| About us | | Our performances | | Working with us | | Contact us | | News and Reviews | | Help |
Quick links in this section:
|
Read all the latest news from Mind the Gap.
|
||
 |
|||
The Water Station is a nonverbal play all about journeys.
We are inviting young people from Bradford and District to take part in this week-long drama project, from 4-8 August 2008. You can book your place by ringing Emma on 01274 729575, or you can download a booking form from the outreach pages.
Mind the Gap agency to shake, not stir, the casting world
Some of our actors performed a showcase for an invited audience of industry professionals in the West Yorkshire Playhouse. Everyone enjoyed the afternoon, and we enjoyed showing the industry what our actors can do. The Showcase bus will roll into London on 9 July to show casting professionals, drama schools and producers in The Big Smoke what actors with learning disabilities could do for them. For more information please see our Agency pages or email agency@mind-the-gap.org.uk
Website redevelopment
April 2008 Mind the Gap celebrated an important phase in the construction of its new performing artists’ workspace on Wednesday 16 April 2008, by smashing part of the wall down! In a twist of the traditional builders’ “topping out” ceremony, Artistic Director, Tim Wheeler, and actors Chloe Shaw-Champion and Kevin Pringle broke through the wall to open up our new front door on Patent Street. The ceremony marked the completion of the most important structural work in the development. Read more on the building blog
Why did our chickens cross the road? March 2008 March 10-14 saw some very strange happenings around Leeds Met University... Chickens really did cross the road, boffins really did conduct a series of experiments on passersby (and chickens)... ... then Mind the Gap's Vince Chancellor and Victoria Principal congratulated a whole audience for being the first people to graduate with an MSc in Stupidity without doing any work! It was all part of an exciting residency for the Company at the LMU Studio Theatre. Our actors were investigating the nature of stupidity: what is it? Can you catch it? Is there a cure? Is it Art? It was "a joyous celebration of stupidity and, I would like to think, a reclaiming of the word stupid" (audience member) The Company wanted to gently change things round - learning disabled people are often researched. What happens when they are the researchers? The actors presented their findings in a sell-out performance. Annie Lloyd, the Director of LMU Gallery and Studio Theatre, said, "Production quality was extremely high and warmly appreciated by the audience. The cheers and whistles at the end brought the house down and most of the audience stayed for the Q+A afterwards - a sign of genuine involvement. It was a really uplifting occasion" We are very grateful to the staff and students of Leeds Met University for being so welcoming and enthusiastic, and ready to take part in the most pointedly pointless experiments we could think of. Egg-and-spoon race, anyone?
Making Theatre 2007-8 presents King Lear March 2008 This year’s students have been working on a production of King Lear in their Acting Skills and their Design modules. They performed for friends and family at Manningham Mills Community Association on Tuesday 11 March. Keep an eye on the Making Theatre web pages for rehearsal pictures and reviews of their work. The performance was a friendly, touching and hilarious version of Shakespeare’s famous tragedy, and the audience loved it. Our Making Theatre students should be very proud of themselves, as we at Mind the Gap are most definitely proud of them!
Learning disabled artists in the corridors of power March 2008 Five members of Leading Edge, a national network for emerging learning disabled arts leaders, went to London last week, to meet Baroness Lockwood at the Houses of Parliament. These groundbreaking artists have been challenging the lack of attention, support and opportunities for learning disabled arts leaders throughout this pilot year. Baroness Lockwood welcomed the network members to the House of Lords to celebrate their achievements so far. The group asked some searching questions about power, influence and who has it, and they really enjoyed their time in the capital. The group made a film while in London, and we will put in on this site. The Leading Edge network has given leadership opportunities, training and support to established learning disabled artists looking to take the initiative and lead the way for others to follow. It is the often-missing ‘next stage’ in its members’ career development. Performer Wayne Hooks said, "We want to find our feet, and our voices" Leading Edge is coordinated by Mind the Gap theatre company, one of the UK’s leading disability-related arts organisations, and funded by the Cultural Leadership Programme, Scottish Arts Council and Calgary Scope Society.
February 2008 Bradford's Telegraph and Argus newspaper has made a short film about the work to build our new home. Have a look online at the video news from Lister Mills where you can see the builders hard at work, as Artistic Director Tim and actors Kevin and Chloe take a tour. Don't forget to check our building blog too for all the lastest from the site!
Building work starts on Our New Home February 2008 We are delighted that building work has started on our new home in Lister Mills in Manningham, Bradford. Artistic Director Tim Wheeler says, “Everyone at Mind the Gap is delighted that building work has got under way to create our new performing artists’ workspace in the former Silk Warehouse at Lister Mills. Every day that the builders are working on our project means we are a day closer to moving to our purpose-built rehearsal studios. We hope to be fully moved in to our new home this autumn, and will immediately start developing new work to tour nationally in Spring 2009”. This is a very exciting period for the company, which has worked for over six years to get this far in partnership with Bradford Council. The project is mainly funded by Arts Council England and the European Regional Development Fund. The final stage of equipping the spaces for the theatre work and wider community use is funded by WREN and the Wolfson Foundation. Have a look at the Building section of the wesite, which will tell you more about the project, and what to expect from Our New Home
Coming up in 2008December 2007 Taster courses Move Onto Staging Change is a taster course for actors with learning disabilities to get an insight into the Staging Change course at Mind the Gap. From Monday 18 to Friday 22 February there will be workshops and training to improve audition and performance skills.
