Co-directed with Kaite O'Reilly: THE BEAUTY PARADE at Wales Millennium Centre 05-14 March 2020

"We are the secret moon squadrons. Dropped by moonlight to set Europe ablaze."

It’s the 1940s, deep in wartime, men are fighting on the front line and women don’t engage in armed combat; they keep the fires burning, the factories going, and the children fed at home. Or so we were told...

Pioneering theatre-maker Kaite O’Reilly collaborates with composer Rebecca Applin and performer/visual language expert Sophie Stone to expose one of the most unique operations of the Second World War; whereby ordinary women were plucked from obscurity and parachuted behind enemy lines.

These falling women, spiralling through the dark became saboteurs and silent killers. Sent to spy, to eavesdrop, to encourage the spilling of secrets.

The project’s code name? The Beauty Parade.

Kaite O’Reilly and Phillip Zarrilli co-directed the production.

TRAILER:

Tickets: http://bit.ly/BeautyParadeWMC Tocynnau: http://bit.ly/BeautyParadeCMC A Wales Millennium Centre & Kaite O'Reilly Production. It's the 1940s, deep in wartime, men are fighting on the front line and women don't engage in armed combat; they keep the fires burning, the factories going, and the children fed at home. Or so we were told...

For ticket information: www.wmc.org.uk

On tour to ITFoK, Thrissur, Kerala January 2020: workshop, lecture, and TOLD BY THE WIND

Amitesh Grover—Artistic Director of the 2020 edition of the International Theatre Festival of Kerala (India, ITFoK) has invited The Llanarth Group for the January Festival in Thrissur, Kerala. The festival officially begins on 20th January.

SCHEDULE: January 16-22, 2020

Pre-Festival Intensive Psychophysical Acting Workshop at the Calicut School of Drama (Thrissur): 16-17-18 January in association with and organised by Sreejith Ramanan in collaboration with ITFoK Festival. In the workshop I will introduce participants to psychophysical acting via my use of kalarippayattu, taiqiquan, and yoga in the training of the contemporary actor.

TOLD BY THE WIND performances at the Thoppil Bhasi Black Box Theatre, Thrissur: January 20, at 8:30pm and January 21 at 2pm

visit: http://theatrefestivalkerala.com/event/told-by-the-wind/

LECTURE: January 21 at 5:30pm Embodied consciousness: ’inner movement’ & the actor’s consciousnesswhere phenomenology, cognitive science, and performance meet

Based on my recently published book, (toward) a phenomenology of acting, in this lecture, I explore ‘the studio’ as a site for philosophical exploration--a site where the training/practices of the actor offer the possibility of “doing” philosophy “in the flesh”. Citing the reflexive practices of key historical figures who have focused on the actor’s embodied consciousnesss--Zeami (the founder of Japanese noh), Stanislavsky, Grotowski, and a South Asian understanding of acting--I explore “the studio” as a meeting place—a location where phenomenology and cognitive science can inform the actor’s embodied process as a form of “embodied enquiry”, and (vice-versa) where reflecting on the actor’s complex modes of embodying consciousness can inform developments in phenomenology and cognitive science. Defining the actor’s work as a mode of ‘embodied enquiry’ is an invitation to further re-consider the complexities of the actor/performer’s embodied experience, awareness, attention, and consciousness from ‘inside’ the act of performing--a location marked by bodily/sensory/experiential depth. This lecture will focus on a specific dimension of embodied consciousness in the lived experience of acting: the pre-articulate present, before words or thought. I will briefly reflect on how the perspective I have developed on acting as "embodied consciousness" is a result of my long-term engagement with and practice of kalarippayattu, yoga, and taiqiquan. My discussion will include first person accounts of the actor’s work in the pre-articulate present when performing Ota Shogo’s The Water Station. My analysis of acting in the pre-articulate present will elaborate Heidegger’s key concept of Befindlichkeit, and on Mark Rowlands’s notion of ‘Rilkean memory’. 

MEET THE ARTISTS: January 22 11:00-12:30 Kaite O’Reilly, Jo Shapland, and Phillip Zarrilli of The Llanarth Group in conversation about their work on TOLD BY THE WIND.

