the basement oct - dec 2011

PROGRAMME OCTOBER – DECEMBER 2011

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Charity No: 1116008

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Supported by:

Set in the heart of Brighton’s North Laines, The Basement has several atmospheric spaces under one roof. With a total capacity of over 250, The Basement is a unique setting in which to experience performance. All spaces can also be hired out for events. The venue offers:

• 3 unique, flexible spaces

• Full theatrical sound and lighting

• Technical support

• A fully licenced bar serving speciality regional beers, wine and cider

• Bespoke catering from The Secret Restaurant

• Friendly and professional front of house support

24 Kensington Street

Brighton BN1 4AJ

Telephone: 01273 699 733

Email: [email protected]

www.thebasement.uk.com

BOX OFFICE 01273 699 733 VISIT WWW.THEBASEMENT.UK.COM

welcomeThese are exciting times for performance in the UK

with a bumper crop of independent-minded young

artists coming into bloom making high-quality,

innovative, intelligent and accessible work.

The Basement is passionate about nurturing this new

generation of artists: Our Supported Artists Programme

provides a two-year development course for eight of the

country’s most promising companies, while our new residency

programme gives artists from across the UK and Europe time,

space and resources to make new performances.

The cream of this crop take centre stage in The Basement’s

autumn programme. Bryony Kimmings and Little Bulb bring

a witty, engaging and accessible approach to innovative

performance. A series of double bills will pair up two short,

snappy performances by up-and-coming artists from the UK

and Europe. Meanwhile, the unique and truly amazing Stacy

Makishi returns from international duties to present her new

performance The Making of Bull - The True Story . Mix in co-

productions with Rolemop Arts for Black History Month and

South East Dance, regular favourites Supper Club, Scratch!

and Are You Sitting Comfortably? and you have a heady

cocktail of innovation and intrigue.

PERFORMANCE

DOUBLE BILL: TWO GREAT SHOWS IN ONE NIGHT

Date: Fri 7th OctoberDoors: 7:30pmTickets: £8 (£6 concessions)

Colliding two short, snappy performances of the freshest new work from the UK and Europe, this double bill explores how

performance allows whole worlds to be conjured in the minds of audiences.

FOLEY Jo Bannon

Part performance demonstration, part thriller, this new work

begins with a fascination with foley; the archaic, tender and

hand-made technique of making sound effects for film.

Bannon explores this very particular art form where the

chase scene, the sex scene and the bit where the door is

kicked off its hinges can all be conjured with party poppers,

bits of wood and lots of vegetables.

www.jobannon.co.uk

BLACK Mette Edvardsen (Norway)

Black is a solo performance about invisible objects

and how to make them appear. Through words and

movements a world becomes visible. With subtlety and

wit, Mette Edvardsen plays in the gap between thought

and experience.

www.metteedvardsen.be

OCTOBERSPOKEN WORD

White Rabbit presents:

ARE YOU SITTING COMFORTABLY? BEAUTY

Date: Tues 4th OctoberDoors: 7.30pmTickets: £6 (£4 concessions)

Mirror, mirror on the wall… who is the fairest of them all?

Find out at White Rabbit’s evening of short stories inspired

by Beauty. Put on your gladrags for a chance to win our

Bearded Beauty Competition, or come as you are and enjoy

FREE cakes, exquisite visuals and gorgeous music, plus

teapot cocktails from the bar.

“Comic…haunting…offbeat…unexpected… an enchanted night.” Total Theatre

BOOK ONLINE AT WWW.THEBASEMENT.UK.COMBOX OFFICE: 01273 699733

Helen Medland

Artistic Director

Cover im

age: Vick R

yder

PERFORMANCE

SCRATCH!

Date: Thurs 13th OctoberDoors: 7.30pmTickets: FREE!

The Basement’s Scratch! events, presenting short excerpts from

brand new performances, have proved hugely popular with audiences

keen to flex their critical muscles and help artists develop new work.

Scratch! is a fantastic opportunity to see innovative contemporary

performance in the making. The event is free and all are welcome to

come and give their own opinions through the chaired discussions.

If you are interested in presenting works-in-progress contact

[email protected]

PERFORMANCE

Testing Grounds presents:

AROUND THE DAY IN EIGHTY WORLDS(Mexico/UK)

Date: Sat 15th OctoberDoors: 7.00pmTickets: £7 (£5 concessions)

Testing Grounds, in partnership with The Basement and La

Periferia, Mexico, presents a unique new Live Art event.

