A Morality Play For Our Times

We’ve had lots of support from Building Design magazine and they surpassed themselves at the end of our run at Blue Elephant Theatre by persuading renowned architects Kate Macintosh and George Finch to write reviews of Machines For Living!

Kate and George both worked for the Greater London Council in the 1960s, when our play is set, designing huge housing projects such as Lambeth Towers and Dawson’s Heights in Dulwich. We were lucky enough to spend a day with them whilst researching our show and it was a real pleasure to have them in the audience!

You can read their thoughts on the show in an article called ‘A Morality Play For Our Times’ (!) here.

With thanks to Elizabeth Hopkirk at Building Design

"Less about bricks and mortar than the tragedy of hope versus reality, it’s an informative and entertaining play that demands we look at its subject matter from a fresh perspective."

The Stage on Machines For Living, click here to read the full review

Trailer for Machines For Living by Let Slip

Machines For Living artwork by Christina Hardinge

That most magical time

Finally…

Into rehearsals for Machines For Living.  It came into being as a scratch in October 2011 and after seven more months of research and preparation we’re in the rehearsal room at last.

The research process has been a joy.  A week spent in the library at The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), afternoons spent watching documentary films and, best of all, interviews with residents of tower blocks and architects.

Now we’re spending our days making the show at the wonderful Blue Elephant Theatre, where Machines For Living will open on 22 May.

Click here for more about the show or here to see photos of our rehearsals.

We’ll be unveiling poster artwork and our video trailer very soon!

Very Important Article

Three cheers for this article on ‘devised theatre’ in today’s Guardian!

MACHINES FOR LIVING

Very soon, we’ll be announcing London dates for our brand new show Machines For Living!

Inspired by the architects who believed tower blocks would create urban utopias, Machines For Living tells the story of a couple who believe they can design life. 

The piece was first commissioned as a scratch peformance by The Blue Elephant Theatre in Camberwell.  Since then, the company has grown and we’re extremely excited about making Machines For Living into a full length piece for Spring 2012.

In the new year, we’ll be re-launching this blog and using it to sharing all the research we do for the show.

In the meantime, we invite you to head over to our brand new Tumblr.  It’s an online notebook where we share all the work we do to develop the show.

http://machines-for-living.tumblr.com

David x

Trunkated

Not long until Trunkated: a night of work-in-progress performances at the Blue Elephant Theatre in Camberwell, London, on Tuesday October 25th.

I’ll be performing alongside India Banks, who helped me make my last show, Hamster Town. 

We’ve spent the last few weeks researching and developing ideas about architecture and town planning. 

(There is functional and efficient performance he claims between artist and the hi-tech faith.)

The best thing we’ve found so far is this: 25 abandoned Soviet monuments that look like they’re from the future.

Tickets for Trunkated are free but should be reserved in advance.  Click here for all the details. 

See you there!

David x

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

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

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

What a handsome chap.

Photo: Zing Tsjeng

Nose twitching

Oh, there you are.

I took a short hiatus from the rehearsal diary.  I’ve been spending my time really getting to know this hamster.  Together, I think we’re staggering towards the light.

It’s been a real pleasure searching for the theatrical language with which to tell the story and finding exciting new bits of narrative along the way.

This rehearsal diary is a jolly difficult thing to write because I don’t want to give the plot away.  

Please come and see the show.  I think it’s going to be spectacular spectacular.

Book your tickets now, at www.camdenfringe.com

David & furry companion

x