Hello! After 15 years producing site specific work, daily, for the Historic Royal Palaces & at heritage sites across the world, I have developed a unique understanding of the tools necessary for the most effective 'guerilla street theatre'. Specifically I have analysed interactions and formatted training, enabling performers to lead the journey of Visitor to Audience and from Audience to Participant in the drama. I am now exploring how this method can create true community cohesion in Chatham, across Medway and further afield.
With a DYCP grant from ACE, I was mentored by Dante or Die Theatre Company, on the pleasures and pitfalls of producing immersive theatre in unusual locations, outside the safety net of a heritage site pay barrier.
As for my previous projects as Creative Director of Past Pleasures Ltd. There are two images here out of hundreds I could show you from over a decade across the world.
From 1) 2012: Directed ‘Tempe Restor’d’ an ancient and modern fusion masque and digital performance and summer daily offer at the Banqueting House in Whitehall (animated backdrop in collaboration with JB3 Creative, musical composition by John Holland) Image courtesy of HRP and 2) The AHI award winning 'Roseliska' - a recreation of a French Napoleonic Prisoner-of-War melodrama. I directed this co-production with English Heritage and the University of Warwick at Portchester Castle. An all male cast, performing with a 6 piece orchestra on a miniature stage inside the Great Keep. The opening was sung in French, but the rest of the dialogue was in English, to help our British audience comprehension!
Mrs. Bakers Medway Theatre Company: The Vision
Mrs Baker's Medway Theatre Company has a vision of theatre offered to all - to overcome 'elite' barriers, to increase social bonding and decrease exclusion and isolation. The business has been built with two main workstreams: a) Medway Arts Tours - a tourism offer - supported by Visit Kent and Interreg programme. Medway Arts Tours offer costumed guided tours which can be enjoyed on their own, or in combination with arts workshops delivered by an array of our fabulously talented artists in Medway and b) Theatrical productions, often inspired by our local history, but offering unique theatrical experiences in unusual locations.
The Work:
With spectacular timing, we began in November of 2019. The pandemic lockdowns were a surprise to us all, but prompted the unexpected. The 'Under Luton Arches' singalong started as the result of a comment in the Thursday morning Arches Local online hangout. Both the hangout and the singalong are still going to this day.
Why Mrs.Bakers Medway Theatre Company?: I played Mrs. Sarah Baker annually in the 'Pleasures on the Pantiles' festival at Tunbridge Wells. Sarah Baker (c.1737 to 1816) was a formidable single mother and theatrical entrepreneur. After many years 'a-strollin' she managed to build a chain of theatres across Medway and further afield (including Maidstone, Tunbridge Wells and Canterbury). Why did she chose Medway? Because of the military and naval connections - she knew servicemen had money they were willing to spend on entertainment - and she was tough enough to bring art to that challenging audience without pretension and in accessible terms. A former dancer at Vauxhall Pleasures Gardens, her troupe included actors, musicians, slack-wire walkers and sword swallowers. She is a (largely forgotten) Medway icon and the Georgian model theatre troupe are both useful instruments for speaking to modern Medway.
For the full shows, my modern iteration utilises the 18th & 19th century theatre models - for 'The Showman and the Chartist' the action took place with Mr Dickens standing at a reproduction of his specially built lecture table, framed in a single 'lime-light' style light. But I like to adapt to the modern 'Britain's Got Talent' viewing public. For street theatre 'Wow' moments, this can include full and frank debate and exchange of views, with fearless professional performers who are able to keep command of the overall shape and the audience. Topics for both the ‘Wow’ moments and productions, can cover issues at the heart of local concerns. Always starting with a light touch, but then taking the participant/audience on a journey to explore the difficult subjects in an enlightening and helpful way.
For more unpacking of 'Wow' moments and my unique performance methods, please click 'Learn More' below each of the 'My Skills' categories below. Scroll down further to find a timeline with links to videos of performances and training techniques.
Thank you.
