Hanyong Theatre Company - The Bridge
This massive, wonderful and exhausting project, which happened in 2005, is
back. It has been invited to visit ASSITEJ World Congress in
Adelaide 2008, as well as Festivals in Seoul and Okinawa, and
plans are well underway for its successor as well,
which promises to be even more ambitious.
I will be away in Korea, Australia and Japan in April
and May 2008, working on both of these.
Hanyong has it's own
website at www.hanyong.co.uk.
The Kam Tree
The latest project to be commissioned by Moby Duck, this
is a new version of a traditional Korean story, which
is currently on a national tour. It once
again features a Korean performer,
Park Yong Ju, who is following in the footsteps of Yoon Won
Hye Kim So Ri and Yang Hye Jung, who
have each been in one of the last three plays that I did with Moby Duck.
Young Ju is another fantastic performer - and she is joined in the Kam
Tree by Bharti Patel and Matthew Readman. Design is once again by
Olly Shapley. Catch The Kam Tree if you can.
Write On
I have been heavily involved in a major
Writers in Schools project during the last four years, called Write On.
Much of the work from this is posted on the site.
Write On is a continuation of an Arts
Council funded project originally run in
Archbishop Ilsley School [See recent
projects] It involves
a team of writers in establishing creative writing
projects, working usually with one class for an extended period. The
project is administered by the Birmingham Book Festival.
Last term I was working
once again with Year 2 at Parkfield School in Wolverhampton.
Sometimes the work we have done is posted on the site, and some can
be seen by clicking here...
This is true for almost all the schools involved over the course of the
project. Just click on the name of the school.
The schools in which I
have worked since 2001 are Aston Tower School, Yardley School, Mansfield Green School, Parkfield School,
[Wolverhampton] .Deykin Avenue School,, Castle Bromwich
Infants, Kingshurst Infants, Chase Terrace
and
Chadsmoor schools in Staffordshire, and
Birmingham or Solihull schools: Alcott Hall
,
Coleshill Heath , St Catherine of Siena,
St Johns, New Hall,
St Teresa's,
Cherry Orchard, Hawthorn,
College High School, Blakenhale,
Uffculme,
St Albans, Mayfield Our
Lady's, Wilkes Green Infants,
St James, Handsworth,
St Vincents, Adderley. Chivenor Primary School,
Greenholm Primary School,
Clifton
Infants and Greet Primary School.
There was also a
creative writing project for teachers, part of which was also run
'virtually'. This ran from January - March 2002, as a pilot project, with
me as the tutor. The take-up was very small, but it was an
interesting new departure.
Photos
Birmingham REP - Family Learning
As referred to above,
I am now in the third year of a spell as Early Years Development
Worker at Birmingham REP, funded by Birmingham Family Learning
Service. This
is an exciting project, getting work for the very young on
the agenda of the REP, and delivering a fair amount of interesting work
in a wide range of settings....
Brays Special School
I have an ongoing link with Brays which has involved a number of extended
projects since The Shooky. Currently we are developing Sensory
Story Packs together.
Albert Pritchard School
Through Creative Partnerships, I have been working in this Infants School
in Wednesbury, working alongside staff to support their creative
curriculum. This has been a really enjoyable project, with the
school an impressive one, already well committed to creative work.
I particularly enjoy the way each class has an 'imaginary friend' of its
own....
Bordesley Green East Children's Centre
Another staff development project, working for five days alongside staff
developing approaches to story-making.
The Key Centre, Minerva Centre and Ashbourne
Centre
In the summer I was back in these three PRUs, working on story-making, as
well as performing The Sun and Moon. This is a short project
repeating what we did in the centres during the Spring Term 2006, which involved making up stories...like The Rainbow
and the Snake
Hae Wa Dal - the story of
Sun and Moon
With money from a Creative Ambitions grant
from West Midlands Arts, I created a performance of this
Korean folk tale, for KS1 and 2 pupils in 2003. The piece was developed
through work with Choi Young Ai [Professor of Children's Drama at the
Korean National University of the Arts] and puppeteer Clive Chandler. Design is by Craig Denston,
with extra input coming from Kazekhstani-Korean musician Mira Yugai,
and from Yang Hye Jung.
The piece is directed by Ali Belbin, has been performed widely since 2003, and is now available for performance.
Most performances are in schools.
There was a rare public appearance at the Buxton Puppet Festival in
July 2005.
[The Sun and Moon is now available for
booking in schools etc]
Big
Sid
I have a number of
bookings coming up for my giant puppets, most famous of which
Big Sid, has
his own page on this website. As well as him, I now have his
companion Bella, and with my friend Clive Chandler, we also have fantastic
Giant Punch and Judy figures for processions and big events. The
most recent addition to the family is Brother Sid, who looks remarkably
like Big Sid, but wearing a habit. He has made rousing appearances
recently in Mediaeval Fairs at Ludlow, Cricklade , and Much
Wenlock. He has recently been joined by his religious relation
Brother Sid, who will next be appearing at Ludlow Mediaeval Fair on
November 25th -26th 2006.
RECENT PROJECTS