Directing Kaite O'Reilly's LIE WITH ME in Singapore with performances 7-9 November

I returned to Singapore September 29th to begin work with a wonderful group of eight actors at the Intercultural Theatre Institute on Kaite O’Reilly’s LIE WITH ME. Performances are scheduled for November 9-12 at the Esplanade Theatres on the Bay. Kaite was commissioned to write LIE WITH ME several years ago. Loosely based on and inspired by Schnitzler’s Le Ronde, LIE WITH ME is a series of eight two person ‘encounters’ taking place over an eight month period. O’Reilly has been revising her script to fit the Singapore context since our arrival. O’Reilly’s LIE WITH ME provides a series of moments of connection and/or disconnection. What lies do we tell each other and ourselves in order to survive in an increasingly ‘throw-away’ consumerist society? Are we able to form genuine relationship sin this unstable post-truth world?

I was fortunate to work with this group of actors two years ago—introducing them to the pre-performative training, and beginning to ‘touch’ some of Beckett’s shorter/later plays. This preliminary work two years ago has meant that we were able to ‘hit the ground running’ on arrival. It’s been a sheer pleasure returning to work with the cast that includes: Earnest Hope Tinambacan, Jin Chen, Regina Toon, Ted Nugent Fernandez Tac-an, Theresa Wee-Yenko, Tysha Khan, Wendy Toh, and Nour el Houda Essay (a.k.a. Yiseog).

It’s always wonderful to return to Singapore to work. In 2018 I was in Singapore directing O’Reilly’s And Suddenly I Disappear with a terrific UK/Singapore cast, working closely with lead Singapore artist Peter Sau and Access Path Productions toward the world premiere at the Gallery Theatre at the Singapore National Museum before touring the production to London’s Southbank Centre (Purcell Room) and on UK tour in September, 2018. I am fortunate to have a long-term relationship with ITI, with wonderful memories of teaching and/or directing such major productions as The Water Station (2004) and Attempts on Her Life (2010)—also performed at the Esplanade Theatre Studio.

If you happen to be in Singapore, please join us 7-9 November!!!

'richard III redux' selected as one of three finalists for the prestigious 2019 JAMES TAIT BLACK PRIZE IN DRAMA

We are very pleased to announce that richard III redux, co-authored by Kaite O’Reilly and Phillip Zarrilli was selected as one of three finalist scripts for the prestigious 2019 JAMES TAIT BLACK PRIZE IN DRAMA awarded annually for ‘innovation’ in playwriting. Written specially for Welsh performer, Sara Beer, it was fantastic that what O’Reilly describes as a piece of “radical crip culture” was named a finalist for the award along with James O. Harris’ Slave Play (produced by New York Theatre Workshop) and Clare Barron’s Dance Nation (produced by the Almeida). [Clare Barron was awarded the prize, and we congratulate her!]

Phillip Zarrilli and Kaite O’Reilly, along with Clare Barron (middle/blue) and James O. Harris (far right) with some of the MA playwriting students from Edinburgh University at the ceremony on 19th August.

Visit the URL below for the Edinburgh Reporter article about the ceremony, including short interviews with O’Reilly/Zarrilli, Barron, and Harris.

https://www.theedinburghreporter.co.uk/2019/08/james-tait-black-prize-for-drama-2019-the-winner-is/

O’Reilly and Zarrilli at the ceremony.

With the wonderful Sara Beer who gave a superb reading of the final scenes of richard III redux as part of the ceremony.

cork midsummer festival officially announces programme: performances of kaite o’reilly’s ‘cosy’ June 18-22…directed by phillip zarrilli

Produced by Gaitkrash, the WONDERFUL cast includes Bernadette Cronin, Chrissie Reicke, Mairin Prendergast, Regina Crowley, Pauline O'Driscoll, and Sara Beer, and stellar production team. COME JOIN US IN CORK in June.

Kaite and I will be in discussion of Seamus O’Mahony (Consultant and author) on 21 June.

At this year’s Cork Midsummer Festival a powerful all female cast of six, (playing ages 16 to 76 years) present a provocative, honest, and at times laugh-out-loud work that tackles the last great taboo.

We all have to die. ​Cosy​ is a darkly comedic play that explores the joys and humiliations of ageing and how we shuffle off this mortal coil. The escalating tensions between three generations of a dysfunctional Cork family raises questions of what choices we really have in a world obsessed with eternal youth, and whether we truly own ourselves.