Artists Andres Galeano, Richard Dedominici and Greg McLaren

will perform at The Basement. Debora Carnavali Ramirez, Omar

Gongura Guzman, Omar Rosiles will perform at La Periferia. An

exciting new collaboration between 2 organisations 2 venues in

2 continents, hosting 6 new performances, all connecting and

interacting via live video stream. Testing Grounds will begin to

unlock the immense possibilities of technology to transcends

borders, create global performance and provide a myriad of

opportunities for artists and audiences to engage.

PERFORMANCE

OPERATION GREENFIELD Little Bulb Theatre

Date: Thurs 20th OctoberDoors: 7.30pmTickets: £8 (£6 concessions)

“Recklessly talented...insanely brave” **** Lyn Gardner, The Guardian

Operation Greenfield – an exploration of music, faith and

friendship. Somewhere in middle England four unlikely

teenagers are preparing for judgement day with ladders,

Elvis and Forest Fruits squash – Stokely’s annual talent

competition is nigh. With a stage full of instruments and an

eclectic mix of recorded music, Little Bulb Theatre capture

the confusing, awkward and beautifully naïve time of

adolescence, when the once simple beliefs you held dear

need re-adjusting to face the complexities of adulthood.

PERFORMANCE

Plenty Productions and Rolemop Arts present:

SNAKES AND LADDERSDate: Sat 22nd OctoberDoors: 7.30pmTickets: £5

Presented in association with Brighton and Hove Black History

month this bold and powerful new comic drama about hair,

identity and the testing of family loyalties is inspired by stories and

memories collected for the Brighton-based Positive Hair Day (PHD)

project. Also featuring special guest appearances from acclaimed

performance poet Zena Edwards and a bespoke composition from

ground breaking composer Shirley J. Thompson, the first British

woman to have composed and conducted a symphony for 30

years and the first Black woman ever to do so.


PERFORMANCE

60 MINUTES OF OPPORTUNISM Ivana Muller (Croatia)

Date: Wed 26th OctoberDoors: 7.30pmTickets: £8 (£6 concessions)

After injury lead to the unfortunate cancellation of

60 Minutes of Opportunism in April we are delighted to

announce Ivana Muller’s return to our programme. In this

new solo, the artist dances on a thin line between comedy,

philosophy and poetry. Who is this person on stage?

A terrorist ready to explode? A lost tourist? A nomadic

contemporary artist?

One of Europe’s most innovative choreographers and

performers, Ivana Muller offers an exhilarating performance

inviting the audience to share its questions about the roles

we adopt and how we are perceived.

PERFORMANCE

Supper Club and White Night present:

HEAVEN & HELL

Date: Saturday 29th OctoberDoors: 7pm – 3amTickets: FREE

The heavenly garden of perpetual bliss or a fiery pit of endless

torment: where will you spend eternity? Place your soul on the

scales of judgement and enjoy a free taster session of each.

Angels and devils will be on hand to guide you through a series

of intimate encounters, moral tests and secret confessionals. All

saints and sinners welcome… Will you taste the forbidden fruit?

“The most enjoyable spectacle of all was to be found at The Basement, an industrial subterranean space where… audience members became the performers” The Guardian

NOVEMBERPERFORMANCE


Date: Fri 4th November

Doors: 7.30pm

Tickets: £8 (£6 concessions)

Colliding two short, snappy performances of the freshest new work from the UK and Europe, this double bill explores the

disconcerting worlds of imagination that can open up between performance and animation.

PROJECTOR/CONJECTOR Mamoru Iriguchi

Projector/Conjector is a multimedia ‘dance’ piece with two characters. Boy is

called Projector because a video projector’s attached to his head. Girl’s name is

Conjector. A TV’s attached to her head. Boy meets girl on screen. They dance

through screens. Moved by the moving images they produce, the two meet and

fall in love. Loosely yet faithfully based on Swan Lake.

“Charmingly dead-pan, witty and inventive.” Donald Hutera

CONFERENCE OF STRANGE Pattern Fight Performance

Conference of Strange is a psychedelic fusion of live art, left-field humour

and hand drawn animation inspired by Donna Haraway’s Cyborg Manifesto.

