binds the family together closely. Participants need to be able to play both young and old, exhibit a youthful energy and the spirit of a clown. Participants should have experience of working within an ensemble-based, devised theatre process. Physical performance skill (mime/clown/physical theatre/movement) is a must, and experience in puppet manipulation a bonus, though not necessary.

Dress comfortably for a physical performance/puppet manipulation workshop.

Rehearsal Dates: May/June 2010

Performance Dates:

• 22 June – 7 July 2010 (National Arts Festival & National Schools’ Festival)
• 22 August – 27 September 2010 (Market Theatre, JHB)
• 28 September – 3 October 2010 (Aardklop, TBC)
• 8 November – 4 December 2010 (Baxter Theatre, Cape Town)

For more information, or to book your place, please contact Tanya Surtees on 021-448-2838 or email tink@fthk.co.za and send through an updated CV by Monday 26 April 2010.

And so, it is nearly upon us…drum roll…the 2010 edition of Out the Box Festival of Puppetry and Visual Performance!

We’re busy putting new ideas into place for QUACK! – a small shuffling of roles, a combining of masks, and a developing of story.  We’re never quite just finished with a work, hell no.  Always something to fiddle and poke around at.  Ees the way we like it.

But it’s gonna be a blast – check out the website for more details, there are some awesome sounding performances, workshops, and talks going on.

This is why Cape Town is the cultural centre of SA.  This is why we have the reputation for ground-breaking and innovative work.  This is where it’s at.

Vluit-vluit doe storie’s uit!  Yep – Pictures of You gets 2 nods for the 2009 Fleur du Cap Theatre Awards: firstly, Janni Younge (who seems to be an awards magnet right now – rock on!) is nominated in the category for Best Props and/or Puppetry Design for the masks, and Rob Murray is nominated for Best Lighting Design.  We’re pretty stoked, as you can imagine, here at Conspiracy HQ, and look forward to the swanky gala affair on 21 March at the Baxter Theatre.  Keep ‘em crossed!

And, if that’s not enough, Janni is also nominated in the same category of Best Props and/or Puppetry Design for the masks for QUACK! and for the puppets in The Tempest. Seems like its her category this year!  How cool is that?  And how cool is it that visual theatre is finally getting the attention it deserves? Right on Fleur du Cap, and right on cape Town!

For a full list of all the nominations, check here at Artslink. Congratulations all for a bumper year and see y’all at the Awards Evening.

With just under a week to go before returning by popular demand to the Baxter, we have a number of awesome ticket prices, as well as a fantastic special offer for readers of this blog.

A quick run-down of the pricing structure -

• Mondays: Baxter Mondays (light meal + show) = R60
• Tuesdays: “Twos-days” – 2 tickets for the price of 1 = R75 (for two tickets)
• Wed-Thurs: R75
• Fri-Sat: R95

There are also discounts for block bookings, disability concessions, the Deaf, pensioners, students and scholars.

But…to cap it all off, we have an incredible deal for readers of this blog!  That’s right – for a measly R50, you get a ticket for any performance, other than the Monday and Tuesday specials…that’s a saving of up to 48% on the weekends.  Crazy! 

How do you organise this?  Easy.  Just contact the Baxter Box Office, and quote the code “CONSPIRACY OF CLOWNS’ et voila!  You are the happy owner of one of the hottest tickets in town! 

Pictures of You, 1-13 February at 20h15 nightly.  Don’t miss it!

Welcome to 2010 everybody, and apologies for the radio silence – the conspiracy has been resting, lying low, dreaming their dreamy little dreams…

This is gonna be a year to remember – there’s a great feeling about 2010 all round, and we are excited and buzzing with nervous energy!  Keep an eye on this blog ‘cos there’s some excellent news and special offers coming your way real soon.

But to kick start the year, we are overjoyed to welcome a new member to the  conspiracy…drum roll…introducing the dynamic and awesome Ms Emile Starke! A young theatre maker/designer/performer extraordinaire, Emilie is most welcome to the conspiracy and we are rubbing our hands together excitedly as we anticipate huge things from her and with her.  Read her profile here.

OK, keep an eye out for the next few days…there’s a cool special offer for Pictures of You coming your way.

Enjoy it guys.  2010…it’s gonna be a rush!

This from the BASA website for all writers and commentators on SA theatre:

Submissions are invited for a special edition of the South African Theatre Journal (SATJ) on “Movement and Physical Theatre in South Africa.”  The edition will be edited by Marié-Heleen Coetzee and Marth Munro.

Central Thrust of the special edition:
This edition is devoted to work that speaks to and engages with the domain of Physical Theatre as well as movement as it pertains to performance, the performative, the expressive and the aesthetic, in the South African context. Such a South African context can be seen as a geographical, cultural, historical, demographic, gendered or age related context. To this end the following sub-divisions are demarcated:

Sub-division one: Reading Movement and Physical Theatre
In this sub-division the contributions will speak to and engage with systems documentation, of analysis and of research in the field; philosophical and/or aesthetic considerations in such work; historical and/or developmental strategies in the work (both across time and in particular context), and related matters within the South African environment.

