Author: Grace Coppin

Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch is today announcing it has this week commissioned four Outer East London and Essex writers to work collaboratively with Artistic Director Douglas Rintoul. The writers will together create a special new play, celebrating the very best of Essex resilience and spirit, as an epic, humorous and celebratory antidote to lockdown stories, to be performed later in Autumn 2020.

The project is being developed in such a way that it can be flexibly made, rehearsed, performed and shared with audiences, in person and online, in a COVID-19 Secure way. Further details will be announced when tickets go on sale in August.

Three of the four writers have not been commissioned by Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch before:

• Anne Odeke, a Southend actress who is currently rehearsing with the RSC for their 2020 season (The Winter’s Tale, RSC; Bartholomew Fair, The Merry Wives of Windsor, The Globe Theatre)
• Guleraana Mir, (Coconut, Ovalhouse), Hornchurch-based playwright and one half of female-led theatre company The Thelmas
• Kenny Emson, award-winning Essex playwright (Rust, Terrorism, Bush Theatre; Plastic, Mercury Theatre Colchester)

The fourth, Sadie Hasler, co-founder of Southend theatre company Old Trunk, wrote the highly acclaimed Stiletto Beach for the Theatre, as part of the 2019 Essex Girls and Boys season.

Anne Odeke says ‘You’re asking me how it feels as a creative from Essex to be commissioned by the incredible Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch? The honest answer? Terrifyingly exciting! I’m a great fan of the other writers; they all come with their own style. It will be fantastic to share our thoughts and experiences of the remarkable county of Essex – it’s going to be a great night.’

Guleraana Mir says ‘It means a lot to be commissioned by Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch as part of Essex on Stage. The Queen’s is my local theatre, and I’ve lived on its doorstep all my life, so it’ll be wonderful to see my work on its stage.’ 

Kenny Emson says ‘In these uncertain times it’s fantastic that Queens Theatre Hornchurch is committing to commissioning and producing new work. I grew up in Essex and believe passionately that if the stages of our theatres are populated by the voices of the people that live in their communities, they will always find an audience.’

Sadie Hasler says ‘I’m absolutely ruddy thrilled to be a part of Queen’s amazing ongoing Essex on Stage project. I never thought as a female writer I’d get a job celebrating Essex, but writing Stiletto Beach opened my eyes, and heart, to the importance of pride in where you live. It was one of the most inspiring affirming times of my life. Since then I’ve been lit up like a glow stick with defiant love for the brilliant people of Essex.’

Epic Essex is part of Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch’s Essex on Stage project. Essex on Stage has been made possible by the generous support of The Clothworkers’ Foundation. Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch is the recipient of the 2018 Clothworkers’ Theatre Award, a competitive annual prize given to a regional producing theatre, that has only ever been awarded five times.

Queens Theatre Hornchurch is delighted to announce today (Wednesday 8 July) that it has received funding from the London Community Response Fund administered by City Bridge Trust, the City of London Corporation’s charitable funder, to run a programme of community outreach and artist development projects throughout the Summer. The theatre is turning themselves ‘inside-out’ to provide creative opportunities digitally, streamed live into homes across the borough.

The funds will allow the theatre to deliver their Summer Inside-Out programme – a collection of exciting free-to-access projects and workshops focusing on three key areas;

The first strand aims to provide open access to creative activities to the public, encouraging wellbeing, shared experiences and social interaction for all. In addition to continuing its successful Seated Dance Sessions with choreographer Sundeep Saini and Musical Theatre Sing-a-Longs with musician Andrew Linham, the Theatre is also launching Tiny Plays, an initiative which invites members of the public to explore play-making exercises with theatre director Jules Tipton. The exercises will then form an anthology of mini-plays performed by local actors.

The second strand will develop existing partnership projects to further support communities in need, connecting with looked after children and vulnerable young people. The Theatre will be curating digital activities to provide a positive safe place for young people to connect with each other and offer a creative focus to prepare students for their return to school in September. Participants will work towards an Arts Award qualification to recognise their achievements.

