Gay Birmingham Back to Back launch on 25th February

Gay Birmingham Back to Back

Join us for the launch of the exciting new “Gay Birmingham Back to Back” LGBT History Project, as part of LGBT History Month 2011. Featuring talks, a film screening, poetry and debate.

25th February 2011, 7-8.30pm
Hexagon Theatre, mac, Cannon Hill Park, Birmingham
£3 with free drink
Booking: 0121 446 3232 or www.macarts.co.uk

Posted: February 3, 2011 in Announcements, news
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The Palace of Wasted Dreams: Thurs 3rd – Sat 5th & Wed 9th Feb at mac

wasted-poster-final-small-for-web

The Palace of Wasted Dreams
Thurs 3rd – Sat 5th & Wed 9th – Sat 12th February, 8pm
mac, Cannon Hill Park, Birmingham, B12 9QH
Tickets & Information:0121 446 3232 www.macarts.co.uk
Tickets £12 (£8) (Suitable for ages 14+)

It’s here, it’s arrived. Come on in! The Palace of Wasted Dreams.

Licensed for laughing, crying, dancing, singing, surprising and thinking on.
A place where anything can happen, and something always does…
Whether you’ve been before or it’s your very first time, come on down to the Palace!

The Palace of Wasted Dreams is the culmination of a two-year project called Wasted, a new participatory musical theatre project exploring and giving voice to women’s relationship with alcohol.
An essential night out, an intoxicating total live theatre experience. Dress for a night out. Non-drinkers very welcome!

The Palace of Wasted Dreams has been devised by Women & Theatre from materials gathered through research. It is performed by Women & Theatre and a cast of local people and directed by Gwenda Hughes. Music has been composed by Gurdan Thomas and The Company, with musical direction by Clare Edwards. Production Design is by Andrew Purvin, Lighting Design by Simon Bond, and Stage Management by Sara Crathorne.

The Palace of Wasted Dreams is a co-production with mac and is supported by Arts Council England, Aquarius, Sir Barry Jackson Trust, Bryant Trust, AERC, John Feeney Charitable Trust, Birmingham City Council, the Harry Payne Trust, The Grimmitt Trust and The Cole Charitable Trust.

Posted: January 30, 2011 in Announcements, Community, Theatre, news
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Women & Theatre have moved!

Boxes nearly unpacked, here we are settling into our new offices! From 17th January, our new address is:
The Old Lodge, Uffculme
50 Queensbridge Road
Moseley
Birmingham
B13 8QY
T: 0121 449 7117
F: 0121 449 0785
Emails remain unchanged.

Women and Theatre are sad to announce that after 27 years based at The Friends Institute we have moved to new premises. We have relocated to The Old Lodge within the Uffculme premises – the home of Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Foundation Trust. We would like thank the Friends Institute, and all its staff, tenants and supporters both past and present, we had a fantastic time there and will always value the relationships developed over the years. We would also like to thank everyone at Birmingham & Solihull Mental Health Foundation Trust and the Uffculme Centre for the warm welcome, and new friendships and partnerships to come!

Posted: January 17, 2011 in Announcements, news
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See Me, Hear Me with Priestley Smith School

See me, Hear Me is an exciting new project which will bring together the students of Priestley Smith School for the Visually Impaired with members of their neighbouring communities. Priestly Smith and W&T have built a strong partnership through our previous project, Tuned In, and we are very happy to be working with them once again. See Me Hear Me responds to Priestly Smith School’s desire to make genuine connections with the local community, as the majority of the school’s pupils and staff live out of the area. The project has been designed so that staff, pupils, and community members work together around a shared community interest, to build empathy and create sustainable relationships.

Students will work with W&T to create an original theatre script, developed through creative research, using online resources, local archives, and interviews with members of the local community to uncover the story of the school. The final play will be performed at Perry Beeches Junior School for the local community, pupils of other schools, staff and parents. There will also be a creative exhibition of word and image to accompany the theatre performances.

By encouraging interaction and sharing between the school community and the wider community, See Me, Hear Me is a wonderful opportunity to strengthen community relations and arts participation, bring sighted and visually impaired people together and develop creative skills, as well as create an original piece of high quality theatre.

