Avon Calling (2011)

Join the Avon Lady in the cosy surrounds of your own living room for an intimate Avon Party with a twist. Invite your friends round to share in a celebration of beauty in all its forms, and uncover the secrets that lurk beneath your visitor’s perfectly polished exterior. Avon Calling is an intimate solo performance for real homes.

Avon Calling is performed in audience members’ own houses – for up to 10 audience members at a time. Tickets are booked in one ticket by the householder.

Created by Katie Day and Louise Platt, and performed by Louise Platt. Mentoring by Alexander Kelly, Third Angel. Commissioned by mac birmingham. Supported by Arts Council England. Development supported by Pilot Nights and Warwick Arts Centre.

2015 Tour Dates

December 2, 2014 by

Theatre Royal Winchester

Sat 14 – Sun 15 February 2015
Sat 28 – Sun 29 March 2015

Tickets now on sale (all now sold out!)

http://www.theatreroyalwinchester.co.uk/avon-calling/

Sat 14 Feb 3pm (SOLD OUT)
Sat 14 Feb 7pm (SOLD OUT)
Sun 15 Feb 3pm (SOLD OUT)
Sun 15 Feb 7pm (SOLD OUT)
EXTRA DATES ADDED
Sat 28 Mar 3pm (SOLD OUT)
Sat 28 Mar 7pm (SOLD OUT)
Sun 29 Mar 3pm (SOLD OUT)
Sun 29 Mar 7pm (SOLD OUT)

2014 Tour Dates

February 18, 2014 by

Avon Calling is back on the road this spring & summer…


Curve, Leicester

Sat 12th April 2014
Sun 13th April 2014
– Avon Calling is part of Curve’s Inside Out Festival and is not on sale to the general public. Shows were won as part of a competition.
www.curveonline.co.uk

Warwick Arts Centre
Sat 10th May 3 & 7.30pm 2014
Sun 11th May 3 & 6.30pm 2014
www.warwickartscentre.co.uk/whats-on/2014/avon-calling/

Black Country Touring
Sat 21st June 2014
Sun 22nd June 2014
– Avon Calling is available for BCT Promoters and 2 performances are on sale directly to people living in the Black Country
www.bctouring.co.uk/

The Lowry, Salford
Sat 12th July | 2 & 7.30pm 2014
Sun 13th July | 2 & 7.30pm 2014
http://www.thelowry.com/event/avon-calling1

Avon Calling Credits

July 24, 2013 by

Katie Day Co-creator and Director
Louise Platt Co-creator and Performer
Lucy Ellinson The voice of Reese Witherspoon & Mum
Alexander Kelly Creative Mentor
Janet Vaughan Designer
Ric Watts Producer
Thomas Wildish Tour Manager
Gareth Nicholls Stage Manager
Ed Porteous Talking products electronics
With Consultancy from the Pervasive Media Studio, Bristol
Extra special thanks to Clare Duffy, Lucy Ellinson,
Lucy Poulson, Ed Porteous & Cynthia Platt

Avon Calling Press

July 14, 2013 by

The Independent

18 July 2014

Read article online here

…while The Other Way Works is a Birmingham-based company that also pays house calls, specialising in immersive theatre experiences for a game audience.

“It feels much more intimate and it’s thrilling entering the audience’s world,” says Louise Platt, star of The Other Way Works’ one-woman show Avon Calling. “The contract is flipped around and the lines between fiction and reality are blurred. I like to think I leave the ghost of what has taken place – and the smell of countless beauty products – in their private space.”…

The Guardian
Avon Calling – Review

*** 3 Stars, Reviewed by Lyn Gardner, 20 March 2012

Read online here

For those of a certain generation, the ding-dong of the doorbell signifies that the Avon lady is coming to call with her samples of lotions and potions. So it’s rather appropriate that this show, created by the Other Way Works, takes place not in theatres, but in people’s homes. I saw it in a private house in Camden, where, alas, there was no bell, only a knocker, which made it sound as if the bailiffs had come to call.

