A
event
on Tuesday 11th January. The event starts at 20:00.
Flies
Written by Toby Farrow
Directed by Emma Earle
8pm, Tue 11 Jan.
Ever since he was a child, Dennis Steadyman has been terrified of flies. When an unfortunate aeroplane incident on the way to his sister's wedding nearly lands him a spell in the clink, Dennis decides enough is enough and vows to conquer his fears once and for all.
After an initially flying start, things rapidly start to unravel with the arrival of a psychotic Bluebottle hell bent on revenge. And so begins a battle of wits from which there can only be one victor. But who will it be? Man or fly?
A vulgar, mucky little tale from the team behind the smash hit"Ernest and The Pale Moon" and the writer of The Tobacco Factory's"The Adventures of Pinocchio".
The love of Stuff
Ramshacklicious
7pm, Wed 12 Jan.
Three nomadic musicians look for a place to bed down for the night. Among their trolley-loads of hoarded possessions; memories and fantasies take form and shape.
Using storytelling, junk-puppetry, contemporary clowning and real live music, Ramshacklicious create a world where everything's possible.
Ramshacklicious Theatre Company is the playground of siblings, Holly Stoppit and Jack Stoddart. They have toured street theatre festivals around the UK, Ireland and Europe since 2006 with their anarchic blend of character comedy, storytelling, live music and puppetry. The Ramshacklicious devising process is exploratory and playful and always produces high quality, accessible yet subversive physical, musical comedy theatre for non-theatre spaces. This is their first indoor venture.
30 Cecil Street
Dan Canham
7pm, Thu 13 Jan
8.30pm, Fri 14 Jan
In 2009 Dan Canham (Kneehigh, DV8, Punchdrunk, Fabulous Beast) made a film in a rotting, dilapidated theatre in Limerick, Ireland. Using that film as source material, this brand new piece of dance-theatre sees a lone figure stream through fragments of memories in a series of poignant and evocative dances.
Made with support from ACE, Escalator Performing Arts, Bristol Ferment and BAC
A man refuses evacuation from a blizzard-ravaged island and attempts to carry on in an environment in which survival can no longer be taken for granted. Using a distinctive blend of puppetry, visual theatre and music we examine why, for human beings, maintaining control can seem every bit as important as survival.
'If I left this place, it would worry me to death if this place is gonna go, I want to go with it, 'cause if I lost it, it would kill me in a week anyway. '
Harry Randall Truman, shortly before his disappearance in the 1980 eruption of Mt. St. Helens
Only
Written and performed by Adam Peck
7.30pm, Fri 14 Jan
An autobiographical monologue about being an only child, friendship, and feeling alone in the world.
In his follow up to My Bristol Vista, Adam turns his attention from places to people, examining how our relationships with family and friends shape, alter and influence who we are.
Adam Peck spent some time with us as writer in residence this autumn, with an open brief to begin to pen some thoughts and cultivate ideas for a new piece. Following that time his aim with this project has become to present something that is personal, touching and evocative, without being overly sentimental. To create a piece where audiences leave the theatre considering their relationships with the people in their lives, past, present and future.
Adam is a Bristol-based writer whose recent credits include Bonnie & Clyde with Fairground Theatre, which is transferring to London's Theatre 503 in early 2011.
The Peace
A Performed Reading.
Written by Natalie McGrath
Performed by Sophie Stanton
Directed by Nadine Rennie
6pm, Saturday 15th Jan
Coffee was kept on tap all night as the negotiations around the Good Friday Agreement came to a close. It is 1998. New Labour are in. They've kicked off their heels and peace in N. Ireland is a priority. In the middle of it all is Mo.
Current development of The Peace is supported by Arts Council South West, Peggy Ramsay Foundation and Bristol Ferment.
Natalie was recently commissioned by Devon Records Office to write a play for Deaf Awareness Month 2011, and she is currently developing a short play for Tangle's A Drop to Drink project. Her play Coasting is currently under development at Bristol Old Vic and Metal Remains produced at the Alma Tavern by Theatre West in Bristol 2008 was shortlisted for the 2009 Meyer Whitworth Award - National Theatre Foundation.
