PROJECT HATCH
THE SOUTHEND THEATRE COLLECTIVE
We love theatre as a medium for telling stories. We believe that Southend deserves a vibrant & diverse cultural landscape. We want to bring a diversity of voices, stories, artists and audiences to theatre in Southend. We want to break down barriers to access & engagement with innovative, contemporary theatre. We want an environment in Southend to nurture theatre makers & professionals working in performance. We want to put Southend on the map as a crucible of new & exciting performance & ‘go to’ touring destinations.
Michelle is a theatre maker, director and facilitator. She is co-founder and Artistic Director of Essex based arts and theatre company, Blown Fuse Theatre. They make innovative projects for inquisitive minds. Working with the local community in initial stages of the creative process, authenticity of experience and inclusivity for all are at the heart of what we do. The company is made up of Michelle Barrington & Eleanore Frances, two female multidisciplinary artists wanting to create new performance possibilities by exploring the combination of storytelling, theatre and technology. They have secured funding for their projects from National Lottery Heritage Fund, Arts Council England, TNL Community Fund, Colchester City Council, Thurrock CVS and Postcode Places Trust.
Blown Fuse credits:
Lemons, Lemons, Lemons, Lemons, Lemons by Sam Steiner (2017 @ Clifftown Theatre, Southend and The Hen and Chickens, Islington.
Tape (devised by BFT) (2018 @ Clifftown Theatre, Southend and The Hen and Chickens, Islington and Brighton Fringe Festival. My-Dentity – a community art workshops with women in Southend @ Metal Southend (2019)
In Her Shoes – 2022 @ Twenty One Southend, Southend Museums, Harlow Shopping Centre, Metal Southend, Wat Tyler Park Basildon, Culver Square Colchester, The Meadows Shopping Centre Chelmsford (Chelmsford Fringe Festival).
In My Shoes – 2022 in partnership with Elevator Arts, a series of film workshops for young people. The final film was shown on the Big Screen at Focal Point Gallery and on our website here.
In 2019, she received an Arts Council Project Grant to explore the social, economic and environmental landscape of South Essex from a cross generational viewpoint of those who live in the associated towns and through oral storytelling and performance created ‘Estuary Re-Told’, a performance piece reflecting the real and imagined past, present and future identity of the area.
Hannah Brailsford is a performance storyteller, actor and creative arts practitioner. She has a particular passion for introducing and connecting communities through storytelling and inspiring others to tell their stories.
Her company Tiny Tales Storytellers provides storytelling to pre-school and Primary school children and their families and she is also creative director of Spinning Yarns Theatre which provides pop up storytelling and spoken word/music events for adult audiences in Essex & Kent. Her solo work is inspired by the landscape and the folklore connected with it and the female gaze/identity in folk tale and myth.
In 2022 she received micro commissions from Adverse Camber & 1Degree East to help develop ‘Quercus’, a solo piece focusing on the
relationship between Oaks and people both historically and now. The project involved research into the folklore of the Oak and focused on the decline in woodland in Kent and Essex and the challenges faced by diseases such as acute oak decline and is planned to tour open air sites across the two counties in 2024.
In 2021, she received a DYCP to explore her storytelling practice in relation to working collaboratively with other artists and art forms. This period of exploration lead to the development of ‘Skinned’ in collaboration with At Swefn’s Edge, an immersive -storytelling soundscape which takes European folklore around were-woman and lycanthropy to explore the idea of feminine identity in relationship to skin.
After graduating from Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts in 2011 with a degree in Technical Theatre, Rachel spent ten years working in the theatre industry in a variety of roles. She has designed the set and costumes for over 100 productions for London’s fringe scene, drama schools, touring theatre companies and youth groups.
She has also worked in stage management and in wardrobe. Her credits include ‘Follies’ at the National Theatre, ‘Pride + Prejudice Sort of’ at the Criterion, tech support at The Donmar Warehouse and Head of Wardrobe for Strictly’s Graziano Di Prima’s first UK tour.
Recently, she was also the install and de-rig prop supervisor for Harry Potter Forbidden Forest Experience in Manchester and Belgium.
She has also worked on many pantomimes including four at The Cliffs Pavilion in Southend; the last as Head of Wardrobe on ‘Aladdin’ with Diversity. She often alters costumes for their TV performances and dance tours.
She grew up in Benfleet and attended Westcliff High School for Girls. She did her work experience at the Cliffs Pavilion and with Bruce James Productions – a local touring theatre company. After working around the country as well as abroad, she decided to set up a theatre company, to write and produce shows and live events in her hometown. Show Up Productions produced ‘Stab in the Dark’ in 2019 – an immersive crime scene experience in a warehouse in Southend. During lockdown she has created several online pieces, which can be seen on at www.showupproductions.co.uk She also wrote and directed ROBYN HOOD – the first all female pantomime in 2022. This year Show Up Productions secured ACE Funding to produce their second all female panto LITTLE RED.
During the lockdown she also set up www.showupsouthend.com which promotes local creatives, resources and events
Alison is founder director of Elevator Arts CIC set up in 2020. Elevator Arts deliver life enhancing, transformative & empowering arts & drama projects with young people in Southend & South Essex. We work with communities experiencing disadvantage & multiple barriers to learning & inclusion. We have delivered projects with community partners such as South Essex Homes, Welcome To The UK, Trust Links & Project 49. Our projects are free to access for young people and are funded by a wide range of grant giving bodies including Arts Council England, National Lottery Community Fund, Southend’s Community Investment Board and Essex County Council.
Alison’s experience inc.:
Design & community outreach with acclaimed theatre companies Punchdrunk, Wildworks & Birmingham Opera Company. Co-Artistic Director, Left Luggage Theatre (Newcastle-Upon-Tyne) & First Floor Theatre (Nottingham). Commissions from Nottingham Playhouse, Contact & New Art Exchange. Three years as Learning & Development Officer at New Wimbledon Theatre (ATG).
Alison Garner has extensive experience as a producer & project manager of live events over the last 15 years in theatre & youth arts including: producing large scale community productions on the main stage at New Wimbledon Theatre (ATG);
producer & company manager for national small scale touring productions; developing & managing creative learning projects with a range of stakeholders including commissions from Nottingham City Council & Leicester City Council.
Anne is an actor, playwright and qualified Drama teacher. She has a BA Modern Drama Studies from Brunel University and an MA in Acting from Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts.
Other theatre credits include:
As You Like It, The Merry Wives of Windsor, The Comedy of Errors & Bartholomew Fair The Winter’s Tale (Shakespeare’s Globe); Macbeth (AFTLS – USA Tour); A Midsummer Night’s Dream & Julius Caesar (Storyhouse); Bill Bryson’s – Notes from a Small Island (Watermill Theatre); Princess Essex (UK Tour); Killing Jack, The Witchfinder’s Sister & Misfits (Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch); The Crucible (Royal Lyceum – Edinburgh); Women in Power (Nuffield Theatre); The Secret Keeper & Snow White and the Happy Ever After Beauty Salon (Oval House); Next Lesson (Pleasance Theatre); Winnie & Wilbur (Birmingham Rep)
Audio work includes:
Megamonster (Harper Collins); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (RSC/Harper Collins); Blackwater Mermaid (BBC Sounds) & United Kingdoms (BBC Radio 4)
As a playwright, Anne’s credits include:
Little Women (Storyhouse), Princess Essex (UK Tour) & Misfits (Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch). Anne has also written for BBC Radio 4, and is currently working on a new family play for the Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch in tribute to the Windrush Generation called, ‘A place for me?’ which is to tour next Spring.