"Cosy.​ ... will make your heart pump and your belly shake." (Arts Scene in Wales)

Rose wants an exit plan that is bold and invigorating, but her three warring daughters have other ideas. What makes a good death? Everyone seems to have an opinion; Rose’s daughters, her precocious granddaughter and even the strange Welsh woman taking refuge in the garden...

Cosy​ is an inclusive production for a mainstream audience, exploring universal ethical issues of life, death, and our relationship to the medical profession.

Playwright Kaite O’Reilly said: “Often it seems we're in denial about two great truths - that we will probably age, and certainly, eventually, die. As a playwright, this is wonderful material to explore, filled with opportunities for humour, strong viewpoints and complex human emotions. To laugh in the face of both is I think the best revenge.”

Director Phillip Zarrilli said: “​You’ll begin by laughing. And then you’ll laugh some more. And then you’ll start recognising familiar family dynamics and laugh some more. And then you’ll begin to reflect. And then you might feel sad. And then you’ll laugh some more. And then you’ll want to have a family discussion about three important, closely related subjects we all face—ageing, death, and dying with dignity. Come with your parents AND your teenage children. Plan some time together after the performance, and

have a talk about COSY.”

Produced by Gaitkrash for the Cork Midsummer Festival, this Irish premiere features an all-Cork family of five females ranging in age from 76 year old Rose, matriarch of the family (Mairin Prendergast) to her three daughters: Ed (Pauline O’Driscoll), Camille (Bernadette Cronin), and Gloria (Regina Crowley); and 16 year-old granddaughter (Christiane Cronin Reicke).

The production features live captioning throughout.

Gaitkrash​ was formed in 2007 by theatre artists Bernadette Cronin, Regina Crowley and sound and visual artist Mick O’Shea. The starting point of their work is the alchemy of collaboration when different artistic filters come together to explore shared questions about human existence.

With each new project Gaitkrash continues to explore different entry-points to get at the nature of the creative process and to craft multi-modal performance events which share with the spectator new possibilities to experience and reflect.

Recent Gaitkrash projects include Killing Stella adapted from the novel by Marlen Haushofer, England by Tim Crouch, Playing the Maids after Genet, Beckett’s Not I, Play and Footfalls and The Cabinet of Curiosities.

Tim Crouch wrote the following on Gaitkrash after attending their production of England in the Cork Midsummer Festival 2018:

“Regina Crowley, Bernadette Cronin and Mick O’Shea make rich, intelligent and deeply eloquent theatre. Their company, Gaitkrash, has the hallmark of a maturity borne from wide experience, despite its relatively short life. In their programming they follow artistic instincts that have been honed over many years of practice. Their decisions – in and out of the rehearsal room – are informed by a rigorous interrogation of process and form. Their passion stems from an understanding of what’s possible. They work

together because they want to work together; because they are still wide-eyed about the joyous and complex transformations that the theatre form makes possible.”

Playwright ​Kaite O’Reilly​ has won many awards for her writing, including the Ted Hughes Award for new work in poetry for ​Persians (​ National Theatre Wales), Peggy Ramsay Award for ​YARD​ (Bush Theatre, London), and Manchester Theatre Awards for ​Perfect (C​ ontact Theatre). Other credits include: international Unlimited production ​And Suddenly I Disappear: The Singapore/UK ‘d’ Monologues;​ ​the 9 fridas (​ Taipei 2014, Hong Kong 2016); ​In Water I’m Weightless (​ National Theatre Wales/ /Southbank Centre). She is a leading figure in the UK’s disability arts and culture scene.

Director ​Phillip Zarilli ​is the founding Artistic Director of the Llanarth Group which collaborated with Gaitkrash and Theatre P’yut (Korea) on co-creating the world premiere of ​playing ‘the maids’ ​which previewed at the 2014 Cork Midsummer Festival before premiering in 2015 at Chapter Arts Centre (Cardiff) and touring. He has directed the world premiere productions of a number of Kaite O’Reilly’s plays including ​And Suddenly I Disappear(2018), ​The 9 fridas (​ Taipei Arts Festival 2014, Hong Kong Rep International Black Box Festival 2016), and ​The Almond and the Seahorse(Sherman Cymru, Cardiff, 2008).

