MOBY DICK
On The Newport Transporter Bridge
Moby Dick tells the story of Ishmael, a young man desperate to leave land and see the watery part of the world. Meeting with a host of other lost souls, the story quickly becomes about friendship, male mental health, and the need for human companionship. However, Ishmael’s journey across the ocean in search of a great white whale soon becomes a voyage of the damned, as fate tests his religion, and the captain’s madness tests his resolve.
This work is about reimagining a much-loved piece of heritage and an icon of Newport’s city skyline, whilst repurposing the platform of the gondola as a temporary performance space. We want to tackle the gritty and awesome text of Moby Dick, exploring the work through devising theatre practices, movement, puppetry and performance, whilst exploring the potential of linking a small cast of professional performers with a larger non-professional community cast, to create an inclusive piece of performance that is for anyone who might want it.
APOCALYPSO
Concept by Tin Shed Theatre Co.
Directed by Justin Cliffe & Georgina Harris
Devised and performed by: Jeremy Linnell - Laura M Tipper - Sophie Taylor - Justin Cliffe - Georgina Harris
Designer: Kirsty Harris
Multi Platfrom Artist: Peter Farago
Production Assistant: Helen Morgan
Digital Communications: Fez Miah
Volunteer Support: Rachel Sarah Lewis, Annie Palmer
Captioning: Ben Tenniswood
Audio Description: Paul Jenkins
In a dystopian future a city lays ruin as a half-chicken-half-man clucks, struts and clambers over piles of smoldering debris, as his gas masked companion sifts, shifts and lifts large chunks of rubble in search of lost relics, packets of m&m’s, and rare objetd’art.
Together this twisted pair run Apocalypso; the last bar on earth. Here the whiskey tastes like petrol, the toilet bowls give birth, and the party must never end. The bar is stocked, theend is nigh, and soon they’ll meet the man who caused it all.
Tin Shed Theatre Co. invite you to join them at the end of the world for an evening of post-apocalyptic mayhem that is part theatre performance, part gig, part free-bar.
LEVITICUS
Written and Directed: Antonio Rimola
Dramaturgy: Justin Cliffe & Georgina Harris
Cast: Aled Wyn Thomas - John Weldon - Kaitlin Wray - Antonio Rimola
Makeup: Leah Crystal John
Design: Antonio Rimola
Technical Design: Peter Farago
Leviticus: Evil Resides Within was performed earlier this year in October 2014 and was our 3rd site-specific, Halloween inspired project to date.
We worked with four actors and two stage hands for just over two weeks in an empty house in the centre of Newport City to create the show. We wanted to explore modern themes and concepts that surround the phenominum of practised excorcism in the western world.
It's something we've been interested in and have been talking about for years, so for Antonio's final original production he wanted to write and direct the piece.
DR FRANKENSTEIN'S
TRAVELLING FREAK SHOW
Concept Devised By The Company
Written by:Justin Cliffe & Antonio Rimola
Directed by: Justin Cliffe
Cast: Justin Cliffe - Georgina Harris -
- Aled Wyn Thomas - Antonio Rimola
Makeup: Leah Crystal John
Design: Georgina Harris & Antonio Rimola
Technical Design: Peter Farago
Additional Monsters: Tom Jenkins &
Anthony Thomason
Thank you: Damian Barr and Hendricks Gin
We wanted to make something exciting and loud. Something that encompassed the imagery and sensibilities of a drunken circus that had become contaminated by this dark material. Something that feels like a punch in the face followed by a beautiful whisper.
When we were constructing the piece from clippings of Mary Shelley's novel and our own notes and ideas on 'The Freak Show' this compelling parallel began to appear. It's when we knew what we were dealing with a frantic piece of Meta-Theatre that's on the one hand funny, on the other painfully tragic.
★★★★★
"IT WAS ONE OF THE MOST IMPRESSIVE THEATRE PERFORMANCES I HAVE EVER SEEN"
BROADWAY BABY
"AS WE STEPPED THROUGH THE DOOR OF THE TAXI WE WERE IMMEDIATELY PLUNGED INTO AN INTIMATE AND ORIGINAL THEATRICAL EXPERIENCE"
BUZZ MAG
TAXI
Concept Devised by The Company
Written and Performed by The Company
Cast: Justin Cliffe Georgina Harris Antonio Rimola
Three people, two stops, one story.Three characters act as separate raconteurs to reveal a comical story piece by piece. As the stories intertwine, the audience is invited to glimpse into the surreal lives of three seemingly normal people, while they pour their hearts out to the taxi cab confessional, all in the back of an actual moving taxi.
For the first time as a company we split off to work individually on the writing. We set out to write three monologues a piece, each with a pre-determined begining and end. In bringing the monologues together we found we had crafted an weirdly believable story that you could only imagine hearing in the back of a taxi driving around Newport! An exciting trio of eccentric, loveable characters telling a hilariously twisted, but touching story.
