10 APRIL 2009

The Guardian on The Factory's Seagull: "as unforgettable and moving as any theatre I've seen."





23RD FEBRUARY 2009

Hey Everybody

Just to clarify....

Monday nights will be The BBC Radio Project which began last Monday.
We will workshop, experiment and hopefully learn a bunch of stuff about working in the Audio Drama form.

This is likely to develop into a specific project of new work once we see what direction we are heading in.

THIS IS SEPARATE FROM THE CHANGELING SESSIONS WHICH WILL OCCUR LESS FREQUENTLY (ABOUT ONCE A MONTH) AND WITH A SELECTION OF MEMBERS WHO HAVE INFORMED ME OF THEIR INTEREST.

NO FINALISED LIST OF CHANGELING ACTORS HAS BEEN DRAWN UP YET. NOTIFICATION OF THAT GROUP WILL OCCUR IN DUE COURSE.




Wednesday nights have been Seagull Sessions with Tim Carroll.
During his absence, they will be a mixture of non-Seagull, member-lead sessions looking at an various areas of interest such as Simon Muller's session on Transitive Verbs, and Seagull Sessions without TC such as last Wednesday's session with Sian Williams.
BLOGS ONLINE...
The blog and recordings of last week's Radio session is online at www.factorymember.com

There was a huge amount of exciting feedback, ideas and questions brought up during the session last week, and a great discussion at the end. I would ask you all to add these comments and contributions to the blog.

It can be found at...

http://thefactory.wetpaint.com/page/Audio+Drama+Session+1

This is something I would ask all of you who come to the sessions to become a little bit better at from now on.

A huge amount of work and preparation occurs organising everything that happens at The Factory, and we try providing you with what we hope are challenging, exciting and fantastic opportunities and experiences as actors, writers et al.

Everyone who leads sessions and projects do so entirely for free, and as you know we provide all this to you, the artist for free. Everyone involved is therefore collaborating, learning and trying things out together for the love of the work, the commitment to the work, and because we seem to have brought together a pretty exciting collection of people ( ie. yourselves ) to engage in whatever journey we find ourselves on together.

The reason this is an exciting company, undertaking exciting work is because of you guys and what you choose to put into it.

The one thing we are going to ask of you as Factory Members from now on is to honour the spirit of the company more by doing what keeps the work strong which is to share ideas and thoughts.

You do so brilliantly in the sessions, but once the evenings are over it is very difficult to consolidate all the contributions and discoveries the group makes.

In addition, people like Jeremy and Abigail are trying to form these sessions for you based on what you enjoy / are confused by / wish to explore and it is very difficult to do so when there is no feedback.

All we are asking is that everyone in the session goes online and spends what? 30 seconds? Two minutes adding any ideas or points of interest to the blog. If you can add a comment on someone's facebook wall or photo, there's no excuse for not contributing to the blogs...and for those oldies and techno-phobes who use the excuse of being confused by it. No more excuses! Come into the office and get trained Baby!

We do not ask you to do blogs and to add comments and thoughts on the site for the sake of it.
We do so, so that as a company we learn and share, and to prove to the funders and industry that this really is a company fully engaged in an ongoing conversation and worth supporting.


I hope that isn't too much of a rant, but it is something Alex and I feel strongly about.




FINAL NOTE:
This Wednesday's Session will be a second session lead by Federay Holmes, looking at some of her writing. For the benefit of the session, it is a small, invited session. So if you are not contacted about this, we'll see you tonight at the BBC Session.


Tim
xxx



Factory Update January 2009

We are incredibly proud to recognise this month as our third January since launching. How time flies when you're having fun!

But before telling you all about what 2009 has in store, we just wanted to give you a re-cap of the last 6 months, since the last regular weekly sessions in July.

Special Guest sessions included Lee Simpson, Artistic Director of Improbable Theatre, as well as legendary director Mike Alfreds.

