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Past Productions: Performances
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Shakespeare workshop

August 2020 in Myatt's Fields Park

An impromptu staged reading of an (almost) all-female, socially distanced version of Love's Labours Lost played to little boys on bikes, parents with toddlers, local retired people, artists and the local community in lockdown London.

Directed by Rosie Hilal

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Becoming Berenice

AN ELECTRO-MUSIC TRAGEDY IN VERSE

Adapted and translated by Rosie Hilal from Jean Racine's 1690 tragedy, Berenice

HISTORY OF THE PRODUCTION SO FAR:


Past Productions: Welcome


THANK YOU

January 2020

A huge thank you to our audience, our followers, our supporters, and to all our cast and team during Voila:

Artistic director, translator, exec producer - Rosie Hilal

Composer & MD- Tomas Wolstenholme

Director -  David Furlong

Assistant Producers - Fanny Dulin, Phil Morris, Amber Savva, Kai-Gene Meisenhauer

Movement - Jenn Kay

Choreography - Jose Triguero

Costume - Charlie Baptist

Make-up - Kyla LaGrange

Lighting and Tech - Berta Pibernat-Trias

Cast -

Cindy-Jane Armbruster - Phenice

Ariane Barnes - Arsace

Amanda Maud - Paulin

Matt Franco - Antiochus

Rosie Hilal - Berenice

Sam Lawrence - Titus

For a full list of thank yous to everyone who has helped develop the show, please go to our facebook page (Theatre Forge) or check out our social media.

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Becoming Berenice at Voila! Europe festival 2018

Oct 2018

Selling out three nights at the spacious Applecart Arts venue in East London we delighted new audiences, French and otherwise. Videos of audience responses can be found on our facebook page and social media! We have had interest from other venues and are exploring funding opportunities (as the show is large for a fringe production and we operate an Equity Contract policy). We are looking to publish the script along with a full run very soon!

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Longfield Hall rehearsals and RADA industry sharing

Summer 2018

Rada development gave us the opportunity to use their space again, this time to stage a public reading of Becoming Berenice which was attended by industry and academics from the French department of Cambridge University. The translation was well received and further development of the show encouraged. We thank all the actors involved on our facebook page (search Theatre Forge).

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Women At RADA reading

October 2017

Subsequently we were invited to perform a staged reading as part of the Women at Rada series. Their mission is to perform 100 plays written for or by women, to prove that these plays exist in their plenty.
Lucy Sheen, Sadie Clarke, Vivienne Gibbs, Jordan Mifsud and Gary Merry all rehearsed and performed this beautifully.

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RADA script development

August 2017

Lloyd Trott at RADA kindly offered to help us develop the script. RADA studios welcomed us and we culminated a week's hard graft of working through the entire play with three hoops and a scarf (!) with a staged read-through at the end of the week.
Alex Guelff, Pia de la Borde, Rebecca Scroggs, Olivia Vinall joined the FORGE crew as new members. We continued exploring the abstract movement and physical relationships of the characters.

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Circumpherence Theatre Space  - Physical Workshop

August 2017

I was invited to borrow Circumference's temporary rehearsal space in King's Cross (www.circumference.org.uk). We used hoop and rope to explore the physical language of Becoming Berenice, with actors Imogen Daines, Viv Gibbs, Will Wolfe-Hogan and Cindy-Jane Armbruster.

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Artists in residence at Theatre Deli - Scriptworkshop 1

December 2016

Not only did we explore the first draft of the translation in Theatre Deli's South London venue in local Burgess Park, but we also transplanted rehearsals onto the playground to see how this abstract outdoor venue might support the heightened text.
Verdict: Racine, unlike Shakespeare, is not suited for outdoor performances- the delicate rhymes and rhythms benefit from a more intense focus in an enclosed space.
We made sure our cast could bring their kids to the workshop as we believe in supporting parents in the performing arts.

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Past Productions: News & Updates
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