Bash Street Theatre Newsletter Feb 2007

 

Le Havre 2006, France

 

Rastatt 06, Germany

National Theatre 2006, London

Chassepire 2006, Belgium

 

The National Theatre 2006, London

 

Tàrrega 2006, Spain

CLIFFHANGER!- a real-life silent movie - winner of the "Best Street Theatre Show" award at Tārrega International Theatre Festival, Spain 2006.

With falling buildings, dare-devil escapology, silent comedy and live piano accompaniment, 'CLIFFHANGER!' is an hour-long, silent-movie style production that returns to the golden age of the silver screen. Inspired by Buster Keaton's short film 'Convict 13' it follows the fortunes of a love-sick café waiter as he becomes innocently embroiled in a prison escape. When the heroine is abducted by a convict, there ensues a series of hair-raising episodes as the hero strives to rescue his new-found love. In 2006 we performed the show extensively in Europe with bookings in France, Belgium, Germany and Spain.

2007 Summer Tour

This summer we will be taking 'CLIFFHANGER!' even further afield, with bookings in Italy, Hungary, Austria, and Poland, as well as several visits to France, Germany and Holland. Before then, however, we'll be starting our season closer to home with our 'Cornish Public Spaces' tour, so if you are in Cornwall during the Easter holidays have a look at our website for dates and venues. Another opportunity to see 'CLIFFHANGER!' in the UK comes in May, when we will be appearing at the Streets of Brighton festival. If you are interested in booking us this summer, please contact us soon because dates are filling up fast.

Co-commissioners for our new show in 2008

We are just about to put an application to ACE for a new show in 2008. If you would like to be a co-commissioner, you will be one of only eight festivals who will get our new show next year. We currently have four prospective co-commissioners, including The National Theatre. Give us a ring to find out more details.

New Website

In September 2006 our new website went live with translations now in French and German. It is a bigger and better website with a video, slide shows and press coverage going back to our first show in 1991. As before, we still have our promoters' info page where you can download images, risk assessments, public liability and other important information. Have a look at the site and give us your feedback.

2006 Review

2006 was the most successful year ever for Bash Street Theatre Co. We now feel we have finally made an impact in the European street theatre festival scene. In June, 2005 we played at Rouen in France at a showcase festival, and from that one festival we landed 24 days' work in France, Belgium, Germany, and Spain in 2006.
The response was fantastic. The appeal of the black-and-white movies is still very strong, and we found, more than ever, that our audiences were a great mixture of young and old. We played at three different festivals in Germany, where the audiences started gathering one hour before the shows were due to start. In France we played in 38 degrees centigrade in Paris and Bordeaux (lots of mineral water was provided) and we also had a seven-date tour of Normandy and the Vendée region.
We still had lots of bookings in the UK and Cornwall during this time. We performed at the Ayr Field Community Day in St. Ives (a fantastic local event), travelled as far field as Northern Ireland, the Lake District, Norwich and (three times) at The National Theatre in London. In all, we crossed The Channel 12 times (from Plymouth, Portsmouth and Dover), had several 14-hour van journeys and drove an estimated 20,000 miles.
Oh yes, and we even won an award! At the fantastic Tārrega Theatre Festival near Barcelona, in September, we played before our largest-ever audience (some 3,000 people we were told). On our return journey we were informed (by mobile phone as we drove through the Pyrenees) that we had won a €3,000 (euros) prize for the "best street theatre show" at the festival. This was an amazing end to the season, and we have been invited back to receive the prize at an award ceremony at the Gaudi-designed Pedrera building in Barcelona on 19th March.

Bash Street Theater Co.
35 Belgravia Street, Penzance
England TR18 2BL
Tel: 0044 (0)1736 360795
Roz am Poullou
29690 Locmaria Berrien, France
Tel: 02 98 99 80 32
www.bashstreet.co.uk
office@bashstreet.co.uk