January Newsletter
We are back!
Happy New Year and a warm welcome back to all of our service users, supporters and friends! Last month, we brought 2021 to a close with a triumphant performance by the Moving Recovery group, and after two weeks off we are back and ready to take the New Year by storm.
This year is sizzling with promise and opportunity, and although it might have started with some disappointing news about the VAULT Festival cancellation, we take comfort in the power and resilience of our community and know that creativity is sure to flourish.
This year we have more Masterclasses on offer for a chance to learn new skills, a co-production/co-design meeting with the Chair of the Board to allow service users to shape their time with us and plenty of opportunities to get creative. Every year we are thrilled to expand our reach and offerings further and this year is no different, with the launch of our first ever Young People’s Project in February, which we are now recruiting for.
All of our introductory groups are up and running again and are open to service users old and new. For those who are looking to stretch their ability and advance their performance skills we will re-restart our renowned Edge Two group, led by our very own Christopher and Julia. If you’ve been with us for 3 months on any of our introductory groups and would like to join Edge Two email Tess, admin@edgetc.org.
Read all about the coming year below and we look forward to seeing you soon!
Monthly Schedule of Activities
January 2022
If you are new to OETC and would like to participate in any of these activities then please register your interest here, and someone from our team will contact you.
Mondays
6:30pm-8:30pm – Edge Two (Christopher & Julia)
Starting 17th January
**Edge Two is our intermediate performance group open to anyone who has attended any of our introductory groups for 3 months. If you are interested in joining Edge Two or want to find out if you are eligible contact Tess, admin@edgetc.org**
Tuesdays
3:30pm-5:30pm – East London Drop-in Drama (Shiv & Tess)
6:30pm-8:30pm – East London Write Now (Tunde & Charon)
Wednesdays
3:30pm-5:30pm – West London Write Now (Stewart & Jane)
6:30pm-8:30pm – West London Drop-In Drama (Tunde & Julia)
Thursdays
12:30pm-2:30pm – Women’s Drama Group (Charon & Vicky)
Fridays
1:00pm-3:00pm – Peer-led Check-in (Billie & Racheal)
The chat room is open for participants to support each other or just meet up to chat about how they are feeling. Open to all participants who have attended 1 other group previously.
6:30pm-8:30pm – South London Drop-In Drama (Júlia & Shiv)
The Company
Rehearsals for ‘Barefaced’ continue this month. All performers should refer to their rehearsal schedules for dates and times. If you are a Company member who is performing as part of this project and you need more information, please contact Molly.
Please note that all OETC groups (excluding Peer-led Check-in, Edge Two & The Company) are now running a blended delivery, so you can attend in person or on Zoom.
January Masterclass
Directing with Gari Jones
DATE: Sunday January 30th
TIME: 11AM – 5PM
SIGN UP HERE
To keep up to date with the latest schedules check us out on Twitter (@OutsideTheatre), Facebook (@ Outsidedgetheatre) and Instagram (@Outsidedge) every Monday! Follow us on social media to see what Outside Edge is up to.
VAULT Festival UPDATE
We were saddened by the news of the cancellation of VAULT Festival 2022, to which we were due to take two new productions. In light of the Omicron variant we understand the decision taken by the festival and recognize that they have the best interest of audiences and artists at heart.
However, this will not mark the end of the road for Drift and Barefaced. We are currently looking for other venues and possibilities for these two incredible productions, so watch this space!
If you have bought tickets for either of the VAULT Festival shows you should have already been contacted by the VAULT’s Box Office team and will be receiving a full refund. If you have any queries regarding your refund please contact VAULT Festival directly.
Drift
The dirty secret of dependency plagues Roger in his small hometown in Wales and leads him to what may literally be a dead end. When his best friend’s addiction gets out of hand, Roger must face his own demons and make the ultimate decision.
Drift is a darkly comic, tour-de-force solo show, about addiction and grief, drenched in toxic masculinity.
Starring Alexander Vlahos (Sanditon; Outlander), and directed by Matt Steinberg (Tumulus; Check-In/Check-Out), Drift is Kristian Phillips’ debut play and was a runner-up for Outside Edge Theatre Company’s inaugural Phil Fox Award for Playwriting.
Drift will also tour to London-area treatment facilities.