The third strand continues work already established by the Theatre’s successful Outer Limits Online programme, which brings together local performers and performance makers and offers signposting to emergency funds, and up-skilling to achieve sustainability after lockdown. In addition, the programme also offers employment opportunities for local freelance artists and practitioners at a time of real precarity for freelance work. Artists from the Outer Limits network will also work with the Young Changemakers, the Theatre’s youth council made up of five local 18-25 year olds, supporting them to curate an online programme of work for young people, requested, developed and delivered by young people addressing real and current needs.

James Watson, Head of Learning and Participation for Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch, says ‘Over the last few months we’ve seen the power the arts hold to ignite moments of joy even amongst difficult circumstances as we’ve created new ways to connect with our wider community at home. We are thrilled to receive this funding to support an extended summer programme of activity, recognising the value of arts and culture in people’s lives, health and well-being and the significant part the theatre plays in supporting communities.’

More information on the London Community Response Fund is available online at www.londoncommunityresponsefund.org.uk

RESCHEDULED DATE: Friday 2nd October 2020 at Thameside Theatre, Grays

Calling all performers and performance-makers in Thurrock

This festival of performance and expert industry advice will be a fantastic opportunity for performers and performance-makers across Thurrock. They can connect with the people in their own communities who can guide, inspire and provide future opportunities for development and work.   

Any theatre-maker, playwright, performer, poet, dance-maker or singer/songwriter who lives in or is connected to Thurrock is invited to send in a submission for inclusion in Outer Limits Thurrock. Scratch* performances can be up to 15 minutes in length and expenses up to £100 will be paid. Ready to go performances can be between 30-60 minutes in length and depending on the scale of the piece, will receive a performance fee up to £500. The theatre’s technical staff will be available to support performances.  Now is the time to create that piece of work that has always been lurking at the back of your mind. There’ll be lots more news nearer the time for those who’d like to come along and network, but don’t wish to bring work.

The deadline for submissions has been extended to Wednesday 29th July at 5pm. All submissions will be considered by the Outer Limits Thurrock steering group made up of industry professionals. To find out more and request a form, email qthouterlimits@queens-theatre.co.uk

Outer Limits is part of the two-year Essex on Stage programme, which champions positive ideas about Essex, celebrates performance made by working-class people and raises aspirations artists from Essex and Outer East London. Essex on Stage is supported by The Clothworkers’ Foundation.

Outer Limits Thurrock Application Form

For the last month, Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch has been asking its audiences‎ about their experience of lockdown. The Theatre has received over 1,000 responses – online and by phone – each of them by turn, surprising, funny, moving and ultimately full of hope.

Now the Theatre is placing those stories firmly centre stage in its empty auditorium, reflecting them back in a loving patchwork of encounters that share the collective voice of an extraordinary community.

Superstitions about ghostlights allow echoes of former actors to perform in a theatre that’s closed, where the stage is empty. But what happens when one such ghost has been waiting for her much loved audience to return? Join us and see…

Attend the Theatre online on one of three evenings only‎, for a special and unique short event – at 7.30pm on Wednesday 24, Thursday 25 or Friday 26 June.

If joining the event, please consider making a minimum donation of £10, by text, online or phone, more if you feel able. Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch will be using those donations to enable future creative and community projects when the doors re-open – and the theatre ghosts move on!

To donate to the Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch, visit www.queens-theatre.co.uk, or make a donation by text:

QTH 10 to 70085 to donate £10

QTH 15 to 70085 to donate £15

QTH 20 to 70085 to donate £20

UK networks only. Texts cost donation amount plus one standard rate message.

Here I Am

Live online at 7.30pm on Wednesday 24, Thursday 25 and Friday 26 June only

The event will last 35 minutes and can be accessed via Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch YouTube channel. On Friday 25 June at 8.30pm, a pre-recorded and captioned version will be available via YouTube too.

Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch, Hull Truck Theatre and Oldham Coliseum Theatre have today (10 June) announced that they will be streaming their epic and landmark 2019 revival of The Hired Man to raise vital funds for current and future creative projects, which together reach over 380,000 people a year, while their theatres are closed to the public.