The Avon Lady in this instance is called Debbie, and when she arrives with her samples in her red suitcases, she nervously thanks Avon for so many years of “empowering women” and us for “taking the time for beauty”. Her smiles are bright but provisional. “Eyes like diamonds,” she keeps reminding herself. She seems strangely unnerved.

What follows is 90 minutes of fun and games that feels like a grownup version of a 1950s children’s party, including Kim’s Game and a lipstick version of pin the tail on the donkey. It culminates in a brilliant spoof relaxation tape with Lucy Ellinson perfectly capturing the cadences of Reese Witherspoon, Avon’s global ambassador. Apparently we can all put “creative rejuvenation” into our lives with one squirt of Witherspoon’s signature fragrance.

There are prizes and free samples along the way, and the mood is upbeat and giggly, but it soon becomes clear not all is well with Debbie – she appears to be hearing messages from her dead mum, who is speaking to her from out of the pots of face cream. As the mother-and-daughter relationship unravels from beyond the grave, it’s soon clear Debbie has got problems a new eyeshadow is never going to solve.

This is a very entertaining show, and touching, too, although the company may have missed a trick in making this a personal story of grief and breaking with the past, rather than feeding more directly into the love-hate relationship that many women have with cosmetics and their dubious promises. The final few minutes are undoubtedly moving – and performer Louise Platt is never less than convincing in her bright-eyed desperation – but the emotional climax feels a trifle unearned. Still, it’s fun, it’s different, and it beats a Tupperware party any day.

The Independent

4 April 2012
Avon Calling: A night at the theatre from the comfort of your own sitting room
One-woman show Avon Calling is an interactive theatre experience with a difference – it takes place in people’s homes. Alice Jones turned her south London flat into a stage for a poignant perfumed-themed party

Read online here

The stage is set. I’ve pushed back the coffee table, dragged the dining room chairs into the sitting room and whisked my housemate’s socks off the radiator. The audience (nine of my friends) is gathering in the bar (my kitchen) drinking white wine, chilled to a degree unheard of in most stalls bars. They’re here because, for one night only, I have converted my flat in Brixton – some five miles from the ritz and glitz of the West End and as yet undiscovered as a hub for the dramatic arts – into a theatre. On the bill is Avon Calling, an “intimate Avon party with a theatrical twist” by Louise Platt, a 32-year old actress from Birmingham, who travels the country performing in ticket-holders’ homes for audiences of 10 people at a time.

“Ladies and gentlemen, would you please take your seats for this evening’s performance”, announces Gareth Nicholls, our stage manager for the night. “And please remember to switch off all mobile phones.” We file into the next room, squash up on the sofa and assorted chairs and await curtain rise – or, in this case, the doorbell. This is a play about an Avon lady, after all.

“Ding dong!” The door opens to reveal “Debs”, our friendly Avon rep, shivering in an unflattering coral skirt suit and blue eyeshadow on the front step. Once inside she pops on a CD of Pretty Woman and begins to unpack her display – Arabian Glow bronzing pearls, Skin So Soft hand cream and Celebre eau de toilette – from three battered red suitcases. We sit and watch, nervously. It’s one thing plunging voluntarily into the immersive theatre worlds created by site-specific companies, it’s quite another having one crash into your home and set up shop between your television and the pot plant.

Billed as “an intimate solo performance for real homes”, Avon Calling is no ordinary one-woman show. The realisation dawns: if Platt is playing the hostess of our fake Avon bash tonight, it must be down to us to play the guests. Sure enough, we’re soon called upon to get the party started. “I feel like tonight is going to be a special night,” says Debs, instructing us to introduce ourselves, tell the room our favourite colour and give it a pretentious adjective, “like they do in the Avon catalogues”. “My name is Alice and I like regal purple,” I say, tentatively. “My name is Ed and I like camouflage green,” growls one of two males in tonight’s audience, possibly sensing his masculinity is under threat. Little does he suspect that within an hour he will be relaxing to the latest meditation CD from “Avon Ambassador” Reese Witherspoon – with cucumber slices on his eyes.

