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Offstage Theatre UK

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Offstage Theatre (UK) is "an enterprising young theatre company", based in Waltham Forest, London, run by Artistic Director and Producer Cressida Brown.[1][2] The company's first piece was Home, written by Gbolahan Obisesan, Cressida Brown and Emily Randall in response to the demolition of the housing estate Beaumont Road. The site-responsive piece functioned as "a valuable document of a people and a place just moments before an irrevocable change".[3] "The project, which overwhelmed the creative team with its success" established Offstage as a Site-specific theatre company.[4]

In 2015, Offstage Theatre was announced as recipients of the Kevin Spacey Artists of Choice Program. With KSF's support, they returned to Beaumont to create the sequel to Home, Re:Home. The production was performed at The Yard in 2016 and was nominated for Best Production and Best Ensemble at the Offies 2016.[5][6]

Offstage has also staged a site-specific production of Macbeth in Paris to mark the 450th anniversary of Shakespeare's birthday. The production was featured on French news channel France 24, where director Cressida Brown and actor Florian Hutter were interviewed.[7]

Other productions include Walking The Tightrope, ten five-minute plays exploring censorship in the arts, longlisted for Amnesty Scotland's Freedom of Expression Award.[8] "Tricky, dangerous, stimulating, discomfiting – what serious theatre is for, in other words".,[9] it was first shown at Theatre Delicatessen with the following plays:

In August 2015, Walking the Tightrope transferred to the Underbelly for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, with two new commissioned works from Omar El-Khairy and Timberlake Wertenbaker; it was pick of the festival for both The Scotsman and The New York Times.[10][11][12]

