Spring Tour 2008
Presents
Fallen Angels
MARKETING PACK
1. Company background
2. Selling points
3. Target markets
4. Press interviews
5. Box Office info
6. Sample Press Release
7. Company History and Biographies
Outline
Fallen Angels is the seventh show by Big State Theatre. They create absurd comedy
theatre that is eccentric, fast paced and very funny with a strong emphasis on
hilarious characters. Fallen Angels also incorporates film and animation, is a highly visual and atmospheric piece of comedy theatre.
1. Background
About Big State
Big State Theatre was formed in 1996 and since 2001 have been Company in Residence at the Arc Theatre, Trowbridge. They are the only professional theatre touring company in West Wiltshire and hold the position of Vice-Chair of the steering group of TheatreWorks, an organisation helping to develop Wiltshire’s theatre infrastructure.
The four performers are Co-Artistic Directors Mark Bishop and Julie Black, Associate Member Ashley Christmas and, new to Big State, Paul Mundell. The Associate Director is Eamonn Fleming. To date the company has created and toured six very successful shows for UK small scale and rural touring: Gone West (1998, toured UK and Eastern Europe); Spaghetti Weston-super-Mare (1999); Hitting Dennis (2000); Sixteen Types of Happiness (2003) The Fire Starter (2004/5) and Fetch! (2005/6).
Big State are highly experienced devisers and the company’s trademark style of multi-character comedy has been widely acclaimed. They have collaborated extensively with Andy Burden (Innerroom Theatre, Artistic Director of The Rondo Theatre, Bath) and most recently with John Nicholson of Peepolykus. Big State were Company-in-Residence at the National Rural Touring Schemes Forum in 2004 and company members work regularly with Hull Truck and The Natural Theatre Company.
Fallen Angels is touring nationally throughout Autumn 2007 and Spring 2008.
Big State have recently been commissioned by The British Council, Athens to produce a piece of street theatre for the opening of a photographic exhibition in Athens in November.
Big State is also responsible for the film content of The Tabacco Factory’s Christmas show in Bristol at the end of the year. This will be Alice Through The Looking Glass and will be directed by Andy Burden.
Alongside their touring programme, Big State runs an award winning education programme for young people which also incorporates film making. Big State are exceptionally talented, highly skilled workshop leaders and facilitators, with a progressive and exciting approach to helping young people develop their imagination and communication skills through theatre. The company’s regular commitments include running two local youth theatre groups. Their track record of other projects and collaborators, both local and national, is impressive and includes:
- Bath Festivals Trust, The British Council, Suited & Booted Community Video, Wiltshire Music Centre, WOMAD, Connexions West of England, Trowbridge College, British Empire & Commonwealth Museum, Mentoring Plus, Connecting Futures, Pegasus Theatre, Corsham Festival and Wiltshire County Council.
In 2003 they received a First Light Award from the Film Council for Best Fiction/Drama for Black Tiger, a film which was made with young people in Bristol. Big State also run workshops and talks for community groups and local authorities and have run a series of film workshops for the British Council with Egyptian teenagers in Cairo.
2. Selling Points
The company:
- Big State are an award winning company (see background).
- They are company in residence at the Arc Theatre in Trowbridge, Wiltshire.
- As well as touring, they run a highly successful youth theatre and education programme for young people.
The show:
- Directed by Andy Burden director of Innerroom Theatre and former director of the Rondo Theatre .
- Written by John Nicholson of the internationally renowned Peepolykus.
- A devised comedy theatre show, Fallen Angels also incorporates film and CGI. The show uses film projected onto a screen incorporated into the set.
- Film consultants included the internationally renowned Forkbeard Fantasy.
- Hilarious, absurd, entertaining, eccentric, surreal and highly atmospheric. Think M.A.S.H. crossed with Waiting for Godot.
- Features an original, commissioned soundscore.
- The four performers play 12 characters
- Very strong physical/visual style.
3. Target Markets
Fallen Angels is suitable for ages 14 up
- Past Big State attenders (if a return visit).
- Comedy theatre attenders, specifically comic/devised theatre e.g. Gonzo Moose, The Right Size, Hoipolloi, Ridiculusmus, Peepolykus, Spymonkey, Pez en Raya.
- Forkbeard Fantasy attenders.
- Students of drama, physical theatre, clowning and dance, A level / GCSE theatre studies.
4. Press interviews
Please contact:
Andy Burden07771750223Director of Fallen Angels
John Nicholson07870 219054Writer of Fallen Angels
Mark Bishop0777 3093703Performer (Co-Director Big State)
Julie Black0777 3483980Performer (Co-director Big State)
5. Box Office Information
The company:Big State Theatre
Title:Fallen Angels
Contact:Tour Management – Katarina Luce
Email:
Tel: 07808 078500
Company style:Fallen Angels is the seventh show by Big State Theatre. They create absurd comedy theatre that is eccentric, fast paced and very funny with a strong emphasis on hilarious characters. Fallen Angels also incorporates film and is a highly visual and atmospheric piece of comedy theatre.