JOIN THE WRITER AND DIRECTOR OF ‘COSY’ IN CONVERSATION WITH SEAMUS O’MAHONEY

Crawford Art Gallery (lecture theatre) 20 June 5.30pm

Join playwright Kaite O’Reilly and director Phillip Zarrilli as they discuss our attitudes to end-of-life scenarios with Seamus O’Mahoney, writer of the award

winningbook​TheWayWeDieNow.H​ asoursocietylosttheabilitytodealwith death? Join the conversation and then come to see ​‘Cosy’​ after.

Listings information​


Writer: Kaite O’Reilly
Director: Phillip Zarrilli
Actors: Sara Beer, Bernadette Cronin, Regina Crowley, Pauline O’Driscoll, Maureen Prendergast, Christiane Cronin Reicke.
Sound Art: Mick O’Shea
Costumes: Valentina Gambardella
Lights: Ace McCarron, relight by Declan Leonard

18-22 June at 19:30 (2 hours with interval)

Firkin Crane, John Redmond St., Shandon

Tickets available at

https://www.corkmidsummer.com/programme/event/cosy-by-kaite-oreilly

or at the Cork Midsummer Festival Box Office, Cook St., from June 8th

Suitable for audiences from 12 to 112 years of age

Notes to editors:
Instagram​: @gaitkrash ​Facebook​: Gaitkrash Theatre CompanyInstagram: ​@corkmidsummer ​Facebook: ​Cork Midsummer FestivalInstagram: ​@firkincrane ​Facebook: F​ irkin Crane
@kaiteoreilly ​www.kaiteoreilly.com​ ​www.kaiteoreilly.wordpress.com

#cosycork

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON COSY, CONTACT..... Saoirse Garetemail:​ ​saoirse.212@gmail.com phone: ​0872599311

CHECK OUT THE complete FESTIVAL PROGRAMME: https://www.corkmidsummer.com/programme/event/cosy-by-kaite-oreilly

2019 PRODUCTIONS

In addition to O’Reilly’s COSY for Cork Midsummer Festival, I’ll also be directing Aeschylus’ ORESTES, further adapted from the Charles Mee version by Phillip Zarrilli/Kaite O’Reilly for a wonderfully international group of ten actors at the Intercultural Theatre Institute, with performances at the ESPLANADE THEATRES ON THE BAY STUDIO scheduled for November 7-9, 2019.

Other performances MAY YET BE ANNOUNCED…so watch this space!

2019 SUMMER INTENSIVE INFORMATION

2019 INTERMEDIATE/ADVANCE 11 Day SUMMER INTENSIVE: 

‘Processes of imagining’

Phillip Zarrilli & Kaite O’Reilly

At the Tyn y parc CVN Kalari/Studio

Llanarth, Wales

This summer’s annual intermediate/advanced intensive will focus on the relationship between the preparatory psychophysical training and ‘processes of imagining’. At the heart of any creative process is the ‘work’ of ‘imagining’. How can we better understand processes of imagining in our embodied work on stage, and in the creative process? Processes of imagining will be explored (1) through application workshop exercises led by Phillip; (2) through writing exercises led by Kaite; and (3) in occasional talks/discussions in/around issues of ‘imagining’, and ‘imagining’ as a phenomenon and process.

The focus of this year’s annual summer intensive is a result of Phillip’s ongoing process of reflection on the acting as a phenomenon and process, and a chapter in his new book. (toward) a phenomenology of acting which he expects to submit to Routledge Press some time in late January, 2019.

Dates: 15-26 July, 2019

Monday 15 July: Arrivals by 18:00-19:00 for evening meal

Tuesday 16 July: 10:00-13:00 Training session 1; 15:00-18:00 Training session 2

Wednesday 17 July through Thursday 25th daily schedule [except for half-day off at some point]: 

10:00-13:00 morning training session 

15:00-18:00 application and/or workshops with occasional talks/discussions

Friday 26 July:

            10:00-13:00 final morning session

            14:00 Departures after lunch

Note: due to production/rehearsal obligations either side of the dates of the Summer Intensive, there will be no Beginner’s Intensive in 2019, and we will complete our time together on Friday 26thrather than Saturday 27th.