Jelly Head
Byron Vincent
8pm, Sat 15 Jan
Jelly Head is the farcical autobiography of Byron Vincent.
An anecdotal narrative of how the kind of child who is robbed of a heart beat with every knock of the door is slowly calcified by the abrasive tide of an unforgiving council estate. Farcical, funny and moving Jelly Head explores how no matter how we start off, nurture shapes our nature, and asks the question, given another life, who might you be?
From surreal punk rock disquisition about the socialist inclinations of the Smurfs to astutely acerbic examinations of the fraying tapestry of British culture. Byron Vincent's oratory fuses comedy, poetry and doe eyed bewilderment to create a unique and entertaining spoken word experience. He also does a rather fine haiku about Elton John's preferred choice of salad.
Sink estate dandy and festival stalwart Byron Vincent has thrust a scrawny heel into poetry's bourgeois throat and spanked it until it's handed over its lunch money. One of BBC poetry season's New Talent Choices, Byron is a regular at the nation's most prestigious literary and music festivals, he's shared the bill with such luminaries as John Cooper Clarke, John Hegley and Roger Mcgough. He has performed several times on national radio, including Radio 4's Bespoken Word and BBC 3's The Verb. He was recently poet in Residence for the South West of England for Apples and Snake's ground braking poetry project My Place or Yours, his first collection Barking Doggerel was released May 2010 on The Nasty Little Press, and his debut Solo show Jellyhead, will be touring nationally from Spring 2011.
'Byron Vincent was born to be a poet. A consummate performer, achingly funny, He's the brightest new star on the block. Apples and snakes.
'Hilarious' BBCi
'Underrated by no one but himself' BBC Poetry Season
'Always funny, often unsettling, Byron Vincent's deft poetry captures the underbelly of Britain's dead end towns with unerring accuracy. ' Patrick Neate
'The most precocious talent on show' The Times
'Like a bad ass version of Roger McGough' 'He's clever, witty, a cut above' Big Mouth poetry.
'Looks and sounds like he could easily of stumbled off an Arctic Monkeys tour bus' Evening Post
The Children of Modernity
Stand and Stare Collective
Wed 12 Sat 15 Jan
Times vary. Limited capacity.
It's the early 1970s on a commune called The Children of Modernity. Rossie has gone missing. Through a series of theatrical interactions and explorations, Stand and Stare invite you to discover what has happened to her. Stand and Stare create quirky, immersive experiences in which their audiences play an active part. Come and play
Stand + Stare's initial experiment for this show was to create a theatrical experience that was devoid of live performers. For January's Ferment, they propose to reintroduce the idea of live performance to the piece by developing it with Naomi Said, who will play the part of Rossie.
Stand + Stare create immersive experiences and like their audiences to play an active part. They achieve this by creating a role within the narrative for them, such as passengers on a ship (SS Arcadia), or by prescribing levels of interaction in order to move a story forwards, as with this piece.
They are committed to writing and devising new stories and enjoy collaborating with a broad spectrum of artists from different disciplines to create work. Founder members, Barney and Lucy Heywood are brother and sister and often draw influences from shared memories and family history. This is particularly true for The Children of Modernity. The idea is deeply inspired by the life and work of their Grandfather, Oliver Heywood, a painter and thinker who built a modernist house in the 1960s.
Here are some comments from previous audience members:
'being submerged in the set and interacting in the story makes it feel very real and very emotional. Beautiful. And the beans do feel very nice. '
'I especially like how you utilized all senses. '
'Reminds me of the treasure hunts my dad used to create for me as a kid. '
'The story kind of imbeds itself somehow through the multi sensory experienceit has a very lucid and lasting effect. '
The Master of Things
Written by Kerry Hood
Directed by Andy Burden
6pm, Wed 19 Jan
'She's in my head every other second from the moment I leave the house. So tight under my skull bones my scalp itches all morning. '
The world and its wolf are at the door of a desperate man called Carol. Yet, just over his fence is the promise of'normal' life The Master of Things is a funny, dark and poignant drama about loss of community and how to survive without love.