Take a look at our Learning and Skills pages for more information and the application packs. Get in touch if you want to book a place. Don’t forget to pass on the information to others who might be interested! There's a last chance for you to book on to the Get Into Making Theatre taster course for beginners. It will be from Monday 28 January to Friday 1 February 2008. If you haven't already sent your application form there are one or two places left so hurry!
Staging Change at OxfordDecember 2007 Our six Staging Change students have spent a very rewarding two weeks working with students at Oxford School of Speech and Drama. Our students have really enjoyed themselves and all agree they have learned a lot.
Kevin Spall particularly enjoyed the creative challenges: “the lecturers have given me great direction.”
The students were working on pieces by Shakespeare, developing performances for their showcase in the summer. Workshops and one-on-one sessions helped everyone think about Shakespeare as more than just words on a page: “Voice sessions helped me use Shakespeare’s words better – you can think about how everything sounds and how it’s put together” Jonathan Ide
Our students are full of ideas and enthusiasm for their next residency at Arts Educational School in February.
Rob to tour in The Mother ShipDecember 2007 Still on a Staging Change theme, one of our 2007 graduates, Rob Ewens, has just been offered a part in Birmingham Repertory Theatre’s new touring production.
Rob tells us he is very excited to take on his first professional role, one which he has been offered through Mind the Gap’s new Actors’ Agency.
Rob will start rehearsals in January for The Mother Ship, by Douglas Maxwell. The production will tour venues in the Midlands and nationally in February and March 2008. You can find out more about the production on Birmingham Rep’s website, www.birmingham-rep.co.uk
November 2007 Edmund Davies has become the first of our Making Theatre students ever to achieve a Level 3 award in Acting Skills from the Open College Network. Ed went through a tough series of assessments to demonstrate his learning and progression to receive a qualification equivalent to an A-Level.
Ed and four others, Zara Mallinson, Chris Steel, Jonathan Ide and Pippa Short, have also achieved Level 2 qualifications, equivalent to a GCSE.
All of our students, including Devonnia Lynch, Liam Adams and Dhanraj Riyait, were able to demonstrate the skills and progress needed to be awarded at least a Level 1 qualification.
This is a great achievement for our students, a very successful group. We are very proud that their hard work has been recognised.
Six of the students made it to the graduation on 22 November, where their family and friends could see them receive their certificates from Margaret Coleman, Regional Director of the Learning and Skills Council.
October 2007 Our Acting Company has been hard at work filming short pieces of theatre. The actors have been making these films so that they can show agents and directors the range of work that they can do. Watch this space for more news on our Actors...
October 2007 Big congratulations to students at Haycliffe School, Bolling Special School, Chapel Grange School, Braithwaite School, Ravenshall School and West SILC. The students spent six weeks working on a project called See You, See Me. They made plays about themselves and how they are seen by our friends and others. Each school produced a show which lasted about 30 minutes and invited parents along to watch. How do you think people see you? John says he’s really scary, but James says he’s kind. John N says he’s good at football but Nye says he’s a bit of a pain. Jordan says he’s cheeky, Laura says shut your gob! Salma says that’s bad! Can you make us laugh? Our crew did! Well done and thank you from Mind the Gap
October 2007 We now have everyone back with us after the summer break. Our staff, Acting Company and students are settling in to our temporary home in the Bradford Design Exchange in Little Germany. We’re in the Design Exchange while our new building is being built in Lister Mills – our new contact details are on our website. Click here to find out more. Our Acting Company is working hard filming some examples of their work to help them with their professional development. The showreels will be used to introduce our Actors to casting directors. Susan from the Acting Company says “We are filming different pieces to show a range of what we can do. I’m really enjoying doing the showreels.”
Our Making Theatre students started their new term this week. They will be learning what theatre is and learning new skills to help them with their acting. We look forward to hearing more news from this group soon!
Leading Edge goes international October 2007 Five of our Leading Edge founder members went to Ghent in Belgium, to take part in the IETM international networking forum. They met people from all over the world, and shared good practice. Our Leading Edge members also went to see performances and they ran meetings. Faisal particularly enjoyed networking with international colleagues: "It was very nice to meet people, although I was a bit worried about approaching people. I didn’t know what they’d think of me. I had to find things in common that we could talk about…otherwise our conversations might be very short!"
Our colleagues ran a network meeting within the IETM forum to introduce people to the Leading Edge network. Our Leading Edge members also held a meeting as part of the main forum which explored issues around disability, technology and performance.
|
