Daedalus Theatre Company – Page 5 – Theatre can go where politics and the media cannot

East on BBC London

By DaedalusAdmin on Wednesday, October 27, 2021

Sef just did a fantastic interview on Jeanette Kwakye’s BBC London Radio show. You need to listen! It includes a clip from Michele Chowrimooto’s story, and some really brilliant observations from Sef about the role of storytelling, the importance of sharing stories across cultures, how the East Voices project works, and how to approach sharing your personal story for the first time.

Jeanette’s shows are great, but if you want to jump straight to Sef’s interview you can start at 01:36:38.

Go to East Archive for Michele’s story and many others.

Associate Artists Events Participation Partners and Collaborators

You’re invited! East Voices Digital Series Online Launch Event

By DaedalusAdmin on Friday, October 15, 2021

Stories and songs from London’s East End communities and beyond. This online event celebrates the launch of East Voices Digital Series.

Since June, Daedalus Theatre Company, in partnership with Numbi Arts, Bishwo Shahitto Kendro and Rua Arts, has hosted workshops and collaborated with East Londoners and a host of guest artists, to gather stories and music. We’re excited to now launch a series of storytelling videos hosted on the East Archive.

Associate Artists Events Participation Partners and Collaborators

Intro to Storytelling – BSL workshop

By DaedalusAdmin on Sunday, September 26, 2021

We’re really excited to be teaming up with Sign for All for this workshop led by two amazing storytellers. Here are the details:

Date: Sat 9 October

Time: 10.30am – 12 noon

Location: Online via Zoom

What is it? A fun introduction to storytelling, exploring how we tell stories physically, with words and using BSL. This session will be BSL interpreted & facilitated by professional storyteller Sef Townsend and Deepa Shastri who is a Deaf theatre access consultant, BSL performer and presenter.

How to book: Contact info@signforallcommunity.co.uk to book your place and get the Zoom link.

Associate Artists

Associate Artist update: Sef Townsend’s London Folk Tales for Children

By DaedalusAdmin on Saturday, June 12, 2021

Sef Townsend is an extraordinary storyteller who we’re very lucky to have as a Daedalus associate artist. He’s been a lead artist on our East project since the start as well as advising on other projects.

His book London Folk Tales for Children, written with Anne Johnson, is a fantastic collection of stories old and new, reflecting the fascinating history and diverse make-up of the city. Get hold of a copy and have a read!

Associate Artists

Associate Artist update: Shamim Azad and A Drop of Hope

By DaedalusAdmin on Saturday, June 12, 2021

One of our associate artists, and a lead artist in the East storytelling project, is Shamim Azad. Shamim is an amazing creative force; a bilingual author and poet, and a key figure in UK-Bengali literary culture. A new poem by her is currently on display outside the Francis Crick Institute in London as part of A Drop of Hope. This is a project made in collaboration with Poet in the City, in which twelve poets were invited to write poems that reflect on the vaccination programme and the pandemic, partly in response to the words of people vaccinated at the institute, the volunteers working there and the surrounding communities.

You can find out more here: https://www.crick.ac.uk/whats-on/exhibitions/a-drop-of-hope

Participation

EAST VOICES: Call-out for New Storytellers

By DaedalusAdmin on Thursday, May 27, 2021

Audio version of text:

A special welcome for BSL users:

Do you have a love of stories? Do you listen to stories and long to tell your own?

We are looking for East Londoners who want to learn the skills of storytelling. World-class professional storytellers Sef Townsend & Shamim Azad, alongside artistic director Paul Burgess, will guide you through a process to help you share a story which will be part of the East Voices Digital Archive.

East Voices offers new storytellers free coaching with three sessions including a one-to-one session. You will have the choice of sharing a traditional story from your own cultural heritage or to tell a story from your own lived experience. These stories will be recorded and shared on the East Voices Digital Archive.

Events Participation

Callout: East Voices Creative Assistant (closed)

By DaedalusAdmin on Wednesday, May 19, 2021

East Voices Creative Assistant Callout: audio version

Please note: we’ve had a great a good response and have now closed this callout!

Our Creative Assistant will support the delivery of East Voices: A digital storytelling project

Fee:

£400 based on 4 days @£100

Timescale:

Pro rata with dates and times to be mutually agreed. The project will take place between June – September 2021.

Events Participation Partners and Collaborators

East Voices: a preview

By DaedalusAdmin on Tuesday, January 19, 2021

Thanks to our generous crowdfunders, we’ve made some great plans for East Voices, the next stage of our ongoing East storytelling project. We’re particularly excited to be partnering with BSK London and Numbi Arts to bring storytelling and story-sharing to an even wider range of people. The big idea behind East Voices is to test and then make available ways of working online, something we’ve never done with East outside of documenting our work on the East Archive. This approach allows us to continue doing our work of using stories to connect people and build bridges between communities, even as the pandemic drags on. That will all get underway soon. Watch this space!

Major Projects Participation Partners and Collaborators

(Im)Mobile Incitement

By DaedalusAdmin on Sunday, November 22, 2020

We should be on tour now with Gerrard Winstanley’s True and Righteous Mobile Incitement Unit. Today we would have been at Slung Low’s venue The Holbeck. Slung Low’s work during the pandemic has been a source of inspiration nationwide, and it’s hard to think of a better place for a piece of theatre that’s all about reclaiming the collective, progressive side of England’s chequered past. Hopefully we can be there in 2021.

Health and the preservation of life obviously come first so we’re happy to postpone. But one of the ironies of the situation is that the original version of Mobile Incitement, made well before the first case of Covid-19 was detected, was an outdoor show and naturally quite socially-distant. Not only our subject matter but our format are truly of our time! Still, we need to be confidently past the worst of the pandemic before we can tour. John Ball, during the Peasants’ Revolt, famously declared that “Now is the time”. But right now, no, it isn’t.

Participation Partners and Collaborators

Congratulations Shamim!

By DaedalusAdmin on Saturday, November 7, 2020

Shamim Azad, one of the lead artists in our East storytelling project and a long-term Daedalus collaborator, has been recognised for her work with the local community during Covid, and we’re feeling very proud indeed! Here’s how The National Lottery describes the project:

The exhibition – titled, The National Lottery’s 2020 Portraits of the People – honours 13 of these artistic champions for making a significant difference to lifting people’s spirits this year, using some of the £30m raised by National Lottery players every week for good causes. The digital exhibition can be visited on the websites and social media of: The National Portrait Gallery, London, The National Museum of Wales, Cardiff, The MAC in Belfast, IKON Gallery in Birmingham, Summerhall in Edinburgh, Tŷ Pawb, Wrexham, Ruthin Craft Centre in Ruthin, Wales, The Photographers’ Gallery in London and the British Film Institute (BFI), and the portraits will also be on display at BFI Southbank in London.

Click here or on the screengrab below for the full portrait and article on the National Lottery blog:

Big congratulations, Shamim, from all your Daedalus colleagues!