Kerry Hood's commissions include Caution! Trousers (Alan Ayckbourn at Stephen Joseph Theatre), My Balloon Beats Your Astronaut (Tristan Bates Theatre) Paj and Pompetry and Feng Shui at Hair by Christine (Bristol Old Vic). Meeting Myself Coming Back (Soho Theatre) was British Theatre Guide's Highlight of the Year, Highly Commended in London Evening Standard Awards and a Sunday Times Critics' Choice. She's been nominated for the John Whiting and Meyer-Whitworth Awards, shortlisted for the Adrienne Benham Award 2010 (Talking for England, Ustinov Theatre) and has won many Arts Council and Peggy Ramsay awards.
'Imagine one of Beckett's no-hopers clambering out of her sack, dustbin or urn and letting language gamely rip' The Times
The Six Wives of Henry VIII
Howards Coggins & Stuart McLoughlin
7.30pm, Wed 19 Jan.
Bristol's own Howard Coggins and Stuart Mcloughlin attempt to reignite their flagging acting careers by performing the story of the 6 wives of Henry VIII. Live, original music, much tomfoolery and historical hysteria.
The Falconer
By George Gotts
7pm, Thu 20 Jan
John moves to the woods to be alone; alone with nature. But it's harder than he thought when new neighbours move in, and his brother won't give up on him - and then he falls in love.
A reading from an extract from a brand new play about isolation, how we look at nature and free will.
George Gotts studied at Manchester University and then did the MPhil in Playwriting at Birmingham with David Edgar. Her plays include Cocoa, Theatre 503, No One Move, Barons Court Theatre, A Plague Of People (co written with Steve Waters) Hampstead Theatre, The Raven Glass, on attachment National Theatre Studio and short plays Ex Libris for Birmingham University and Seance for RSC.
Bookshop
The Idle Dream
Malcolm Hamilton, Sita Calvert-Ennals, Will Datsun
Times vary, Thu 20 Jan
Limited capacity
Welcome to Sonia's bookshop. Sonia doesn't know it yet but she is trapped. Watch the world unfold from behind the counter as we are immersed in Sonia's strange and beguiling tale. Part Mr Ben, part Labryinth, part Bagpuss, Bookshop plans to be a show within an installation opening in empty shops on high streets across the country.
Bookshop is inspired by Cecil Court, an unchanged Victorian alleyway of antiquarian curiosity shops; itself the inspiration for Diagon Alley.
The Idle Dream create and explore worlds with visual impact. We make diverse work employing physical theatre, new writing, visual nonsense and heartbroken aspirations. Our first production The Station:Fourstones ran at the Tobacco Factory in 2010 and is touring nationally throughout 2011. We are currently developing: Bookshop (working title) a show within an installation about a trapped shopkeeper and an ensemble piece inspired by Peter and The Wolf. We are always interested in talking about new collaborations.
A housing estate on the edge of some un-named northern city in Britain, late on Christmas eve: 9 year old Harry leaves his rundown home to find a dilapidated sled crash-landed at the end of the road, with dead and dying reindeer lying around the wreckage, and a scary-looking guy in oily rags trying to clean up the mess, finishing off the fatally wounded animals with a shotgun. Is this Santa? He certainly seems to have many gifts to deliver. But he speaks in an unidentifiable accent and doesn't appear jolly in the slightest...
Sleepdogs is a collaboration between Tim X Atack and Tanuja Amarasuriya. They work with stories, hybrid genres and prompts to the imagination using theatre, film and anything else that might possibly work. Their work has been shown nationally and internationally and has been commissioned by Arnolfini, BAC, Theatre Bristol, Bristol Old Vic, BBC Film Lab and Paines Plough.
Employing his trade-mark humour, frankness, vulnerability and wit and blending video and chalk images, with performance, lecture, storytelling and stand up, Dartnell explores this possible error in our perception that we believe ourselves to be something, when we might actually be nothing.