Egged on by free samples and the charming Debs – and the fact that the “house lights” are blazing down on both rows of the stalls, making it very hard to be a wallflower – everyone gamely plays their part. Over the course of the 90-minute show, there are rounds of Kim’s game and “Pin the lipstick on the Avon Lady”, bronzer demos (“We’ll just do half the face, Cate…”), hand massages and liberal spritzing of the nostril-burning “Essence of Man”.

It’s not all fun and games. While Debs has a nice line in cosmetic-themed double entendre and a tongue-in-cheek take on the company ethos, Avon Calling is more than a slapstick cabaret act. It’s also a drama that takes an unexpected emotional turn as we catch a glimpse of the “real” Avon Lady beneath the chirpy, foundation-slathered surface. Between games, Debs tells us about her late mother, an Avon Lady to the tips of her manicured fingernails, whose dedication to the brand veered on obsession. Our hostess, it is implied, is now in danger of going the same way as she tries to keep her mother’s spirit alive with pots of moisturiser and bargain shower gel. Out of the superficial silliness, Platt crafts a poignant piece –an elegy for happier times and perhaps for the heyday of Avon itself.

The story was loosely inspired by the playwright’s own mother, who worked as the local Avon Lady when Platt was growing up in the tiny Northamptonshire village of Yelvertoft. “She still buys a lot of Avon. There’s too much of it in the house,” says Platt. She too worked as an Avon rep for a year in the name of research. Was it enjoyable? “Yes… to a degree. Some things about it were quite empowering – having knowledge to offer people. It’s really good value but you have to sell quite a lot to make a commission.”

As co-founder of The Other Way Works, a Birmingham-based company who specialise in interactive, immersive theatre outside of the traditional black box, Platt knew from the start that she wanted to stage her play in real homes. The company’s last show, a detective thriller called Black Tonic, was performed in the bedrooms and corridors of various city hotels for two couples at a time. Previous productions include a one-on-one “date” in a theatre bar, a sound-and-light show in a two-man tent that toured the summer festivals and a play in an empty unit in the Mailbox shopping centre in Birmingham. It is currently working on a promenade sound piece to play on park bandstands.

Avon Calling is now touring until July – stopping off in Oxford, Bristol, Ipswich, Harrogate and Cardiff after its London run. Audience members book through theatres, providing their home address is within a certain distance of the box office… “For the company, it’s an efficient way of touring”… says Platt. …“This way a theatre can have two shows running at once – one on its stage, and another in people’s homes.”

There is something both old-fashioned – recalling the days of rich patrons welcoming in travelling players – and very of-the-moment about Avon Calling, which plays on the vogue for site-specific productions and audience interaction in hit shows from Punchdrunk’s The Masque of the Red Death to One Man, Two Guvnors. Welcoming a stranger into one’s home takes the intimacy of those shows to another level. There is a certain thrill in watching a personalised performance from an actress so close you can see her pores and Debs’ story is all the more affecting for playing out at the foot of my sofa rather than a stage. Platt, who also works as a drama therapist, is most interested by how audiences react. “Some can be overly chatty – people forget they’re watching a play because of the blurred edges,” she says. “We’d never tell an audience off. We want people to take a risk in interacting but we don’t want to humiliate them. We always want the audience to be the most important people in the production.”

As the party draws to a close, we help Debs to pack away her display and usher her out of the front door, suitcases, mirrors and all. “I told you tonight was going to be a special night,” she says, with a shiny coral grin. And with that, she’s gone, leaving behind a room filled with “Essence of Man” and one knotty problem for the would-be home theatre impresario. Can you applaud a performer who is no longer there? We do it anyway – warmly and enthusiastically.

Camden New Journal
THEATRE: Avon Calling – Sprint Festival
Reviewed by Russell Parton, 15 March 2012

Read online here

On enquiring how long the performance was and receiving the answer: “It depends on how talkative you all are,” I knew this was going to be something out of the ordinary – a feeling compounded by the fact I was sitting not in a theatre but in someone’s living room.

