Roe(ing) us along on our jouney: A blog by our fabulous designer Natalie Roe...



There are three. Three women in this story, three authors, three actresses. As soon as I arrived on this project, I was introduced to the characters of Charlotte Bronte, Virginia Woolf and Jean Rhys. Three women who had connections with mental health and attitudes that were being described in the piece.

I was familiar with Charlotte Bronte and her portrayal of the mad woman in the attic in Jane Eyre. I was less familiar (and afraid of) Virginia Woolf and knew nothing about Jean Rhys. I had a quick period of research, speed reading through novels and films. I was amazed by Rhys’s Wide Sargasso Sea and a depiction of mental illness which wasn’t dark and dour but full of life, sensuality and expression. Each actor had already been given a colour; yellow, red and blue for their personal props. To highlight this I suggested everything else involved in the set was monochrome; whites, greys, sterile, all colour coming from the creativity of the girls. We avoided black in the set because it seemed too obvious and negative, the girls being silhouetted against white instead.

Director Matt had said he really liked the idea of using lace with the costumes. Lace depicting fragility and delicacy but also meaning we could put bright clothing underneath monochrome lace and have the colour poking through, as if the personality of the authors were trying to break through. The costumes were tough because the girls had to be able to move in them as well as showing the different characters. For Charlotte, the objective Victorian, I found a long skirt and lace top, with a bow in yellow because all the portraits of Miss Bronte have her wearing a bow on her dresses. Virginia has a very Edwardian-looking white lace top and a red shawl, which she throws off in frustration at the top of the show (ooooh symbolism!) Jean Rhys wears trousers since she’s a 20^th century women, she has loose lace tops in blue and shimmering black, it’s very flowy, textured and less rigid then the other two.

I’m really looking forward to the show going to the Brighton Fringe and getting to join the gang in Edinburgh. All feedback we’ve had on the set and costumes has been positive so I’m hoping people will continue to enjoy what we’ve put together!

 

Where have we been all your life?

In the next  couple of weeks, you will have plenty of time to catch up with your three favourite ladies! We are coming out of the rehearsal room to give you some laughs and make your heart bleed.

On the 9 May we are hosting our final fundraiser. This is the last one of the year and hopefully of the project, as we hope that some charities and organisations will see the need for such work to be made AND SEEN and will assist in taking the project forward.

 

Whatever the outcome of the night we would like, AGAIN AND AGAIN, to thank everyone who has donated to the project so far, and who has consistently supported us through all our endeavours. You got us to the fringe last year, and warms our insides to bursting point when we see your familiar faces at our events!

So we shall update you on this fabulous, French inspired night of frivolity!

On arrival you will be greeted with European kisses (some of you lucky buggers might get a

kiss of the French variety...depends how much champagne we have!)

We are giving goody bags to all our guest on arrival, with little trinkets to show you our gratitude for your time and support: presents for your presence.

We have a line up of local talent all in-keeping with our French theme, and games galore including a Bicycle Wheel of Fortune, cheese tasting (blindfolded), wine taking (also blindfolded), a quiz, a film still competition and BEST COSTUME. We also have a "French Poetry" competition, suitable for beginners/ people with no language skills whatever 'can barely speak English as it is' sort of thing. In fact being able to speak French won't help you in this game!

We have some fabulous prizes for you, donated by lovely independent businesses, and Six Lips Theatre will be performing some rather risqué material, as well as some snippets of the project all this activity has been in aid of. Come on down and join us: no one throws a bash quite like us!

 

 

 

On Friday 16 May we open our rehearsal room doors to the public, as part of the CREATE 14 Festival and the York Love Arts festival, to come and see our work in progress and give us some feedback. This event is free but there are only 30 places so if you want to come on down, best reserve your seats in advance here.

We hope to see you at one or t'other or just knocking about, we've missed you all!

Lots of Love, Over and Out and all that Jazz,

The Lips xx
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Open Arms and Empty Pockets

'So what's new' we hear you ask!

Fair point...as ever Six Lips Theatre has open arms to any creatives wishing to get involved, and as ever we are digging deep to fund projects.

But we've missed you, and wanted to catch you up on what we're up to, and how you can get involved!

Over the last fortnight we had the pleasure of working with Natalie Ailsa Bowers. She is new to York having studied at Rose Bruford College and then working abroad, and a very exciting theatre maker and performer with a fantastic get stuck in attitude. We were impressed with her physical theatre technique and studio manner! We think she's one to watch, so keep your eyes peeled, and snap her up!

We extend the invitation to any creatives to get in touch with us about collaborating, it's what we are about! Just drop us a line at info@sixlips.co.uk


Dates for your diaries:


We are sharing the outcome of our R and D at York Saint John University as part of the Love Arts and CREATE festivals on the 16th May, in Theatre 4 at 7pm.
This is free and will be followed with a feedback session. It's free so please do pop along and tell us what you think! Places are limited so you will need to book a place in advance.

We can also confirm dates for the debut of the final project at Upstage Centre on June 5  and 6 at 8pm. This will be a ticketed event, £6 and £8 to cover the hire of the building. We are also throwing in a Q and A, and on the Friday you can sign up to a Devising Techniques pre show workshop for an extra £4. 


Don't forget our final fringe fundraiser on the May 9 at City Screen Basement Bar! We are going for a french theme in honor of the Tour de France... Film-Noir! There will be canapes, champagne and shenanigans aplenty! Tickets go on sale next week!

LASTLY... we are still crowd fundraising with Zequs. You can donate, or pass on information about our project to your wealthy relatives/friends/enemies! Everything you need can be found here. If we meet this target we get entered into an award, which offers an extra £500 to the lucky winner! We have 16 days people! Let's do this!

Love the Lips
xx

What in the name of Zequs?

