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!