The Company – Page 2 – Daedalus Theatre Company

COVID-19 Contingency Plan for Gerrard Winstanley’s True and Righteous Mobile Incitement Unit

By DaedalusAdmin on Thursday, March 19, 2020

We hope you’re all well and staying safe.

We’ve had to reschedule our activities, and we really only have one active project at the moment: Gerrard Winstanley’s True and Righteous Mobile Incitement Unit, which was to start touring in June, with a second leg in the autumn.

We’re working on the basis that we should still prepare for autumn activities, while being ready to move them to if we have to. To this end, we’ve come up with a plan based on two priorities: to protect the health and safety of everyone we work with, artists, venues stuff, the public and all, and to maximise opportunities to provide paid work for artists during this emergency by moving as much of our activity online as possible. (We’re only funded on a project-by-project basis so have no funds to pay artists outside of project work.)

You can read our statement here. It will be updated as the situation develops. We also welcome any advice, because we’re just finding our way through this strange new territory, just like everyone else! You can always get in touch with us by via email or social media.

Partners and Collaborators The Company

Remembering Sam Greenland

By DaedalusAdmin on Saturday, October 5, 2019

In June we lost someone who was not just a friend of Daedalus but instrumental in its beginnings. Paul Burgess writes:

“Sam was involved back when we were a student company, most memorably starting what would become a regular series of trips to the Edinburgh Fringe. He not only had the idea that we should take our site-specific production of the mediaeval morality play Everyman from Brasenose College Chapel to a church in Edinburgh for the Fringe Festival, he made it happen. He put in the hard work and produced it. I remember the exact moment he suggested it, in the living room of his rented second-year accommodation in Oxford. But it was typical of Sam not only to come up with brilliant and (as it seemed at the time) bonkers ideas but to give generously of his time and intelligence to make them happen.

“The whole thing was hard work, as Edinburgh Fringe on a budget always is, but also a success. The performances, in St Mark’s Unitarian Church, were moving and atmospheric, with music echoing from the organ loft above the audience. Apart from some teething problems during the first few shows, things went pretty smoothly. We managed to find some old photos from the trip to help us remember.

“More recently, in fact only this year, Sam had been talking to us with typical generosity about becoming a trustee. Having decided it was too impractical, since he now lived the other side of the world, we had started to think about what other role we could find or create so he could pick up again, after many years, his role in shaping the company. But we lost this amazing, kind person who touched so many lives before it could happen,

“What a terrible loss, felt by such a huge amount of people from all around the world.”

The Company

Trustees needed!

By DaedalusAdmin on Thursday, January 10, 2019

Daedalus Theatre Company is seeking new trustees to expand its board. We’re a London-based charitable organisation making socially-engaged, innovative performances and participatory events, often focusing on local communities.

Being a trustee is a voluntary role, involving four meetings a year plus giving occasional advice and guidance. We’re looking for people from a range of backgrounds to join us and help us grow. We are specially interested in people with knowledge of fundraising and marketing, and with links to Tower Hamlets, but are also keen to hear from anyone with enthusiasm for the kind of work we do and an interest in how we might develop as a company. If you’d like to know more, or to express your interest in this role, please contact Paul using the form below.

Major Projects Participation The Company

Let’s talk about participation

By DaedalusAdmin on Friday, May 4, 2018

Our artistic director, Paul, has missed shows he really wanted to see because the threat of audience participation made him so anxious. And yet we make participatory theatre. Is this hypocrisy?

A Place at the Table, Amnesty International Human Rights Action Centre, London

Our work isn’t about getting people to do things. It’s even less about picking on people or demanding volunteers. It’s about creating an environment in which people can find their own degree of involvement as equals.

Our breakthrough in this regard was A Place at the Table (pictured during a performance at Amnesty International, London). This is the piece we made about the 1993 coup in Burundi and its aftermath. All the audience sat round a huge table alongside the actors. Everyone was very ‘present’, and the experience was very immediate, but essentially the audience were passive observers until what appeared to be the end. At this point, food was brought and the actors joined the audience for a causal chat. People started talking to their neighbours or just quietly enjoyed the food and the atmosphere. This was actually the second half of the show; and its resolution. After hearing testimonies of appalling violence and heroism, and struggling through the complicated politics and history of Central Africa, a group of strangers found themselves sitting together, sharing food and talking. Some of them talked about how to escape the cycle of violence in Burundi, some just talked about their journey in. Most nights they kept talking till we had to ask them to leave!