Drawing Play at The Yard, June 2013

Productions

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  • Re:Home The Yard (February 2016).[13]
  • Caught by Christopher Chen, Volta Festival, Arcola (September 2015).[14] Nominated for TBC Award at The Offies 2015 [15]
  • Accidental Brummie Birmingham Rep (September 2015) [16]
  • Walking the Tightrope by Various, Underbelly at Edinburgh Fringe Festival (August 2015)[17][18][19]
  • Walking the Tightrope by Various, Theatre Delicatessen (January 2015) [20][21][22]
  • Macbeth by William Shakespeare in Association with Shakespeare & Co, Bard-En-Seine Festival, Paris (2014).[23][24][25]
  • Drawing Play by Cressida Brown and the company, at The Yard, Hackney Wick (2013).[26]
  • For Theatre Uncut: The Price by Lena Kitsopoulou (Greece); The Birth of my Violence from Marco Canale (Spain); Pine by Clara Brennan (UK), New York Theatre Row (NY) (2012).[27]
  • Amphibians by Steve Waters, in an abandoned swimming pool (2011).[28][29] One of '2011 Ones to Watch' in The Guardian[30] and described by Susannah Clapp in The Observer as "For once a production has earned the description 'site-specific'"[31] Nominated for the OffWestEnd Awards (Offies) in six categories: Best New Play, Best Director, Best Set Designer, Best Sound Designer, Best Lighting Designer, Best Choreographer.[32]
  • Scum in Trinity Buoy Wharf, site of London’s only lighthouse; part of CETT Fellowship (2009).
  • Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead by Tom Stoppard in association with the Royal Shakespeare Company, Novello Theatre (2009).
  • Phaedra by Jean Racine, in the ruins of Craigmillar Castle, Edinburgh Festival (2007).[33] Nominated for the Three Weeks Editors Award [34]
  • Home by Cressida Brown, Ghobolan Obeisan and Emily Randall, in the vacated St Catherine's tower block on the Beaumont Road Estate in East London (2006).[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b Mountford, Fiona (2012-04-10). "A tale of two-storeys". Evening Standard. Retrieved 2022-12-09.
  2. ^ Cressida Brown, United Agents, http://unitedagents.co.uk/cressida-brown Archived 2014-02-14 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ "New London Play To Be Pulled Down". Londonist. 2006-01-17. Retrieved 2022-12-09.
  4. ^ Catherine Love, 'Cressida Brown:'My Big Break was Someone Else's Idea', The Stage https://www.thestage.co.uk/features/interviews/2016/cressida-brown-my-big-break-was-actually-someone-elses-idea/ Archived 2016-02-12 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^ "Kevin Spacey Foundation reveals 2015 Artists of Choice winners | WhatsOnStage". www.whatsonstage.com. 24 August 2015. Retrieved 2022-12-09.
  6. ^ "Subscription". Archived from the original on 2014-07-15. Retrieved 2016-08-08.
  7. ^ "Encore! - Shakespeare's 450th Birthday : The Best of the Bard". 25 July 2014.
  8. ^ "Edinburgh Festival: Freedom of Expression Award 2015".
  9. ^ "The problem with Stoppard's jokes is not us being too thick but him". Independent.co.uk. 8 February 2015.
  10. ^ http://www.underbellyedinburgh.co.uk/whats-on/walking-the-tightrope-the-tension-between-art-and-politics [dead link‍]
  11. ^ "Edinburgh Fringe 2015: The Scotsman's top picks - The Scotsman". Archived from the original on 2015-06-27.
  12. ^ "Edinburgh Fringe Will be Biggest Ever". 4 June 2015.
  13. ^ "Review: Re:Home at The Yard Theatre". Exeunt Magazine. Retrieved 2022-12-09.
  14. ^ "Caught". 19 January 2016.
  15. ^ "Subscription". Archived from the original on 2016-03-29. Retrieved 2016-03-31.
  16. ^ "The REP Announces Spring And Summer 2015 Season at Birmingham Repertory Theatre". www.birmingham-rep.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2015-09-23.
  17. ^ "Fringe venue to stage a series of plays and talks on the theme of free speech". 3 August 2015.
  18. ^ "Neil LaBute and Omar El-Khairy on censorship - Interview - the Skinny".
  19. ^ "Silenced Fringe venue plans censorship show - The Scotsman". Archived from the original on 2015-07-10.
  20. ^ "Je suis... Un playwright: In the wake of Charlie Hebdo attack plays by". Independent.co.uk. 15 January 2015.
  21. ^ "Neil LaBute among writers tackling freedom of expression in new collection". TheGuardian.com. 25 January 2015.
  22. ^ "Walking the Tightrope - Theatre Without a Safety Net". 27 January 2015.
  23. ^ "Encore! - Shakespeare's 450th Birthday : The Best of the Bard". France 24. 2014-07-25. Retrieved 2022-12-09.
  24. ^ Kelley, Claire. "Shakespeare & Company stages outdoor Macbeth production in Paris » MobyLives". Melville House Books. Retrieved 2022-12-09.
  25. ^ "The French Play: Bard-en-Seine". 21 July 2014. Retrieved 2022-12-09.
  26. ^ "The Yard Theatre | the Generation Game – Week 7". Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2015-08-07.
  27. ^ David Roberts, 'Theatre Uncut', Theatre Reviews Limited http://www.theatrereviews.com/reviews/offbdwy-TheatreUncut.htm Archived 2014-04-10 at the Wayback Machine
  28. ^ "Amphibians". Time Out London. Retrieved 2022-12-09.
  29. ^ "Amphibians, Bridewell Theatre, London, review". www.telegraph.co.uk. 12 January 2011. Retrieved 2022-12-09.
  30. ^ "This week's new theatre". the Guardian. 2011-01-01. Retrieved 2022-12-09.
  31. ^ "Amphibians; A Doll's House; Julius Caesar – review". the Guardian. 2011-01-16. Retrieved 2022-12-09.
  32. ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20140715130741/http://www.offwestend.com/index.php/pages/the_offies
  33. ^ 'Love among the ruins as phaedre conquers castle', The Scotsman http://www.scotsman.com/news/love-among-the-ruins-as-phaedre-conquers-castle-1-1327835
  34. ^ "The content you are trying to access is no longer available | YUDU Ltd". content.yudu.com. Retrieved 2022-12-09.
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