The summer saw Hamlet touring to Ripely Castle, Yorkshire; Latitude Festival, Suffolk; and The Secret Garden Party in Cambridgeshire. Then playing Hamlet for over a week in as many weird and wonderful places we could find across London, including a studio flat, a derelict office block (which was a little bit more derelict by the time we'd finished); a sold-out show at Shakespeare's Globe with guest captain Josh Hartnet; The Hampstead Theatre with James McAvoy; and the entirety of a shut-off Regents Street.

September saw us seeing some very exciting people and places in New York, in view of taking Hamlet over there at the end of 2009. Tim Carroll, Tim Evans, Alex Hassell and Liam Evans-Ford were also invited to give a talk to The Tisch School of Arts at New York University, on how The Factory came to exist. It also served as a good opportunity to throw a party there Factory-Styley, with Uber-Cool band CSS playing at the event.

October launched the collaboration between The Factory and BBC Radio Drama. Click Here For More Details.

November saw The Factory performing Hamlet in Budapest in a bi-lingual production with Bárka Theatre. As well as enjoying the night life, architecture, outdoor baths and massages. For more details see... Hamlet In Budapest

December kick-started The Seagull Project, headed by Tim Carroll, and we finally closed for Christmas on the 22nd with a Hamlet Christmas Special with Auction and yeah, go on then another party.


And so to 2009

We want to hit the ground running this month and that's exactly what we're going to do.

Firstly we are launching ROUND 1

....taking a great selection of the writing produced through The Factory Writers Studio last year we will work on a number of those chosen pieces for a week-intensive with Tim Carroll, who is joined by Louis Scheeder.

The following week we will perform these pieces to the public.

As we only have a limited rehearsal and performance period, not all pieces written for this project have been chosen for the week-intensive, nor have we been able to cast every actor who have attended the sessions, but rest assured we are currently busy with some exciting New Writing plans for February onwards for all Factory Session Members.

We are also waiting to see what the week's exploration throws up, and nothing is guaranteed for performance until the very last minute.

January also sees the departure of Emma Stuart from the Writers Studio, who has worked incredibly hard as The Factory's New Writing Producer since 2007. Emma's work at the BBC has currently prevented any further commitments for the foreseeable future, and is therefore scaling back hands-on work with the studio, but remains with The Factory as an Advisory and Board Member.

Thanks for all your inspiration and insight Emma. We wish you all the best for 2009.

All current Writers Studio enquiries should be directed to tim@factorytheatre.co.uk

So, Round 1 is as follows....


AWAY - FEDERAY HOLMES
BLUE LIGHT - NICK HARROP
CHARITY - SAM PETER JACKSON
COFFEE - FEDERAY HOLMES
DISHES & SHIRTS - FEDERAY HOLMES
FULL DARK AND DIM - BEN HASSELL
I DESPISE YOUR... - DOMINIC ROUSE
JOHN LEWIS - FEDERAY HOLMES
LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT - ALEX HASSELL
MOTHERS DAY - ROBERT COLLINS
MR ORACLE - ELENA PAVLI
NARRATED - BEN HASSELL
OUR THREE EGGS - FRAZER FLINTHAM
OVER THE EDGE - FRAZER FLINTHAM
RED RIDING HOOD - FEDERAY HOLMES
REUNION - FAYE THOMAS
SECRETS - STEVE BLOOMER
SELF HELP - HANNAH PATTERSON
SO WHERE DID YOU MEET? - NICK HARROP
TALLER THAN THE TALLEST - KIERAN LYNN
THE EDITOR - HANNAH PATTERSON
TV NIGHT - BEN HASSELL
UNSPOKEN - SUSAN HEATHCOTE
WE ARE STARS - ROBERT COLLINS
YOU AIN'T GOT NO KNICKERS - TIM LUSCOMBE


All actors involved have been contacted and respective scripts sent out for some full-on line-learning.

If you haven't been contacted for Round 1, fear not, as The Seagull Project sessions are being held every Wednesday night, 7PM at The Actors Centre. All current Factory Session Members are invited to take part in these workshops. The last two before Christmas have got us all very very excited about the possibilities of what we might do a little later in the year!
For further details click here.


