Rehearsals are underway, and we’re thrilled to announce our cast for Trouble at Sea: A Miss McSkimming Mystery.
Cast Announcement!
Category: News
‘Trouble at Sea: A Miss McSkimming Mystery’ – WAF 2021
Following our award-winning production of The Final Adventure of Frankie Fightwell by Chris Buxey (Stage Door New Writing Award 2018), we return to the Wandsworth Arts Fringe with a radio play recorded in front of a live audience (hilarious sound effects included).
Miss McSkimming takes to the high seas in her second adventure, presented by Blackshaw Theatre. Expecting a pleasant transatlantic cruise, Miss McSkimming must instead deal with a missing companion and a series of mysterious thefts, all whilst trying to avoid panic amongst her fellow passengers.
A rollicking comedy with mysteries abounding, this piece promises to delight audiences, young and old!
You can listen to ‘Some Treachery: A Miss McSkimming Mystery‘, her first adventure, on our podcast.
The show will run alongside a series of educational outreach events – a radio playwriting and producing workshop, a Q&A with the show creators, and 1-3 internships for Wandsworth residents and students wanting to gain experience in producing theatre and radio.
About the writer, Richard Stratton
Richard Stratton has written several plays for Blackshaw Theatre Company, including Some Treachery: A Miss McSkimming Mystery and new adaptations of Alice in Wonderland and Gormenghast: Titus Groan.
Venue:
WAF Big Top
King George’s Park
Lower Field
Mapleton Road
SW18 4GA
Date: Saturday 3rd July, 1pm
Supported by Wandsworth Arts Fringe.
Free Writing Workshop
FREE Writing Workshop for Wandsworth residents aged 16+ on Monday 28th June, 6.30-8pm, WAF Big Top, King George’s Park, Lower Field, Mapleton Road, SW18 4GA.
The workshop will cover the discipline of writing, creating narrative, writing for radio, and can offer support for starting writing, or works in progress.
Please complete the application form by 18th June.
Internship Opportunity
Theatre/Radio Internship with Blackshaw Theatre Company
An introduction to working in professional theatre/radio, offering the chance to shadow and assist our sound designer/engineer, director, actors and stage manager on a professional production.
You will shadow/assist in one or more of the following areas:
– foley
– sound
– directing
– theatre/radio production
You will also have a place reserved for you on our new writing workshop (Mon 28th June, 6pm, The Big Top, King George’s Park, Wandsworth).
Our interns will be fully supported throughout their time with us, and on successful completion of the internship will receive a credit in the programme, and a reference for future job applications.
Foley –
This is the creation and performance of sound effects on stage. It’s super fun, and will be coordinated by our sound designer, Andrew Crane. To get a taste of what we’ve done before, listen to Some Treachery: A Miss McSkimming Mystery and The Final Adventure of Frankie Fightwell. The role could involve working with Andy to try out different ways to produce sound effects, assisting during rehearsals, and/or performing these on the day during the show.
Sound –
We need to carefully balance the recording of foley and live voices of the actors during the performances, so you could work with our sound engineer to see how this works in practice, and assist during the get in, technical rehearsal and performance.
Directing –
You could work with our Director, Ellie, during rehearsals and on show day; working with the writer to tweak the script, coordinating foley and sound with Andy, and getting the best possible performances from our actors.
Theatre/radio production –
There needs to be a clear overview of the performance – coordination of venue, creatives, sales, marketing. If you want to see what it’s like to hold all the strings, come and assist our company director, Ellie, in the production of the whole show!
Eligibility
Open to Wandsworth residents and students aged 16-25.
No previous experience required.
Dates/Hours
Please note you will definitely need to be available for the rehearsals, get in/technical rehearsal, and performances, as follows:
Sunday 6th June, 11-6pm (Tooting, venue TBC)
Sunday 13th June, 11-6pm (Tooting, venue TBC)
Sunday 27th June, 11-6pm (Tooting, venue TBC)
Saturday 3rd July, 9am-5pm (The Big Top, King George’s Park, Wandsworth, SW18 2GJ)
About the show
Following their award-winning production of The Final Adventure of Frankie Fightwell by Chris Buxey (Stage Door New Writing Award 2018), Blackshaw Theatre Company returns to the Wandsworth Arts Fringe with a radio play recorded in front of a live audience (hilarious sound effects included).
Miss McSkimming takes to the high seas in her second adventure, presented by Blackshaw Theatre. Expecting a pleasant transatlantic cruise, Miss McSkimming must instead deal with a missing companion and a series of mysterious thefts, all whilst trying to avoid panic amongst her fellow passengers.
A rollicking comedy with mysteries abounding, this piece promises to delight audiences, young and old!
The show will run alongside a series of educational outreach events – a radio playwriting and producing workshop at the Putney Arts Theatre, a Q&A with the show creators, and 1-3 internships for Wandsworth residents and students wanting to gain experience in producing theatre and radio.
Supported by Wandsworth Arts Fringe.