21 March 2014...
On the same day we have had some rather disappointing news (we have had a rejection letter for funding from the Arts Council) we have decided to adopt a new attitude; just thinking 'We can', means just that.

A big part of making theatre, it seems, is about learning to be rejected but to keep soldiering on, despite feeling that the world is against you, that no one cares about your work or believes it has any value.

'Other Projects Preferred' is an extremely vague statement, and with the restructuring of the arts council due to cuts, it is hard to get more helpful explanative feedback.

'Hi, we were wondering if we could get some feedback on our bid?'
'Hi there, we don't really do that anymore. What did your rejection letter say?'
'Other projects preferred?'
'Oh, ok. That means that your bid was good, but there are limited funds, and other projects were preferred'
'Is there anything we can do to change the bid to make it seem more appealing?'
'Not really. It's a lottery at the end of the day. It depends who is on the board, and what they think is more urgent. You could put it back in again as it is and it might get funded next time'

Really? Is that our future? We might be ok? We might be preferred next time?

That's a bit too risky for us. Risky and uncertain.

We can't be reliant on public funding.
Being realistic about the future of the arts, and the arts council we need to be independent.

Over the next few weeks we will be updating you with new ideas for sustainable practice, whilst staying true to our passion for making work and our mission as a company. We will welcome your feedback, and appreciate any ideas you might have.
It's important that we make this pretty little four year old company into something that will be around for years to come, regardless of the financial status of UK funding bodies.

We are in the middle of a fundraising campaign to help take our mental health awareness piece House of Tragic She far and wide.

Added to the Brighton and Edinburgh Fringe festivals we are also set to perform at the Love Arts Festival, The Northern Ireland Mental Health Music and Film Festival, The Scottish Mental Health Music and Film Festival.

Currently we are taking this show all over the country without any help from any funding bodies, but with the wonderful support in kind of some inspirational and generous organisations: York Saint John University, York Theatre Royal, Stage@Leeds, Hoot Creative Arts, Slung Low, York Mind and Out of Character.

We are also crowd funding http://www.zequs.com/campaign/house-of-tragic-she#.UyywAc9FDIV to help us afford to do this.

We are aware that many of our beautiful friends and supporters have already been more than generous over the last year, parting with their hard earned cash to help us make this thing happen.

As a last push we would ask that you might be able to share information about our campaign to as many people as you possibly can. It's a 30 day campaign with a £1,000 target.

Any gesture is welcome, the smallest donation makes a big difference.

With all our love and gratitude for your support,

The Lips
Over and Out.












 

The House of Tragic SHE...with a HE by Matt Harper

I've worked with Six Lips Theatre as and Associate Artist since 2011 as a Director, Writer and (when they work their sweet charm on me) as a performer too. So, who are they, what do they do and why have I stayed with them so long?

Well, first and foremost they make bloody brilliant work; work that excites me both visually and thematically - narratives which are rich, textured and evocative, imagery which is vivid, hand crafted and beautiful in detail and ingenuity, a process which is thorough, yet playful and totally immersive for any Creative . Everything that I look for personally within theatre and something I am proud to play my part in!

The culture of the company is second-to-none (as anyone who has worked for SLT with testify); the repertoire of artists, practitioners, and performers has such a vivid eclecticism that every project is fresh, bursting with life and full of wonderful newness!

As you can probably tell I am a Six Lipser through and through!

But during our last rehearsal I became perturbed. A university student observing our ways of working, techniques, methods and such like asked 'how does it feel to be part of a female ensemble?' 

Oh

Erm

Is that what it is? Well yes, the founding members are all female, the cast is all female and we are exploring the representation of mental health from the female perspective....so maybe....

 

 

My first writing and directing job with SLT was on a one woman show called Hooked, which had my personality, my gender, my sexuality threaded through it...I'd never thought about Six Lips as a female ensemble or within any feminist arena at all.

And

still don't

We (and I throw my male self into that we) make work that interests us, content which appeals, visuals which stimulate. End.

Gender plays the part we want it to, the aesthetic we decide to see, but do Six Lips only represent the female agenda, the woman's perspective? No. As with previous productions with the company, I will creatively contaminate the process of The House of Tragic She - a part of me will most certainly be within the final performance...my opinions, my reflections, my masculinity. How could it not. In its most simple terms of binary opposites; to discuss female, you must also discuss male. Surely.

To go back to what I said before - we make work that interests us, content which appeals, visuals which stimulate and that is what makes Six Lips Theatre universal, accessible and a wonderful force within the Theatre world.

See it as a female ensemble, a narrowed perspective, a woman's voice, whatever you see it as - just see it. It doesn't effect the fact that SLT performances are spectacular to behold.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Matt Harper

New World

It's 9:45pm.

Hannah Wallace of Six Lips Theatre, still in recovery from a debilitating tummy bug, is marketing her poorly butt off whilst watching her beloved Battlestar Galactica.

Roxanna Klimaszewska has created a new blog, which she is now putting to good use, also watching Battlestar and trying to keep up with swift meandering plot ducks and dives as daring as pilot Starbuck's flying tactics.

 

 

Our lovely Stacey, who from this point we will refer to as Press QUEEN! (with capital letters) is alas not here (sorely missed), but administrating her socks off else where!

After four years with our admin responsibilities never ending and ever growing; every time I lose an evening to it I hear Marina Diamonds singing in my ears http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_oMD6-6q5Y  however Battlestar suggests being an android is an appealing prospect. If I looked anything like Caprica 6, if I even shared an ankle bone of a similar shape and size, I would be a happy lady!

For now, we will let this idea comfort us as we slave away into the night! Maybe through all this hard, uncreative, repetitive upkeep and admin, we will end up transforming into sexy cylons!