Finally, a fantastic bit of news is that we have aquired our first proper Factory office!
We get the keys this week and will be moving everything in over the weekend.
This is a very important step towards our 10 year plan of a fully functioning factory base with rehearsal facilities and somewhere for all members to drop in, use the internet, learn lines, borrow plays from our library, to socialise and to be creative.

When we've put the desks in the right place do please drop by.
We will be based at Caledonian Road, part of The Pleasance complex, and our thanks go out to The Pleasance for providing this space to us.


Let's 'ave it.


IMPORTANT!!!!!
DATES FOR YOUR DIARIES

WEDNESDAY
7TH JANUARY, 7PM
SEAGULL PROJECT
ACTORS CENTRE

MONDAY
12TH JANUARY. 7PM
ROUND 1 REHEARSAL
ACTORS CENTRE

WEDNEDAY
14TH JANUARY, 7PM
SEAGULL PROJECT
ACTORS CENTRE

19TH - 24TH JANUARY, 10 AM - 6 PM
ROUND 1 WEEK-INTENSIVE REHEARSALS
VENUE TBC

WEDNEDAY
21ST JANUARY, 7PM
SEAGULL PROJECT
ACTORS CENTRE

FRIDAY
23RD JANUARY, 4.30 PM ONWARDS
PRIVATE HAMLET PERFORMANCE
CUMNOR HOUSE SCHOOL

25TH - 31ST JANUARY, EVENINGS
ROUND 1 PERFORMANCES
VENUES TBC




Phillip Seymour Hoffman spotted wearing our Factory Hamlet badge on the news.....



For Full article click here.


Factory Update September 2008

I just wanted to thank you all for all of the time, energy and commitment that you all gave to Hamlet over July, August and September, and of course for the period since January 2007.

Alex and I are so very proud of what we have all achieved by working together on this project and it is thanks to in no small part to that dedication which you all have shown, but it is equally down to the time, energy, brilliance and genius that Tim Carroll has brought, and it is he who we all have to thank for the success and experience we have all had with this project.

Tim, The Factory would in no way be what it is today without you. Thank You!

And so, we have seen what possibilities can occur by pursuing a way of working, and a shared commitment to exploring and challenging; of bringing together like-minded, passionate individuals in Theatre and seeing where it takes us, in its own time and by its own rules.

September 2008 marked 20 months since The Factory's inaugural session, the first anniversary 'gala' performance of Hamlet at a sold-out Shakespeare's Globe, and a run of performances that saw us as always trying new things, with new people, in new and unknown spaces.

It is also nearly a year since we began The Factory's Writers Studio, bringing together actors and writers to create some brilliant pieces of work and ways of working with one another, and again a focus of challenging ourselves and testing what we need and don't need to give something special to an audience.

Finally, this month also marks the first time since starting, that The Factory's program of rehearsals, performances, Writers Studio, Jam Sessions and the like will experience a small hiatus.

Based on a number of emails and Facebooking, am acutely aware that this may come as a disappointment to a number of you, and that those who were not involved in the July - September period of Hamlet have been itching to resume work at our Wednesday and Thursday nights. ( and of course those who were in Hamlet are also keen to jump straight back into sessions.)

But let me explain briefly where Alex and I find ourselves at this particular point in The Factory's development.

Firstly, at the very beginning, we wanted to see what might come from getting a bunch of talented people from the industry to collaborate on a project without the constraints of a fixed rehearsal period and create a place for serious, fun, and insightful learning, in-between and alongside outside projects and work.

As we have all seen, the ethic of this company and the fruits of its labour should be something we are incredibly proud to be a part of. The way in which it has grown creatively, the experiences that it has provided us all and the popularity of what we are doing inside and outside the industry has seen the company grow from a room of like-minded individuals sitting in a circle on a cold January night in 2007, to a company that is now almost universally known and talked about throughout London's Theatre community, has played countless theatrical venues, as well as taking theatre to places that have rarely, if ever seen theatre.

