That’s That.

A huge thank you to everyone who came to see Hamster Town. I had a great time and really hope to be able to take the show out on tour, in the future.

Click here for full credits for the show, including all the people who came into rehearsals with me and were so generous with their ideas and my long list of thanks to people without whom the show wouldn’t have made it onstage.

Most memorable performance?  Without doubt, the show with an audience of two.  We chatted and got to know each other as I was starting the show and they were as excited as I was by this unexpectedly intimate kind of performance.  It was a real experience and a pleasure to tell the story to just two people.  Though I’m relieved that audiences for the other nights were rather more substantial!

The Camden Fringe continues until the end of the month and Camden People’s Theatre has more great shows coming up.

Don’t miss Autojeu’s How To Climb Mount Everest, from Friday 19th to Sunday 21st August.  The Director trained at the Phillippe Gaullier school in Paris, which is the Lecoq school’s deformed but delightful slightly younger brother.  It promises “puppetry, mime and audience interaction”.  What more could one want?

If you’re in Edinburgh, click here for details of my former Lecoq classmates’ shows: Shutterland and Flynch, Looking.

Please stay in touch and come back soon for news of future projects.

David xx

Reviews round-up

Only three performances of Hamster Town to go!

Don’t miss this mega-awesome chance to see theatre described thus:

“a character of literary worth by a theatre maker I’ll be looking out for in the future”
Spoonfed

“ability to take the quaint and turn it into something almost Lynchian is wonderful… oddly compelling… very enjoyable”
Exeunt Magazine

“a fine little hairy gem of a show”
Snipe

“a powerful story”
On The Fringe Paper

“a splendid performance, overflowing with bravura and promise”
Fringe Review

“wonky, lovely aceness”
Simon Kane

Shows today, Tuesday, Wednesday at 7.30pm, Camden People’s Theatre.

Morning all.

Hamster Town is steaming ahead.  Click here to read Spoonfed’s brilliant review.  The show is on every night at 7.30pm until 17th August.  Please come along!

Once you’ve made it as far as Hamster Town, you should stick around for Simon Kane’s superb show Jonah Non Grata, straight after mine at Camden People’s Theatre.

And for your daytimes… I’ve already hyped the Miro exhibition at Tate Modern but will do so again.  I’m still lost in brightly-coloured Catalan reverie.  I’ve seen a fair bit of Miro in my time but this exhibition took my breath away.

Ron Arad’s installation at The Roundhouse is also superb.  Pop by any time during the day for projections inside a beautifully curated space.

I was taken to The Roundhouse yesterday by a lighting designer I was meeting for the first time.  As we chatted, I asked what she loved about lighting.  She said, “Hiding things.”  What a brilliant answer.

David xx

"a character of literary worth… a great portrait of a lonely, well-meaning man by a theatre maker I’ll be looking out for in the future"

Review by Naima Khan at Spoonfed.  Read the whole thing here.

"Ralfe’s ability to take the quaint and make it something almost Lynchian is wonderful… there’s something in Ralfe’s strange relationship with the animal which is oddly compelling and he’s such an affable, engaging performer that this makes for a very enjoyable hour."

Review from Exeunt magazine, read the whole thing here. 

Blitz spirit

Strange doing a show about locking the door and ignoring the hostile world outside whilst police sirens scream past the theatre windows.

Massive love to everyone who came last night, despite the turbulence.  I particularly enjoyed it yesterday. 

Some lovely people said lovely things on Twitter (scroll down).

David x

"… managed to see Hamster Town at the CPT. It was wonky, lovely aceness. Love is purchases"

Simon Kane on Twitter, last night.  Be sure to catch his show Jonah Non Grata at Camden People’s Theatre, 9pm each night, straight after Hamster Town.

"An interesting take on the male psyche. Or maybe it’s not gender specific or maybe it’s about a guy and his pet,"

said the Spoonfed reviewer on Twitter, last night.

Perchance

Just enjoyed a quietly domestic day off.  Now, to dream of entertaining you lovely people for another nine performances.

Book your tickets now!

“a gem of a show… thoroughly delightful”

Snipe Magazine

“a powerful story”

On The Fringe Paper

Night night xx

Photo: Zing Tsjeng

Hamster Town is still going strong.  Buy tickets by clicking the link at the top of the page.  And click here to read the latest review!

That was quick!

A review online already.  And it’s a good one!

“Let Slip convincingly builds the town with all the excitement of a child”

Click here to read the whole thing.

And come and see the show!

The Final Countdown

OPENING TOMORROW!  (TUESDAY)

Stop all the clocks, sound the alarms, yes, yes a thousand times yes we can-can put on a spectacular show.

GREAT NEWS!  

It’s 2 for 1 on the 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th of August if you buy your tickets on the door.

Or click here to book tickets for later in the run.

David x

Photo: Zing Tsjeng

Hamster Town credits

Created & performed by David Ralfe

Lighting design by Ralph Stokeld

Sound design by Daniel Crews

Illustrations & publicity design by Anna Trench

Artistic Collaborators: 

India Banks, Mine Ҫerçi, Frode Gjerløw, Christopher Harrisson, Edward Kiely, Gaëlle Ménard, Maria Mocerino

With thanks to: 

Freya Elliot and staff at Camden People’s Theatre; Michelle Flower & Zena Barrie at Camden Fringe Festival; Simon Bedford; Espace Jemmapes, Paris; Rob Smith & The Art Organisation, Nottingham; Fanny Dulin, TRAP rehearsal space & Exchange Theatre, London; Entente Cordiale and The British Council; Zing Tsjeng; Francesca Lindsay; Theo Herdman; Christina Hardinge; Carrie Topley; the Walker family; Claire Tucker and her pet hamsters; my former classmates at École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq.

What a handsome chap.

Photo: Zing Tsjeng