We are over the moon to announce that we have been successful in our Project Grant funding from the Arts Council England!
Born in the Barn allows us to try out a series of different performance ideas, forge new collaborations and develop our approach to creating work. We are working out of the Barn at the back of Department, a new cultural and events space in the heart of Ryde town centre. The Barn is an incubator space for new performance work to be created and developed. After the success of our production of Frankenstein in November 2022, we want to see what other exciting new work we can conjure up in this incredible space.
In 2023, we will be presenting a short run of 'Ryde Boy', a new gig-theatre performance about men living on the Isle of Wight. It fuses theatre with live music, physical theatre and spoken word to tell what happens to a group of lads in the King Lud over the course of one evening. It's bold, relevant, hard-hitting and fresh. The show was written by Joe Plumb, our artistic director, for his dissertation during his MA in Playwriting at the University of Manchester. He says "I am so excited to be given the time to develop this piece in the heart of where this story is set. It is the perfect place to bring give this story its first outing and see where it can go from here". The show will be directed by Holly Downer and use a cast of local performers.
Rosina Buck is working with us on a new musical inspired by her incredible songs. We will be spending a week in March developing this piece, bouncing around thought, testing ideas and having a wonderfully creative time together! Rosina said: "Whilst sitting in lockdown Joe had the most wonderful vision to make a musical theatre production using my songs as the backbone. This very vision truly kept me going through some rough days. I cannot wait for this adventure to unfold, my whole entire soul is dancing on the inside!"
Our first WIP Window residencies are getting prepped and ready for their week in the window. Helen Reading (Artistic Director of RedTIE Theatre) and Julie Jones (Musical Director and Theatre Maker who wrote the score for Frankenstein) are working together to create 'Ghost Town'. They've got 5 days to make a new show and present it in the window and digitally! We can't wait to share their process with you and see what wonderful ideas come out it!
In addition to these performances, Liam Gifford and Zoe Divers are beginning to think about how they can work with us to develop a strategy for developing our work with young people with Special Educational Needs. We will keep you posted on their journey as they trial out new methods and create a blueprint for making work for, by and with young people with SEN.
What an exciting time! 2023 is a real turning point for Horse Box Theatre as we settle into our new home at Department and these awesome ideas that have been bubbling away under the surface can be tested out and brought to life! We will try to document as much of the process in the blog, on our social media channels and in a new podcast... more on that after Christmas!!
