We're still collecting donations
On the 22nd July 2021 we'd raised £330 with 5 supporters in 41 days. But as every pound matters, we're continuing to collect donations from supporters.
Help us bring the latest in our long line of bold and intriguing new Theatre, to both stage and online audiences.
On the 22nd July 2021 we'd raised £330 with 5 supporters in 41 days. But as every pound matters, we're continuing to collect donations from supporters.
For the last 12 months we have been workshopping and developing a new play, Romeo & Juliet: The Confessions. For us this is especially exciting; not only is it the latest in a long line of works to re-energise Shakespeare's plays, it;s also the start of a whole new approach our work will now be taking:
With your help, we can kickstart this new direction by getting Romeo& Juliet: The Confessions into stage performance - this is what this shout-out is all about.
Your pledges will help pay the necessary expenses for taking the play to two Fringe Theatre Festivals, in Birmingham and Buxton:
We have great plans for bringing our 'Take Our Theatre out of The Theatre' initiative into the digital arena, so any extra funds raised will be used to continue the play's development into the world of audio, video, and print.
Ever fundamentally wondered why, considered what might also have happened, or thought . . . what really did take place in Verona?
Join us to hear the real voices of The Friar, The Nurse, & Juliet, using the words of Shakespeare/Bramwell . . . and your imagination.
This is the story of Romeo & Juliet, the play written by William Shakespeare - but not as told by him. These are the confessions of The Friar, The Nurse, & Juliet - as told by themselves. Their stories, after 400 years, can now be finally told; a gripping, unfolding, piece of immersive theatre.
As with all our plays, in this latest piece, we seek out alternative ways of presenting and re-energising Shakespeare. In our early research into the original Shakespeare play it became clear that it was far more than just a story about the doomed lovers Romeo and Juliet. The more we looked, the more the play seemed to be far more than how it has been traditionally portrayed over the centuries. Alarmingly so.
What began to speak to us were the voices of the two supporters of the lovers - the Friar and the Nurse. As we delved into their stories, we became fascinated with them - and the gaps and contradictions contained within them. We also explored what was really going on in the mind of the 13-year-old girl Juliet. An innocent victim, a feisty young woman, a romantic role model? Or all these things, and maybe more?
And through their words, those silenced voices talk loud and clear to us, shedding some light on the world all around us.
This promises to be an insightful and engaging new piece of writing, presented by Alex Nikitas as the Friar, Gerry Johnson as the Nurse, and Vicky Holding as Juliet.
A few facts & figures...
King Lear (alone) GM Fringe 2018: Nominated for the Best Adaptation Award, GM Fringe 2018: Nominated for the Best Spoken Word Award.
Cordelia/Fool Birmingham Fest 2018: Best Adaptation
Romeo & Juliet For All Time Buxton Fringe 2004: Nominated for the Best Writing award, Edinburgh Fringe 2004: Winner of the Hairline Highlight award (given to the top plays that are head and shoulders above others reviewers have seen)
Our work is hosted over 3 websites - please click to see more details: www.thealternativespace.org ¦ www.alternativetheatre.org ¦ www.alternativeshakespeare.org
Maybe like most of us, I seem to have spent the best part of my life trying to fit in, to find out just who I am. And this ultimately has led to wondering what it, life, is all about. Always there's been endless questions, but precious few answers; and along the way, plenty of dead ends, sidetracks and, it has to be said, enormous frustrations.
At the turn of the Millennium, I got to thinking about Shakespeare . . . what is it about Shakespeare? Why are we so attracted to him? And why is it we can't seem to move on from him . . .
But the more I read about his work, the more I went to see it being performed, the more disenchanted I became. So in 2001, I started on a new journey, to try to understand what Shakespeare's true legacy really is to us? And, as a by-the-way, just what really went on in that head of his?
That part of the journey kickstarted when I wrote my first play, Time After Time/Shakespeare's Dream, where characters from his actual life, and his plays, come to stir and trouble his mind. That single play has to date spawned eleven AlternativeShakespeare re-workings, including Romeo & Juliet for All Time, King Lear (alone), and Cordelia/Fool, all of which have won awards in Fringe Festivals in Edinburgh, Manchester, and Birmingham.
Twenty years later, our journey of trying to answer our original questions keeps re-inventing itself. Now, in 2021, we seek to delve into the mind of Shakespeare himself, through the thoughts and words of individual characters from his plays; we get to hear them tell their stories, their takes, and their feelings. . . from their point of view.
To date it's been an incredible, never-ending journey; it would be good to have you onboard that journey. Many people have unstintingly helped along the way - actors, directors, designers, dramaturgs, Theatre professionals, friends, family - and now we want everyone to have a chance to be part of it.
Because you share the same value systems as ourselves...
You think the time is right to fully realise an AlternativeShakespeare...
You want to support us on our journey of discovery...
King Lear (alone)
"I thoroughly enjoyed King Lear (alone). It’s great play, made even better by Young’s strong work in bringing this version of Lear to life. Like all good literary reimaginings, it has made me reconsider the original and has changed the way I look at King Lear. I would highly recommend it."
"This was a thoroughly satisfying and thought-provoking reworking of a familiar play."
"While condensing a three-hour tragedy with 27 characters into an hour long one-man show may seem to be an impossibility, Writer-Director Frank Bramwell and performer Bob Young prove themselves to be more than up the task with this enlightening take on Shakespeare’s classic. "
"A magnificent, strong piece of high art theatre playing nicely with Shakespeare’s King Lear."
Cordelia/Fool
“A very well ‘engineered’ approach to incorporating a critique of King Lear. Very intelligently conceived, very naturally and professionally delivered.”
Tempest fugit:Prospero’s Will
". . . when it comes to Shakespeare "re-written" I get very sceptical. But I was proven wrong as inamoment theatre pulled out all the stops and the audience was treated to a delicious journey through Prospero's messed-up mind."
Macbeth Killing Time
“Frank Bramwell's play, however, is that very rare bird, a genuinely unusual take on the play, which remains true to the spirit (and the words) of the original whilst making us question our assumptions about it.”
Romeo & Juliet For All Time
“R and J For All Time is an intriguing work created around a simple conceit (simple conceits are the best.)”
“It’s very rare for our staff to be so united in their glowing praise of a Fringe Show – but all those who saw it were stunned, and everyone unable to make it this time was very disappointed to have missed out.”
“James, the venue manager, … genuinely rated your show among the top six Fringe shows he has seen in his decade working at the Festival.”
If you would like to see review quotes of all our plays, please click here.
Risks
Every stage production comes with its risks, many of which can happen despite the most thorough planning. Our approach has always been to work to our 'bottom line' - what is the minimum requirements to make a play happen on stage. Once we've identified these, and taken the necessary steps to ensure these will be available when required, we are happy to push the go button.
Challenges
The challenges here are, as ever . . .
doing justice to the play:
meeting people's expectations:
Our Supporters help to make the unthinkable doable, providing financial support for our new work to be developed and made available.
We value our supporters; without our followers, backers, patrons, we could not do what we do. And they are vital for sharing our work with the wide world.
More than that, ultimately they are why we do what we do:
We have a range of people who support us:
PATRONS - Supporting the Company. Partners who share our vision and are behind us all the way.
PRODUCTION FUNDERS - Enabling our productions, making our work possible, backers who are excited by our work.
ENTHUSIASTS - Helping us along the way, just wanting to help, pleased to be part of something exciting and different.
WELL WISHERS - Wishing us well, liking what we do, enjoying our work.
To all our collaborators and supporters who have been with us over the years...
To everyone who will support this our latest call-out...
To those who will continue to be there with us on our journey...
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