THE OCCASION Annual Report August 2015 July 2016 The Occasion is the trading name for The Occasional Cabaret Ltd. A limited company registered in Scotland and recognised as a Scottish charity. Company No. SC382211 Charity No.SC043059 Registered address: 25 Rintoul Place, Edinburgh EH3 5JF www.theoccasiontheatre.com Photo: Neil Buchan-Grant
Introduction The past year has been an exciting and enjoyable one for The Occasion with a wide range of different projects. As well as beginning development of both a new touring production and a largescale community performance project the company has also been working in partnership with Blue Apple Theatre, one of South-west England s leading disability arts providers. Because of the range of projects that the company is now involved in the decision was taken to change the name from The Occasional Cabaret to The Occasion, a name-change that has had a very positive reception all around. We remain very grateful to all the agencies that have supported the company s work over the past year. We look forward to further developing these relationships as well as to the building of new ones with future partners.
AROUND THE WORLD IN EIGHTY DAYS Photo: James Yeats-Brown A collaboration with Blue Apple, 80 Days featured a cast of 35 people, 25 of whom had some degree of learning disability. Following Phileas Fogg s madcap navigation of the globe, accompanied by an upbeat, pacey soundtrack of 20 s & 30 s jazz, the production featured stunning choreography, many finely nuanced performances, much humour, dramatic video sequences, an elephant and a hot air balloon. Performed over 3 nights at Theatre Royal Winchester to over 500 people, 80 Days was directed and adapted from Jules Verne s original text by Peter Clerke, with choreography by Caroline Hotchkiss, costumes by Jenni Sundheim, design and video by Ben Ward. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. Workshop participant Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. Amy Pattison, Community Engagement Officer, Theatre Royal Winchester.
THE TIME MACHINE Photo: Neil Buchan-Grant Work began in January 2016 on development of The Time Machine project. This is envisaged, ultimately, as a large-scale, Winchester-wide, multi-media community performance project. With initial research funding from ACE and Winchester City Council, and with support from YMCA Winchester, Winchester University and Theatre Royal Winchester, work began with a series of taster performance workshops. These were followed by a series of six performance workshops held over March & April 2016. All workshops were free of charge. The tasters attracted over 50 people of all ages (14+) and abilities, with 28 going on to do the following series of 6 workshops. A truly lovely group to work with and all of whom are keen to see the project continue to develop. We are now planning the next stages of the project and, subject to successful fundraising, intend to start sessions again in the winter of 2016 working towards a full production for May 2017. It is anticipated, eventually, that the project will involve between 80-100 people. Very well done. Thank you for extending your hand to invite us; it s been a joy to work with people I hadn t met before. Winchester can benefit from this kind of project, that doesn t discriminate between age, gender or ability. Truly inclusive. Thank you. Workshop participant The group that has been formed is a mixed group of ages, abilities and experience which hasn t been offered in our locality for a long time and it is a lovely, positive thing to witness: a broad cross section of the community coming together in collaborative practice. Amy Pattison, Community Engagement Officer, Theatre Royal Winchester.
THE MONSTER & MARY SHELLEY Photo: marc marnie An outlandish trip through the mind of one of English literature s most influential imaginations. In April 2016 we began development of this new small scale touring show based on the life and work of Mary Shelley, particularly with regard to Frankenstein and the concept of fear. Working in collaboration with playwright Stewart Ennis, musician Richard Williams and designer Ali Maclaurin, with Peter Clerke directing and Catherine Gillard performing, work progressed to 2 practical development weeks in July. The first of these was hosted by Assembly Roxy, in Edinburgh, and the second by The Tron Theatre, in Glasgow. Both weeks culminated in work-in-progress showings. Feedback from these showings was both highly informative and extremely positive and we d like to thank all those who contributed to this phase of the project. We will now seek to attract funding to develop the work into a full production for touring, within the UK, in the autumn of 2017. A convincing and tempestuous exploration into the nature of fear and how it manifests itself in the psychology of the individual. Even at this infant stage the script and direction was strong and compounded the overt and underlying theme of a journey that sets out to investigate the darkest recesses of human nature. Perhaps there was something lurking in that dim recess under my seat! Can t wait to see the completed performance. Audience member (Secondary School teacher) I thought it was very compelling, funny, scary and interesting. I would like to see the finished production as I really enjoyed the sharing and I d like to know more about Mary s story told in this fascinating way. Audience member
Photo: Neil Buchan-Grant For The Occasion Co-Artistic Directors: Board of Trustees: Peter Clerke Catherine Gillard Gillian Shaw (Chair) Elizabeth Baxter Ben Walmsley Peter Clerke Catherine Gillard The Occasion gratefully acknowledges support from www.theoccasiontheatre.com