Pattern Fight Performance devise highly visual, funny and politically charged

performance that explore women’s role in the technologically driven 21st Century.

“Original and truly hilarious” Threeweeks magazine 2011 *****


PERFORMANCE

THE MAKING OF BULL: THE TRUE STORY Stacy Makishi


Doors: 7.30pm


The Basement is delighted to welcome

back the phenomenal and endlessly

inventive Stacy Makishi, a truly unique

voice in contemporary performance.

The Making of Bull: The True Story

is inspired by the Coen brothers’ film

Fargo. It is about what’s real and

what’s fake. It’s also about how we

make art and how our art makes

us. Disorientating and uplifting, this

uncanny tale revolves around a kidnap,

an unrequited love, a lost ransom and

a woman frozen in the snow. Makishi

presents a powerful fusion of physical

theatre, music, film and text. The

stage is a battleground between truth

and lies; what’s spoken and what’s

omitted; what’s fiction and what is

documentary.

“Funny yet incisive… a truly amazing performance.” The Independent

“Her performance takes us past the borders that separate the comedic and the tragic… full of energy, intimacy and vitality.” LibrePensadores

Produced by Artsadmin

MUSIC

Brighthelmstone Productions present:

RICHARD BUCKNER

Date: Sunday 13th November

Door: 7.30pm

Tickets: £9.00 advance (£10.00 on the door)

Available from Resident, Rounder,

Union Music Store (Lewes) and

www.wegottickets.com.

SPOKEN WORD


ARE YOU SITTING COMFORTABLY? TRICKS

Date: Tues 15th November

Doors: 7.30pm


PERFORMANCE

SCRATCH!

Date: Thurs 17th November

Doors: 7.30pm

Tickets: FREE!

If you are interested in presenting

works-in-progress at Scratch! contact

[email protected]

The outstanding American troubadour

Richard Buckner returns to Brighton after

an eight year hiatus. Richard is touring

his outstanding new album Our Blood,

acclaimed by Uncut for its austere beauty.

Richard’s stunning back catalogue

and intense live performances have

profoundly influenced a generation of

American musicians.

Treat yourself to an evening of original

short stories inspired by Tricks brought to

you by the inimitable White Rabbit. You’ll

be hoodwinked and hoaxed by stories

of scammers and swindlers, hucksters

and hustlers. Will you be drawn in by

the FREE cakes, seductive visuals and

teapot cocktails as you enter their topsy-

turvy tearoom.

“The Richard Buckner vibe, that’s a big influence for me… totally heartbreaking and beautiful and heavy” Justin Vernon, Bon Iver


“Comic…haunting…offbeat…unexpected… an enchanted night.” Total Theatre

The Basement’s Scratch! events have

proved hugely popular with audiences

keen to flex their critical muscles and help

artists develop new work. Scratch! is a

fantastic opportunity to see innovative

contemporary performance in the making.

The event is free and all are welcome to

come and give their own opinions through

the chaired discussions.

PERFORMANCE

THE OH FUCK MOMENT Hannah Jane Walker and Chris Thorpe

Date: Sat 19th November

Doors: 6.00pm & 9.00pm

Tickets: £8 (£6 concessions). Limited capacity, early booking essential.

You just fucked up. Now what? Sometimes, fuck-ups are so massive, there’s no

way back. Poet Hannah Jane Walker and Fringe First winner Chris Thorpe examine

the poetic guts of mistakes in a bundle of words and strip lighting. Fucking up is

the truest, funniest, most terrifying moment you can experience. You will make

a mistake, maybe you’ll learn from it. The Oh Fuck Moment is a conversation

around a desk for brave souls to hold their hands up and admit they fucked up,

or for people to laugh at us because we did. Produced by Emily Coleman.

PERFORMANCE



Doors: 7.30pm


PERFORMANCE

7 DAY DRUNK Bryony Kimmings

Date: Wed 30th November

Doors: 7:30pm


Bryony Kimmings is NOT an alcoholic. But she has always

had a rocky relationship with booze. It seems the dark stuff

is intrinsically linked to her confidence as an artist, equally to

blame for her most inspired and hideous creations.

From Jackson Pollock to Amy Winehouse, Oscar Wilde to

Charlie Sheen, everyone’s on the bottle, but why? From the

Total Theatre Award-winning creator of Sex Idiot comes a

hilarious and moving new one-woman show investigating

the historical links between artists and mind enhancing

drugs. Performed sober.