Posted: December 17, 2010 in Announcements, Theatre, news
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Gay Birmingham Back to Back – New project for 2011

Gay Birmingham Back to Back logo

W&T are working in partnership with Birmingham LGBT Community Trust to create Gay Birmingham Back to Back, an exciting new LGBT history project, about the lives of four real life historical people from Birmingham. The project will research the lives of four LGBT people from Birmingham’s past. Researching as far back as the 1850s up until the 1970s the project will look at the social, political and personal circumstances of LGBT people in these time periods. W&T will then develop this research into theatrical performances which will take place at the Back to Back Houses on Hurst Street as part of the 2011 SHOUT Festival.

Birmingham LGBT Community Trust are currently seeking volunteers to help gather the research, and if you are interested in volunteering please contact hiddenlives@blgbt.org.

Supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund.

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Stanhope Community Comedy Evening

Local men from Highgate perform their own stand-up comedy
Hosted by Mrs Barbara Nice

Wednesday 8th December 2010 at 7.30pm
Stanhope Hall Community Centre, Ketley Croft, Highgate, B12 0XG

Free for all ages, curry and refreshments included!

barbaranice

After the success of the Stanhope Women’s Comedy Night and the Stanhope Young People’s Comedy Night, the men are at it too!

This special comedy evening features stand-up from a group of Highgate men who have been taking part in a comedy course with Barbara Nice (of Coronation Street and Phoenix Nights fame).

Come and join us for a night of laughter and fun – Featuring new local acts and the hilarious Steve Day to round it all off!

‘A great night-well worth it!’
‘This was a good, fun packed evening. It should happen again. The food was good too!’

Please find a map below; Stanhope Hall is on the corner of Emily Street and Ketley Croft:

View Larger Map

This project has been funded through the Heart of Birmingham Teaching Primary Care Trust’s Mental Health Grants Programme 2009-10 and supported by the Digbeth Trust.

Posted: December 3, 2010 in Announcements, Community, Projects, Uncategorized, news
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See Me, Hear Me – Local Research

Following the success of Tuned In, Women and Theatre are currently working in collaboration with visually-impaired children from Priestley Smith School on Beeches Road, Perry Barr. Our aim is to bring together the students with members of the neighbouring communities to build strong links and relationships where there have previously been none. The students will then work with us to create an original piece of theatre titled See Me, Hear Me to be performed at the school in March 2011 (dates TBC). There will also be a creative exhibition of word, sound and image on show at the school to accompany the performances.

The project offers local residents the opportunity to visit Priestley Smith School and find out more about what happens there. It will also benefit wider community audiences by enabling them to see a high quality theatre performance about a subject matter they can relate to.

All of our plays and programmes are rooted in the experiences of real people, and so every project begins with a period of research, at the heart of which is talking to people about their experiences.

This is where we need your help!

We are looking for local residents to share with us their stories, memories and tales of the people and history involving Perry Barr – Particularly the Perry Beeches/Priestley Smith School site, Beeches Road, and the surrounding local area. This is a genuine opportunity for sharing and strengthening local community relationships, and our findings will form part of the creative exhibition at the school.

To be part of this valuable research, please contact Pippa/Bianca/Terina by phone, e-mail or post.

Women & Theatre
The Friends Institute, 220 Moseley Road, Highgate,
Birmingham B12 0DG

Tel: 0121 440 4203
Fax: 0121 446 4280
Email: biancaprentice@womenandtheatre.co.uk

Posted: November 19, 2010 in Announcements, Community, Education, Projects, Theatre, Uncategorized, news
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Become part of our Community Cast for The Palace of Wasted Dreams! Development weekend 6th & 7th November

Community Cast – now recruiting!

The Palace of Wasted Dreams is the culmination of a two-year project called Wasted, a new participatory musical theatre project exploring and giving voice to women’s relationship with alcohol. Non-drinkers very welcome! The Palace of Wasted Dreams will take place at the Mac in spring 2011.

How can you get involved?
We are recruiting volunteer performers who will learn and perform new songs, be part of scenes, and work alongside professional actors to make up the cast of The Palace of Wasted Dreams. That means if you like singing or acting or both this would be a great project for you – everyone is welcome (16+) no experience necessary!

We’d also like help in other aspects – costume, set building, spreading the word and helping coordinate. So if you don’t fancy being on stage – but you do want to get involved in other aspects do get in touch.