COSTS: (on-site 720 [fully waged] 660 [not fully waged]; Off-site  620 [fully wages] 560 [not fully waged] 

RESIDENCY AT UCC, CORK and PUBLIC READING OF KAITE O'REILLY'S 'COSY'

What's UP??? Toward the end of 2018 and into 2019...At work on...'The Voicing Body and Sonorous Speech'

It’s early October, 2018. It’s autumnal…leaves are beginning to turn, and fall…

I’ve just completed 9 months of (wonderfully) intensive creative/production work with Kaite O’Reilly as we developed, staged, and toured internationally with two major new world premiere productions of The Llanarth Group: AND SUDDENLY I DISAPPEAR—O’Reilly’s remarkable series of ‘d’ Monologues first staged at the Gallery Theatre (National Museum of Singapore, produced in association with Access Pathways in Singapore) in May with our Singaporean colleagues.

At work in Singapore last May on one of the Kaite O’Reilly’s monologues, ‘Red Scarf’ with the delightful Agnes (one of the ensemble members) toward the world premiere. Along with the world premiere performances in the Gallery Theatre at the National Museum of Singapore, we also gave a special ‘live-streamed’ performance (via the HowlRound platform at Emerson College, Boston, USA). Our videographer, James Khoo work with Associate Producer Nat Lim to organise and manage this herculean effort to share the performance with live audiences gathered in the Philippines, Taipei, and Hong Kong. It was a bit nerve wracking, but worked a treat!

Directing the three camera live-streamed performance from the hallway outside the Gallery Theatre.

We then re-staged AND SUDDENLY I DISAPPEAR with two completely new UK cast members who joined our core cast of four on stage for UK premiere performances as part of the Purcell Room Southbank Centre’s (London) UNLIMITED FESTIVAL (5-6 September) and on a limited UK tour to Oxford, Leicester, and Cardiff. Katie Bingham joined us as our UK stage manager and did a herculean job throughout! We had a wonderful response from audiences as well as reviewers.

With only two days rest after completing the AND SUDDENLY I DISAPPEAR UK tour, we were back into re-rehearsing richard III redux featuring the wonderful Sara Beer for an invited performance as part of the Grenzenlos Kultur Festival at the Mainz Stadt Kleines Theater in Germany. Thankfully, the wonderful Katie Bingham joined us for richard III redux in Mainz.

At work in Chapter 5!!!

OCTOBER, 2018: Reflection/Reading/Writing/Talking

Now…time to breath, take stock away from the pressure of production work…and to focus this month on my writing as I continue to reflect on acting as a phenomenon and process in toward a phenomenology of acting. So all of October I am at ‘home/office/studio’ reading and writing. A luxury! Working on Chapter 5 today, ‘The voicing body and sonorous speech’ in which I focus on my work in 2017 on Beckett’s Footfalls with Costa Rican actresses, Milena Picado and Erika Rojas. HOPING to complete this as well as Chapter 6 on temporality this month, and HOPING to complete the entire manuscript by the end of December! Looking forward toward publication in 2019 or early 2020 at the latest.

I’ll be back to the Drama Department in Exeter on 17 October to give a talk based on Chapter 4 of my book: ‘Subjectivity, Self, Character, and Figure in Performance’. Look forward to interaction with colleagues there about this ongoing project.

NOVEMBER, 2018: ‘On the Road’ in Ireland and Norway

From November 4-10 Bernie Cronin at Gaitkrash in Cork, Ireland, and on the faculty at University College Cork have invited Kaite O’Reilly and I for a week-long intensive residency working with students on the new MA program there. I’ll be leading intensive training sessions, while Kaite will lead writing workshops. Kaite will give a major public lecture, and I’ll give a lecture as well from my new book (as noted above!). We’ll also be working on a staged read of Kaite’s COSY, hoping to attract full funding for a long hoped for production of COSY in Cork in 2019. Sara Beer who played the wonderfully quirky role of Maureen—the outsider to the family—in the world premiere at Wales Millennium Centre, will join us. We have a wonderful Cork-based cast playing the family. Fingers crossed the funding comes through.

