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Proudly sponsored by
www.MarlboroughTheaTre .org.uK
M a r l b o r o u g h T h e at r e A u t u m n 2 0 1 4
Welcome... …to the first ever Marlborough Theatre season! This autumn we are overjoyed to be presenting some of the most exciting unconventional performance from all across the UK. Throughout the chilly months we will be presenting work that pushes boundaries, makes us think, makes us laugh, maybe makes us cry but always reminds us of the sheer power of brilliant theatre. Thank you for the generous support of Arts Council England and Brighton & Hove City Council, without whom this programme could not
have happened. Thank you to the artists and companies who are a huge part of this Marlborough adventure, and thank you to our gorgeous audiences, old and new. We can’t wait to welcome you to this programme of magnif icent work…
The Marlborough Theatre team X
SPECIAL SEASON PASS!
We are offering a Season Pass which entitles audiences to see three shows from this programme for just £20 / £15 (concs). Season Passes can be purchased through our website. Plus, all ticket holders are entitled to Happy Hour drink prices in the Marlborough Bar on show nights.
www.marlboroughtheatre .org.uk @marly theatre Marlborough Pub & Theatre
Executive Producer: David Sheppeard Programme Manager: Abby Butcher Theatre Manager: Tarik Elmoutawakil Programme Assistant: Roxanne Carney design by www.sarahferrari.com 2
Photo: Rachel Ferriman
ToM FranKlanD & Keir Cooper in aSSoCiaTion WiTh ÚlTiMo CoMboio
B O O k O n L i n E w w w . M a r l b o r o u g h T h e aT r e . o r g . u K
don QuijoTe
wednesday 16 ocTober 7.30 pm
‘ Do you count yourself among the contented or the afflicted?’
£8.50/£6.50 70 mins Age Recommendation: 14+
A playful exploration of Cervantes’ novel, combining incredible visual imagery, live music and dance. A performance about standing up for what you believe in, in spite of what society may say. Staged amongst the audience and with the title role played by a secret guest performer unique to each date.
Don Quijote was developed as part of Camden People’s theatre’s Starting Blocks scheme, with support from the Albany theatre, Little Angel theatre and Shoreditch town Hall. it has been supported using public funding by the national Lotter y through Arts Council England.
The Guardian Time Out The Skinny British Theatre Guide @tomlfrankland www.tomfrankland.co.uk
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Selina Thompson
Photo: RULER www.thisisruler.net
M a r l b o r o u g h T h e at r e A u t u m n 2 0 1 4
Chewing The Fat
Wednesday 22 October 7.30 pm ÂŁ8.50/ÂŁ6.50 60 mins Age Recommendation: 14+
Funded by Arts Council England, and originally developed with support from Theatre in the Mill, Bradford, ARC, Stockton and West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds. 4
Selina invites you to her own version of a midnight feast: somewhere between the confessions made over coffee at Weight Watchers, and the sloppy drunken story-telling that accompanies that 3am kebab. She infuses discussion of complex, life long issues with weight with laughter, balloons and a healthy dose of rice pudding to result in something truly vibrant.
A heady blend of story telling, stand up, live art and theatre, Chewing the Fat is a powerful and extremely open portrayal of how we live with our bodies, on both the days when they are beautiful, and the days when they are a burden. WhatsOnStage @SelinaNThompson www.selinathompson. wordpress.com
Image: Julian Martinez Milla
Christopher Brett Bailey
B o o k o n l i n e w w w . m a r l b o r o u g h t h e at r e . o r g . u k
T HIS IS HOW WE DIE
Saturday 1 November 7.30 pm £8.50/£6.50 70 mins Age Recommendation: 16+
An Ovalhouse commission, made with support from the Basement, Cambridge Junction and Norwich Arts Centre under East by South East. Supported by Arts Council England.
A motor-mouthed collage of spoken word and storytelling. Tales of paranoia, young love and ultra-violence. From the desk of Christopher Brett Bailey comes a spiraling odyssey of pitch-black humour and nightmarish prose. With echoes of Lenny Bruce, William Burroughs, beat poetry and B-movies, THIS IS HOW WE DIE is a prime slice of surrealist trash, an Americana death trip and a dizzying exorcism for a world convinced it is dying...