This much loved actor-musician revival played to national critical acclaim across the country, securing three Offie Award nominations and with Lauryn Redding a finalist for Best Female Performance in a Musical. Glowing reviews included:

★★★★ ‘They play Goodall’s glorious folk-based score as if it’s pouring from their very souls.’ Sunday Express

 ‘A gorgeous, resonant new production…Wrenching and wonderful’ Mark Shenton

★★★★★ ‘This is theatre to relish and cherish’ – North West End

★★★★ ‘One of the most well-crafted British Musicals of all time’ – Upstaged Manchester

Based on the stirring novel by Melvyn Bragg first published in 1969, The Hired Man was turned into a musical in 1984. The production features a superb score of rousing foot stomping rhythms and soaring choruses by the award-winning composer Howard Goodall (Bend It Like Beckham, Love Story).

With the support of The Really Useful Group Ltd, the premiere of the streaming will take place on Monday 15 June 2020 at 7.30pm, and will then be available for one week on the Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch YouTube channel and via each of three theatres websites.

To donate to the Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch, click here, or make a donation by text:

QTH 10 to 70085 to donate £10

QTH 15 to 70085 to donate £15

QTH 20 to 70085 to donate £20

UK networks only. Texts cost donation amount plus one standard rate message.

Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch is delighted to announce that it has received funding from Clarion Futures, the charitable foundation of Clarion Housing Group, to continue its offering of two strands of free digital classes. The classes are aimed at connecting audiences from their own homes while in lock-down, streaming live from the Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch Facebook page each week. Initially commissioned for six weeks from 20 April – 31 May, these sessions have proven to be hugely beneficial in offering positive engagement to people of all ages, racking up over 12,000 views in the first 3 weeks alone.

Thanks to the funding received from Clarion Futures, the classes will recommence twice weekly beginning Tuesday 9 June providing a creative offering for our shared local community. Previous sessions are also available to catch-up via the Theatre’s Youtube and Facebook pages.

One strand features seated dance lessons led by Choreographer and Movement Director Sundeep Saini from her living room every Tuesday, with a brand new dance routine to try out each week. These sessions will be delivered seated to support access and mobility needs, subtitled, and audio described in delivery. Each session goes live on the Theatre’s Facebook page at 11am on a Tuesday.

The other strand is a musical theatre sing-a-long session with local musician and Musical Director Andrew Linham every Thursday at 11am. Andrew will lead a warm up session followed by the chance to learn a classic musical theatre number each week.

At the start of the week the Theatre will put a poll on their Facebook page where audiences can vote for one of three musical theatre songs to learn. (Audiences can also leave suggestions in the comments of songs for inclusion in future weeks.) The one with the highest votes by mid-day on Wednesday will be taught by Andrew in a Facebook Live session at 11am that Thursday.

Clarion Futures  has previously funded the Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch’s participation work though regular dance and drama workshops at the Orchard Village estate. Clarion Futures is also a member of the Havering Changing consortium, a partnership of 8 local organisations that will seek radical new ideas to engage local communities in arts and culture, support local decision makers and share learnings, led by Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch.

The digital classes have been made possible thanks to a grant from Clarion Futures’ Emergency Support Fund which has been created to offer direct financial support to some of its longstanding partners during the coronavirus outbreak.

James Watson, Head of Learning and Participation at Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch, said ‘We are grateful for the continued support of Clarion Futures in recognising the value of the arts in building communities and promoting personal wellbeing. We hope these digital sessions will continue to benefit our local and wider communities during this period of isolation’

Matt Parsonage, Head of Communities at Clarion Futures, said: ‘We’re delighted to be supporting these online classes which, we hope, will bring the community together and provide a way for people to enjoy themselves and express their creativity – something that is particularly important during these difficult times’

Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch has announced a call out to its audiences in Outer East London and Essex for a response to questions about their experience of the lockdown. The answers will inspire a unique new project.

We miss you and haven’t had the chance to talk with you about what’s going on. The pandemic has impacted all of our lives. We’ve seen the big news stories, but here at the Theatre we want to know (and tell) your story. Members of our staff: are home schooling their kids, miss seeing family, have given up wearing stilettos, have volunteered at a food bank, go for long walks, worry about the future. One hugged a tree for the first time and another secretly delivered Easter eggs to people’s houses!

We want to know what’s happened to you during lockdown so that we can share our collective stories in a special new project.

