Welcome to Theatre Orchard Project

Current projects

Bianca Rosa & The Seven Robber

bianca rosa


Local inn-keeper, Bella Venezia, is convinced that she is the most beautiful woman in the whole wide world. Her customers are quick to agree with her… especially if they want to avoid a whack from her wooden spoon. But could it be that Bella’s own daughter, Bianca Rosa, is fairer by far than she? And what’s the best way to get rid of a rival who lives under your own roof… Imprisonment in a tower? Murder in the woods? Or maybe a visit from a hairdresser who specialises in poisoned combs…

Drawing its inspiration from a traditional Italian folktale, Bianca Rosa & The Seven Robbers will transport the audience to the fairytale kingdom of Bournvillia – a realm where 18th century Italy collides with contemporary Weston-super-Mare. In a darkly comical weaving of spoken and sung text, theatre, dance, costume and live music, Bianca Rosa will tease out the deeper themes of beauty and celebrity tangled up in the hair of a fairytale…

After our successful ‘Underworld’ project Persephone in Dec 09 [click to past productions], Theatre Orchard Project returns once more to the Bournville to produce this sparkling new family show involving all age groups, devised by the newly-formed Bournville Community Theatre Group based at the Healthy Living Centre (HLC) in the kingdom of Bournvillia!

PERFORMANCES: Sat 10 & Sun 11 July at 2pm in the Community Hall, Healthy Living Centre, Lonsdale Avenue, Weston-super-Mare
Tickets available on the door. £2.00 Adults & 50p Children & OAP Suitable for all ages. Please arrive 30 mins before the show, refreshments available.

Ffi: Rina & Fiona - 01275 794810 email: aldenvergano@clara.net

Workshop leader & director: Angie Athay-Hunt
Musical director: Sarah Moody
Professional actor: Vince Pellegrino
Designers: Tomasin Cuthbert & Philippa Thomas
Concept and dramaturgy: Rina Vergano (TOP)
Creative producer: Fiona Matthews (TOP)

Storyshed

Story Shed

A shed-load of stories from around the world…

Storyshed is on show at the Music and Dance from around the world festival in Groove Park, Weston- super-Mare, on Sat 10th & Sun 11th July

Photo's of Storyshed (Click here)

Students and adults from many cultural backgrounds are working with leading media artists to create an interactive installation of digital stories in a bespoke shed, designed in association with Somerset Wood Recycling. Storyshed will go on a miniature ‘world tour of North Somerset’, transporting visitors into other realms with personal stories that surprise and enrich - a celebration of home and away and a crossing place for both.

Storyshed is part of a wider project – Windfalls – that highlights and celebrates cultural diversity in North Somerset. Through Windfalls, arts practitioners from a variety of disciplines are also working in primary schools with children who have English as a second language. Each group of children shares their stories, songs, photos and objects and shapes the resulting audio-visual material into a short film to share with the wider school community.

Windfalls is part of Theatre Orchard Projects ‘community cohesion through the arts’ strand, ROOTS.

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Chime Child

John Caple

Somerset storyteller Jane Flood collaborates with musicians Fiona Barrow (fiddle) & Martin Solomon (harp) to awaken the wealth of songs, stories and music hidden in the landscape.

Chime Child will be on tour in the South West during 2010, in Somerset with Take Art www.takeart.org ,in Shropshire with Arts Alive www.artsalive.co.uk , and in the future with Theatre Orchard Project in North Somerset.....Watch this space for details

For updated information on rural touring dates please see www.janefloodstoryteller.co.uk

“Jane Flood’s Chime Child was performed by flickering candlelight in Puxton’s gem of a church, stunningly bedecked with wildflower wreaths and bundles of willow wands, with the sell-out audience crammed into tiny wooden pews. To a backing of harp and fiddle from multi-instrumentalists Fiona Barrow and Martin Solomon, and with curious snippets of old Somerset lore delivered theatrically from the pulpit, this masterful storyteller created a living landscape of words and music that connected on a heart level. The show ended with the audience encircling the church at sunset, before untapping a keg of finest local scrumpy while the fiddler played a jig. Magical stuff out in the sticks.” ****
Venue magazine

“A magical night with a timeless, other-worldly atmosphere”
Venue magazine on Jane Flood’s Whispers in the Wind
www.janefloodstoryteller.co.uk

Wisht Night image by kind permission of John Caple (artist) and John Martin Gallery, London.

 

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