Faith, hope & gaffertape

We are pleased to confirm the dates for Theatre Week 2011:

Saturday 30th July – Saturday 6th August 2011
Crossways Centre, Yardley Hastings, Northamptonshire

Open to 16 – 25 year olds
Show TBC

One of the people who came to see Beauty and the Beast loved it so much she wrote in to the local Northampton newspaper to tell them. Thank you, you’ve made our year!

Theatre Week number 5 (and I am nowhere near the longest running participant); after attending so many you don’t really think it can get any better. How wrong that judgement was. Theatre week 2010 was spectacular.

It was all rather exciting when the 8 of us who had travelled from Dorset, arrived late and were greeted by the director Chris, shrouded in a black cloak squealing ‘Welcome’ in our faces. Three at a time we were lead through the ‘Kingdom’ to our ‘sleeping chambers.’ That’s one of the beauties of theatre week; it really does begin the moment you set foot in the door. And what a lovely door indeed. This door would lead to where we were to live, eat, rehearse, laugh and cry and for a week; Yardley Hastings. You see, I never really understood the hype that other previous theatre weekers had about Yardley, until theatre week 2009. And spending my second year there, I couldn’t think of a more perfect place to hold such a special event. It’s rather rare to have a four story building to yourself, with bathrooms, a self- catered kitchen, various rehearsal places and a chapel for worship. Not only that but the staff and the village surrounding the place are full of the kindest, most generous people I’ve met. I mean, when a woman from the village drives home for acetone to remove the paper super glued to your best friend’s foot, you know you’re with good people.

It may seem crazy, but despite the fifteen hour days and the colossal challenge of trying to rehearse, make set, learn music and perform a musical in about 4 days, theatre week is a place of calm. Many describe it as being inside a bubble. My experience of this bubble has been a place where no-one judges you, where you always feel loved and the fact you share a week with so many people who want to put on an amazing show. And Theatre Week’s 2010 show; Beauty and the Beast, pretty much defines amazing. My jaw dropped at the auditions as so much talent was unveiled. What is even more beautiful about these talented people is the humble nature of everyone. It’s not like Theatre as you imagine. Of course there is the small hint of competition; no-one would audition if there wasn’t. But the moment the cast list goes up the professionalism of ‘We have a show to do’ kicks in. That’s what astounded me even more this year, just how professional the show and the people were.

Theatre Week has definitely grown so much. But so have I grown with Theatre Week. Performing arts was something I hadn’t even considered as a career path before I joined Faith, hope & gaffertape, now I am about to start a degree in Drama and Theatre. This isn’t to say that everyone there wants it as a career. On the contrary, the fact that participants are trained secondary school science teachers or about to study criminology, just demonstrates the diversity and acceptance that such a company values. At Theatre Week not only are you sharing seven days with people who love the arts and want to produce a fantastic show, but also with those who care deeply about one another and want to see each other achieve.

I would not be the person I am today without Theatre Week. I have met my best friends there, as well as strengthening friendships with the other people from Dorset I have dragged along in desperation to see what an absolutely magical week it is. Guess what? They loved it too.

Thank you Chris Mead, Olivia Flint, Caroline Flint and Matthew Flint for such beautiful memories and friendships. (And all the other Leaders who have been part of theatre week over the years.)

Written by Jade Cadby

We’ve been overwhelmed with praise for Beauty and the Beast. Thank you so much to everyone who’s let us know how much you enjoyed the show.

Here are a few of the comments we’ve received:

“Can I just say that it was an amazing performance, the actors, musicians and backstage staff were brilliant, I had 3 children with all of whom thoroughly enjoyed it, my 11 year old even said it was better that panto’s he’d seen at the the Derngate. Well done and I can’t wait to see if there’s another one next year.”

“Congratulations! We attended the show last night and were completely blown away by the enthusiasm and hard work which had obviously gone into the show. My children and my parents were just as impressed and it was so fantastic to see so many young people (I sound old saying that and I’m only 30!) really enjoying something they were so proud of. I have not attended any of your previous shows but will be singing your praises to everyone now that I have been fortunate to see one. Again, well done and please pass our thanks to the cast and crew for a truly great evening’s entertainment.”

“Amazing, amazing, amazing. Thankyou ALL so much for Thursday nights performance of Beauty and the Beast. How do you do it? Congratulations on continuing the great theatre tradition out of Yardley Hastings (well at least for the accommodation). Thankyou, Thankyou, Thankyou.”

“I just wanted to pass on my thanks for a fantastic show last night!! My 2 girls had a great time and thoroughly enjoyed themselves. The singing and acting was brilliant – well done to all concerned.”

“My friends and I came to the Thursday night performance, what a fantastic night, the show was great. All the performers were excellent it was a very professional. Thank you and the crew. God bless”

“Hi to you all, I just felt that I had to e-mail to let you know how amazing yesterday’s performance of beauty and the beast was. I’ll admit that we came with the thought that it wasn’t going to be much good when it wasn’t costing anything and that if it was that bad we could always leave early! How wrong could we be, we were all completely mesmerized, I had tingles down my back and by the end tears rolling down my face, it was fantastic! A new but Huge Fan of your company.”

“This performance was better than some of the West End shows I’ve seen.” This was what the Mayor of Northampton thought of our first performance of Beauty and the Beast last night.

Everything came together in true Gaffertape style as the songs, set, scenes, props, lighting, costumes, music and films created a magical show of hilarious action, heartfelt lines and a real sense of everyone in the cast and crew really enjoying themselves. The energy on stage was exceptional and as we continue to rehearse and make it even more professional, the performances tonight and tomorrow can only be better… although it’s hard to see how we could top last night.

Shadow puppets are out, films are in. We’ve been doing Theatre Week for a good few years now and the challenge of creating a musical from scratch in a week isn’t really enough. We like to look for additional complexities and more things to schedule in to the already-packed few days. As well as sublime stagecraft, Beauty and the Beast will offer a dazzling array of cinematic talent.

The last time Faith, hope & gaffertape ventured to create short films during Theatre Week as well as a whole musical was back in 2006 for Singin’ in the Rain. Then we had a handicam. This week we’ve got a professional film-quality camera so we can achieve shots like this:

This is a still from the first day of shooting. Even if you just come for the films, you won’t be disappointed. (But the show promises to be incredible too.)

We’re very excited to announce that the Mayor of Northampton has accepted our invitation to a performance of Beauty and the Beast and will be attending with her husband on Wednesday 4th August.

We’re getting the performances of Beauty and the Beast promoted as far and wide as possible! Here are a few of the sites it’s on, we’ll add more as we get them. If you know of any other sites we can put it on, please let us know!

Brit Events
Where can we go
Skiddle
The Cripps Hall Theatre
Shire and Soke
The United Reformed Church, East Midlands Synod