Drift is kindly supported by:
Barefaced
What happens when a web of lies unravel, and hard truths are all that remain?
Directed by Hannah Hauer-King (The Funeral Director; Grotty; Breathe), written by Jane Bodie (Women’s Prize for Playwriting shortlist, Hampstead Theatre, Melbourne Theatre Company), Barefaced is a collaborative piece about tall tales and the deceit that lives within our stories, especially in the world of addiction.
These tall tales are told by a group of bold, sometimes broken, but nevertheless brilliant characters who may not realise they are lying, or how much their lies could impact people they haven’t even met.
Performers are all members of The Company and are in recovery.
Barefaced is kindly supported by:
Young People’s Project
Last year, Outside Edge was pleased to announce the launch of a week-long project for young people (aged 14-18) that have been affected by the addiction of a loved one. This February half term, participants will work with a team of two specially trained facilitators to create a short play that will be shared with an invited audience at Brady Arts Centre.
Across 5 days, the young participants will improve their confidence and wellbeing with a group of peers who have a similar lived experience. Creative activities and exercises will be designed to highlight the group’s collective skills, imagination and talents in an inclusive environment. The group is free to attend and young people don’t need to have any previous drama experience to participate.
This project will be led by our experienced facilitators Tunde and Julia who between them have years of experience making theatre and working with communities. We are thrilled to have them lead this new initiative and know that the project is in excellent hands.
Taster Sessions:
As part of the recruitment process we are making available a number of free taster sessions for young people’s services in East London for a chance to meet the facilitators leading the project and get a feel for the work we do. These sessions are a stimulating 1 hour long drama and creative writing workshops which explore the Five Ways to Wellbeing through a series of performance exercises and reflective writing. Participants will be encouraged to engage with each other in a creative way and explore their own wellbeing and artistic voice.
We have a limited number of these free sessions available for Young People’s Services. If you are interested in booking one of these sessions, please contact Tess: admin@edgetc.org.
Referrals and How to apply:
If you are aged 14-18 and think this might be right for you.
If you are a parent, guardian or caregiver in recovery and would like to enrol a young person.
Email admin@edgetc.org and Tess or Molly will get in touch.
If you are a young person’s service, charity, school or community group and would like to know more, email admin@edgetc.org and we can arrange to send you more information or come and run a Taster Sessions for your service!
Keep an eye out for more information on our webpage.
The Young People’s Project is generously supported by:
January Masterclass
Last year Outside Edge was thrilled to announce a series of monthly, day-long, Masterclasses exploring a variety of production and performance skills, and taught by industry professionals. The choice of topics responded directly to interest expressed by Outside Edge participants in our co-production meetings.
Our first two sessions led participants through an exploration of line learning and stage combat, and our next Masterclass is just around the corner exploring the craft of theatre directing with professional director Gari Jones.
Gari is a Director, Writer, Teacher and Theatre-Maker with over thirty years experience. He has worked in a vast range of environments and situations; events in car parks and squat venues, directed at established Theatres like the National, the Almeida and in the West End, and made work Internationally including Mexico, India and Finland. He has directed contemporary, classical and new work, as well as cross-art and site-specific projects.
DATE: Sunday 30th January
TIME: 11am-5pm
Masterclasses are open to all of OETC participants who have attended at least 3 months of any of our activities including Drop-in Drama, Write Now, Women’s Drama Group and Moving Recovery. You do not need to be an Edge Two member.
Spaces are limited so please ensure that if you book a space that you make it the session. If you are no longer able to attend you must let us know with a minimum of 3 days notice so we can offer it to another participant. Failure to cancel ahead of the session will mean you will not be invited to book in the future.
For more information email: admin@edgetc.org
Co-production Event with Chair of the Board Tom Robertson
At Outside Edge we foreground the needs of our service users by placing co-production and co-design and the heart of our activities. As such, we would like to invite all service users old and new for a co-production meeting with our Chair of the Board of Trustees, Tom Robertson. This meeting will open the floor to our service users to share their ideas, feedback on their experience and have their say about the future of the company by helping us to co-design our next three year strategy.
When: 20th Jan 6:30pm
Location TBD
To find out more email admin@edgetc.org.