Naomi Grossett in A Place at the Table, Amnesty International Human Rights Action Centre, London

Gerrard Winstanley’s True and Righteous Mobile Incitement Unit is the same principle, but structured the other way around. We ask you to come to a tea party ahead of the show. (There’s also a shortened version for when there’s no time for a whole pre-show tea party). Here you can tell us about your experiences of protest, get us up to speed on local issues, make a placard, collaborate on protest song lyrics… or not. You can also take advantage of the free tea without doing a thing! Similarly, during the performance itself you can sing along. Or not. You can even have a little dance. Or not. You can have another cup of tea. Or not. The point is, we’re asking you to join us as an equal, with full autonomy, and be part of making the show afresh each time. Or not. It’s up to you. you can just watch.

Grace Nyandoro in A Place at the Table, Amnesty International Human Rights Action Centre, London

It’s the complete opposite of old-fashioned participation, really. And you can test this for yourself. We’ll be performing Gerrard Winstanley’s True and Righteous Mobile Incitement Unit this Sunday, 6th May, at Poplar Union. Details are here.

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The Company

Introducing our Trustees…

By DaedalusAdmin on Wednesday, April 11, 2018

We’re privileged to be guided by four amazing people who make up our board, and it’s probably time to introduce them!

From left to right: Mark Bixter, Chris White (chair), Alia Alzougbi and Catrin John.

Mark has worked in senior leadership in the charity sector for the past 5 years. He is also a celebrant and life coach. Chris is a theatre director and practitioner working across the UK and internationally. Alia’s a storyteller, performer and educator, as well as Head of HEC Global Learning Centre. Catrin has worked in a number of roles for major venues, including most recently Commercial Director at the Lyric Hammersmith and Marketing Director at the Old Vic.

Big thanks to these good people from all the rest of the Daedalus family!

The Company

A big thank you

By DaedalusAdmin on Wednesday, April 5, 2017

We’d like to say a big thank you to our outgoing chair Chris Luffingham, who is stepping down from the board. He’s been with us since we first became a proper company, and guided us through a period of significant change, not least gaining charity status. It’s not a complete goodbye, however, as he will remain in an advisory capacity. Still, we’re very grateful for all the time and good advice he’s given us over the years.

We’ve also recently been joined by two new trustees: Alia Alzougbi and Mark Bixter. We’ll post some more about them separately. Chris White will take over as chair.

The Company

We’ve become a charity, and that means…

By DaedalusAdmin on Tuesday, September 22, 2015

You know where this is going.

It’s taken ages. The Charity Commission. HMRC. Many, many forms to fill in. Lots of help from the awesome ITC. But we got there.

Now, probably, most people looking at this site are penniless artists. We don’t expect those people to give anything, of course (unless they really, really want to). But there may be people in a position to help. Why? We have to apply for funding for each project. It’s a lot of work and sometimes we’re successful, sometimes we’re not. Either way, project-by-project funding only goes so far. We don’t only want to exist when we’re doing a specific project. We’ve got the ongoing projects like the Radical Performance Reading Group and the East storytellers, and there’s all the research and development that needs to happen before we’re ready to start writing funding applications…

So if you can throw some pennies our way (or even throw some pennies our way on a monthly basis) here’s an attractive purple button to take you to our fund-raising page…

Thank you!

Partners and Collaborators The Company

The Arches has closed

By DaedalusAdmin on Wednesday, June 10, 2015

The Arches went into administration today. The press release with all the details is here.

This is terrible on a great many levels.

It means the loss of an incredible venue which kick-started a a huge amount of careers and provided a fantastic starting point for a great many companies (including us, as our first professional piece, Selfish, was an Arches commission). It’s a loss for Glasgow of course, and Scotland, and for UK arts touring. It’s also a blow to a whole model of working. The Arches was an exemplar of the idea that a venue could generate a commercial income and use that to fund brave and experimental work. But now we can see that such a fine balance is impossible without proper support and joined-up thinking from the authorities. It’s pretty shocking, really, that such a vital arts venue could be lost because of the intransigence of the Glasgow Licensing Board.

Partners and Collaborators The Company

The Arches is under threat

By DaedalusAdmin on Saturday, May 16, 2015

The Arches in Glasgow was the venue that had the courage to give Daedalus its first proper, professional gig, and the result was that we made and premiered Selfish there (show here, with Onur Orkut).

The Arches has a unique model: it’s a very successful club but uses the profits to fund new and often very experimental arts projects. It’s an inspiring place to work, in spite of the slight whiff of stale beer after club nights! It’s also an essential part of our arts ecology – so many artists and companies have started there, or broken new ground while working there.

And now it’s in danger, due to a licensing dispute with Glasgow council. Here’s a link with all the details and a petition: please sign it!