Northern Creative

Northern Creative Theatre are a theatrical think tank who employ new approaches to creating theatre by blending traditional play writing with experimental technique.  Story and character form the foundation of our work, ensuring that it remains accessible as we innovate with structure, style, form and process.

We are an emerging company who are participating in a 12 month development scheme called ‘Incubator’ at the University of Leeds which includes a research and development phase for which this call out is particularly relevant.  This is a real opportunity for the right performer to make a significant contribution to this company’s aesthetic and working practice.

In January 2011 we are hosting workshops to ‘meet and greet’ interested performers who would like to collaborate on future projects. These will take place in Leeds during the week commencing 17^th January at ‘The Hub’ (exact dates and timings to be confirmed).

We’re interested in meeting performers who have an interest in or experience of improvisation and devising. Our devising process requires a high level of commitment. We are looking for self motivated, hard working individuals who can bring plenty of ideas and raw material to the table. Sensitivity to music and sound in a theatrical context and the ambient/atmospheric possibilities of live performance would be attractive to us. 

We’re also interested in working with performers who have backgrounds in - live art, visual art, film, physical theatre, dance, music, multi-media - though the priorities outlined above remain paramount.

We would especially like to work with those who, as well as performing, are willing to take on other administrative/management/technical/creative roles within the company and, more generally, folk who take responsibility and value team work. Professional mentoring is a feature of the development scheme that the company are participating in. Support and guidance will be forthcoming for individuals who take on additional roles and some training may be available.

Please send your CV to Joanne Hartley jlh@nctheatre.co.uk by 17.00 on 12^th January if you would like to express your interest in this opportunity and are available to attend the workshops w/c 17^th January. If you are not able to attend the workshops at this time but would still like to get in touch, please feel free to do so.  We’re looking forward to hearing from you.

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http://www.leeds.ac.uk/pci/Incubator.html

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I graduated yesterday, gown and ceremony, proud parents and partner and all that. Such a peculiar yet satisfying thing to do. Ceremony is perhaps underated. Maybe we need more of that to mark and celebrate our achievements and that which we value and appreciate in general.

Northern Creative Theatre have been successful in their application to the University of Leeds ‘Incubator’ scheme. This means that over twelve months the company will be mentored by an industry professional and by the School of Performance and Cultural Industires. We’ll also have a couple of public performances and some funding for production costs. It’s a very exciting step. When I look at what we achieved in March this year in only a few weeks it makes the possibiliy of a year’s work seem quite awesome. At the moment I feel a bit ‘rabbit in the headlights’ about it. I have a few niggling doubts but I am not succumbing to them right now. I am trying to have a bit of a break before I embark on twelve months of hard work.

In January NCT has a week booked in at ‘The Hub’ which is Slung Low’s home on the outskirts of Leeds City Centre. We’re going to do some preliminary work on Elephant in the Room and a workshop/series of workshops to make connections with other theatre artists in the area.

Then we’re spending a week at Theatre in the Mill at the very end of January/early February. They have an ‘open space’ programme where we can use their rehearsal facilities and hopefully have interaction with the community there. We may also get some advice/feedback/steer from Iain Bloomfield who runs the place. I’ve had a request recently for copy to go in their brochure so we’ll also be mentioned in their publicity material which is great as I know their PR is good.

So, lots happening. And I’m still editing Whatsonstage.com and working three days per week.

I spoke to one of my lecturers at the graduation ceremony yesterday and he mentioned that he’d checked in on the blog. It surprised me that he knew about it and was reading. I’d love to know who those of you who are reading are so please do leave a comment if you’ve checked in and read this post.

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It’s been a while. Only a little while but long enough for me to feel it’s necessary to fill in the blanks.

As I approached the MA deadline I looked forward to all the things I’d be able to do once I had passed the finishing point. The reality of finishing has been different to what I expected.

Bizzarely, despite the pressure passing, I have been tense and restless and have found it very difficult to establish a new routine. Eventually I had two weeks of disruptive migraine which forced me to slow down and lie down, followed by yet more illness (i will spare you the details) before I came back to any state of normality. And even this new normality feels wierd.

I’m hoping that a massage and a haircut and a facial (seriously - i look like I’ve had a very hard life right now) will help me feel like I have turned a page. That and the assessment results I am expecting in the next day or so…

In other news:

I’ve taken over as editor of the Yorkshire region’s Whatsonstage.com - have a look at the work we do : http://www.whatsonstage.com/northeast

I’ve put Northern Creative Theatre forward for a couple of development opportunities. Fingers crossed and watch this space for news about these.

I met with Dean Murray yesterday about a future plan for Northern Creative Theatre and from our discussion it seems that we’re on the same page and that he’s interested in committing on an ongoing basis to the company. There’s still some bedding in to be done with NCT. For a long time NCT has been something I’ve done singularly with the support of various associate artists but I have decided that it’s time to share the load and to open up to a core team.

Roles are yet to be decided. I want this process to be organic. I truly believe that the right people will emerge when the time is right. Dean is the first and I hope there will be others. Discussions with other interested parties including Jonnie Khan and Ruth Marston are pending. As this is a large committment and because there isn’t any funding/pay at the moment it is essential that individuals are doing what they want to do, rather than what needs to be done or what they ought to do. It is also essential that the creative/aesthetic aims and artistic policy chime with objectives and ethos of whoever comes on board.

In the meantime I’m working on progressing the creative work, gathering together the necessary people and finding a space to work in.

I have a little bit of fear. Could it be that I’ve made myself so busy that there’s no time/space to actually continue developing my craft as a writer? Have I deliberately filled my life to avoid writing? Not because I don’t love it, but because I’m afraid of it and what happens when I do it?

But I also feel bold and courageous. The work I’m doing with NCT will spur me to find my groove as a writer. NCT activity provide/inspire a brief. NCT will allow me to find new ways and approaches to writing.

Here’s the artistic policy:

Northern Creative Theatre are a theatrical think tank who employ new approaches to new writing by blending traditional play writing with experimental technique.

Story and character form the foundation of Northern Creative Theatre’s work ensuring that it remains accessible as they innovate with structure, style, form and process; their objective to explore play writing and the role of the writer in contemporary theatre performance.

north·ern

Adjective

1. situated in or towards the north

2. native to or growing in the north.

cre·a·tive

Adjective

1. having the ability or power to create.

2. productive; creating.

3. characterized by originality and expressiveness

Noun

1.  one who displays productive originality

2.  an assumption breaking process

the·a·tre
Noun
1. A sphere or scheme of operation

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The MA is done.

I ran out of time and didn’t get the final submission professionally bound. Glancing back briefly over the document, I have spotted various errors. As my thoughts reorganise in my mind I realise that some of my arguments were a little unsubstantiated and possibly revealed a certain naivety.

But it is out of my hands now and I can move on.

It feels strange. I had been running on adrenaline and now, as it subsides, tiredness is creeping in.

For me it feels like a big shift. A momentous change!

But everyone else is ‘normal’ and unaware of the strange mix of exhilaration, relief, sense of victory and apprehension for the future that I’m experiencing.

What will I do now?

The MA has been in virtually every waking thought.

Will I still have the discipline to write now that the framework of the MA has been taken away?

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