Wed 29 May 2024
If today’s newsletter feels a bit scattered, it’s because I’m too busy enjoying the 80s bangers coming out of the Rehearsal Room here at the Everyman…
Yes, we’re in rehearsal for our next production: Tell Me How It Ends by Tasha Dowd (YEP Writers) and directed by Gitika Buttoo!
Telling the story of two young people in Liverpool during the AIDS epidemic, it’s gearing up to be a gorgeous celebration of found family and queer allyship, focussing on the work of lesbian women in supporting gay men during the crisis. We’re laughing, we’re raging, we’ve got a disco ball – what more could you want?!
As ever, there’ll be a Freelance Mixer for this: a chance to meet and mingle with other artists in the City, and see a preview of the show.
It’s also nearly time for our Open Script Submissions window! The opens next week, so check below for details on when and how to send us your play. (Not only that, but there are two playwriting awards with deadlines in June, so make sure you check the Jobs & opportunities section at the end if you’re a writer.)
And we’re recruiting for our next two artists on the Beyond Programme, in partnership with Graeae (one of our Associate Companies).
Oh! and there’s the small matter of our new Creative Director…
Until next time,
Tommo
New Works Associate
From The Artistic Team
I think every newsletter I’ve written for you has introduced a new member of the Artistic team, and we’re finishing off that trend in style…
We are so, so delighted that Nathan Powell will be joining us to lead the Artistic Team as Creative Director of the Everyman & Playhouse theatres!
A freelance director and writer, as well as Artistic Director of the National Student Drama Festival (NSDF) and Creative Producer / Associate Artist at 20 Stories High – not to mention a previous Artistic Adviser to the theatres! – Nathan brings a wealth of experience, ideas and Crocs to the team.
If you want to read more about his appointment, you can find the press release here.
As trailed in the last newsletter, we’ll be accepting submissions of new plays throughout June! So, if you’ve got a new play you’d like to send us, we want to read it.
We’re committed to thrilling, big-hearted, forward-thinking theatre that responds to its time and place, ignites the imagination and wrestles with the knotty, complicated business of being human.
That can take loads of different forms, which means there’s a huge variety of things that might excite us in a play or a writer – what’s important is clarity of intent. We should be able to read your work and really get a sense of who you are as an artist, and what’s energising you.
With two productions by local playwrights on our main stage at the Everyman this season, we’re massively looking forward to reading more brilliant stories from the city.
For more information, see our website.
Writers' Room
As usual, the Writers’ Room is available for your
use. With a library of fantastic contemporary scripts (and some old ones I’ve
never heard of), it’s a great place to come and be inspired, do some
co-working, or get round a table to read a new play.
You can either email me to book in advance
(newworks@everymanplayhouse.com), or just come to the Everyman and chance your
luck! If the building is open, the Writers’ Room is there for you to work in
peace and quiet.
(Note that it is not a lending library! Please put scripts back on the shelves before you leave.)
Freelance Mixer
If you couldn’t make it down to the Freelance Mixer for Ned Ludd, book yourself into the next one – which will overlap with a preview performance of Tell Me How It Ends.
If you're a freelance theatre artist of any kind, come and
connect with fellow creatives living and working in the city, as well as
members of Everyman & Playhouse staff.
When?
6pm on Wed 12 Jun
Where?
EV2, on the first floor at the Everyman Theatre
What’s going on?
6pm-6.15pm. Check in & Welcome drink
6.15pm-7pm. Mingle and mix with other freelance artists and Everyman & Playhouse staff.
7.30pm. Option to see Tell Me How It Ends – with discounted tickets! Use code MIXER10 to see the play for £10.
Post-show. Feel free to stick around & get a drink with new friends in the Theatre Bar
We’ll be announcing more mixers later in the year, all coinciding with our other in-house shows: The Lieutenant of Inishmore, and Rapunzel.
Book your place here.
What's coming up
Playhouse Studio
Thur 30 May – Sat 1 Jun
As this newsletter wends its way to you through the ether, YEP artists past and present are in tech rehearsals for this extremely funny (and creatively captioned!) queer scouse comedy.
Potato Milk weaves together the lives of polyamorous, queer, vegan-wannabes trying to make sense of a heteronormative, homophobic, lactose-filled world – and finding that radical honesty isn’t as easy as they’d first thought…
(Thursday and Saturday are night sold out and there’s only limited tickets for Friday, so get ‘em quick!)
Everyman – and around the city!
Wed 19 – Sat 22 Jun
The ever-brilliant Paperwork Theatre are making what they call “a multi-location theatrical adventure, mixing live performance, escape room activities and smartphone technology” – which sounds pretty damn exciting.
Even more intriguingly for a show that’s ostensibly about online dating / matchmaking apps, the trailer seems to suggest that it might all be a little more bloodthirsty than I originally expected… 🩸🧛🏻♀️❤️
Expanding what theatre can be, this sounds wicked.