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MR EDGAR ALLAN POE'S
TERRIFYING TALES
Concept Devised By The Company
Text Adapted From: Edgar Allan Poe
Cast: Justin Cliffe Georgina Harris Antonio Rimola
Design: Antonio Rimola
Technical Design: Peter Farago
Thanks to: Damian Barr, Hendricks Gin, The Judges Lodgings
Candle-lit story-telling, gallows humour and terrifying tableaux guaranteed to raise goose-bumps of dark Gothic delight.Hear the tales of Edgar Allan Poe and witness the horror for yourself. Contemporary twists prove the enduring power of these classic tales.
Since its debut at the Brighton Fringe Festival it’s seen many changes and been performed in numerous venues.
Abney Park Cemetery opened its old creaky cathedral doors to us and then The Judges Lodging's in Prestiegn. Working in the old "living" museum we told a story in each room and invited the audience to experience a prominade piece of theatre based on the words and ideas of Poe.
People cried, people laughed, one woman fainted.
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"SO GOOD I PASSED OUT"
AUDIENCE MEMBER FROM JUDGES LODGINGS
"ONE OF THE BEST PIECES OF IMMERSIVE THEATRE TO HAVE COME OUT OF WALES IN A LONG TIME"
WALES ARTS REVIEW
THE RITUAL
Directed: Georgina Harris
Devised by The Cast.
Cast: James Gardener, Katherine Goodenough, Stephanie Penhaligon, Lucy Cook, Lorne Taylor, Kaitlin Wray, Sian Clare Williams, Rebbecca Davies, Naomi Underwood, Phil Regan, Chris Hall, Craig Smith, Antonio Rimola, Justin Cliffe, Crista Jones and Aled Wyn Thomas
Additional Material: Dan Rowley
Technical Design: Peter Farago
The Ritual was another site-specific Halloween inspired piece that was born from the finding of unusal space. The initial premise was that the piece would take place in a wood, but this was a hoax, as the audience were abducted on their way to the woods, and driven to a warehouse on the outskirts of industrial Newport, where a "ritual" would take place.
We had three weeks to put the show together. This included gathering, sharing and discussing ideas, finding inspiration and the ability to confidently put forward any creative thoughts however big, small or seemingly unachievable or ridiculous. This then resulted in 14 peoples individual ideas (including some seriously dark stuff) that once reigned in, censored and filtered was then fit for human consumption.
"SO GOOD I PASSED OUT"
AUDIENCE MEMBER FROM JUDGES LODGINGS
OPERATION BLACKBOX
Concept Devised By The Company
Cast: Justin Cliffe, Georgina Harris, Antonio Rimola, Chembo, Craig Smith, Claire Carreno
Lawrence Hayes & Amanda Mulford
Design: Antonio Rimola
Technical Design: Peter Farago
Thanks to: Tamas Sipos and Crista Jones
Operation Blackbox was made possible through a scheme that was, at the time, called The Empty Shops Project. This initiative allowed artists of many different mediums the opportunity to inhabit an empty building in Newport for a two week period to exhibit, create, develop or perform any type of work.
This opportunity was a huge part in the companies current make up, as it was our first piece of “proper” immersive theatre (if you don’t count sitting in the back of a taxi with us) and it broadened the boundaries of what we as theatre makers and story tellers could achieve.
We took over an empty bank with four empty floors and a giant empty safe for two weeks. Week 1 consisted of working with UWNewport Performing Arts students, devising and creating the piece using various devising techniques and a lot of experimentation. Week 2 consisted of performing four nights over Halloween, opening the doors to the bank to the public for free, and we received an overwhelming amount of people willing to walk our maze, all of whom left running and screaming at the end.
★★★★★
"I CAN'T STRESS ENOUGH THAT THERE AREN'T ENOUGH WORDS TO DESCRIBE HOW FANTASTIC THIS PRODUCTION WAS"
BUZZ MAG
"GEORGINA HARRIS'S ATTENTION-GRABBING TURN AS A TALKATIVE CORPSE & HER "DANSE MACABRE" WALTZ WITH THE EPONYMOUS MORTICIAN SIGNALS THE END OF SANITY AND THE BLURRING OF DRAMATIC BOUNDRIES"
THREE WEEKS
THE LONELY MORTICIANS GUIDE TO MYIASIS
Concept Devised by The Company
Written and Directed by Justin Cliffe
Cast: Justin Cliffe Georgina Harris & Antonio Rimola
"I used to be alone...But now I’ve got you."
The year is 1974, a bleak dystopia lays privy to the tale of one coroner’s obsession with the dead...
But when corpses breathe, they speak the truth. A macabre comedic drama that dissects the human need for companionship.
The Lonely Morticians Guide To Myiasis was the first piece of performance we created as a collective of three: Antonio, Goergina and Justin.
This piece recieved only one sort of possitive review, with the piece over all proving to be an unmitigated failure. One reviewer commented on viewing that show that having flies lay eggs in your eyes would probably be a more preferable experience.
You live and you learn.
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