All tickets are free and the only way to get a ticket is to email Worcestershire County Council atartsenquiries@worcestershire.gov.uk

Venue: The Hive, Sawmill Walk, The Butts, Worcester, WR1 3PB
Dates: 6th and 7th July 2012
Times: 5pm & 7:30pm on both days

Funded by Worcestershire County Council.

Rachael Savage
Artistic Director

Vamos Theatre
Waldermere House
71 Malvern Road
Worcester
WR2 4LJ

01905 748249

www.vamostheatre.co.uk

The Studio is a new initiative launched by the Blue Orange Theatre to utilise our second space for comedy and other live entertainment including but not limited to acoustic music and poetry amongst other performing arts.

We have a line up of 4 great comedians:
Paul Savage
Maxine Jones
Johnny Sorrow
Freddie Farrell

Tickets are £6 in advance or £8 on the door.
Call the Box Office on 0121 212 2643.
The Studio
The Blue Orange Theatre
118 Great Hampton Street
Hockley
Birmingham
B18 6AD
0121 212 2643
www.studiocomedy.co.uk

With an eye to the paintings of the Dutch masters and using origami props, The Just Price of Flowers explains the complexities of high finance with great humour, in a remarkably straightforward way, whilst steadily setting you up for the inevitable heartbreaking finale.

There are also two songs and an origami peacock.

During the run of the production, there will be a free exhibition of photographs from one of the country’s most distinguished photographers, John Blakemore.

Blakemore has spent more than a decade photographing tulips and this exhibition of photographs from Birmingham Central Library’s John Blakemore Archive shows a selection of his work from across this period and resonates with many of the themes picked out in the play.

Tickets for The Just Price of Flowers start at just £8, with concessions available. Book online at birmingham-rep.co.uk or call our Box Office, The BOX, on 0121 236 4455.

ARCADE is a short play and will be performed in June at the UK’s only professional Shop Front Theatre in City Arcade, in the heart of Coventry City centre as part of Coventry Mysteries Week Festival.

Performed by Midlands actors Katy Stephens and John Flitcroft, ARCADE is a mixture of guilt, memory and desire – a passion play for two characters.

Jenks and Kath meet again after a lifetime apart, they struggle to reconcile themselves to events from a past life that governs who they are, and what they will do now.

Played against the backdrop of Theatre Absolute’s shop front theatre windows and its panoramic street view of Coventry city centre at dusk, ARCADE explores the shock of the everyday, and reconciling oneself to sudden life changing events.

ARCADE will be at the Shop Front Theatre from Tuesday 12th to Saturday 16th June.
Evening performances start at 8pm. In addition there are also 2 matinees on 14th & 16th
June at 2pm. The play lasts approximately 50 minutes and contains strong language.
Suitable for ages 14 and above. Tickets are £6 available from the box office 0845 680
1926 or www.oxboffice.com. Advanced booking advised.

 Vamos Theatre, in association with The Everyman Theatre Cheltenham, presents its latest mask theatre production Much Ado About Wenlock

Swan Theatre, Worcester

Thursday 28^th June 7:30pm, Friday 29^th June 1:30pm & 7:30pm, Saturday 30^th June 7:30pm11^th

Box Office: 01905 611427

“very, very funny…you won’t fail to be delighted“ The Stage

“Much Ado About Wenlock is one of the most charming, delightful and perfectly inventive pieces of theatre seen in years”

Chris Eldon Lee, BBC Radio 4 Producer

DOROTHY HEATHCOTE’S LEGACY

LAST CALL TO GET EARLY BIRD DISCOUNT – DEADLINE JUNE 1st!

At this special two-day event, a range of practitioners will demonstrate the continuing influence of Dorothy Heathcote’s work in their current practice and thinking.

Key speakers

EILEEN PENNINGTON * LUKE ABBOTT

Eileen and Luke will also lead workshop sessions.

Other workshops, talks and poster presentations will be led by Iona Towler-Evans, David Allen, Denise Jones, Kate Katafiasz and others

NEWMAN UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, Genners Lane, Bartley Green, Birmingham B32 3NT

Saturday / Sunday June 16 – 17th, 2012

9.30 a.m. – 4.30 p.m.

Early-bird booking fee (book by June 1st):

Non-members: £95 / Members £70 / Students £40

(After June 1st:  Non-members: £105 / Members £80 / Students £50)

Places are limited. To register, email news@midlandactorsatheatre.co.uk.

For further information, contact David on 0121 608 7144 or Iona on 07866 752169

Calling artists, scientists and creative people with an interest in ancient history, storytelling, conservation, symbology and the changing landscape. This Factory Night will start with an intimate visit to the Staffordshire hoard collection at the Potteries Museum and Art gallery. Artists will enjoy the glitter of ancient gold by atmospheric candle light led by Interpretation Officer Cathy Shingler who will give an insight into the latest findings and the secrets of the historic artefacts.  The Factory Night then turns into a Pilgrimage to Trentham Gardens led by artist and Saxon enthusiast Andrew Edwards currently exhibiting his Staffordshire Saxon at the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery. Andy will set the scene of how this landscape has changed since it was the heartland of Mercia, exploring plant life, settlements and putting the hoard into living context through motifs, symbols, stories and legends.  We aim for this Factory Night to provide an insight into the rich history of the internationally important hoard and for artists and creative people to be involved in future research and interpretation through creative activity.