“A bold, brassy yet sobering show with lots of bottle” The Guardian

PERFORMANCE

SUPPER CLUB

Date: Sat 3rd December

Doors: 7.30pm


Its back, refreshed and revitalised, serving up a tasty

concoction of performances, interventions, installations,

video art and left-field music. Taking place throughout all

The Basement’s atmospheric spaces, Supper Club returns

to bring you a dose of the unexpected. With some of the

most exciting artists from across the UK and Europe,

Supper Club is a night not to be missed.

Grab a drink and a tasty bite to eat at the bar then let

the night unfold. Curated and hosted by The Basement’s

Supported Artists, they plot a Saturday night for you

and your friends, but you won’t know what’s on the menu

until it’s served. More tequila and cherries than meat and

two veg.

IT’S OK, ITS ONLY TEMPORARY Jenna Watt

It’s Spring, It’s 1993, It’s Grebe Park, Inverness, It’s 4pm, It’s you and me, It’s us against them,

It’s a risk, It’s OK. It’s Ok, It’s Only Temporary is based on a true event where, in childhood,

Jenna was the victim of an act of violence carried out by her peers. It was an accident, a

moment where play took a naive but deliberate step into something more serious.

UNTO US A CHILD IS BORN Rachel Mars

An intimate, funny and moving performance piece about thinking that you are a boy,

realising that you are a girl and working out what you are going to do about it. Playing in

the spaces between masculine and feminine, theatre and performance art, the show is

about the moment when identities are fixed and choices closed down (and Dirty Dancing).

www.rachelmars.org

DECEMBER

Colliding two short, snappy performances of the freshest new work from

the UK and Europe, this double bill explores the trials and tribulations of

adolescence and the painful forging of identity.


DANCE

South East Dance and The Basement present:

AT ONCE TWICE / AT-ANY-MOMENT-SOMETHING–ELSE

Date: Thurs 8th December

Doors: 7.30pm


PERFORMANCE

CRUISING FOR ART

Date: Sat 10th Dec

Doors: 7.30pm


Your bandana is your ticket to Cruising for Art, a series of one-on-one

interactions by some of the country’s leading performers. If you see someone

with a matching bandana, eye contact, a smile, or your wink may start a wild

journey, a tender moment or an intimate conversation. Wink at someone who

is not one of the performers and, who knows, you may still make meaningful

contact with a stranger?

Curated by Brian Lobel. Cruising for Art was created for the V&A Museum

in London in 2009. www.blobelwarming.com/cruise.html

“a mischevious living installation” The Guardian

AT ONCE TWICE

Christopher House (Toronto) and Joe Moran (London) in an unusual double-bill

of two unique performance adaptations of by Deborah Hay’s At Once.

AT-ANY-MOMENT-SOMETHING–ELSE

A solo for Theo Clinkard which explores the territory where events, scale and

time take on incongruous dreamlike qualities. Choreographed by Laïla Diallo.

The performance will be followed by a post show discussion chaired

by Charlotte Vincent.

A mixed bill that sees three male performers,

including Brighton-based Theo Clinkard,

interpret the work of female choreographers.

SPOKEN WORD


ARE YOU SITTING COMFORTABLY? BEASTS

Date: Tues 13th December

Doors: 7.30pm


Calling all divine and dastardly creatures! A special night

of fiendish storytelling from White Rabbit. Featuring

monsters, bogeymen, brutes and ogres. FREE finger-

food and mutant treats, plus a chance to win a prize in

our Revolting Raffle. Accompanied by demonic visuals

and a spine-chilling playlist, plus blood curdling cocktails

from the bar. Happy Christmas, you devils!

“Comic… haunting... an enchanted night.” Total Theatre

PERFORMANCE

SCRATCH!

Date: Thurs 15th December

Doors: 7.30pm

Tickets: FREE!

The Basement’s Scratch! events, presenting short

excerpts from brand new performances, have proved

hugely popular with audiences keen to flex their critical

muscles and help artists develop new work. Scratch! is

a fantastic opportunity to see innovative contemporary

performance in the making. The event is free and all are

welcome to come and give their own opinions through

the chaired discussions.