“ A n absurd road movie of the soul cut with a razor wit and bubbling paranoia.” The Guardian “ B listeringly brilliant.” The Scotsman “ I f gonzo journalism ever needed a news anchor, this would be the guy.” Exeunt “ N ot merely a must-see, but a theatrical rite of passage.” A Younger Theatre @ct_bailey www.christopherbrettbailey.com
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M a r l b o r o u g h T h e aT r e A u t u m n 2 0 1 4
saTurday 8 noveMber 7.30 pm £8.50/£6.50 65 mins Age Recommendation: 13+
made with support from Battersea Arts Centre, the yard, the Basement and public funding by the national Lottery through Arts Council England. Developed in part through Waleslab, national theatre Wales’ artist development initiative.
this is the true story of two texans. One texan falls in love with a cowgirl who rides on the back of a giant catfish. His name is Pecos Bill. He was raised by coyotes, used a rattlesnake as a lasso and grew up to be the greatest cowboy of all time. the other texan once passed out from exhaustion on a 3-mile hike. His name is greg. this is where Bill and greg meet, merge and swap stories. The Many Apologies of Pecos Bill is a show about
being far away from home. using true storytelling and live music by mat martin, greg will attempt to reach backward across an ocean. “A clever evocation of the ways in which we internalise and idealise the places we come from.” The Public Reviews “ Funny, smart and moving.” Everything Theatre @gregwohead www.gregwohead.com
houSe preSenTS greg WoheaD WiTh
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The Many apologies of pecos bill
Photo: tania El khour y
Deborah pearSon
B O O k O n L i n E w w w . M a r l b o r o u g h T h e aT r e . o r g . u K
The fuTure show
Thursday 20 noveMber 7.30 pm £8.50/£6.50 60 mins Age Recommendation: 14+
The Future Show was developed with a grant from Arts Council England, and support from BAC, Amhurst Republic and mAkE in ireland.
you will clap. Even those of you who were a bit bored will clap because it’s a comfortable way to signal an ending. The Future Show plays with what is expected, what is foreseen and what is ultimately unknowable about the future. this Sisyphean task of a show tells the story of performer Deborah Pearson’s future, starting from the end of the performance and going until the end of her life. An existential twist on the autobiographical monologue, the script expires the moment it is spoken, and is rewritten for every performance.
“A great performer, someone with sensitivity and the ability to balance the audience on the edge of a narrative knife.” Total Theatre Magazine “A testament to Pearson’s astonishing skill as a writer.” Andrew Haydon, What’s On Stage “ Beautiful and desperately sad.” Lyn Gardner, The Guardian @shysecretagent www.deborahpearson123. wordpress.com
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£8.50/£6.50 90 mins Age Recommendation: 14+ (COntAinS nuDity) gEtintHEBACkOFtHEVAn is a 2013/14 Artsadmin Associate Artist. Big Hits is a production of Belluard Bollwerk international, made possible thanks to a contribution of the Canton of Fribourg to culture. in co-production with PACt Zollverein (Essen), Bora Bora (Denmark) and Colchester Arts Centre (uk). With the support of migros Cultural Percentage, PACt Zollverein (Essen), kunstencentrum Vooruit (gent), Camden People’s theatre (London), Royal Victoria Hall Foundation (uk), and supported using public funding by the national Lottery through Arts Council England.
Hello, Welcome, You look very nice. We’re Big Hits and we’re on a mission. You’ ll learn SELF-IMPROVEMENT here with us tonight and you will COMPLETELY improve yourself. That way you can be better in the world. Are you ready? Because if you’re not you’re running out of TIME. We’re going to blast our hearts RIGHT OUT for you right here for you. How do you feel? Do you feel FREE? This one’s for you. Big Hits rises up in the space between live art and theatre, relentlessly looking for a good time – and staring hard at censorship, propriety, and the violence that can erupt
big hiTs
geTinThebaCKoFTheVan 8
when noise is stifled. An unruly Voice is at large, the music’s turned up high. “super-smart… and a willingness to push its terms to an extra level… this is a show that shouts itself hoarse and shows us up as sellouts in a scabrous society. I couldn’t take my eyes off it.” Matt Trueman, Culture Wars “ Funny, sexy, frightening, essential. I urge you to see it… a genuine groundbreaker.” Mark Ravenhill @gEtintHEBACk www.getinthebackofthevan.com
Photo: Ludovic des Cognets
M a r l b o r o u g h T h e aT r e A u t u m n 2 0 1 4
Thursday 27 noveMber 7.30 pm
B oo k o n l i n e w w w . m a r l b o r o u g h t h e at r e . o r g . u k
Search Part y
My Son & Heir Thursday 4 December 7.30 pm
£8.50/£6.50 60 mins Age Recommendation: 14+
My Son & Heir was commissioned by The Showroom Projects, Bristol (UK), made with support from the University of Chichester, (UK). A Pulse, Mayfest, Sprint & Nightwatch co-commission.
My Son & Heir is an anarchic celebration of the everyday heroism of parenthood, set amongst a never-ending mess of plastic, flashing-beeping, bubble-blowing chaos. Search Party are parents, they have a son born in the same year as ‘Baby Cambridge’, and that’s where the similarities end. My Son & Heir confronts the spectacle of the ‘New Royals’ and their strategic attempts to appear just like us. In a playful examination of the relentlessness of raising children, and the guilt-ridden one-upmanship of mainstream baby culture, Search Party consider what sort of man their son and heir will become.