Sub-division two: Creating Movement and Physical Theatre
This subdivision is devoted to the reporting on and documenting of products and processes that arise out of Practice-led Research, Practice as research, Arts Based Research and related approaches and that engage with movement and Physical Theatre activities in South Africa.

Sub-division three: Training Movement and Physical Theatre
The central thrust in this section is around the Pedagogy and Methodology in the related areas and domains, including systems of training, development, applications in applied theatre contexts, the interface with educational prerequisites and strategies, and related matters, in the South African context.

General: There will be a general sub-division that will accept limited contributions based on related matters to the major edition theme but are not catered for in the first three subdivisions.

Performance Text: The journal also calls for submissions of movement-based performance texts that have been created and/or performed in South Africa, or about South Africa, wherever such performance texts fall in the movement/physical theatre continuum. These texts will be peer-reviewed.

Reports: Critical reports on current movement and physical theatre productions will be considered for publication in this edition.

Call for Peer Reviewers: An invitation is also extended to those who might wish to be considered as possible peer reviewers – If you wish to be considered as a peer reviewer, please submit your CV and your field of interest to the editors by 15th January 2010. Should you be interested in submitting material or to act as a peer reviewer, please take note of the foreseen timeline:
26 Feb 2010 - Final deadline for initial submissions
10 March 2010 - Submissions out to peer reviewers
30 April 2010 - Return first peer review reports to editors
17 May 2010 - Reviewed submissions back to authors to rework
12 June 2010 - Reworked submissions back to editors
30 June 2010 - Reworked submissions back to peer reviewers if necessary
15 July 2010 - Second round of peer review reports back to editors
1 August 2010 - Second round of comments from reviewers back to authors
15 September 2010 - FINAL deadline for reworked submissions
15 November 2010 - All material from editors to SATJ team for final check and submission to printers

Please note that all correspondence regarding to, and submissions for this thematic edition of the SATJ must be submitted to both of the following email addresses:
Marie-Heleen.Coetzee@up.ac.za
marth.munro@gmail.com

For the full text, including instructions to authors etc, go here.

Don’t you just love those brief moments of synchronicity that pop out of nowhere? 

So, Neil Coppen posts this on his FB profile, and cos he’s an all round visual and theatrical magician, of course that’s an open invite to watch…and then get struck by the echoes and similar themed images in the short film with what we’ve been doing with QUACK!

The Forest (conceived, written, directed, and animated by one David Scharf for his Diploma thesis at Augsburg University) tells the story of Antonia, a young sassy 12 year old girl who daydreams herself away into a magical forest to escape the hassles in the real world. 

Sound vaguely familiar?  Too right!  And you should check out the imagery in the film and see there’s an incredible overlap between some of the imagery we’ve been playing with – imagination/fantasy vs reality, sucking out brains/soul/life force, and a strong need for independence and individuality.  Love it.  Love synchronicity and shadows!

Fab theatre maker friends from Joburg have just released the trailer for their show High Diving which made such a big splash (ooh, is that a horrible pun?  I surely couldn’t have been the first to do that…) at National Arts Festival and also Hilton Festival, and have no doubt will rock all of SA.  Shadow puppets for the show were designed and made by Standard Bank Young Artist of the Year for Theatre, Janni Younge. 

To my shame I missed it at both festivals, but here’s hoping to see them in Cape Town real soon, or at very least to return to NAF next year.  Please?!

Jenine Collocot, Deborah Da Cruz, James Cairns, Toni Morkel, Roberto Pombo, and all behind the scenes – rock on!  Awesome trailer!

And with that, we finally open at The Intimate Theatre!  It’s been a hectic last few weeks, but now the stuff is done, and the show can now settle and find itself properly and we can truly test our progress and process.

The collaborators on the project have been stellar – truly amazing artists all of them.  What has been so great is their openness to continue developing and changing their initial designs as the show has morphed and changed.  So huge love and thanks to Janni Younge (masks), Leila Anderson (costumes – pictured above with the cast), Jesse Kramer (set and props), and James Webb and Brydon Bolton.  These guys rock, and the strange fantastical world of QUACK! would be nothing without them.

Last night kicked ass!  We had a full house of great people, members, funders, press, and long time supporters.  Leila designed a number of installations for the outside patio and foyer of The Intimate, and it set the mood for a great evening.

And the show?  Well, it’s finding its feet, and settling into its rhythms.  The cast is being fantastic and trying new stuff all the time, and one can’t wish for more than that.  It’s a challenging work – not so much in terms of its content, but its approach.  Like people say – it’s hard work watching the full show with no dialogue.  And it is.  We know that.  It’s hard work putting the whole thing together with no dialogue and so on.  But it’s a pretty unique and different experience all round.

Needless to say there’s room for improvement – there always is in this kind of work.  And the strength of ensemble work is also sometime its weakness – a number of storylines that try thread together and sometimes do, sometimes don’t.  Each show is a walk on a very thin tightrope, and some nights one’s on one side, the next on the other.  The tiniest thing can make or break it.

But that’s the thrill, that’s the challenge, that’s the life we choose to lead.

So here’s to the next week and a half, and may it rock as much as the first few shows have!