We are thrilled to announce that our first Resident Artist will be Steve Larkin, poet, musician, spoken-word artist, and writer and performer of the critically acclaimed N.O.N.C.E.
Steve has been awarded the Residency, to develop his piece, ‘TES’, a re-imagining of Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the d’Urbervilles. The piece sees Thomas Hardy’s tragic heroine Tess brought back to life in the 21st Century as a teenage boy from a Newcastle sink estate who is found to be the descendant of Romantic poet Lord Byron and can’t escape his subsequent tragic fate.
Steve will spend 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 will also be given a £1000 bursary to make the production happen, full marketing, technical and production support.
A residency diary on this blog will keep you up to date with the process and ideas being explored as he develops the work.
He will be performing the piece on the evening of Friday 23rd May at 8pm, followed by a post-show discussion about the process.
It promises to be an invigorating, whirlwind of a performance.
Tickets £5, available here.
The Theatre Scratch Residency is funded by Arts Council England and Oxford City Council Culture Fund.