Tag: costumes

Looking back at…Alice in Wonderland

On By elliepitkinIn 10th Anniversary, Alice, Alice 2015

adapted by Richard Stratton

3-18th May 2014, The Selkirk Upstairs
2-16th May 2015, Battersea Library
4-5th June 2015, The British Home

There have been many iterations of Alice in Wonderland, but I bet no others have involved a knitted tea pot. Brilliantly reimagined by Blackshaw stalwart Richard Stratton, it was performed three different times, on three different stages, with three different casts – all racing around, causing havoc and delight in equal measure. Every single show was sold out, every single time. What a rush. You didn’t have to be mad to be involved, but it certainly helped.

this ingeniously directed production by Ellie Pitkin showcases all the theatrical tricks one can imagine…this resourceful and clever production

Public Reviews

an imaginative production…highly entertaining and engaging…a fun afternoon adventure

Everything Theatre

tightly directed and precisely performed – and gloriously silly

Cumbria PR

2014 CAST

EMILY RAE – ALICE
NATALIE WINTER – MARCH HARE/DOOR 2
ANGELA FERNS – THE QUEEN OF HEARTS/SHOPKEEPER
DEAN BRAMMALL – MAD HATTER/DOOR 3 /FLOWERS
LIAM FLEMING – TWEEDLE DUM/SOLDIER 2/DOOR 4
ALEXANDER PANKHURST – TWEEDLE DEE/SOLDIER 1/DOOR 1
NATASHA GREEN – CHESHIRE CAT
CLARE HARLOW – WHITE RABBIT/CATERPILLAR

2014 CREATIVES

ELLIE PITKIN – DIRECTOR & PRODUCER
OLIVER GORDON – ASSISTANT DIRECTOR
ZAHRA MANSOURI – COSTUME & SET DESIGNER
ANDREW CRANE – SOUND DESIGNER & TECH OPERATOR
CHLOE WALTON – ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER
MATTHEW CONNELLY – ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER
JONELL ROWE – ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER
BRUCE ASHER – PUBLICITY DESIGN
VIKKI WESTON – PROJECT MANAGER/PUBLICITY
STANLEY WALTON – PUBLICITY & MARKETING
ROBERT HUGILL – PUBLICITY & MARKETING
BARNEY BARRON – PUBLICITY & MARKETING
NICK TATCHELL – PRODUCTION PHOTOGRAPHY
ZAK THOMAS – PRODUCTION PHOTOGRAPHY
MICHELLE BRISTOW – COSTUME & SET DESIGN ASSISTANT
SHINO MINAGAWA – COSTUME ASSISTANT
KIRSTY YOUNG – COSTUME ASSISTANT
NARA JEONG – COSTUME ASSISTANT

2015 CAST

EMILY RAE / RACHAEL STRATTON – Alice
ALEXANDER PANKHURST – Tweedle Dee/Caterpillar/Soldier 1/Door 1
NATASHA GREEN – Cheshire Cat
ROSIE MARSH – March Hare/Door 2
RICHARD STRATTON – Tweedle Dum/Soldier 2/Door 4
STEVE WICKENDEN – Librarian/Queen of Hearts
ALEX KHANYAGHMA – White Rabbit/Door 3/Flowers

2015 CREATIVES

ELLIE PITKIN – Director and Producer
MARCUS BAZLEY – Assistant Director
TEGAN CUTTS – Stage Manager
ANDREW CRANE – Sound & Lighting Designer & Operator
ZAHRA MANSOURI – Set & Costume Designer
MICHELLE BRISTOW – Associate Set & Costume Designer
VIKKI WESTON – Front of House Manager
SIMON ANNAND – Production Photography
ELLA OKEORE – Costume & Set Assistant
INEZ COONEN – Costume & Set Assistant
MARIA NOONE – Costume & Set Assistant
DODONA WHITE – Costume & Set Assistant
KATHERINE BURKE – Costume & Set Assistant/ASM

More about Alice 2014
More about Alice 2015

The Deceptive Wistfulness of The Selkirk’s Nachos

On By elliepitkinIn Alice, Character, Theatre, WAFFLeave a comment

It’s Friday 9 May, the 5th performance of Character has just come down and I’ve just consumed what I estimate to be my tenth or eleventh order of The Selkirk’s Nachos in a two-month period.  Its fair to say if there was unofficial sponsor for the Blackshaw’s current duo of productions, or at least its production team, it would be The Selkirk’s Nachos (which if you’re catching the shows in the final weekend, you may guess I can highly recommend). I’m now sat here with the overriding fear that I may end up writing a blog exclusively about nachos and for the first time in the six months since I first read Character, find I have a newfound empathy with Michelle, staring my own writers block in the face.  Although unlike Michelle, its not that I have nothing to say, rather I have too much.

Back in October I received a proposition from Blackshaw’s remarkable Commander in Chief, Ellie.  Blackshaw were mounting two productions for WAFF 2014: one a newly written play; the other a beloved children’s story in a wonderful new adaptation; with one cast, performing them in rep, above a pub and would I be interested in joining the adventure? What was there not to like? (And this was before I’d found out about the Nachos).

I think what I excited me the most about the project was the opportunity to work on two shows and the contrast between them.  Character is a darkly comic two hander with two incredible female roles, while Alice in Wonderland reimagines Lewis Carroll’s classic for its events to take place in the confines of a junk shop.  Starkly different (Character certainly isn’t for children) but somehow incredibly complimentary of each other it has been, and remains. a joy to discuss how men are like doughnuts one evening and the logistics of a gaggle of talking flowers the next.

We have had the rare and wonderful benefit of creating these two productions in the space in which they will be performed, creating ourselves a little home from home above The Selkirk just off Tooting Broadway. Over the last few months the space has slowly transformed itself simultaneously into Wonderland and Michelle and Freya’s secluded Cotswolds hideaway with a busy local pub still buzzing away below us.  Piece by piece our sickeningly talented company of actors have begun to flesh out the inhabitants of these worlds, now in full visual fruition thanks to the deign genius of Zahra Mansouri, to the point that I feel I will never be able to look at it in quite the same way again.  Indeed, once our affectionately nicknamed ‘cat wall’ is no longer in residence, something will definitely be missing.

We have another weekend of performances to come, before this particular adventure down the rabbit hole draws to a close, and this little jotting has been an amazing opportunity to reflect on a whirlwind and rewarding process. It’s been hectic, eclectic and downright hilarious at times, occasionally equitable to falling though a looking glass, but always gratifying.  I may have also consumed what I can only assume is an unhealthy amount of guacamole (although probably less than Emily, our Alice).  However, my inevitable avocado overdose is instantly made worthwhile every time a child chuckles through The Walrus and the Carpenter or you feel someone’s twinkling recognition of themselves in Freya and Michelle’s ‘mid-life’ crises.  Sharing those moments with those who’ve come to visit us above the Selkirk (and those who have yet to do so) is something that will certainly stay with me.

It’s now I realise that I was drawn to this project because of the differences between these two shows, but maybe they’re not so different after all, and perhaps I finally understand Ellie’s stroke of genius.  Both these stories are about getting lost, sharing the adventure along the way and finding your way back.

My only hope is that we can all share them again.

Oliver Gordon, Assistant Director, WAFF 2014.