TOMtech MOTION CAPTURE
We had a blast in September this year working at Portsmouth University’s motion capture suite, on a weeklong residency courtesy of TOMtech, the future-proofing wing of The Old Market, and Arts Council England. Thanks to Portsmouth University for letting these old duffers push their technology to the limits and beyond!
We are now cooking up some potential applications of this technology for live performance.
And here’s a little clip of Petra channeling Trumpelthinskin (note this was back in September, before the genius was stable):
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| CLOWN MASTERCLASSES
In this masterclass led by Aitor Basauri, you will learn to discover what makes you funny, hone your skills and practice making an audience belly laugh. Be prepared to find the pleasure in your own ridiculousness, stay optimistic, discover your comedy gold, and get ready to laugh until your face hurts. All levels of performance experience welcome.
NEW YORK 14th – 18th Feb 2018
For booking details contact: thenewyorkdramacenter@gmail.com
LONDON 5th – 9th March 2018
More details here: https://www.spymonkey.co.uk/wordpress/event/london-clown-masterclass-mar18/ |
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| TOYNBEE STUDIOS, LONDON
THE BUSINESS
6th & 7th March 2018
In response to requests from young and emerging artists and companies, and running alongside the masterclass, we are also offering two evening sessions with managing artistic director Toby Park and Spymonkey’s producer Emily Coleman, talking through the fundamentals of starting your own company and sustaining its development.
6pm – 9pm Tuesday 6th March
THE BUSINESS #1: COMPANY DEVELOPMENT
Building a company, tour booking, budgeting basics.
6pm – 9pm Wednesday 7th March
THE BUSINESS #2: MARKETING
Branding, web site basics, touring publicity, press and social media.
Cost: £25 each, £45 for both
(masterclass participants & earlybirds before 1st Feb £20 / £35 for both)
Contact education@spymonkey.co.uk for booking info |
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TOYNBEE STUDIOS, LONDON
SPYMONKEY MUSIC & PERFORMANCE
23rd – 27th April 2018
Music has always played a huge part of the Spymonkey creative process – we think early on in our writing about what the show might offer in the way of deliciously inappropriate original songs, musical theatre genres that we want to explore and explode, unlikely cover versions, speciality variety acts and original music in all kinds of genres and styles to inspire us to new choreographic heights.
In this 5 day workshop led by Spymonkey’s artistic director and musical director Toby Park, we will explore how to use music to lead us into unique and totally original comedic territory. It’s all about pleasure: the clown’s pleasure of being ridiculous on stage, the pleasure of playing with our friends, the pleasure of performing music together, the pleasure of aiming high, falling hard and making an audience laugh their socks off.
More details: https://www.spymonkey.co.uk/wordpress/event/spymonkey-music-performance/ |
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CELEBRATION BARN, MAINE
CREATING CLOWN MATERIAL
2nd – 7th July 2018
In this workshop led by Aitor Basauri, we open up our creative toolbox and show you how to create material from the smallest seed of an idea, how our greatest ideas are right under our noses (if only we knew how to look), how to build a number or scene and how to keep the work fresh both in rehearsal and in performance.
More details here http://www.celebrationbarn.com/event/spymonkeys-creating-clown-material-2018/
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FABULOUS BÄCKSTRÖM BROTHERS
Brighton Fringe 31st May – 2nd June 2018
We are proud and delighted and generally tucked up that the clown opera that Spymonkey made with The Fabulous Bäckström Brothers in Finland is coming to the Old Market as part of Brighton Fringe at the end of May. Come and see it – brilliant clowning, high-skill bravura musical variety, Wagner, Johnny Cash, and 3 quite astonishingly gifted musical performers. World class musical clowning.
UK premiere of the Finnish international musical comedy hit, combining opera, pin-sharp musical variety and stomach-crampingly funny physical comedy, directed by Spymonkey’s Toby Park and Aitor Basauri.
A Fabulous/Spymonkey coproduction.
http://theoldmarket.com/shows/fabulous-backstrom-brothers/
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RED BASTARD / LIE WITH ME
Vaults Festival 24th Jan – 4th Feb 2018
How free is your love? You’re about to find out. Every. Single. One of you. Red Bastard is here to expose the lies we tell our lovers and those bastards who made us lie in the first place!
Aitor Basauri directs the latest show from the baddest bastard of all, at Vaults Festival and international touring through 2018 (including Edinburgh Fringe).
https://vaultfestival.com/whats-on/red-bastard-lie-with-me/
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ENTER THE DRAGONS / A&E COMEDY
Camden People’s Theatre 16th & 17th Jan 2018
The Old Market 22nd – 24th March 2018
Unashamedly subverting our ideas about beauty, sex and feminism, Enter the Dragons takes the archetypal Hero’s quest and reframes it for the mature woman in the modern world. It’s a knock-out combination of joy and dissent for anyone who is considering ageing.
Toby Park directed this for writer-performing duo Emma Edwards and Abigail Dooley.
Winner of Best of the Brighton Fringe 2017
CAMDEN PEOPLE’S THEATRE 16th & 17th Jan
https://www.cptheatre.co.uk/production/enter-the-dragons/#
THE OLD MARKET HOVE 22nd – 24th March
http://theoldmarket.com/shows/enter-the-dragons/ |
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EARTH / DEANNA RODGER & GEMMA ROGERS
Brighton Dome 2nd March 2018
What has your experience on Earth taught you, and how would you apply that learning on Mars? Gem & D are on a mission to prove that they are the best candidates for the first human mission to Mars. With your help, they will achieve their greatest desire; to leave Earth. A planet that is all it will ever be.
Petra Massey directs two rising stars of spoken word performance in a Brighton Dome residency.
https://brightondome.org/event/16836/earth/
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| DEVELOPMENT VIDEO NOW ON V.O.D.
MAKING PHYSICAL COMEDY WORK
We’ve now made our documentary on the making of Oedipussy available on our Vimeo-on-demand service, previously only available on DVD. Of particular interest to students and teachers of physical theatre, devising and clown, it follows our creative process through from initial ideas to performance.
https://www.spymonkey.co.uk/shop.html#oeddev
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| NEW SHAKESPEARE DEATHS CARD GAME
This card game that we created as our celebration of the 400th anniversary of the death of the Bard, illustrated by Chris Riddell and conceived by Spymonkey and Tim Crouch, has found a proper publisher! Now available in a new and glorious colour edition by Chronicle Books, and available in the UK from good bookshops, Samuel French and the usual online sources.
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| FRIENDS & RECOMMENDATIONS
DON QUIXOTE OF LA MANCHA / Little Soldier
Vaults Festival 24th – 28th January
Aitor Basauri assisted Little Soldier in the development of their version of Don Quixote, directed by Ian Nicholson, alumnus of our assistant director programme, which you can see as part of the Vaults Festival.
https://vaultfestival.com/whats-on/the-ingenious-gentleman-don-quixote-of-la-mancha/
I’M STICKING WITH YOU / Pebble Gorge
A miniature play for ages 7+ / Written by Tim Crouch / Sound Design by Lewis Gibson / Produced by Pebble Gorge.
A 15-minute, table-top performance which puts you at the centre. With just a box of characters and some simple instructions, the play delivers an experience of some of the feelings that have been running high in the UK since Brexit. Available for touring summer/autumn 2018.
https://pebblegorge.com/im-sticking-with-you/ |
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