The Saving of Santa

Space Productions presents The SavingSTORY of Santa Written by Lobelia Golightly 20th-23rd December 2020 Painting by Silje Rettedal STORY Oh no! There’s something wrong with Santa. It’s up to chief elf ‘n’ safety officer Nordstrom, Aurora, the cleverest fairy and YOU, to save Christmas. Can you help overturn the dastardly deeds of revolting elves, Marmadron and Squelch before it’s too late? This delightful, original Christmas story was first staged at the Space in 2009. Updated and adapted as an interactive online Christmas adventure, to mark our 25th year, the Space is thrilled to revive this wonderful tale by Lobelia Golightly. *** DIRECTOR’S NOTE When we staged this back in 2009, alongside another original Christmas play, The Space Christmas Space Show (set in space) by Lucy Frederick, it was an opportunity to bring our professional in-house company, Space Productions and our participatory project, SpaceWorks, together. Co-directed by Sarah-Liisa Wilkinson, with some beautiful design from Irina Borisova, our wonderful cast created a magical Christmas story in the building. In 2020, we've embraced the challenges and opportunities that working on zoom brings - large polystyrene ice floes have made way for digital backgrounds, our cast has fewer fairies and elves but are equally wonderful (a lovely mix of those we've worked with over many years and those new to the Space this year) and we've upped the audience interaction. I hope you enjoy the results as much as we've enjoyed putting it all together. Merry Christmas! Adam Hemming Artistic Director CAST Baby Blossom & Mog Clementina Allende Iriarte Clementina graduated from East 15 Acting School in 2019 from the BA World Performance course. She has utilised her training to work with Latin American theatre in London over the last year including assisting directing White Latina and Invisible Museum. Her acting credits since graduating include; VICE (The Etcetera Theatre), Black Sails (UK Tour, The Turbine Theatre) and Ploutos (The Space). Mrs Claus & Seal Geraldine Brennan Geraldine has already contributed to the festive spirit this year with a voiceover in the Sainsbury’s Christmas ad. She also writes solo performance pieces (a recent piece, Art History, was included in the 2019 Space Christmas Cabaret) and contributes to ScriptSpace as a performer and reader. Other stage credits include Anfisa in The Three Sisters, Alonso in The Tempest (Cockpit Theatre) and Die Alte in A Bright Room Called Day (Bath Fringe Festival). Film includes Bardo with Feature One. Geraldine trained with the Actors Temple and the Salon:collective. Santa Damian Cooper Damian trained at Drama Studio London. Notable credits include Will Scarlet in the multi-award winning Hood series (Spiteful Puppet/BBC Radio 4), DC Santos in Noble Cause Corruption (Holy Mountain/BBC Radio 4), Benjamin Braddock in The Graduate (The Space), Semyon in The Suicide (The Space) and Scrooge in A Christmas Carol (National Tour). He also played Steve in Mikey The Pikey (Various), in which he won the Cameron Mackintosh Award. Having performed many times at The Space, including Manifesto, Comedy Of Errors and recently in Close At Hand, Damian is excited to be the Big Man himself and to be working on a fun Christmas show with so many friends old and new. CAST Squelch & Topper Amy Gough Amy trained at Arts Ed. Recent credits include: Jo in Little Women (The Space), Motherlogues (Greater Manchester Fringe), Sophie in Quiet Night In (The Space), U/S Louise in Carousel (Catford Broadway Theatre), Sophie in 10-33 Project (The Last Refuge), Jack in Jack and the Beanstalk (Tour). Film Credits: Sophie in Surprise Party and Rachel in True Fact (Threw A Glass Productions), WellChild Charity single (Metropolis Studios). Amy is really excited to be performing back at The Space this Christmas for their revival of The Saving of Santa. Girl Phoebe Hemming Phoebe is a co-host on the Space's weekly Live @ 5 Facebook broadcasts every Monday. Boy Amyran Khattran Phoebe and Amyran have performed in school plays and at Market Theatre in Hitchin. This is their first performance with the Space. CAST Marmadron Tice Oakfield Tice is currently co-hosting The Space Theatre Club. He has also been hosting the theatre’s yearly Early & Late Bloom Festivals. He recently performed in a ScriptSpace reading of Newbie. Other theatre credits include Mihai in Rock Paper Scissors, Adolph in Creditors and Ebenezer Scrooge in the UK tour of A Christmas Carol. Tice also works frequently as a voice over artist. He voiced Jeroen Dijsselbloem in A Greek Drama for BBC radio 4, and is the voice of Nickelodeon NL promos and the MTV EMA Awards. His own productions include The Fantastical Tale of the Boy on the Run, The Astonishing Singing Fish, The Musical Detective Agency, Me and My Leprechaun and Once Upon a Glass of Milk. He has also performed in a variety of concerts and commercial shoots throughout the UK and Europe. Training: BA in Musical Theatre at the Fontys Conservatorium (NL) MA in Classical Acting at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama Summer Course at the Moscow Art Theatre School (RU) Eldronida Sabrina Richmond Sabrina Richmond is a performer, writer and director with a background in journalism. She has performed in theatres across London. Upcoming is a piece for which she was commissioned by the Old Fire Station, Oxford - 13 Secrets about an intergenerational gathering of women on the eve of a wedding to talk sex. She is developing a one woman show as Oxford Playhouse Evolve Artist 2020/21. A Tamasha Theatre Playwright 2019/20. The Space has sponsored her for a bespoke playwrighting opportunity. She has directed work shown at venues such as Southwark Playhouse, Theatro Technis, Pleasance as well as Lion & Unicorn. CAST Aurora Annabel Smith Training: The Oxford School of Drama Theatre for The Space Includes: 2.0 Fest: Close At Hand, Spitfire Sisters, Manifesto, The One Fest: Flask and The Lighthouse Other Theatre Includes: The Upstart Crow (Gielgud), Turn Of The Screw (Mercury Theatre/UK Tour), The Dark Room (UK Premiere, Theatre 503), The Last Ones (Jermyn Street) Radio Includes: Road to Oxford (BBC Radio 4) Nordstrom Raphael von Blumenthal This is Raphael's fourth appearance at or with the Space in 2020, following a role in TwoFest's Welcome to Mine in early 2020, and staged readings of the ScriptSpace pieces The Door and Newbie. Other pandemic-year credits include Is It Ever Really Real? for the RCA, and a now postponed performance of the new piece Necessary Work with Matchstick Theatre, where he plays the young Prime Minister. As a German-Romanian Third Culture kid, he is especially keen on working on and with diaspora folk interested in national and cultural identity. Spotlight profile PRODUCTION TEAM Playwrights Lobelia Golightly Adaptation for zoom by Mike Carter Director Adam Hemming Producer Matthew Jameson Sound Designer Keri Mason Promotion Social Wonderland Production Assistants Melanie Oglesby Melisande Pibarot Additional voices Bertie Hemming Layla Newton Jack Norton British Sign Language Interpreter Martin Fox-Roberts Funders Arts Council England Franklyn James estate agents GALLERY .

Load more