So as we’re nearing the end of our residency. We’ve been reflecting on our experiences. On Wednesday this week we presented some of the ideas and research we’ve collated on our short journey so far.
With the help of our musician friends Michael and Kieran we we’re able to showcase some of the music we’ve been creating as well as a short script/story outline. This was to a small audience including Ian Morley (Theatre Programmer Barnsley Civic).
We’ve learnt many lessons over this past two weeks, the main one being the fear of going into the unknown isn’t nearly as daunting as the fear of not putting ourselves out there at all. Much like the people we met in Barnsley who contributed to our research, we have also been asking ourselves what we value, what is our biggest fears and what is important to us as a company. We value the opportunity to work as a company with others that share our vision to create exciting, beautiful theatre that brings to life the stories that we have collected and those we hold dear. We are still in the first flush of our relationship as a company. Still in the flirting stages. Still wanting to show the best of ourselves. We are looking forward to moving forward, making mistakes, daring to think big and push ourselves as performers and theatre makers out of our comfort zone. Much like our little match girl we are are sitting in our play den of ideas sometimes seemingly surrounded by rubbish but having the will to dig deep into our pile to discover the potential treasure that lies underneath.
We want to meet others who inspire us, to learn, to see what’s possible if we put ourselves out there. Moving forward we’ll be using the next few months to evaluate what we’ve learnt in preparation for finding our identity as a company. This will provide the foundations of some really great theatre that we’re truly proud of and excited by.
These experiences wouldn’t have been possible without the support of Arts Council England who provided us with a Research and Development grant. The Civic Barnsley, especially Ian Morley who has been a huge support and fountain of knowledge. Ian and The Civic have enabled us to start our journey in a safe environment. Our time here has given us the confidence as a new company to really think it could be possible to make something wonderful. We hope that this is the start of a long and happy relationship with the Civic.
Lastly we’d like to thank the generous people of Barnsley who shared their stories with us.
We’d love to hear from you if you want to share your stories with us, or if you’re a theatre maker, performer, designer or musician who is interested in collaborating with us.
Emma, Theresa & Liz
12MilesNorth Theatre 