Derby Theatre: Departure Lounge Package Holiday
The HopBarn was established as a rural venue with a vision to support and nurture new and emerging artistic practice in music, theatre and dance. Having recently hosted JOAN by Milk Presents, a gritty and powerful modern re-telling of Joan d' Arc that was commissioned by Derby Theatre as part of the RETOLD series; we are delighted to be able to support Derby Theatre once more.
The DEparture Lounge Festival will run from the 21st to 24th July 2016 and see Derby Theatre transformed into a festival site allowing audiences and artists to see new and original work by some of the UK's most promising and emerging theatre companies and artists.
Earlier this year, as part of this festival Derby Theatre and The HopBarn offered one theatre company the chance to gain invaluable support and guidance through a 'package holiday deal'. The chosen company would be offered
2 weeks of rehearsal space and on-site accommodation at The HopBarn from Monday 20 June to Saturday 2nd July
One programmed performance at Departure Lounge Festival from Thursday 21 - Sunday 24 July 2016
Performance fee of £400
Branded as our Departure Lounge Package Holiday Production
Guidance and support on funding applications
Over 13 companies applied for the opportunity and we are delighted that the offer was awarded to LaPelle’s Factory. The company is a creative partnership between theatre makers Olwen Davies & Ollie Smith and are currently company-in-residence at Attenborough Arts Centre as well as being an alumni of the associate companies scheme run by In Good Company, Derby Theatre's associate artist programme.
For the two week residency period that LaPelle's Factory will be in residence at The HopBarn, The company will be working towards their new production of Desperado. Devised and performed by LaPelle’s Factory in collaboration with performance artists Jack Britton and Giada Maran and commissioned by Lincoln Performing Arts Centre. The project has been supported by Derby Theatre, The HopBarn, Attenborough Arts Centre in Leicester and Camden People’s Theatre.
The concept of the work is based on: Riffing on dance marathons, rock gigs, school sports days, pro wrestling and rodeos, Desperado is a wry smirk and an affecting scuffle against the grinding monotony and brutality of the modern world. With dancing. And bandits. Four nobodies; four horsemen; four lonely desperadoes at the end of their ropes face down the future. Humanity may well be going to hell in a handcart – but that's no excuse to give up and go home. Driven by precision, power and pain, this manic and adrenaline-fuelled display of camaraderie, friendship and strength fights to dispel the myth that mankind has reached the end of the line. Reality rarely meets expectation, so we push forward, we endure. We suffer the best. A celebration of disobedient uprisings, breaking points and final judgements in a changing world where judge, jury and executioner are all played by the same old bandits; loud and vibrant, fierce and exhausting;
This is an exciting opportunity and we are delighted to be able to offer such invaluable support to LaPelle's Factory in order to enable the work to be conceived and developed.