Duration:Approx 70 minutes. NO interval
Age suitability:Nothing offensive but we would recommend 14 years up as there are some adult themes.
Who will like it?See target audiences.
Performers:Mark Bishop, Julie Black, Ashley Christmas and Paul Mundell (see biogs)
The show is in: English
Director:Andy Burden
Writer:John Nicholson
6. Sample Press Release
BIG STATE THEATRE
present
Fallen Angels
Directed by Andy Burden
Written by John Nicholson of the award winning PEEPOLYKUS
“Contemporary theatre at its best”Wilts Gazette
Brand new comedy from Big State Theatre, the team behind 2006’s hit show Fetch!
From the innovative and award winning Big State comes Fallen Angels, a darkly comic and hilariously surreal new show set in a field hospital somewhere in time.
The cast of characters find themselves in a crazed and desperate world where everything makes perfect sense and there’s a reason for everything as long as they’re ingenious enough to find it.
Hot on the trail of their hugely successful show Fetch, Big State once again combine film with live action opening the floodgates of the celluloid world and releasing cavemen, Kung Fu, coq au vin and road-kill. Jump in, for a mind-bending trip amongst the defibrillators.
“Hilarious and Surreal” Venue Magazine
Surreal, fast fire comedy of the best kind that will appeal to ages 14 years up.
Established in 1996, Big State is company in residence at The Arc Theatre, Trowbridge. Fallen Angels is the company’s seventh show and will also tour to nationally this Spring.
ENDS
7. Biographies
a.Performers
Mark Bishop (trained East 15 Acting School). Mark is an Artistic Director of Big State Theatre and has devised and performed in all six productions to date. He is a founder member of Inneroom Theatre Company and his performing credits with them include My Big Desk, The Tempest, The Fisher King and The Truth about Hoggett and Webb. He is a regular performer with the Natural Theatre Company and has performed street theatre all over the world.
Julie Black (trained East 15 Acting School). Julie is an Artistic Director of Big State Theatre and has also devised and performed in all six productions to date. Her acting credits include This Happy Breed at the Marlow Theatre in Canterbury and The Rover at the Young Vic. She has appeared in numerous short films and is an experienced facilitator and workshop leader.
Ashley Christmas (trained Leicester Polytechnic). Ashley is an Associate Member of Big State and has devised and performed in five of their productions to date. She has performed with Hull Truck Theatre, Innerroom Theatre Company and the Natural Theatre Company, and has worked with the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry and the Haymarket in Leicester. She is an experienced workshop leader and has worked extensively with both adults and young people.
Paul Mundell (trained Bristol Old Vic Theatre School). Paul is the new performer with Big State. His theatre work includes Eggshell Blues and Salt ‘n’ Sauce for Theatre West, Twelth Night and Hamlet for the Cambridge Shakespeare Festival and The Picture of Dorian Grey for Big Telly Theatre Company. Film credits include Bulla the Movie and radio includes The Clapham Shuffle for Radio 4. He has just been at The Edinburgh Festival in ‘Can of Worms” for Strange Bedfellows
Andy Burden(Director)Previous directing includes: For Innerroom Theatre Company The Chronicles of Hoggett & Webb, The Truth About Hoggett & Webb, The Fisher King, The Tempest, In A Room, Six Is Nine, Dambusters!, My Big Desk, The Lesson and Shirley Valentine. For The Tobacco Factory Searchlights Over Bemmy. For the Natural Theatre Company Rasputin, In The Eyes Of Cod and Scarlatti In Paradise. For Theatre West The Inhabitants Of The Moon Are Noses and for In extremis Diary Of A Madman. For Big State: Walk This Way, Spaghetti Weston Super Mare, Hitting Dennis and Sixteen Types Of Happiness. Andy wrote the two Hoggett & Webb shows and adapted The Fisher King and Searchlights Over Bemmy and has scripted and devised nine other shows. Until September this year, Andy was the Director of The Rondo Theatre in Bath. He will direct Alice Through The Looking Glass this Christmas at Bristol’s Tobacco Factory.
John NicholsonWriter
Trained at Circomedia. John is a founder member and Artistic Director of Peepolykus. He has devised and performed in all ten of their shows to date: No Man’s Land, Squid, Let the Donkey Go, I am a Coffee, Horses for Courses, Midsummer Rude Mechanicals (NT commission), Goose Nights, Rhinoceros, Mindbender, All In The Timing and The Hound of the Baskervilles which recently transferred to the West End.
Ffi:
Tour Management:Katarina Luce
Email:
Mob:07808 078500