Blue Apple summer show: Frankenstein

Aim

To enable socially isolated adults with learning disabilities to perform in a production of Frankenstein in July at Theatre Royal Winchester

Please help us raise funds to stage Blue Apple's summer production of Frankenstein to be performed by socially isolated adults with learning disabilities. Blue Apple's Artistic Director Richard Conlon appeals for your support as he takes an epic 'walk to work' from his home in Wiltshire to Winchester Cathedral.

Any funds that exceed our target will be used to develop and stage future shows for performers with learning disabilities. Find out more about our work here.

About Blue Apple

‘If only Blue Apple had existed when my brother had been alive. His life would have been so different. We cannot underestimate the importance of this organisation and its work’.  These are the words of Heidi Thomas, award-winning writer and producer, and creator of BBC's Call the Midwife.

Founded in 2005 and based in Winchester, Blue Apple is an inspirational and ambitious theatrical company that supports performers with learning disabilities to develop and present high quality productions for the widest possible audiences.

The difference Blue Apple makes

The increase in confidence gained through stage performances has helped Blue Apple participants to enhance their social, personal and artistic skills and also achieve public recognition for their talents, as you can see from Blue Apple member Tommy Jessop's performance in Line of Duty.  In general, people with intellectual and developmental disabilities can experience a poorer quality of life and social isolation. 

James, one of Blue Apple's members who has Asperger’s Syndrome, lives by himself and says he often feels low as he struggles to communicate with others. 'I do struggle and find it difficult to communicate with people. But when I go to Blue Apple, there’s lots like me with learning disabilities, and we understand each other. It gives me a lift and helps me with my mental health. It also gives me a bit of confidence as well and helps me feel like I have a purpose. Connecting with others is a real boost too, especially at the moment with social distancing. I have fun in rehearsals and it’s good to see the end result when we perform a production.'

Frankenstein, a classic tale retold

Blue Apple Theatre’s interpretation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein will be performed live at the Theatre Royal Winchester and also digitally streamed 8-10 July 2021.  A retelling of the classic tale we all think we know will be told by a cast with lived-experience of the themes of alienation, otherness and prejudice – issues as relevant today as they were in 1818. 

The need for funds

Staging any performance requires lighting, costumes, make-up, technical support and skilled direction, all of which cost money.  Already we have found some financial support from the Keats-Shelley Memorial Association,The Edward Gostling Foundation and The Douglas Arter Foundation.  But Blue Apple still needs more to bring the show to the stage.

An epic walk to work

Richard Conlon, Artistic Director of Blue Apple, is no stranger to epic fundraising feats, including the Paris Marathon and cycling 100 miles.  Faced with current limitations, Richard has decided to take a long walk to work from his home in Wiltshire. He will do this in tandem with his son 450 miles north in Scotland who will match his journey close to Edinburgh, walking from Livingston to Monifieth Beach.  Richard and Barney will each walk 100 kilometres (or 62 miles).  Richard will traverse the Wiltshire and Hampshire countryside, walking right through a day, a night and into the next day, aiming to finish at the steps of Winchester Cathedral sometime between 12-1pm on Sunday, 24 hours later. Richard and Barney will do their epic walks on 29 May with the aim of raising funds for Blue Apple's summer performance of Frankenstein.

Richard said: ‘The past 12 months have been tough for so many small charities, yet we still have work to do and a show to put on so I’m hoping people will support me and Barney as we plod our 140,000 steps until we drop.’

The two routes are marked out below including the Winchester leg

See route here

This project successfully funded on 14th June 2021