I’m ready for my close up…

October 14, 2010 by

Laura Taflinger from Creative Choices films came to Bristol last week to film me for the Creative Choices website. The interview focused on what I’ve been up to this year on my Peach Placement at Watershed, but The Other Way Works also got a decent name check! Watch the short video here.

Spot the difference: Black Tonic vs. 2001

September 14, 2010 by

Nothing changes really does it.

I came across this photo recently, taken ‘backstage’ during the filming of 2001:A Space Odyssey.

2001:A Space Odyssey - cast waiting between shots

It reminded me of this photo that was taken back in June 2008 of the cast of Black Tonic waiting in one of our hotel bedroom performance spaces between shows.

Black Tonic waiting between shows

I was struck by the similarity.

Anyone else got any similar backstage pics to share?

09/10 Annual Report now online

August 11, 2010 by

A new super shiny Annual Report is now available for you to download. Packed with photos and pithy updates from the year just gone. Happy browsing.

Annual Report 09/10

toww_annual_report_0910

Click here to see all previous Annual Reports.

One-to-One theatre: discuss

June 30, 2010 by

I felt moved to reply to Lyn Gardner’s recent Guardian blog on the subject.  Here’s the original article, and below is my comment:

“Interesting article Lyn.

I think its great that this type of work is proliferating to the extent that BAC is holding a high profile festival of one-to-one performance.

Making work for small audience numbers myself (with http://theotherwayworks.co.uk), I am frequently required to make the case not just for my own work but the form as a whole. I am often told that this work is not financially viable (which of course it isn’t in a traditional bums-on-seats model, but aren’t there other forms of value?), and people accuse us of pandering to the current obsession with individualised experience rather than critiquing it. So I’m excited to see a wider pool of theatre makers experimenting with this form, bringing their own styles to it.

But with this proliferation comes a large diversity in the types of work marketed under the banner of ‘one-on-one’. Not a bad thing per se, but is there a danger of everyone jumping on the bandwagon just because its the buzzword of the moment? We’ve seen this with ‘site-specific’ theatre – people using the term to add excitement to what is essentially a play staged traditionally just in a building that isn’t a theatre.

In terms of Lyn’s final points around the rules of engagement. Nailing these is the job of the theatre maker. Much like the crafting of a good story or the synthesis of design elements in a traditional production, thinking through the audience role, instructional styles and the rules of engagement are key parts of making a one-to-one theatre production. If the audience don’t understand how they are supposed to behave, then it is the responsibility of the artist to improve how they contextualise the experience for the audience (unless the artist’s express desire is to unsettle the audience for some particular reason).

We certainly haven’t perfected this ourselves, but we do strive to learn from our experiences with audiences. We’ve discovered that to get the playful, interactive audience that we desire, we need to set them free from embarrassment and fear by providing clear guidance and plenty of reassurance and encouragement. We’ve found that far from ruining the surprises as we feared, it allows the audience to engage on a deeper level with the experience, and to get beyond ‘am I doing this right?'”

Good News! Our Artistic Director is selected for prestigious Cultural Leadership opportunity

December 15, 2009 by

The Other Way Works is pleased to announce a new development with long-lasting positive consequences for the career of our Artistic Director, Katie Day and for the future growth of the Company.

(more…)

Feedback – the joys and the woes

December 1, 2009 by

Feedback – its a tricky thing to get right, isn’t it?

As an artist making work, it seems pretty essential, but it’s so hard to know how to filter the stuff people say.  Everyone has some kind of agenda, a different aesthetic preference.

We got a whole range of snippets of written feedback following 10 minutes of extracts from Avon Calling at First Bite a couple of weeks ago.  Inevitably the negative ones sear themselves onto my retina, whilst the positive ones float in and out and get forgotten about.  I decided to put all the text into Wordle, and the result I think paints a more positive picture than is correct – since it breaks up sentences and just shows single words.

So here is the wordle, and a couple of my favourite bits of feedback.  And just so you know, I do read the feedback, and the negative stuff does hurt my feelings, but the positive stuff has the power to make me want to keep going and make more work and make it better.

avoncallingfirstbitewordle

“This evening was billed as ‘the region’s most daring theatre…” well if this is one of the “most daring” then heaven help us!”

“very pleasantly tickled by the whole concept”

“Confused… apathetic.. Maybe disgruntled at best.”

“My favourite I adore this piece! Moving Touching Thought provoking – would love to see it develop”

Avon and Me

November 21, 2009 by

We’d love to hear any personal stories or memories about Avon Cosmetics for our web project AVON AND ME.

Add them to our website avonandme.co.uk

Avon Calling in London this Saturday

November 19, 2009 by

We’ll be performing Avon Calling at Camden People’s Theatre in London THIS Saturday (21 November).

Tickets can be reserved for the London show by emailing boxoffice@cptheatre.co.uk

More info here.

In the meantime, please add any personal stories or memories about Avon Cosmetics to our website avonandme.co.uk … ding dong! Avon Calling!

Avon Calling new dates

October 22, 2009 by

We’ll be performing Avon Calling at First Bite @AE Harris in Birmingham on Thursday 12 November (10 minute extract), and at Camden People’s Theatre in London on Saturday 21 November.

Tickets can be reserved for the London show by emailing boxoffice@cptheatre.co.uk

More info here.

In the meantime, please add any personal stories or memories about Avon Cosmetics to our website avonandme.co.uk … ding dong! Avon Calling!

Avon and Me

September 15, 2009 by

avonandme.co.uk

What
AVON AND ME is a web project to collect personal memories and stories about Avon cosmetics.

How
Stories can be shared by filling in the web form on avonandme.co.uk, by emailing story@avonandme.co.uk or by tagging photos, video, audio or tweets on the web (Twitter, Flickr, Audioboo, Delicious, Technorati). Your story can be short, long, funny, sad, touching, embarrassing – all are welcome.

Who
AVON AND ME is run by The Other Way Works, an experimental theatre company based in Birmingham, UK.
The Other Way Works creates daring and remarkable theatre that draws the audience into the very heart of the experience.

Why
We are currently developing a theatre production entitled ‘Avon Calling‘. Every time we told anyone about the project, they would launch straight into a little anecdote about Avon – their mum used to be the Avon lady, or their auntie, or their first lipstick was from Avon. Often these stories were personal, about family members, about childhood. It seems that Avon is embedded deep in our lives and memories.

We created AVON AND ME so we can share all of these stories with each other. Share your story now – see ‘How‘ above for tips.

The Other Way Works’ latest work Avon Calling explores the eternal triangle of mother, daughter and… Avon cosmetics. Drawing vividly on personal source material Louise Platt reveals to the audience her mother’s world of shiny new products and multicoloured bottles gathering dust on cupboard tops. An intimate and comic portrait of a woman, a mother, an Ex-Avon Lady.

Avon Calling (In development, 30 minutes of material) as part of ‘It Came From Pilot’
Warwick Arts Centre
Thursday 8th October 2009 19:45 £7.50/£5
Book Tickets through Warwick Arts Centre
Buy Online or call the Box Office: 024 7652 4524

Avon Calling has been commissioned by PILOT Nights / Warwick Arts Centre. Funded by Arts Council England
arts council PILOT Nights

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