Playhouse
Thu 13 – Fri 14 Jun
Continuing the creepy theme (because who says frights are just for October?), Danny Robins is bringing his hugely successful podcast / TV exploration of the paranormal on tour!
With a team of experts, Danny will be using chilling real-life stories of the supernatural experienced by ordinary people from ordinary places to investigate whether ghosts exist – and, if not, why we see them.
(Worth saying that, when I came for my interview for this job, I was told about at least two ghosts who haunt the Playhouse – so this could turn out to be a pretty unique experience if those guys show up.)
Also on my radar
FESTIVAL
Beckett: Unbound 2024
Various locations
Thu 30 May – Fri 7 Jun
Following the success of Beckett: Confined 2022, the Uni of Liverpool have released the master of (post-)modernism, and you’re gonna be able to find his work all over the city!
There’ll be theatre, music, film, dance, photography and discussion – so something for everyone (assuming you like your entertainment with a slice of absurd, comedic despair).
There’s some of the big guns (Krapp’s Last Tape and Not I), as well as a brand new dance piece called Sentient here at the Everyman – featuring the voice of Line of Duty’s Adrian Dunbar (“Mother of Waiting for Godot!”, etc).
THEATRE
Arts Club
Mon 3 Jun
Our pals at Silent Uproar over in Hull are bringing their latest show to Liverpool!
It’s a coming-of-age punk cabaret about surviving the violence of patriarchy, with two true-crime documentary-loving women summoning the Furies (Greek goddesses of vengeance and/or justice, depending who you ask) and tearing apart male tyranny.
And, perhaps most importantly for the panto fans among you, it also stars our Cinderella baddie Zoe West and one of Cinderella's 'ooglay' sisters, Rebecca Levy!
The company have very kindly offered us discounted tickets, so follow the link above and select ‘local offer’ for a few quid off.
DANCE
HOME Manchester
Thu 6 – Sat 8 Jun
Hofesh Shechter’s work is always mesmerising, anarchic and full of striking images – and, as well as choreographing, he often composes a thumping and intricate percussive score to creative some of the most visceral dance I’ve seen.
He’s looked at violence and apocalypse, and now he’s digging into the English psyche, crashing the historical up against the contemporary. I think it’s gonna be brilliant.
DOCUMENTARY
iPlayer
I saw this last year at Sheffield DocFest and it was brilliant – and now it’s on iPlayer for everyone (with a TV licence) to enjoy!
A real-life mystery documentary about fate, faith and family, it starts with two sisters buying a flat – which is being sold by a woman who looks exactly like the older sister who died by suicide thirty years ago…
It’s twisty, surprising, hilarious and profound – strongly recommended.
Jobs & Opportunities
Soho Theatre
Deadline Mon 17 Jun, 11am.
One of the big playwriting prizes, the VBA is open again! With an £8,000 prize, a full run at London’s Soho Theatre and readings in India and the USA up for grabs (!), this is definitely worth your attention.
Judges include some fantastic writers, directors and actors – plus Rebecca Lucy Taylor AKA Self Esteem!
There’s a free online information session at 7.30pm on Weds 1 May (sign up here). More details via Soho Theatre website.
Graeae
Deadline Thur 27 Jun, midnight.
Beyond is Graeae (E&P Associate Company)’s bespoke Artist Development programme, which since 2020 has supported over 60 Deaf, disabled and neurodivergent artists in developing their careers, taking on new challenges & building successful connections.
With support tailored to each individual over an 18-month programme, this is an opportunity to build relationships with a local theatre (which could be us, but could be other venues in the North West like Shakespeare North or Bolton Octagon) and invest in your practice.
Theatre503
Deadline Sun 30 Jun, midnight.
Another playwriting award(!), this time from the theatre that taught me how plays worked when I was just starting out.
Theatre503 is a tireless champion of new writers around the world – and is pretty unusual in being a 63-seat fringe theatre which has premiered two (TWO!) Olivier Award-winning plays: Katori Hall’s The Mountaintop (which Nathan will direct for Leicester Curve later this year), and Jon Brittain’s Rotterdam.
Definitely worth submitting to – and they also accept new plays in translation, if that’s your bag!
Alfred Fagon Award
Deadline Wed 31 Jul.
Open to any playwright of Caribbean or African descent, this award comes with £3,000 and a 9-month mentoring programme from a leading Black British writer.
Part of the Alfred Fagon Award, which has championed work by Black writers for years, this is a really brilliant opportunity.
The Lowry, Manchester
Deadline Thu 11 Jul, 5pm.
This is the Lowry’s flagship talent development programme, so you know it’s gonna be good. Open to early- and mid-career independent artists or companies based in the North of England, Developed With is aimed at those who are “committed to creating ambitious, high-quality work and developing their practice as artists and cultural leaders”.
They’re looking for give performance-based artists/companies, who will each get a £5,000 commission and loads of other tailored support. The programme will run from Autumn 2024 to Spring 2026.
Get your applications in!
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