Changing Shapes of Red Ladder, Rod Dixon's Tenure
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ROD DIXON ARTISTIC DIRECTOR: 2006 - Present Biography Rod became Artistic Director of Red Ladder Theatre Company in 2006, following his role as associate director at the Barbican Theatre in Plymouth. He also ran The Hub Theatre School in Cornwall and was an actor with several companies including Kneehigh Theatre. Directing credits for Red Ladder include Where’s Vietnam?, Forgotten Things, Riot, Rebellion & Bloody Insurrection, Ugly, Sex & Docks & Rock ‘N’ Roll, Big Society! Promised Land, The Damned United, The Shed Crew, Mother Courage and Glory. Rod is both a life-long Liverpool supporter and a believer in Proudhon’s principles of anarchy – the two might be connected. Mission Statement: To make theatre which celebrates, inspires and challenges young people, developing in them the desire and ability to express ideas and strengthen social and cultural cohesion. Artistic Policy: - To include young people in the creative process of making theatre - To embellish current text-driven practice by experimentation with new theatre practice – including working with other art forms - To inspire a new generation of theatre-makers through the quality and originality of our creative practice - To tour this work nationally, targeting young people who have little or no access to theatre - To seek international collaboration actively and to engage with theatre-making in troubled parts of the world – helping ordinary people investigate global issues - To create a reputation of a unique artistic process and a 21st Century style to compliment the reputation that precedes us - To continue to raise our local and regional profile particularly through enabling and inspiring emerging local artists - To celebrate and build upon Red Ladder’s 40 year history of making theatre 1 Contents - My Voice Was Heard But It Was Ignored - Connected - Smile Club - Wesele / Wedding - Brenda’s Got a Baby - The Parting Glass - Black Teeth and a Brilliant Smile - Glory - When We Were Brothers - Mother Courage and Her Children - The Last Seam - Cornermen - The Shed Crew - This Really Is Too Much - Leeds Lads - The Life and Soul - The Damned United - Rabbitskin - Hurling Rubble at the Sun - Hurling Rubble at the Moon - Nicobobinus - We’re Not Going Back - Wrong’Un - The Matchgirls - Playing the Joker - The Thing About Psychopaths - Sex & Docks & Rock & Roll - Promised Land - Big Society - Nor Any Drop - Ugly - Bittersweet Sunshine - Riot, Rebellion and Bloody Insurrection - Monday - Forgotten Things - Where’s Vietnam? - Doors - This Life Was Given To Me - Kaahini 2 MY VOICE WAS HEARD BUT IT WAS IGNORED DIRECTED BY: WRITTEN BY: DECEMBER 2020 Dermot Daly Nana-Kofi Kufuor A Red Ladder Theatre Company production with support from Oldham Coliseum Theatre 15 year-old Reece is roughly accosted by the police outside M&S. His young, Black teacher Gillian witnesses it all – but she doesn’t question or intervene in the disturbing scene that plays out. As the hard and wet gravel embosses Reece’s face and the policeman’s knee digs into his back, his teacher stands frozen, with fears for her own safety engulfing her mind. The consequences of her lack of action erupt the following day. Gillian finds herself locked in a classroom with her angry student. With no clear intent, Reece refuses to relinquish the key. He wants her to feel the irreversible breakdown of trust. He wants her to pay – and to know his pain. A gripping tussle of power and an urgent interrogation of racial identity, written by emerging playwright Nana-Kofi Kufuor and directed by Dermot Daly Links and further information: http://www.redladder.co.uk/whatson/my-voice-was-heard-but- it-was-ignored/ CONNECTED DIRECTED BY: WRITTEN BY: APRIL – JULY 2020 Rod Dixon Chris O’Connor & Paul Fox Paul and Danny meet every Wednesday for a pint after work. It has been a tradition for three years, and 2020 is no different. But 2020 is different. And as the weeks continue the reality of this new world dawns upon them both and we see how they react as the world starts to fall into chaos all around them… Paul and Danny are connected, and so are all of us. Connected was commissioned by Red Ladder to be broadcast as a 15-part podcast series in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. The show was written by Chris O’Connor and Paul Fox, performed by Stevie Ward and Paul Fox, directed by Rod Dixon, with sound by Dom Smith and is produced by Red Ladder Theatre Company in association with Mantality. Music was composed and performed by Claire-Marie Seddon with lyrics by Chris O’Connor and Claire-Marie Seddon. Connected remains available on Red Ladder’s Podcast, which should be on all good podcasting apps. It is also available via Red Ladder’s Soundcloud here: https://soundcloud.com/user-676480749 Links and further information: http://www.redladder.co.uk/whatson/connected/ 3 SMILE CLUB DIRECTED BY: WRITTEN BY: MARCH 2020 Rod Dixon Andrea Heaton & Adam Z. Robinson Welcome to Smile Club. Life’s so much better when you smile. Everyone knows that. So go on – give us a smile. Meet Lisa, a Smile Club attendee. Lisa’s been through it all and she now knows – beyond a shadow of a doubt – that nobody likes a girl who makes a fuss; nobody likes girl who can’t take a joke. She knows too, that life is simpler when you let things go. And she certainly has. All of it. Join Lisa as she presents the perks and rewards of being a Smile Club Member. Hear about her descent into dejection, rage, and bloody violence, before her remarkable transformation into the smiley, well-adjusted human you see before you today. Set in a dystopian world in which a government drive exists to tame and prune unruly women deemed unable to fit into society, Smile Club is a pertinent, thrilling and richly comedic piece of theatre. Smile Club opened in March 2020, and completed only half of it’s performances before the Covid-19 pandemic dictated the shut down of all live performance. The show was brilliantly received: ‘Heaton is a commanding storyteller who keeps the twists and turns coming – not to mention the feminist rage’ The Guardian ★★★★ ‘Smile Club is hard-hitting and ingenious – and the satirical punch fairly often comes with a laugh.’ The Reviews Hub ★★★★ ‘You will not forget Smile Club in a hurry.’ The Culture Vulture Links and further information: http://www.redladder.co.uk/whatson/smile-club/ WESELE/WEDDING DIRECTED BY: WRITTEN BY: March 2020 Patrizia Paolini Margot Przymierska Presented by Red Ladder Theatre Company on the Northern Social Circuit: An immersive one woman show rooted in the European tradition of absurdist political comedy with a Polish-English love story at heart. It’s the last Polish-English wedding before the Brexit- imposed borders close around the UK, sealing it off from the rest of Europe. The MC invites all the guests to take part in wedding games and Disco Polo singalongs in a bid to keep the international community together. She needs this wedding to go off without a hitch. Will she succeed? This comic (and at times dark) collage of authentic and fictional migrant stories told by a real-life wedding MC uses stand-up, storytelling and physical theatre modes to subvert Polish and British cultural and gender stereotypes. The show examines and challenges the role of tradition, folklore, national identity, religion and family bonds, and investigates how they shape society’s perceptions of itself and the ‘other.’ Celebratory and uplifting, Wesele / Wedding is also an unexpectedly moving and politically relevant meditation on the dangers of populism and of borders – both physical and mental. “A fresh angle on the popular topic of Brexit and a charismatic performance from Margot Przymierska” A Younger Theatre 4 Links and further information: http://www.redladder.co.uk/whatson/wesele-wedding/ Brenda’s Got a Baby DIRECTED BY: WRITTEN BY: OCTOBER 2019 Bloomin’ Buds Bloomin’ Buds Presented by Red Ladder Theatre Company on the Northern Social Circuit: Brenda is 16 and pregnant. Amy, her older sister, is the first in her family to go to university. As one sister finds it hard to fit in at university with her council estate background, the other is discovering that becoming a mum is not what she thought it might be. As friends disappear and finances tighten, the sisters confront and confide in each other about their increasingly challenging lives. Based on interviews with working-class women in Bradford, Brenda’s Got a Baby is a new verbatim play by Bloomin’ Buds Theatre Company that explores the challenges that these two working class women face. The show tours to Red Ladder local venue St John’s Parish Church in Staincross after a run in New York and stars real-life sisters Jenny and Katie Mahon. ‘A spectacular piece of theatre… Bloomin’ Buds’ brand of social commentary through drama will soon be gracing stages far more hallowed than that of our university… A complex issue has been discussed maturely and effectively, tied up in a narrative as spellbinding as it is familiar.‘ The Gryphon (Leeds University) review ‘Brenda’s Got a Baby makes its points clearly and with enjoyable performances’ ★★★★ The Stage Links and further information: http://www.redladder.co.uk/whatson/brendas-got-a-baby/ THE PARTING GLASS DIRECTED BY: WRITTEN BY: SEPTEMBER – OCTOBER 2019 Rod Dixon Chris O’Connor Can you ever really know what someone’s going through? Jim’s always been a bit of a character – cracking jokes, telling funny stories, the life and soul of the party. You’ll most likely find him down the pub with his mates, or at the footie. A Leeds lad through and through, just like his Dad.