If you are interested in presenting works-in-progress

contact [email protected]


Rachel Henson creates expedition kits for physical landscapes in the form of flick books,

which act as navigation tools to guide your way through your surroundings and blur the line

between the real and the imagined landscape. Rachel has been developing a Flickers National

Trust Commission at Box Hill, and is preparing a new flick book experience for Brighton to be

presented at White Night. www.rachelhenson.com

Victoria Melody performed Northern Soul to a sell out audience at The Basement as part

of Brighton Festival this year, receiving a 5 star review for her debut show. She will tour the piece

next spring. Victoria is developing her new show, chronicling the world of dog showing, as she

tries to get her dog, Major Tom into Crufts. www.victoriamelody.co.uk

Me and The Machine were featured as part of the British Council Showcase in Edinburgh

this summer with When We Meet Again (Introduced As Friends). They have also been developing

a new work called The Door Project which is a site-responsive video installation hidden on the

back side of locked doors. www.meandthemachine.co.uk

RESIDENCY PROGRAMMEA new programme of residencies, piloted this summer, has supported the creation of new works by artists from

across the UK. To find out more about residency opportunities, please email [email protected]

Pattern Fight Performance (Sarah Ruff and Ed Currie): London-based company Pattern Fight Performance spent two weeks

developing Conference of the Strange, a new work premiered at this years Edinburgh Fringe, where it received 5-star reviews.

Bootworks Theatre (James Baker, Robert Daniels and Andy Roberts): Associate Artists of Chichester University, Bootworks

spent two weeks, developing material and rehearsing their new performance Predator, a DIY reconstruction of the cheesy

1980s action classic. At the end of this period the company presented a fantastic scratch version of the show. Keep an eye

out for the finished performance next year!

Alex Bradley & Charles Poulet: Bristol and London-based sound artists and digital experimenters have produced numerous

large scale installations and digital performances across the globe. The duo took the opportunity of working in The Basement

to strip their practice back to the basics of improvised performance and the effects of sound in space.

Mamoru Iriguchi: Rapidly building a reputation for his deadpan, imaginative and slightly disturbing performances featuring

beautifully odd digital animations, Mamoru has been developing his new performance Painkillers at The Basement, working

with ArtsAdmin’s Nikki Tomlinson.

Rolemop Arts: Based in Brighton and London Rolemop Arts spent two weeks at The Basement developing a new site-

specific promenade performance entitled Broken Loops. The finished piece will be presented in a working mens’ club.

The Basement supports some of the UK’s most outstanding early-career artists nurturing new creations and

sustainable careers with a national and international profile.

SUPPORTED ARTISTS

Made In China make visceral shows at the junction of playwriting and live art, often

including excessive amounts of flour, ketchup and champagne. Made In China were in Edinburgh

this Summer performing We Hope That You’re Happy (Why Would We Lie?) and sharing

their new show Talk Like Someone From Where You’re From Talks as part of BAC’s Take Out

programme in Edinburgh. www.madeinchinatheatre.com

Sylvia Rimat is a performance maker from Germany. Her work revolves around the process

of remembering, personal histories, lived places, risk and how we orientate ourselves. Sylvia

has been developing a new site specific project, Imagine Us which takes her practice out of the

theatre and into public spaces. www.sylviarimat.blogspot.com/

non zero one returned to Forest Fringe in Edinburgh this year, after the successful debut

of The Time Out at Latitude Festival. The show is a conversation between live narrators and 12

potential team mates mixing live sound, projection, secret doors and a treadmill. The Time Out

received 4 stars from The Telegraph and the collective were featured as New Act of The Day by

Lyn Gardner in The Guardian. www.nonzeroone.com

Brian Lobel spent his summer performing the world’s most brutal game of Facebook

friendship maintenance, PURGE, in which members of the public chose who to keep and who to

delete. This autumn, Brian will be celebrating the 10 year anniversary of his cancer diagnosis with

a special performance of BALL & Other Funny Stories About Cancer, and performing London,

Manchester, and Kuopio, Finland. www.blobelwarming.com

Edward Rapley mixes theatre, live art and dance. His speciality is playful solo works in

which joy and pain are never far apart. Edward performed 10 Ways To Die On Stage at The

Basement as part of Brighton Festival 2011. He is currently on sabbatical from The Basement

undertaking a six month work placement at the prestigious Ecole Philippe Gaulier in France.

www.edwardrapley.co.uk

the basement oct - dec 2011

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