1. What is new about your daily routine in lockdown? Has anything become more or less important to you during this time?
2. Has anything changed for you forever?
3. What moment, event or image of this time will be the one thing that stays with you?
4. Is there something you have missed over the last few weeks? What do you long for?
5. What is your hope for the future?”

The Theatre will place its audiences’ stories centre stage for what will be the most important project it will make this year.

The general public can answer the questions online (https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/LockdownStories), by email via boxoffice@queens-theatre.co.uk or by calling the Queen’s Theatre and speaking to a member of the friendly box office team (Mon-Fri 10am-5pm on 01708 443333).

We are delighted to be partnering with Complicité to broadcast The Encounter online. The show, described as ‘a tour de force’ by Financial Times and ‘one of the most fully-immersive theatre pieces ever created’ by New York Times played sold out runs at London’s Barbican theatre in 2016 and 2017 but on Friday 15 May at 7pm the show will be available online and you can watch it on our website for free here.

The show has received a raft of five star reviews since its premiere in 2015 and is the winner of numerous awards including the 2017 Special Tony Award for Sound Design.

The Encounter tells the story of National Geographic photographer Loren McIntyre who, in 1969, became lost in a remote part of the Brazilian rainforest while searching for the Mayoruna people. His encounter was to test his perception of the world, bringing the limits of human consciousness into startling focus.

Threading scenes of his own life with details of McIntyre’s journey, Simon McBurney incorporates objects and sound effects into this solo performance to evoke the depths of the Amazon rainforest. The show’s ground-breaking binaural sound design (3D audio) by Olivier Award winner, Gareth Fry, is transmitted to the audience through headphones and plugs into the power of the imagination, questioning our perceptions of time and our own consciousness.

“We are, as a consequence of this pandemic, bodily cut off from one another. Disconnected. Isolated. But perhaps this sense of our separation one from another, is simply a heightening of what we felt before this all began. We are thinking now, not only about how long this will last, but also what happens on the other side. To reconnect we need, perhaps, to learn to listen more closely. To each other. To our communities. To other cultures. To nature itself. 

The Encounter is at its heart a story about ‘listening’, not ‘hearing’ but listening; to other, older narratives which, at the deepest level, form who we are, and if we do, we can imagine how we can ‘begin’ again.”
Simon McBurney – Complicité Artistic Director

Audiences must wear headphones to watch The Encounter online, or the effect of the binaural recording will be lost. Any headphones will work, but playing the film out of speakers will not give the same effect. It is free to watch, and will be available to watch on demand for a week until 22 May 2020.

Follow us on Twitter for updates and a reminder about The Encounter online.

The Encounter

Inspired by the novel Amazon Beaming by Petru Popescu

Directed and performed Simon McBurney

Co-Director Kirsty Housley

Associate Director Jemima James

Design Michael Levine

Sound Gareth Fry with Pete Malkin

Lighting Paul Anderson

Projection Will Duke

The Encounter is a Complicité co-production with the Barbican, London, Edinburgh International Festival, Onassis Cultural Centre – Athens, Schaubühne, Berlin, Théâtre Vidy-Lausanne and Warwick Arts Centre.

The Encounter online is supported by The Space.

RESCHEDULED DATE: Friday 2nd October 2020 at Thameside Theatre, Grays

Calling all performers and performance-makers in Thurrock

This festival of performance and expert industry advice will be a fantastic opportunity for performers and performance-makers across Thurrock. They can connect with the people in their own communities who can guide, inspire and provide future opportunities for development and work.

Any theatre-maker, playwright, performer, poet, dance-maker or singer/songwriter who lives in or is connected to Thurrock is invited to send in a submission for inclusion in Outer Limits Thurrock. Scratch* performances can be up to 15 minutes in length and expenses up to £100 will be paid. Ready to go performances can be between 30-60 minutes in length and depending on the scale of the piece, will receive a performance fee up to £500. The theatre’s technical staff will be available to support performances.  Now is the time to create that piece of work that has always been lurking at the back of your mind.  There’ll be lots more news nearer the time for those who’d like to come along and network, but don’t wish to bring work.