Avon Calling by The Other Way Works company is a peripatetic “theatrical event” being staged as part of the annual Sprint Festival that takes place in and around the Camden People’s Theatre.

In this case, the venue is people’s own homes.

With a cast of one, the audience numbers 10 people…

Louise Platt plays Debs, an Avon representative with a Reese Witherspoon fixation whose breezy charm belies deep underlying troubles.

After thanking us for “taking time out for beauty” and setting up her display of perfumes and make-up, the audience is treated to a hilarious sales demonstration involving variations on party games and free samples of beauty products.

In the cosy confines of your living room, the usual relationship between audience and performer is reconfigured and the audience drawn into the performance.

Debs involves the audience at every stage, asking questions and responding off the cuff.

Anonymity is not an option.

Platt performs with excellent comic poise and is equally assured when her saleswoman persona slips – which it frequently does – and her doubts and insecurities show through.

Debs leaves as she entered, by the front door, her lipstick matching the colour of her suitcases.

Avon Calling celebrates and ridicules oldfashioned femininity through her character, an unknowing comedian whose sales schtick and comic actions undermine the “eyes like diamonds” dignity she holds too dear.

The Guardian Theatre Blog

Monday Theatre Roundup, Lyn Gardner, 12 March 2012

Read online here

Ding dong
It’s hard performing in any intimate space, but harder still when you’re in someone’s house and the assembled audience are pretty well all critics – with notebooks at the ready. That was the situation facing Louise Platt on Friday evening, who plays, Deb, a nervous Avon representative attempting to host a cosmetics party in Avon Calling, a show by The Other Way Works which is currently touring the country, playing not venues but people’s homes. Platt did a brilliant job, despite the proximity of the critical gaze. But one of the things the evening reminded me is how differently audiences behave outside of traditional theatre settings. Avon Calling has masses of audience participation, and we critics were joining in. Miracles do happen – or maybe it was just the lure of the free samples.

ayoungertheatre.com

Review – Avon Calling
Reviewed by Jake Orr, 11 March 2012

Read the full review online

The launch of the annual Sprint Festival at Camden People’s Theatre took place not in a theatre as expected, but in the living room for an intimate audience of ten people. Birmingham-based The Other Way Works presented its newest out-of-the-confines-of-a-theatre-space show Avon Calling. Based on the 125-year-old ‘ding-dong’ of Avon representatives across the world who bring beauty into the homes of the everyday person, Avon Calling is a delicate piece of immersive storytelling.

The door bell rings promptly at 5.30pm, and into the living room comes Deborah (Louise Platt), our Avon representative for the evening. Dressed in a luminous pink suit, carrying red suitcases and bringing the faint whiff of perfume into the air, Deborah begins the 90-minute exploration of Avon products, history and personal stories. It’s an intimate, tender, often laugh-out-loud piece of work that combines an interactive environment for its small audience with a story of a girl bearing the weight of her mother’s expectations. …

At times when its increasingly hard to get your work programmed at venues unless you’re banging on the doors demanding to be let in, it’s good to see The Other Way Works exploring theatre beyond the solid walls of a traditional venue. Taking the intimate performance into the even more intimate environment of a living room is one way of proving that theatre can exist outside a proscenium arch or black box studio. Whilst it’s not ground-breaking, Avon Calling is certainly a charming piece of theatre thinking outside the box. Full of giggles and tenderness it makes for the perfect start to Sprint, a festival challenging our perspectives on theatre and performance curated by the new artistic team at Camden People’s Theatre.

Birmingham Mail

Review – Avon Calling
**** 4 Stars
Reviewed by Mohini Howard, 16 June 2011

Read the full review online

DING Dong Avon Calling… Oh hello, a performance in my living room was about to begin!
My teenage son posted on Facebook that “something strange was happening downstairs!”
And so it was. …

There followed an hour of ‘games’ and sales rep dialogue with audience participation encouraged by the somewhat vulnerable character Debra the Avon Lady played by Louise Platt.
Taking us through the paces with her creams, perfumes and lipsticks Debra simultaneously allows glimpses into her troubled life with an uneasy intimacy that’s cleverly reeled back with humour, just about sparing the house guests.