Saturday 3rd July, 1pm
The Big Top, King George’s Park, Wandsworth, SW18 2GJ
About writer, Richard Stratton
Richard Stratton has written several plays for Blackshaw Theatre Company, including Some Treachery: A Miss McSkimming Mystery and new adaptations of Alice in Wonderland and Gormenghast: Titus Groan.
About Blackshaw Theatre Company
Blackshaw is a theatre production company, championing new writing and adaptations on stage and in audio.
We’re proud to work with an extensive network of artists and professionals in our South London homeland and beyond. Blackshaw and our whole network believe in embracing a wide range of disciplines, sharing knowledge, and supporting fellow theatre practitioners to create great work.
Founded in 2010, our productions include new works; The Final Adventure of Frankie Fightwell by Chris Buxey (2018 – Putney Arts Theatre); Some Treachery: A Miss McSkimming Mystery by Richard Stratton (2017 – Putney Arts Theatre); Black Shuck by Duncan Hands (2016 – Old Red Lion Theatre), Staying Alive by Kat Roberts (2015 – Pleasance Theatre), Fetch by Duncan Gates (2014 – Selkirk Upstairs); Audience with the Ghost Finder by M. J. Starling (2013 – Selkirk Upstairs & Etcetera Theatre), and Character by Florence Vincent (2014 & 2015 – Selkirk Upstairs & Tristan Bates Theatre); as well as adaptations of Gormenghast: Titus Groan by Mervyn Peake (2012 – The Actors’ Church, Covent Garden) and Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (2014 & 2015 – Selkirk Upstairs, Battersea Library & The British Home).
Our podcast, ‘The Blackshaw Arts Hour’ includes the latest arts news and reviews, as well as one-off radio dramas, serials, and live performances.
Reviews for Blackshaw
Scare Slam, 2019
“All the performances were amazing…a fantastic production” – The Strand Magazine
The Final Adventure of Frankie Fightwell, 2018
“a real treat…great fun” * * * * – Pocket Size Theatre
“The ace up the sleeve of the show though is the brave move of having the Foley (sound effects) recorded live…plenty of laughs” – A Younger Theatre
Alice in Wonderland, 2014/15
“…creative, imaginative and seemingly effortless style…The whole performance buzzed with energy, fun and joy.” * * * * * – London Theatre 1
“this production provides something for everyone…The fun-filled show brims with chaos, madness and high jinks…the wild but classic tale of Alice in her fantastically retold Wonderland.” – A Younger Theatre
“an imaginative production…highly entertaining and engaging…a fun afternoon adventure” – Everything Theatre
Testimony from volunteers we’ve worked with before –
“Blackshaw Theatre are an inspiring theatre company and I had a great time working with them over the last year and a half. They are a very welcoming and talented group of people who really made me feel part of the company from day one. This was my first ever job in the Arts, it really gave me an insight into the Theatre Industry.”
– Emma, Press and External Communications Officer
This is a voluntary, unpaid post, but travel and food expenses will be covered.
Safeguarding children and vulnerable adults policy, available on request.
Application Deadline: 5pm, Thursday 27th May 2021
Apply now.
Looking back at…Behind the Scenes
Some of the most joyful moments in the last 10 years of Blackshaw making work, have been all about the making. Behind the scenes, the creation of shows has been busy and beautiful. The joy has been standing on a bookcase, taking a selfie between rehearsing scenes, having a nap, cleaning grubby chairs, recording a voiceover under a pile of coats, gripping camera kit on a windy beach, doing a quick change in a library…
Looking back at…The Blackshaw Arts Hour
In 2015 we began a weekly, and later, fortnightly, magazine-style culture show on Wandsworth Radio (now Riverside Radio). It included regular segments such as Matt Boothman’s film review, Vikki’s Arts things of the week, and Strat and Alex do Art, as well as interviews with industry folk and behind the scenes content for Blackshaw’s show. Later, we created and broadcast exciting radio drama, such as a serial adaptation of ‘Great Expectations’, new writing ‘Audience with the Ghost Finder, and many more!
After 100 episodes, we retired our radio mic, but have continued to produce some superb standalone audio drama. You can listen to the cracking catalogue of our radio show, as well as all that audio drama, on our podcast channel.
The 100th (and final) episode of the radio show, gives a great look back and highlights reel – have a listen!
Looking back at…The Final Adventure of Frankie Fightwell
by Chris Buxey
11-12th May 2018, Putney Arts Theatre
Performed in front of a live audience, with live foley (sound effects), this new radio play by Chris Buxey is a dark comedy about principles, money and the importance of family.
Stuart is the author of the beloved Young Adult literature heroine, Frankie Fightwell. While writing the next book in the series, Stuart realises that there might be more than just the usual vampire sharks and giant Nazi man-spiders preventing Frankie from making it to the end of her latest adventure!
We enjoyed the last live audio play so much we decided to do it all again. We had a larger live foley team for Chris Buxey’s delightfully camp, nazi spider romp. And safe to say it was a real treat for the audience and creative team. Oh, and it won Stagedoor’s Wandsworth Arts Fringe 2018 New Writing Award.