Moving Recovery Performance
At the end of 2021 we came together to celebrate the talent and hardwork of our Moving Recovery group who over the term worked with Hannah Rudd and Paul Bayes-Kitcher from Fallen Angels Dance Theatre, culminating in the creation of ‘Transfiguration of the Spirit’. The performance was attended by members of the Outside Edge family in an intimate and transformative gathering that many found moving, emotional and inspiring. This was followed by an insightful Q&A with the performers sharing their experience of creating and performing the work.
‘Transfiguration of the Spirit’ was a personal exploration of each performer’s own recovery journey and individual interpretation of the theme. During this module the group experienced the transcendental change that happens when you let go of fear and find connection through structured movement meditation. This sharing captured the essence and power that transformation of the human spirit can have to heal us from the inside out.
See what audience members had to say:
“I was so moved by what I have just seen, I don’t usually get emotional but it was just so moving to watch.”
“It was like what they say in recovery about the journey from the head to the heart. It was just so heart centred, really powerful to see something where words would have actually taken away from it.”
“I would never have paid to go and see dance before because I didn’t feel it was up my street, but it’s mad to see how words would have not shown as much vulnerability.”
‘Moving Recovery’ is our Dance and Movement group in collaboration with Fallen Angels Dance Theatre. This is an informal group for people who are in recovery or have been affected by addiction, including their family, carers and champions, using movement to improve wellbeing and unlock creativity.
Congratulations to all of the performers who took part and thank you to Hannah and Paul who led another magical exploration.
But this is not the end for ‘Moving Recovery’! Watch this space for news about the group’s next module and the launch of the ‘Moving Recovery’ Taster Sessions for drug and alcohol services around the city.
Quotes of the month
Thank you to our new supporters…
During these difficult times we would like to thank our recent supporters who have made donations to Outside Edge this month:
Mary Ballard
Richard Hale
Maya Ellis
Racheal Tse
Jane Avery
and:
From Our Friends
Thatre503 Courses:
Theatre503 Studio courses and masterclasses are now on sale.
These sessions are ticketed, courses vary in price and each masterclass is £30, but bursary places will be available to be applied for (and will be allocated in the New Year). All information will be on our website on the 23rd December.
These sessions can sell out incredibly quickly and we would advise anyone interested to book or apply for a Share the Drama bursary place as soon as possible after tickets go on sale.
The next 503Studio season is comprised of the following events:
Courses:
Advanced Playwriting – Andrew Thompson – 5 x Mon Nights Starting Jan 17th
Introduction To Playwriting – Ifrah Ismail 5 x Mon Nights Starting Feb 28th
Write Your First Short Play – Mia Chung 5 x Thur Nights Starting Feb 10th
Write Your First Full Length Play – Steve Harper 8 x Thur Morn Starting Jan 20th
Masterclasses:
Jan 19th – Kenny Emson – Creating 3 Dimensional Characters – 2 – 4.30pm
Jan 26th – Phoebe Eclair-Powell – How To Like Your Play Again – 7 – 9.30pm
Feb 2nd – Alexander Zeldin – TBC – 2 – 4.30pm
Feb 9th – Ishy Din – Dramatic Action – 2 – 4.30pm
Feb 16th – Jake Brunger – Intro To Writing Musical Theatre – 7 – 9.30pm
Feb 23rd – Theresa Ikoko – Writing For TV – 2 – 4.30pm
March 2nd – Jane Bodie – Location, Location – 7 – 9.30pm
March 9th – Gemma Langford – Intro To Writing For Video Games – 2 – 4.30pm
March 16th – Abi Zakarian – Inside Out – Making A Monologue – 2 – 4.30pm
March 23rd – Ella Hickson – The Difference Between Want & Need – 2 – 4.30pm
March 30th – Steve Waters – Rethinking The Classics – 2 – 4.30pm
Papatango New Writing Prize
The 2022 Papatango New Writing Prize runs from 13 Dec – 30 Jan.
Free and anonymously assessed, one winner gets a month-long production in London plus publication, £7000 & royalties. Four shortlisted writers receive £500 each and filmed readings, showcased to theatres worldwide.
Feedback is available for all.
All you need is a story.
Find out more here.
Support Us
To continue to offer our creative activities for free we rely on the continued support of grants and donations.
If you would like to help Outside Edge through this challenging time, then please consider donating.