Guy Dartnell, international award winner and Improbable, Lone Twin Theatre and Dance 4 associate artist, brings us his latest solo creation. His previous outings have included Unsung, which was co-directed by BOV's own Tom Morris, and the TIme Out award winning Would Say Something. This is a show about mistaken identity not just of an individual, but of the human race en masse. Employing his trade-mark humour, frankness, vulnerability and wit and blending video and chalk images, with performance, lecture, storytelling and stand up, Dartnell explores this possible error in our perception that we believe ourselves to be Something, when we
might actually be Nothing.
Present phase also commissioned/supported by Oval House, London; Axis, Crewe; Exeter Phoenix.
2007 scratch phase commissioned/supported by Lilian Baylis Theatre, London; Colchester Arts Centre; Lakeside Arts Centre, Nottingham; Merlin Theatre, Frome.
Supported by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.
The Nine Lessons of Caliban
Firebird Theatre
3pm, Sat 22 Jan
A unique performance of poetry written by the Firebird Poets in collaboration with poet Claire Williamson, and performed by Firebird Theatre, a company of disabled performers.
'When we look at people in the story of'The Tempest', we put on their shoes to help us understand them. We channel our experiences into the people in'The Tempest', so that we can feel like them and understand them. We express our feelings through them. '
Firebird Theatre
The Nine Lessons of Caliban, is a performance of poetry written by members of the Firebird Poets in collaboration with poet Claire Williamson and inspired by Shakespeare's The Tempest. It is performed by Firebird Theatre. The performance was originally made for Bristol's Poetry Festival in September 2010 and involved Firebird performing alongside special guests: poet, Claire Williamson; musician Sarah Moody (The Devil's Violin and Kneehigh); with sound, projections and light, Ann Pugh and Redweather Productions.
This performance for Ferment will be a stripped back version of the piece, focusing on the text and performance and inviting audiences to share thoughts on ideas for future development.
Developing the piece so far: Claire and the poets came together to write poetry in dialogue with Firebird Theatre to support and inspire their interpretation of The Tempest, which was performed earlier in 2010 at Bristol Old Vic, Salisbury Arts Centre and the Brewhouse, Taunton.
"When we look at people in the story of The Tempest, we put on their shoes to help us understand them. We channel our experiences into the people in The Tempest, so that we can feel like them and understand them. We express our feelings through them. " Firebird Theatre
Firebird Theatre is a company of disabled performers: Daniel Bryan, Steve Canby, Brian Davis, Penny Goater, Kevin Hogan, Tina Kelly, Steve Knight, Liz Lane, Mary Lansdown, Alex Long, Sarah McGreevy, Richard O'Brien, Marilyn Rees, Jenny Stafford and Chris Wiltshire.
this performance will be BSL interpreted
A Grocery Shop
By Tom Wainwright
Directed by Amelia Sears
7.30pm. Saturday 22nd Jan
After 27 years a grocery shop in Bristol is closing down. Martin the proprietor is heartbroken. And a little poisoned. A shut down. A breakdown. A respectful comedy about being made redundant.
Martin has got today all planned out. He has bought some sherry, prepared a speech and is looking forward to his only son Colin joining their only employee, Ange, and his only wife, Bev. Nothing goes to plan. Colin turns up late and has to keep leaving. Bev is winding him up and Ange is telling him off. They have no customers and his day is effectively ruined by a snotty nosed student on his way to the march.
This is not what Martin wanted.
A Grocery Shop is a tribute to anyone seeking to maintain their dignity in increasingly humiliating circumstances. It's a tribute to anyone who means their best but often does their worst, who lets themselves down and picks themselves up. And lets themselves down again almost immediately. It's a tribute to anyone who suddenly finds that the dream they are lost in is actually their life. And they're terrified.
Tom Wainwright is a Bristol based writer and performer. Previous work includes Pedestrian (a Theatre Bristol/Bristol Old Vic co-commission) and Muscle (a Bristol Old Vic commission, now being remounted by Hull Truck Theatre) both of which are touring nationally this spring. A Grocery Shop has been developed on the Royal Court Autumn Studio Group
All ferment showings are £4 unless indicated otherwise. Please see website for full details and more info on all of the companies and artists involved.