Dates for the Diary

Development Weekend – Saturday 6th November and Sunday 7th November 2010, @ mac, Cannon Hill Park, Birmingham, 11am – 4pm
To find out if this is for you come along and learn more about the project. During the weekend we’ll be sharing scenes already developed, learning some of the songs and finding out more about the project. By the end of the weekend we’ll be looking for people to sign up to be part of the cast. Please dress in comfortable clothing.
THIS IS NOT AN AUDITION – there’s no criteria to be part of the project.

Rehearsals:
If you do want to be part of the project then it’s important you’re able to commit to the rehearsal and performance dates below.

Week One
Wednesday 19th January – 7.00pm – 9.30pm
Thursday 20th January – 7.00pm – 9.30pm

Week Two
Wednesday 26th January – 7.00pm – 9.30pm
Thursday 27th January – 7.00pm – 9.30pm
Saturday 29th January – 11.00am – 4.00pm
Sunday 30th January – 11.00am – 4.00pm

Week Three
Tuesday 1st February – 6.30pm onwards for tech rehearsals
Wednesday 2nd February – 6.30pm onwards for dress rehearsal

Performances Dates:
3rd, 4th, 5th February and 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th February

What Next?
Let us know you’re coming to the Development Weekend – and we’ll look forward to meeting you properly then and sharing The Palace of Wasted Dreams with you! Please contact Bianca Prentice on 0121 440 4203 or email biancaprentice@womenandtheatre.co.uk with queries or to let us know you’re coming on the Development Weekend.

Posted: November 1, 2010 in Uncategorized
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Highgate Community Comedy Evening on Thursday 28th October

Local Young People from Highgate performing their own stand-up comedy
Hosted by Mrs Barbara Nice
Thursday 28th October at 6.30pm
At Stanhope Hall Community Centre, Ketley Croft, Highgate, B12 0XG

Free, for all ages, curry and refreshments included

Have a laugh at this great local night out! This special comedy evening features stand-up from a group of Highgate young people who have been taking part in a comedy course with Mrs Barbara Nice (of Coronation Street and Phoenix Nights fame. Come and support them as they share their newfound skills alongside host Barbara Nice and headline act Joe Lycett, winner of Chortle’s Best Newcomer Award 2010.

Just check out some of the feedback for our last comedy evening:
“Very wicked! Loved it and would like to see more of it!”
“I had a ball- tonight was brilliant!”

Please find a map below; Stanhope Hall is on the corner of Emily Street and Ketley Croft:

View Larger Map

This project has been funded through the Heart of Birmingham Teaching Primary Care Trust’s Mental Health Grants Programme 2009-10 and supported by the Digbeth Trust.

Posted: October 26, 2010 in Announcements, news
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Barbara Nice & Gals at mac on 3rd October – SOLD OUT!

Barbara Nice & Gals
Sunday 3rd October at 7pm
at mac, Cannon Hill Park, Birmingham

Women & Theatre invite you to join us for a comic feast hosted by everyone’s favourite Kings Heath housewife and mother of five, Mrs Barbara Nice. She presents a friendly and hilarious night of laughter from a high quality pick and mix of the nation’s funniest women. All proceeds go to support our new project, Wasted.

Susan Calman has proved herself a force to be reckoned with from her first gig in Glasgow in 2005 to rave reviews in Edinburgh. “A wee lassie with a big future” (The List)
Francesca Martinez, one of The Observer’s 50 funniest acts in British comedy, “may be wobbly, but never the jokes” (The Stage)
Isma Almas is a promising newcomer with incisive, “fantastic material. She left everyone in her slipstream” (Chortle).
All-female sketch group Lady Garden are “One of the funniest, clever and sexy new sketch groups around” (Time Out) with their rapier-sharp wit.
Barbara Nice, described as “a hybrid between Mrs Merton and Victoria Wood” (The Times), Barbara Nice “doesn’t just blur the gap between audience and performer, she obliterates it” (Edinburgh Evening News)

All proceeds go to Women & Theatre (B’ham) Ltd. Registered in England & Wales No. 1998448; Registered Charity No. 518580.

Tickets are £12 (£9 concession), available from mac on 0121 446 3232 or online at www.macarts.co.uk

Posted: September 21, 2010 in Announcements, news
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