This new studio performance is part of Search Party’s Growing Old With You series, a lifelong performance project exploring their changing perspective of age, as they grow old together. “ … beautiful and excoriating, a show which hit me over the head and made my noggin ring like a bell… This is a phenomenal show about the complexity of parenthood.” Total Theatre “ I t’s angry, it’s painful, it’s beautiful, and it almost made me wee myself with laughter.” Dan Hutton (Exeunt) @search_party www.searchpartyperformance. org.uk 9
M a r l b o r o u g h T h e at r e A u t u m n 2 0 1 4
NEW WOR K
AT THE MARLBOROUGH
Wednesday 26 November 7.30 pm
A visceral and slightly absurd Live Art operetta. Audio, repetitive choreography and ventriloquism aid the embodiment of personaes including dogs, monkeys and wild lovers as a woman dizzingly looks for clues about the world of human love, sex and separation. Glory Days are a collection of recorded interviews with individuals talking about their ex’s, love and loss.
Pay What You Can 60 mins
@CathHoffmann www.cathoffmann.com
Roller Derby Project
Working with the Brighton Rockers roller derby team, Mars.tarrab and the Marlborough Theatre are developing a new project about the female experience, aggression, competition, gender and queerness. thanks to the generous support of Greenhouse.
Glory Days
Mars.Tarrab Residency
brightonrockers @brightonrockers www.brightonrockers.com www.housetheatre.org.uk/ greenhouse
Supported by EsmĂŠe Fairbairn Foundation, greenhouse is a three year initiative aimed at better connecting the ambitions of theatre makers, audiences and venues in the house network. House is delivered by Farnham Maltings and supports a network of over 150 venues in the South East and East of England to present more theatre.
Brighton Rockers are an allfemale roller derby league formed in 2010. They have come leaps and bounds from their first meeting in a pub on Valentines day 2010 and are now one of the top leagues in Europe. They compete regularly in their home town of Brighton and all over the UK and Europe. They hold regular intakes if you want to give Roller Derby a go! Email info@brightonrockers.com for more info and keep an eye on the website www.brightonrockers.com for upcoming game dates.
in the Marlborough Pub
Each month we will be inviting a quizzical superstar to host a stupendous mash up of quiz , performance and general silliness in the Marlborough Pub. Swat up, form your teams and enjoy happy hour prices all night. Entry is £2 per person.
B oo k o n l i n e w w w . m a r l b o r o u g h t h e at r e . o r g . u k
M o n t h ly Quiz Like your usual pub quiz , but with a bit more drama and a ton more glitter.
Thursday 23 October 8 pm Boogaloo Stu’s BIG QUIFFY QUIZ
Come and test your showbiz knowledge with your quizmonger extraordinaire, the inimitable Boogaloo Stu, for an evening of frivolous fun and brilliant brainteasers. You will not be able to find any answers to the ridiculous questions on your iPhone, so don’t even try. You gotta be in it to win it or something like that...!
Tuesday 11 November 8 pm Ruby y y Jones
Rubyyy Jones, the Queen of Queerlesque and the hostess with the mostest, will be bringing you pub quiz realness that is sexy, witty and super queer fun times! It’s quintessential Rubyyy, questioning your kinks, your quirks and everything your Mama never told you..
Tuesday 9 December 8 pm THE STEVE NICE CHRISTMAS QUIZ SHOW
Come on down and be prepared to answer some inappropriate questions, as professional show off Steve Nice brings his high energy quiz show to the Marlborough for a special one-off extratinselly Christmas edition!
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SCHEDULE
OF PERFORMANCES
Wednesday 16 October Tom Frankland & Keir Cooper in association with Último Comboio 7.30 pm Don Quijote page 3 Wednesday 22 October Selina Thompson 7.30 pm Chewing The Fat page 4 Saturday 1 November 7.30 pm
Christopher Brett Bailey
Saturday 8 November 7.30 pm
house presents Greg Wohead with
Thursday 20 November 7.30 pm
Deborah Pearson
Thursday 27 November 7.30 pm
GETINTHEBACKOFTHEVAN
Thursday 4 December 7.30 pm
Search Party
THIS IS HOW WE DIE page 5 The Many Apologies of Pecos Bill page 6 The Future Show page 7 Big Hits page 8
My Son & Heir page 9
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Note on accessibilit y This year The Marlborough celebrated its 220th year and operating from such an old space comes with some restrictions. Regrettably the theatre space is currently inaccessible for wheelchair users and those with mobility issues. We hope to address this issue in the near future.