Eleven years on from the first Hotbed, things have changed quite a bit…
This year we have once again teamed up with our long term partner, Cambridge Junction, but now we also have some new producing partners: The Colchester Mercury, Bury St Edmunds Theatre Royal and Soho Theatre, London.
Many favourites are still featured: our One Act Plays, short works, guest productions and workshops. However, this year we are introducing a major new initiative with our What’s up Doc? commissions, as Thought Leaders collaborate with writers to create work on the cutting edge of contemporary ideas. From death and sleep to the moon and beyond, we explore and celebrate Thinking Through Theatre!
Click the links for the festival schedule:
Thurs 11 and Fri 12 Saturday 13 Sunday 14
Weekend Tickets
We encourage you to come to multiple events at the festival. Each event is individually priced, but to get the best out of the festival, why don’t you buy a weekend day pass, which will let you into almost every event (excluding workshops and the odd time-table clash!)?
Saturday pass: £30/£28
Sunday pass: £30/£28
There are only 50 passes for Saturday and 50 for Sunday, so get in there quick!
www.junction.co.uk
Box Office: 01223 511511
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Hotbed 2013 continues its tour of East Anglia, with two days at the Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds. There will performances of two plays from the multi award-winning Irish company Fishamble - SILENT (on Tuesday 16 July) and FORGOTTEN (Wednesday 17 July).
Click here for more information and to book tickets.
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From Thursday 18 July to Sunday 21 July, Hotbed will move to The Mercury. The programme will include all of Menagerie’s One Act Plays and What’s up Doc? commissions, as well as the legendary One Page Play Competition, visiting performances from Fishamble: The New Play Company, Cambridge Devised Theatre and pop poet Luke Wright, and several other productions from Colchester-based companies.
Click here for more information and to book tickets.
Events, hotbed, menagerie
Hotbed 2013 continues! From Tuesday 23 July to Saturday 27 July we will be at the Soho Theatre in London, where all of the One Act Plays and What’s up Doc? commissions will be performed for the last time.
Click here for more information and to book tickets.
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Following success in Edinburgh our production of Four For Jericho has been invited to the prestigious Think Fest in Goa, India, in November. see http://goathinkfest.com/default.aspx for more details.
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Menagerie Theatre Company
Farce, comedy and physical theatre combine to provide both a smooth blend and an explosive mix in Menagerie Theatre Company’s excellent examination of the reality of life for those of the various religions which have an interest in the West Bank.
The company’s physical style of story-telling, choreographed with flair and precision by Patrick Morris, throws you straight into the tale. Michael is on a mission to film the Holy Lands for his church’s Sunday School class, his naive blundering fuelled in no small part by a desire to please his estranged wife.
Paul Brendan is utterly believable as Michael, as his naivety takes him away from the tourist track and into the hills of the occupied territories. Here he encounters Chandrika Chevli’s humanitarian observer Izzy – and her Arab academic Dr Reem – Josh Becker’s Palestinian farmer Fouad and Emma Beattie’s very-pregnant settler, Rachel.
Without going into the complexities of the whole Arab-Israeli conflict, Richard Fredman’s script succeeds, in what ends up as a tall tale of a taxi ride shared by the conflicting characters, in highlighting exactly how complex the whole situation is. There can be no happy ending, if veracity is to be maintained, and Fredman ensures that there is none, while keeping the energy high in getting there.
Review by Thom Dibdin
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With much swapping of roles, Menagerie theatre company conjures up a whirl of dust, check points and olive trees from almost nothing . With only breeze blocks for a set, this piece is inventive and clever, offering no easy answers to the ongoing struggles between Israel and Palestine.
A taxi heads for Jericho with a Jewish settler from New York, a Palestinian, an Englishman and an anthropologist all squashed together for the ride. In a funny and well choreographed farce, guns, babies and camera swap as the tension rises.
Characterisation is witty and knowing and stereotypes are constantly shifting. Human rights activist Izzy throws herself in front of every bulldozer regardless of consequences and when the brilliantly rude Jewish woman is in danger it is left to her Arabic traveling companion to come to the rescue. Another level is provided by Dr Reem Quaddum who proposes ideas for her research projects as they hurtle towards disaster; her use of Hollywood films as reference points providing a hilarious and a well placed dig at detached academic commentary.
Told from the point of view of the hapless British tourist, carefully placed historical information ensures that audience can follow the arguments and the climax refuses to simplify its subject. This is a multi-layered and energetic approach to a complex issue and it strikes a balanced note between entertainment and serious discussion.
Runs until 29th August.
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Four For Jericho has started today at the Pleasance in Edinburgh.
Click here for more information. Click here to book tickets now!
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Click here to find out about the new cast (44J Edinburgh August 2011)
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