The Blue Elephant Theatre’s Elephantology Festival throws up some nice new work from current graduates, significantly Active B!tch Face’s Violent Circumstances
“My hand is held all the way home”
It is price remembering that the current Arts Council England funding choices affected smaller organisations in addition to those who dominated the headlines. So while the likes of ENO and Hampstead Theatre can depend on newspaper entrance pages and prolonged protection in The Stage to wage public battles in opposition to the cuts and even someplace like Oldham Coliseum can name on Maxine Peake and Julie Hesmondhalgh to rally to their trigger, the lack of NPO standing to undersung venues like Camberwell’s Blue Elephant Theatre isn’t any much less devastating for its relative lack of consideration.
As a end result, the theatre is having to pause its programming from April because it goes by a means of redirecting its sources so I used to be glad to have the ability to get alongside to attend two of the three exhibits forming a part of its Elephantology Festival. Elephantology is Blue Elephant Theatre’s Festival for current graduates and people who are simply getting into the performing arts business, platforming new performs alongside a solo efficiency showcase that includes expertise from Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, Trinity Laban, The Free Association, University of Chichester and extra.
First up for me although was Sally MacAlister’s Tiny Babies, a curious three-hander circling round notions of inherited trauma and tough household dynamics. Opening on an overturned urn of spilled ashes, Lowri Mathias’ manufacturing definitely makes an impression from the off however I’m not totally certain that it maintained it by its hour-long working time. Twin sisters Sophie and Rona have a secret however differ on what to do with it, particularly as soon as Sophie’s companion Robbie arrives on the scene. Ricocheting round a fractured timeline, it seems to be on the penalties of delving into household previous with a twist of educational conceitedness.
Produced by Active B!tch Face Theatre, Susannah Cann’s Violent Circumstances burns with immediacy and a painful relevance. Inspired by the murders of Sarah Everard and Sabina Nessa, it weaves collectively totally different experiences of being a lady in a up to date society the place feeling secure is now not a assure. From nightclubs with too many stairs to day by day commutes to work that must be safe, male associates who can’t assist however f*ck up with 15 12 months olds to feminine associates who reckon #notallmen, it’s a blistering have a look at the state of the world immediately and powerfully instructed.
Cann’s course has a satisfying theatrical bent to it, transitions used to bolster concepts of group within the face of such desperation versus primary scene adjustments. And there’s a vein of (usually darkish) comedy that does somewhat to alleviate a number of the trauma. But by the deep dedication of the performances from Cann, Catherine Thomas, Phoebe Shepherd and Annabel Lisk, there’s a stark request to take a seat and pay attention, to not look away or snort off the day by day realities of hazard, harassment and outright violence. An organization to be careful for.