Birmingham-based theatre company The Other Way Works has been taking this unique experience, commissioned by the MAC, around people’s houses. …

As for me, being host to Avon Calling created an enjoyable evening without the hassle of taxis, jostling for drinks at the bar or stuck in an uncomfortable seat. …

This was a thought-provoking performance and a lovely evening with friends in the comfort of my own home.

Avon Calling Private Bookings

by

If we aren’t touring to a town near you in conjunction with a local arts centre or you just can’t wait that long, we are now able to offer Avon Calling as a one-off booking for private homes.

Ding, dong. “Avon Calling!” Join the Avon Lady in the cosy surrounds of your own living room for an intimate Avon Party with a twist.
Invite your friends round to share in a celebration of beauty in all its forms, and uncover the secrets that lurk beneath your visitor’s perfectly polished exterior.
Avon Calling is an intimate solo performance for real homes, for up to 10 audience members.

Avon Calling lasts 90 minutes. We do not need to do a pre-visit to your home, but we will send you full information about what to expect on booking, and will have a quick chat with you by phone to answer any questions in advance of the event.

The cost of a private booking of a one-off performance of Avon Calling is £300 + reasonable travel costs (based on petrol for one car for a return journey to your home from central Birmingham).

If you’d like to book Avon Calling as a private booking for your home, or would like to enquire further about it, please email  info@theotherwayworks.co.uk

Avon Calling Performance History

by

Tour 2012

Wales Millenium Centre, Cardiff
Blysh Festival
6-8 July 2012

Harrogate Theatre
1-3 June

Pulse Festival, Ipswich
25-27 May

Mayfest, Bristol
18-20 May

Oxford Playhouse
30 March-1 April, 13-15 April & 20-22 April

Camden People’s Theatre, London
Sprint Festival
16-18 March 2012

artsdepot, North Finchley, London
23-25 March

The Lowry, Salford
17-19 February 2012

Edinburgh Festival August 2011
23rd, 24th & 25th August 2011

Yardley, Birmingham
July and August 2011
In collaboration with Yardley’s Arts Champions mac and community organisations in Yardley, we will present a series of performances of Avon Calling for Yardley residents.

mac Birmingham

6-18th June 2011
Avon Calling was performed in audience members’ own houses within a 20 mile radius of mac – for up to 10 audience members at a time.
Created by Katie Day and Louise Platt. Mentoring by Alexander Kelly, Third Angel.
Commissioned by mac birmingham Supported by Arts Council England. Development supported by Pilot Nights, Warwick Arts Centre and The Junction.

In development

Saturday 21 November 2009
Camden People’s Theatre, London (In development, 45 minutes of material)

Thursday 12 November 2009
First Bite @AE Harris, Birmingham (10 minute extract) click here for flyer front and flyer back

Avon Calling (In development, 30 minutes of material)
It Came From Pilot
Warwick Arts Centre
8th October 2009

4th October 2009
Prototype, Tobacco Factory, Bristol
20 minute extract as part of Prototype (work in development event)

A 10 minute version of this idea was performed at PILOT NIGHTS in Birmingham in March 2009.

PILOT Night
Custard Factory Theatre, Birmingham
March 2009

Artist Biogs

April 16, 2013 by

Katie Day – Co-creator and Director
Katie Day is the Artistic Director of The Other Way Works. In this role she initiates and directs new productions, delivers participatory activities, and leads the strategic development of the Company. In Spring 2011 she co-created and directed Avon Calling, a site-responsive performance for audience member’s own living rooms. She directed the company’s recent production Black Tonic which premiered in Manchester with Contact Theatre in November, and toured to Birmingham in April 2009, and Bristol’s Mayfest in May 2009. During the summer and autumn of 2008 she directed and co- devised Complimentary, commissioned for Warwick Arts Centre, and led a DIY5 artists’ professional development project on behalf of the Live Art Development Agency. Throughout 2010, Katie produced the Theatre Sandbox scheme for iShed, working with six regional venues to commission six new projects that explored the use of pervasive media in live performance.
(more…)

What to know before you book

April 14, 2013 by

Want to know more before you book?