The Saxon hoard is now World Famous as the largest ever find of Anglo-Saxon gold treasure, it was unearthed from a Staffordshire Field by a metal detectorist Terry Herbert on private farm land and comprises in excess of 1,500 individual items many decorated with precious stone. Most of the treasure appears to date from the seventh century and the supreme quality of the craftsmanship on many items indicates royal ownership. It is a legacy of craftsmen whose artistry fashioned precious metals and gemstones into incredibly detailed sword hilt fittings, helmet parts and other items. It is also the story of kings, religious men and their warriors, who carried these pieces into battle, who fell, and were later stripped of their finery.

How to Apply
Please email info@rednile.org, with the following information: (as a word document or PDF)

• 150 words on your current practice, medium or interests.
• A paragraph on why you would like to attend
• Attach 2-3 pieces/images of recent relevant works at low resolution and / or weblinks

Rednile require this information in order to select a balanced mix of creative people from a range of experiences and disciplines

The deadline for applications is Monday 4th June 5pm

Places are limited to 15 and only those that attend a Factory Night can apply for the subsequent Factory Night Unique Opportunity.
Applicants will be notified of the outcome on Tuesday 5th June.
Travel bursaries are available to those wishing to attend from outside of the region, please state if you wish to be considered for one and where you will be travelling from.

NOTE: Please be aware that this Factory Night does involve a significant amount of walking on uneven ground  please take this into careful consideration when applying to ensure you are able to participate.

Factory Nights background &Unique Opportunities: Staffordshire Hoard and Saxon heritage

For this Factory Night we are looking for artists, scientists and creatives to develop ideas, research projects and artworks inspired by the Staffordshire Hoard and the Saxon stories and heritage.  We encourage attendees to make new work and initiate ideas inspired by the site and the other attendees. Factory Nights is an innovative approach to commissioning art work and inspiring collaboration and attendees of Factory Nights can apply forUnique Opportunity bursaries between £1k-£3k to conduct research residencies, collaborations or produce a piece of work inspired by the Factory Night. Details of application process will be given at the event.

Further Information
Factory Nights 2011-2012 is funded by: Arts Council England, The British Council, Staffordshire University, Multistory, Middlesbrough Council, Redcar and Cleveland Council and Stoke on Trent Council. This Factory Night is made possible through the kind support of Andy Edwards, Paul Bailey, St Modwens and the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery team. 

The On Call will take place at mac birmingham in the Arena Bar from 12noon-2pm on Thursday 24th and Friday 25th May. You can just turn up to take advantage of some free advice, but if you’d like to book a specific slot, please email catherine@capitalplays.co.uk

Thursday 24th May
12noon-2pm
Taking your show to Edinburgh (from an artist/producer perspective)
Pippa Frith, Independent Producer
Kindle Theatre (tbc)

Friday 25th May
12noon-2pm: Artist and company development (particularly in terms of artistic practice), developing partnerships with venues, new writing, collaborations, Grants for the Arts advice

Alison Gagen, Relationship Manager, Arts Council England

Alison’s professional experience in theatre, prior to joining ACE: she was Press Officer at the New Vic; ran the Education department at Polka Theatre for Children; was General Manager for Sphinx, a touring company specialising in new writing by women, when she worked particularly on moving the company from small to mid-scale touring and on building new coproducing relationships. In her time working in a number of theatre-focused roles at ACE over the last 10+ years she has done two secondments, one to ACE national office in 2004, looking after the then Arts Council Theatre Writing Policy, and one to Warwick Arts Centre, programming the studio, in 2007. She set up the first Bitesize festival with Paul Warwick of China Plate during that time.

Alison’s regional development work at ACE has focused particularly on ways to grow the independent theatre sector –  including looking at ways in which venues can work to support that development. She has also been doing some  1-to-1 work with companies, looking at their development needs , their artistic vision and how teams of artists  and/or producers work together to deliver that.

On Call: Alison will focus on advice/sharing experiences about artist and company development and on coproducing/partnerships between companies and venues – she is also interested in conversations with writers about their development needs.

Mike Kaloski-Naylor, Relationship Manager, Arts Council England

Mike worked as Projects co-ordinator at TheatreWorks, a theatre development agency covering Swindon and Wiltshire, and including support for artists and organisations in Bath and North East Somerset. TheatreWorks, which merged with Wilshire dancing in 2011 to become Creative Ecology Wiltshire (CEW) is a member of the Theatre South West network and Albow websites. They initiated our own small grants fund, provided advice and support to artists and arts organisation, and ran a number of development events. During this time, he also spent 8 months co-ordinated the South West New Writing Network.

He moved to Manchester to work as a Grants for the arts Assessor, and is now coming to the end of a six-month secondment working as a Relationship Manager in the West Midlands.

On Call: Mike will return to the Grants for the arts team at the beginning of June, and he is interested in discussing and advising on how best to make use of Grants for the arts support, and hearing people’s experience of the funding programme.

Mike Tweddle, BE Festival

Mike is a theatre director, producer, writer and performer. He lives in Birmingham where he co-directs the city’s European performing arts festival – Be Festival – founded in 2010. He is the artistic director of Babakas, a new Birmingham-based international ensemble. As joint artistic director of Temple Theatre, he has directed and co-produced the company’s four shows to date, including the multi-award winning Out of Chaos and current project UNMYTHABLE.  As a freelance director, he has worked for Foster and Déchery, Jumbled, CASA Festival, the National Youth Theatre and The Globe.

mid*point is the network for theatre-makers in the West Midlands