Wednesday 11 May 2011

Practivist of the Week - YOU! Helping BAZ Productions!


Wow – I was invited to a sneak peak of what BAZ Productions is doing.  I was compelled to attend by the fact that they were doing it in a crypt!  Yup.  Underground crypt at St. Andrew’s Church.  Macbeth.  What could be spookier?  Yum.

The night was inspiring. The performers were thoroughly engaging and the use of the space was miraculous. BAZ has stripped away identity from character, put spontaneity into a 400 year old text, and removed apathetic passivity from theatre-going. If the theatre is to live beyond live streaming video, then this is clearly the right direction to pursue, and it is being pursued passionately, courageously, and elegantly by BAZ.

In the tradition of Shared Experience and Theatre du Complicite, BAZ is working toward a unified whole in its productions by creating a company of performers who work and grow together.  Catherine Bailey,  Sarah Bedi, and Emma Luffingham are leading BAZ in a direction of fully collaborative training - creating a team of performers as refined and excellent as a professional athletics team.  To do this, they must create time and space for training, rehearsal, discovery and mastery.  

Surprise #1:  This takes money.  

Surprise #2:  Theatre companies are not funded by beer sponsors and television ad revenue like professional athletic teams.

Say the BAZ team (yes they even quote together!):

After the roaring success of our work in progress showings, our next goal is bigger and brighter than ever - a three week run of Macbeth at the incredible crypt at St Andrew, Holborn (scheduled for October).

The space, with its strange corridor of underground rooms, is the perfect venue for our team of actors to pick up the story of Macbeth and wrestle with the telling of it.

We are already in training for the big event (as all our work is inspired by sporting matches, let's say this is our championship final!) and will be lying in wait for that audience who seeks something alive and limitless. Expect murder, music, mystery - and things bursting out of the walls.


BAZ has already reached almost half their fundraising goal, but they still need to raise 19,000 GBP by September in order to 
facilitate their 3-week run of Macbeth in the crypt.

YOU CAN HELP!


If you don't like PayPal you can make cheques payable to: Baz Productions LLP and put them in the post:

Baz Productions LLP,
17 Ferris Road, London, SE22 9ND
LLP no: OC348492


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