Sure, that’s fine, and thanks for your interest in Avon Calling.

Below is some more information about the show, how to book a performance, and how it works in your home after you’ve booked it.

The Company

The Other Way Works is a Birmingham, UK based theatre company formed in 2001, led by Katie Day. We create highly interactive performance experiences, frequently for small audiences – sometimes even for one at a time. Our theatre is playful and draws the audience into the very heart of the experience.

The Show

Ding, dong. “Avon Calling!” Join the Avon Lady in the cosy surrounds of your own living room for an intimate Avon Party with a twist. Invite your friends round to share in a celebration of beauty in all its forms, and uncover the secrets that lurk beneath your visitor’s perfectly polished exterior.

Avon Calling is an intimate solo performance for real homes.

What previous audience members and hosts thought

“I just wanted to say a big thank you for a wonderful theatrical experience in my living room last night! What a brilliant evening – we sat around for ages afterwards, deconstructing and analysing the show. It was an amazing experience to offer my friends and I’d recommend the show to anyone!”

“Similar to an actual Avon Party, but with a few twists and turns. Not all a barrel of laughs, but very moving and thought-provoking.”

“The performer was spot on … really drawing you into the show. Her ability to ‘hold a (sometimes uncomfortable) moment’ when so close to her audience was amazing.”

“Very intimate and poignant with some good belly laughs thrown in for good measure”

“It made me laugh and cry within the same 5 minutes”

“great concept and really well executed”

“I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed Avon Calling a few weeks ago. I hosted a party and really enjoyed it. I found it both great entertainment and a thoughtful performance.”

How It Works

Avon Calling is a performance that will take place in your living room – just like a real Avon party might take place. The Avon lady will ring your doorbell, set up her product display in your front room and begin…

After booking the performance, you will be sent more detailed information and we will be in touch around two weeks before the performance date to firm up details and talk through any concerns you may have. On the agreed day and time, we will turn up and perform in your living room, we don’t need any set-up time in advance. There is a company of two (1 actor, 1 stage manager), a trunk of props and Avon products – and that’s it. All we require is access to a power supply (just your usual plug sockets), and for you to have cleared a space in your living room (pushing any coffee tables to one side). The audience will be sat on your sofa, chairs, and on the floor of your living room during the performance. As each home is different we will be in direct contact with you regarding room access.

We appreciate that you may be a little apprehensive about having a performance in your home. However, please relax and be assured that we know what we’re doing. We promise to be careful of your home, sensitive to your needs, and to be the best house-guests we can!

How To Book

Rather than buy individual tickets like for a regular theatre show, you actually buy the show itself. For performance cost please see your local venue’s website. You pay at the time of booking. This covers the cost of us coming and performing the show in your own living room for you, your friends and family.

The maximum capacity for a performance is 10 people – any more and you don’t get the special intimate experience that works best for the show. If you split the cost of the booking between you, it works out about the same as most theatre tickets.

If you are interested in booking Avon Calling, phone the box office at your local venue. You will book a specific date and time, and pay for it then. It’s simple. After you have booked, a representative of The Other Way Works will be in touch to talk more about the show and answer your questions.
Check the website for details of upcoming tour dates and venues.

Avon Calling was commissioned by mac, and supported by Arts Council England

www.theotherwayworks.co.uk / www.twitter.com/otherwayworks

Avon Calling Tour Ending Soon

June 21, 2012 by

We’re nearly at the end of our Spring/Summer UK tour of Avon Calling, with just one more city remaining. We’ll be in Cardiff with the
Wales Millenium Centre as part of their Blysh Festival from 6-8 July 2012.
Unusually, on the Sunday they are selling tickets to individuals for shows that they are hosting themselves, so you could still see it even if you don’t live in Cardiff yourself or can’t get a gang together.