Launch of Splash! at Royal & Derngate, Northampton

This Tuesday I attended the launch of a brand new initiative in the arts to help disabled children get greater access to the field and improved job success. Based in the East Midlands and covering Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire and Northamptonshire, the Northampton event was the central stop of a day of events. With the group set off from Leicester in the morning before heading down the waterways towards Northampton, they stopped over at the brand new University of Northampton Campus on the banks of the River Nene. Following this, the Northampton launch took place in the Royal Theatre, before then finally heading to Nottingham for the evening launch.

By the time the Royal stage event was reached, things hadn't totally got to plan timewise, so a little late, the event began. Following a brief welcome from Royal & Derngate artistic director, James Dacre, The Mighty Creatives chief executive, Nick Owen, launched into an explanation of what was planned.

Over the next year, the project will be working with over 2,500 young people with learning disabilities and their families, seeing the team engaging with 128 head teachers and senior staff of special schools in the region, and a planned site-specific event presented in front of 30,000 audience members, both live and online.

It was explained that there are three stages to the project, starting with a weeklong creative residential, taking place this week, where disabled artists will collaborate, test and design a robust artistic brief for the project with disabled access at the heart of it.

Then from October 2018 to February 2019 a programme of audience development and engagement activities will take place across the East Midlands, working with SEND schools, local authorities and families.

The final phase of the project next spring and summer will be to plan and produce an outdoor touring production, led by project partners Diverse City and Extraordinary Bodies. Taking the waterways of the region as the central inspiration, this production will be performed first in Northampton (hopefully at the University of Northampton campus on the River Nene), before transferring on to other locations around the East Midlands.

While the event didn't go entirely smoothly as technical gremlins got the better of the afternoon, it was clear that this was looking set to be an interesting initiative, and much needed. While full details of the plans for the performance are very early in the process and not fully explained during the launch, the Splash! of the title is not an accident, with this very much building on personal experiences and thoughts of the public of life on or around the waterways of England, made clear by the post-show projects scattered around the bar area of the Royal.

While it is early days for this project, I look forward to seeing future developments. There is clear enthusiasm from those both running the project and those set to be involved in a more artistic way.

Event launch: Monday 10th September 2018 at Royal & Derngate, Northampton

www.themightycreatives.com

Splash! Consortium:

Attenborough Arts Centre and Curve, Leicester;

Canals and River Trust East Midlands,

Lincoln Drill Hall;

Graeae Theatre Co., London;

Deda and Hubbub Theatre, Derby; NEO Learning,

Nottingham Playhouse;

Royal & Derngate, Northampton,

The Mighty Creatives

University of Derby.

Splash Artist Ensemble:

Aminder Virdee: interdisciplinary artist

John McDonald: visual artist

Katie Walters: spoken word poet

Laura Guthrie: theatre designer and director
Lucy Hayward: writer and producer

Lucy Nicholls: producer, performer, Change Maker

Mary Strickson: photographer and facilitator

Nikki Charlesworth: Theatre Designer and Puppet maker

Onaissa Jamal: textile artist

Rachel Ross: theatre director

Lead Artists: Diverse City / Extraordinary Bodies

Review of Top Gs Like Me at Royal & Derngate (Derngate), Northampton

Long before this brand new play by local playwright Samson Hawkins opened at Royal & Derngate Northampton, Top Gs Like Me had garnered a vast amount of media attention, especially regarding the staging within the Derngate theatre on a remarkable conversion into a skatepark, a theatre version of real-life Radlands skatepark in Northampton. So, delving deep below the remarkable site within the theatre, does Hawkins' play of seething toxic masculinity, misogyny and questions around consent strike all the right marks for a perfect landing? Top Gs Like Me follows the life, as he feels it is, of Aiden. Lost in the modern world, his best mate is heading to Uni, his mum is permanently in bed, and Aiden himself is drifting into some nefarious activities. His world is really often little more than stacking shelves in the supermarket, his scooter at his side and his mobile phone and all that entails for a youth of today. Into this world comes the mysterious Hugo Bang, who leads him some...

Review of Horrible Histories - The Concert at Milton Keynes Theatre

The first Horrible Histories book, written by Terry Deary, first hit the shelves a remarkable 33 years ago and has since become a historic event in its own right, with the franchise growing and growing. There have now been 23 books, several TV series, a game show and a film. Also, of course, it is now a stage show, with both Terrible Tudors and Awful Egyptians on a current tour around the country. However, here, now briefly at Milton Keynes Theatre, as part of its own tour, is Horrible Histories - The Concert . So, given the franchise's past success, what is this concert version adding to the franchise? The quick answer is bundles of fun with lashings of subliminal education, as Horrible Histories is very much known for. The cast, created from a collection of mainstays of the original series or tours and a few extras, are as enthusiastic as possible for a production, very much initially aimed at an audience of children. Bold, big in character and overplaying everything, you canno...

Review of The Battle at Birmingham Rep

The Battle is a brand-new play by John Niven, set firmly in the nineties, that focuses on the Britpop fight between chart rivals Blur and Oasis. Opening at Birmingham Rep before transferring to the spiritual Oasis home of Manchester, the question is: is this worth donning your bucket hat, heading to the theatre, and enjoying the show to the end, or will you look back in anger when you leave? It is London, 1995. The infamous Britpop battle begins when both Blur and Oasis release singles on the same day. On one side, clean-cut, art-school intellectuals from the South. On the other hand, raw and unapologetic lads from the North. Let battle commence! The Battle is John Niven's first stage play, and he doesn't take the easy route. Deciding to bring both known people, detailed and multiple scenes and ambitious storytelling to proceedings. And for the most part, it all comes together to create a coherent whole. The casting director Claire Bleasdale has assembled a talented group of ...

A Small Mind At The Theatre

Search This Blog