Residency

In May 2014 UnderConstruction Theatre hosted a Theatre Scratch Residency at The Old Fire Station funded by Arts Council England and Oxford City Council

Our first Resident Artist was Steve Larkin poet, musician, spoken-word artist, and writer and performer of the critically acclaimed N.O.N.C.E.

Steve was awarded the Residency to develop his piece ‘TES’, Tess of the d’Urbervilles re-imagined in Post-Industrial Northern England performed as Spoken Word Theatre. TES “paints play-by-play word pictures” with dramatic storytelling and scatterings of musical, comical and political poetry.

Steve spent two weeks in the theatre from 11th May, alongside a team of professional artists and Josh Tomalin, AOFS Technical Manager, and Director, Lizzy McBain. He was also given an £1000 bursary to make the production happen, full marketing, technical and production support.

A residency diary on this blog outlines the process and ideas explored as he developed the work.

He performed the piece on the evening of Friday 23rd May, followed by a post-show discussion about the process.

“This fierce retelling of an old classic needs to be seen”, CVV Magazine, Canada