The deadline for submissions has been extended to Wednesday 29^th July at 5pm. All submissions will be considered by the Outer Limits Thurrock steering group made up of industry professionals. To find out more and request a form, email qthouterlimits@queens-theatre.co.uk 

“Outer Limits has proven to be an incredible way of discovering and celebrating exceptional local talent. It’s a hotbed of discussion and skills sharing and a brilliant way of networking up performers from across the region. We have come away from Outer Limits feeling invigorated and inspired.” Douglas Rintoul, Artistic Director, Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch.

Ahead of the world premiere of our jukebox musical Love Letters, we spoke to writer and director Douglas Rintoul about his inspiration behind the show.

• Tell us a bit about the show.

Love Letters is a world premiere of a brand new jukebox musical especially written for the Queen’s Theatre. It’s about making mistakes in love and second chances. It’s shows how seemingly everyday lives are actually quite extraordinary.

• What’s the inspiration for the musical?

I grew up listening to music by Alison Moyet, Yazoo, Depeche Mode, Five Star, Billy Bragg and Blur – my first live gig was seeing Blur in my hometown, Colchester. I’ve always thought that there was a show in that music. I started to dig around for other music from Essex (I’m talking about geographical Essex and places where people self-identify as being from Essex), and I found loads. Generally, when we think of places associated with great pop music, Liverpool, Bristol, Manchester and Camden amongst others come to mind, not Essex. When I told people I was researching music from Essex for a musical, they said, ‘is there any’? Well, there is! Jessie J, Anne Marie, Olly Murs, Ian Dury, Alison Moyet, Depeche Mode, Imogen Heap, Blur, Billy Bragg, Billy Ocean, Sade, Sandie Shaw, Five Star, Pixie Lott, The Tremeloes, Jessie J, Anne Marie, Olly Murs too name but a few.  Clearly, someone had a to bring these songs together for a great big musical theatre celebration of Essex.

• The musical is set in and around a pub at the heart of the local community. Why did you choose a pub setting?

Love Letters is an actor-musician musical – the actors play all of the music. To fully integrate the actor-musicianship into the narrative, I had to think of a place where you would find musicians, somewhere that has music at its heart, and an environment where you would meet everyday characters. Pubs ticked all of those boxes.  Also, Pubs are full of stories: they’re places where different people come together, where stories are told and where significant events happen. Pubs are also a big story in themselves at the moment. They’re disappearing from our communities and are currently closed.   Pubs felt like a ripe setting.

• Who’s your favourite Essex musician?

Alison Moyet. I’m always very moved by her music and voice. She’s also stridently proud of where she’s from (Blur weren’t nice about Essex back in the 90s). Alison Moyet has an album entitled Essex and has shot videos on Southend pier. What’s not to love?

• This is your first time writing a musical. What’s the process like?

It’s a Jukebox musical, so the music was the starting point; there’s something concrete to begin with – to take inspiration from.  I trawled through back catalogues of lots of artists and looked for songs that were narrative-led and had something to say. Lots of the songs were about the complexity of love, and quite a few had a strong working-class sense of survival or rebellion about them.  That mess and strength became a significant springboard for the narratives.  I also came across an Essex news report about a bag of post that wasn’t delivered for 10 years. I wondered what could happen if one of those letters had been a really heartfelt love letter: what the impact of it being posted ten years on could be.   Some of the music brings back childhood and teenage memories, inevitably some of that detail has made its way into the show.

• This show is the next step in the Theatre’s Essex On Stage programme. How does it build on the work we’ve already done?

We’ve revived seminal plays written about Essex that have been performed in national theatres but never in their native Essex, and we’ve commissioned brand new dramas. All have celebrated working-class narratives and Essex identity. I was looking for a musical that did that too.  Something really accessible. We’d already done Made In Dagenham, and I wanted something contemporary, so it felt right to create something new.

• Why should audiences come and see the show?

It’s full of cracking music by Essex artists. It’s got a brilliant cast of actor-musicians that we know and love from our other hit shows. It tugs at the heartstrings, is funny and touching. You’ll recognise the characters.  You get to spend a night in a pub (literally some audience members can sit on stage in the pub) which we’ll all need after the lockdown. You’ll come out warm and fuzzy, having spent time with great characters in a great place listening to great music. You’ll leave with a smile on your face as you rush home to Bluetooth some banging Essex tunes to your speakers.

Love Letters plays 25 September – 17 October