EMERALD ANT
MALE STREET THEATREPERFORMERS - THE IGUANODON RESTAURANT - EMERALD ANT CIC
Having obtained Arts Council funding, Emerald Ant is looking for 2 experienced male streettheatre performers to create and perform a 20 minute street performance.
‘The Iguanodon Restaurant’ is the second of Emerald Ant’s outdoor productions based on dinosaurs, and followsHorace the Travelling Pliosaur Cinema. Originally created for communities and visitors to the Jurassic Coast, Horace has now toured the UK for over 4 years. ‘Iggy’ therefore, will further build our outdoor repertoire for family audiences and school children. The project is well supported by science organisations as well as arts funders and the performance will be directed by Richie Smith of Desperate Men.
We want to create an outdoor show that appeals to all ages, it must be funny, educational and inspiring. The story is set in Victorian England around a true event; a New Year's Eve banquet that took place inside the concrete mould of an iguanodon in Crystal Palace in 1853. The show will include a lot of historical content and features a collection of eccentric characters, dinosaur hunters and early geologists. Emerald Ant uses large scale visual art, so you must be willing to work with our 35 foot travelling Victorian iguanodon structure as a performance space, and to help set up and take down.
We expect to perform 3 shows a day at science festivals, music festivals and schools based in the Southwest (Dorset, Devon, Somerset), London, Kent and Sussex, some dates are already set for this year, and we expect the show to go on to tour over a 5 year period around the UK, possibly Belgium. We would prefer actors based in the south west.
Auditions / interviews will be on March 17th in West Dorset (Dorchester area). The rehearsal period is April 18th -29th with a get together on April 11th or 13th. The first performances are at Lyme Regis Fossil Festival on 29th, 30th April and May 1st. For full details please email Sarah Butterworth he deadline for applications is March 4th.
THE STORY
The Iguanodon Restaurant Is inspired by a real banquet that took place inside the concrete mould of an iguanodon in Crystal Palace 1853. ‘Iggy’ still stands in Crystal Palace Park alongside other dinosaur sculptures, much in need of repair. The performance will draw on famous and highly eccentric characters, William Buckland, Gideon Mantell and others; the first geologists of the Victorian Age who grappled with their discoveries, realising the world was much older than previously thought, and had been inhabited by ancient creatures now gone. The story takes us through the origins of geology, from Lyme Regis in 1812 where Mary Anning and William Buckland discovered ichthyosaurs, through the Kent and Sussex Weald, where iguanodon fossils were found in Cuckfield and Maidstone by Gideon Mantell, to Crystal Palace where the first dinosaur theme park was built. Six years later The Origin of Species was published, and a fierce debate raged in Oxford between clerics and evolutionists.
The Iggy model…based on the iguanodon at Crystal Palace Park
The new Iggy being built
TOURING AND GIGS
Sarah Butterworth, Creative Director of Emerald Ant, will supervise on gigs and tours, will oversee get ins / outs, liaise with festival organisers and deal with technical requirements.
We expect to perform 3 shows a day. We have several dates pencilled in this year, 3 are definite, and 6 other festivals are being discussed / pencilled in. Our PR person, Natalie Gowing, will be working to firm these up. Some events are large scale and some are small community events, funded by small organisations.
Festival gigs are likely to be at weekends between end April to October, however, we may perform at week-long music festivals such as Larmer Tree, Latitude and Glastonbury from 2017 onwards. We will also be developing relationships with museums such as Natural History Museums in London and Oxford with a view to performing there.
A schools programme is planned for schools in the Dorset / Somerset / Devon area, as well as in London. Some schools work is also planned for Kent and Sussex. These are likely to be one off days during the week, in the months of Sept, October and April to July, starting, funding permitting, in September this year.
We are also looking into potential for the iguanodon as a dining space, and there may, in the future, be potential for night time shows / some character work.
Payment will be as follows:
£200 for 11th / 13th April
£600 per week x 2 weeks rehearsal period
£200 per day on gigs, plus up to £50 travel money on production of receipts. Accommodation will be provided as necessary.
PERSON SPEC
-Male, with at least 3 years’ experience of professional street theatre performance
-Versatile
-Physically fit
-Musical- able to play an instrument / sing
-Experience of touring and a practical and willing attitude towards get ins / outs
-Preferably, an interest in the show’s subject matter
-Willing to travel and have own car
-Based in the southwest
-Registered self employed
-Ability to commit to the project, dates and available on March 17th / April 11th or 13th and rehearsal period.
Please apply by answering the above criteria and sending a CV. The deadline is 4th March.
Please also stipulate whether you have a preference for April 11th or 13th.