CAST
Tom Slatter – Dominic/Viktor
Abigail Morgan – Frankie/Rachel
John Rayment – Stuart
CREATIVES
Ellie Pitkin – Director/Producer
Andrew Crane – Sound/Foley Designer
Vikki Weston – Producer
Megan Barbour – Foley Team/Intern
Charlotte Bishop – Foley Team/Intern
Alec Mills – Foley Team
Betty Smith – Foley Team/Intern
Looking back at…Some Treachery: A Miss McSkimming Mystery
by Richard Stratton
13th May 2017, Putney Arts Theatre
A live radio play (hilarious sound effects included). A seemingly trivial case soon reveals a dastardly plot that could shake the very foundations of the British Empire. With her faithful valet by her side, Miss McSkimming must get to the bottom of it.
What do you do when you love new writing, audio drama and live theatre? Combine them all of course! The first of our live foley extravaganzas, Some Treachery, set the bar very high. Richard Stratton’s script and the interplay between the foley team and the actors created a brilliantly intriguing spectacle for the audience.
CAST
Jessica Bailes
Ellie Pitkin
Chris Starkey
Helen Stratton
Richard Stratton
CREATIVES
Director – Ellie Pitkin
Live Foley – Andrew Crane
Live Foley – David Turnbull
Sound engineer – Rebecca Hitchcox
Recording Manager – Vikki Weston
Looking back at…Black Shuck
by Duncan Hands
11-19th May 2016, The Bedford
11-15th October, The Old Red Lion Theatre
“Sea-eagle to coot, come in please, can you hear me? Over.”
“Yes, yes, bloody yes!”
Rucksacks… Check. Walkie-Talkies… Check. Hip flask… Check. Gun… gun?!
Ruminating on the local myth of ghostly dog ‘Black Shuck’, two (inept) would-be smugglers await a shipment on the Norfolk Coast. Join us, where comedy meets horror in this hour-long new play by Duncan Hands.
Another bit of new writing being championed by Blackshaw you say? It’s almost like we have an MO…Duncan Hands blended the mystical, farcical and mundane in this black comedy. Rachel Nott and Alexander Pankhurst’s onstage chemistry really brought the whole thing to life. Special mention goes to Andrew Crane for once again delivering the quality aural goods to create the spookiest of atmospheres.
engaging and dynamic…boundless energy and spirit…a little bit silly, a little bit scary and thoroughly worth a watch!
Theatre Bubble
a brilliantly written short piece…Rachel Nott is amazing…Art is played wonderfully by Alexander Pankhurst
London Theatre 1
a taut play that manages to walk the tightrope of genres but playing to the strength of all
Female Arts
CAST
Martha – Rachel Nott
Art – Alexander Pankhurst
Mr Big (voice only) – Tom Slatter
Fisherman (voice only) – Duncan Hands
CREATIVES
Director/Producer – Ellie Pitkin
Sound Design – Andrew Crane
Sound and Lightening Tech – Andrew Crane
Set and Costume Designer – Michelle Bristow
Set Builder – Tom Hurling
Design Assistant – Sophia Debus
Promotional Images – Robin Savage Photography
Production Photography – Richard Stratton
Looking back at…The Scare Slam & Halloween Tales
Halloween Tales, 30th October – 1st November 2014, The Selkirk Upstairs
‘You think it’s all me and it’s not. It’s not always me.’
It starts as a normal night-shift – and then you start to see double…
Duncan Gates’ chilling short play, Fetch, alongside some spooky fireside stories, formed our first foray into scary short stories. Halloween Tales was almost certainly the spooky seed from which did grow the horror-bloom: Blackshaw’s Annual Scare Slam.
The Whistling Room by William Hope Hodgson, read by M. J. Starling
Wailing Well by M. R. James, read by Duncan Gates
Fetch by Duncan Gates
There’s a bunch of lovely photos, interviews, and behind the scenes joy available to browse.
CAST
ROSIE MARSH Ally (Fetch)
BRYONY TEBUTT Vic (Fetch)
ALEX YAGHMA Col (Fetch)
M. J. STARLING Storyteller
DUNCAN GATES Storyteller
CREATIVES
ELLIE PITKIN Director & Producer
MICHELLE BRISTOW Set & Costume Designer
ANDREW CRANE Sound Design/Tech Operation
The Scare Slam, annually, October 2014-present
From the mind of Blackshaw associate, Helen Stratton, the Scare Slams were born. Over the years (we’ve done 5) the Scare Slam has been performed at The Horse & Stables, The Old Red Lion, and The Pleasance Theatre, as part of the London Horror Festival.
The show has provided a platform for the telling of terrifying short stories and poems. All in the dead of night. To the gentle hiss of a geriatric smoke machine…
Scare Slam 2015
Scare Slam 2016
Scare Slam 2017
Scare Slam 2018
Scare Slam 2019
You can drip some fear into your ear, and listen to the audio of the Scare Slams, whenever you like.
Blackshaw Theatre 