We have forged strong links with New York, have been described in the press, (both London an national) as "The Factory: the super-cool company" "heart-in-the-mouth theatre" "a theatrical coup!" and have consistently, week after week attracted the fittest, hottest, young audiences that every subsidised company in this country would piss all over themselves to get, as well as seeing a fantastically varied cross-section of ages and backgrounds. All without any box-ticking, focus on youth, race, demographics and social-engineering that has nothing to do with what we do, - which is to put exciting live experiences that challenge and inspire those who come to see it.

Build good theatre, and the audiences will come. As Kevin Kostner said ( or at least something along those lines).

Our focus has been all along, the process and the work. The audiences and the response from within the industry has fully justified what we have done...which was to Just Do It and not go through all the bullshit that has depressingly now become the accepted way of creating theatre.We have seen what can be achieved in a year and a bit, and we have so many more ambitions.

The demand for a place like The Factory is clear from all of you and all the emails we get about how-to-join. The demand to see theatre, the like of which we are producing is clear from these last 12 months.

Myself, Alex, our producer Liam Evans-Ford, and Sarah Bedi have worked tirelessly for all these things to have been possible.
All our time and energy has been completely consumed by the surprisingly huge amount of work and money required every single day to put on shows and to provide rehearsals, sessions and master-classes.

Alex and I haven't stopped for two years to achieve this, and we have loved (almost) every minute of it, but we have only been able to keep our heads above the water, which means we have had been able to get the shows on and keep the sessions ticking over, but absolutely no time to really get the infra-structure and funding that is now required for what The Factory has become in such an unimaginably short amount of time.

It is overwhelmingly clear to us now that if we are to honour what has been achieved and take The Factory to the next level of its necessary development, and to allow the natural and inevitable growth of talented collaborators and possibilities, then we need to divert all the time and energy we have been driving into keeping people busy with sessions each week, and put it into making sure that there is the money and the resources available to actually take that work forward, out of the rehearsal room and into the next Factory productions.

Top of our priorities is funding.
Over the coming months we are instigating an intense period of trying to achieve funding and sponsorship.

Alongside that, we need to find a consistent space of our own that will house all the sessions and can serve as an office base and wider space for the Factory community to gather.

We will be organising The Factory's first Try-Outs. This is the opportunity to all that have applied to be a Factory Member.
In turn we will be strengthening the concept for new and existing members, of exactly what it means to be a member of The Factory.

We are working hard at providing industry and non-industry related 'perks', discounts and offers for all members.

Early 2009 will focus on taking the new writing pieces from the rehearsal room to the public.

We are developing and planning for an American trip for 2009.

These are all huge tasks and as ever, The Factory's success and development depends entirely on what you as members put into it. Help and time are always appreciated and needed. We have already started to develop teams and committees from current help from members, but always need more hands and heads.

Do please email me if you are able to help in any way, in terms of time and work, but also ALWAYS let us know of any leads, contacts, donors, and ideas you may have that could help the company.

I would reiterate that money and space are our biggest challenges and necessities.

With all this behind-the-scenes activity, please take comfort and be assured that we will be resuming Factory services as quickly as possible, and so we are looking at January as being the month in which all activity, new and improved, resumes.
This of course may seem like an eternity to many of you, but we are also keen to provide the odd, sporadic master-class / special guest-lead session to keep your appetites whetted, as and when we can, so do check any updates.

My final request is that you all make use of factorymember.com a lot more during this period.
It is there to keep us all up to date, connected, inspired and to hammer out the kind of discussions and ideas that we hammer out in the rehearsal room.

Much of our success on achieving funding depends on proving that we are a vibrant, active and wide-ranging community of artists who are engaged in the industry for the right reasons.

If you haven't created factorymember online profile with a photo etc. or contributed to the site recently......get to it!

(This letter, as with everything on the site is here to be responded to with thoughts, feedback, ideas, criticisms.


Thanks again for bringing The Factory this far. Here's to the next 12 months!



Tim & Alex


Josh Hartnett cameos in The Factory's Hamlet at Shakespeare's Globe



For Full article click here.