Yours,

The SHADY DOLLS

We hope you have been enjoying the erratic, glorious British summer. The Shady Dolls have been on a well earned break of late, but there are things brewing in the camp, and we're not talking tea! Keep your eyes peeled for the latest goings-on and exciting things to come from your favourite shady ladies.

P & B & L 

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This one-off “proof of concept” presentation is funded by the prestigious ‘Knowledge East’ (KE) - the business-focused network of the nine major universities in East and South East London. Its projects draw on the skills and enterprise of the faculty, graduates and visiting professionals of these institutions, whose practice in digital media and mediated performance reaches across the region’s network and beyond. 

The Spoils ‘Simultaneous Performance’ Project was initiated by KE in 2009 as a practical means of testing how the theatre can respond to the digital age and embrace the challenges posed by new channels for cultural ‘performance’.  This is the fruition of that initiative.

The genesis of the project lies in the musical stage play The Spoils written by playwright-director Steven Dykes and composer Paul Englishby. Commissioned by Shady Dolls in 2007, it was first staged at the Edinburgh Festival and revived last summer for a short tour to Spain and for the ‘Grimeborn Festival’ at the Arcola Theatre, London.

The Spoils story of occupation, interrogation and surveillance lends itself perfectly to further investigation and dramatization through the application of new interactive media. Our aim is the creation of a multi-perspective installation drawing on the diverse talents of our regular collaborators at NXT (New Cross Theatre) and our new KE partners, most significantly Liam Hayter and his RaveMedia team at Ravensbourne, who'll be designing and supplying the vital interactive/broadcast aspects of the project. 

Some of you may have caught the live streaming of our performance of The Spoils at the Sala El Granero Theatre in Cuenca, Spain last July. This re-imagining of the play takes things a step further. We have adapted the scenic design of the original play into an Installation Piece for a Promenade Audience, utilizing the wonderfully atmospheric old Manor House at Rose Bruford. The linear narrative of the play is now fragmented and each audience navigates its own route through the action. On-line viewers will be able to access each of the performance spaces and conduct their own intimate surveillance.

We hope you will join us for this unique - and frankly terrifying - experiment!

To watch this special performance of The Spoils on Tuesday 13 April, click HERE at 6pm and follow the link.