The final two weeks of November I’m returning to the Norwegian Theatre Academy in Fredrickstadt for a two week intensive training, with application of the principles to structured improvisations and Sarah Kane’s 4:48 Psychosis. Jeungsook Yoo will fly in from Seoul to work with me. And Kaite and I will be part of a two day seminar organised by NTA on ‘Elders’…Looking forward to also seeing some of the students from NTA I’ve worked with in the past who have graduated!

Into 2019

Plans are afoot for a visit to Soledad Garry Rubio at RESAD in Madrid, hopefully late February/early March. The summer intensive is about to be scheduled for July, and other plans will be announced as/when confirmed!

AND SUDDENLY I DISAPPEAR: UK premiere 05-12 September

Neither Victim or Villain: Presenting difference and disability with a renewed perspective

And Suddenly I Disappear: The Singapore/UK ‘d’ Monologues: 

Visually stimulating, multilingual performance about difference and diversity from opposite sides of the world premieres on UK stage

05-06 September: Purcell Room Southbank Centre, London 7:45pm (www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whats-on/festivals-series/unlimited

08 September: Old Fire Station, Oxford 7:30p (www.oldfirestation.org.uk/whats-on)

09 September: Attenborough Arts Centre, Leicester 7pm (www2.le.ac.uk/hosted/attenborougharts/whatson)

11-12 September: Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff 8pm (www.chapter.org)

Grace Khoo (Singapore), Ramesh Meyyappan (UK) and Peter Sau (Singapore) Photography Credit Wesley Loh. Singapore.

 A new production by award-winning playwright Kaite O’Reilly will have its UK premierefollowing its triumphant world premiere at the National Museum of Singapore Gallery Theatre (May 2018). And Suddenly I Disappear: The Singapore/UK ‘d’ Monologues will be performed 5-6 September 2018 at the Unlimited Festival, Purcell Room, Southbank Centre (London: 7:45pm), with additional performances at The Old Fire Station (Oxford: 8 September, 7:30pm), Attenborough Centre (Leicester: 9 September, 7pm), and Chapter Arts Centre (Cardiff: 11-12 September, 8pm).

Selected for the Unlimited International Commissions for 2017/18, And Suddenly I Disappear: The Singapore/UK ‘d’ Monologuesis an international theatrical dialogue of difference, disability, and what it is to be human, from opposite sides of the world. Kaite was compelled to write these monologues as an alternative to the clichéd, often problematic representation of Deaf and disabled characters on stage and screen. With her Unlimited international commission and talented cast of Deaf and disabled performers, And Suddenly I Disappear: The Singapore/UK ‘d’ Monologues seek to challenge prevailing negative or 'inspirational' images of disability with punch, poignancy, and a sly wit.

This work is innovative in its form, multilingual and intercultural in its nature, mingling spoken, projected and visual languages - interweaving English with some Mandarin, Welsh and British Sign Language sequences. The company consists of pioneering artists exploring new theatre languages and form, with the aesthetics of access – audio description, captioning, sign language – at the very heart of the work. Poignant, provocative, with passion and sly wit, stories of difference are told live and via video in unexpected ways, reveling in all the possibilities of human variety.

Sophie Stone (UK) and Peter Sau (Singapore)

The show isn’t about access, it’s about the innovative use of theatre languages - mixing visual and spoken storytelling in dynamic form. There’s no static sign language interpreter in the corner of the stage, but live and pre-recorded sequences that tell little-known stories physically and visually in multiple languages, with creative captioning throughout.

Inspired by previously unrecorded lived experience in the UK and Singapore, this production sets an important precedent: the first multilingual, intercultural theatre project created between the UK and Singapore - led, created, written, directed and performed by Deaf and disabled artists. 

Kaite began her explorations of the monologue form in 2008, on a Creative Wales Award, courtesy of Arts Council Wales. As part of the development, she had interactions with world class exponents of the form, including Eve Ensler, who immediately gave her ‘vagina envy’ with her monologues and V Day. Kaite has always loved the notion of disabled and D/deaf performers all over the world presenting with pride and political urgency texts which did not reduce them to parodies, metaphors, villains, or inspiration porn stars. Perhaps now, with the presentation of ‘And Suddenly I Disappear: The Singapore/UK ‘d’ Monologues’and the publication of these texts by Oberon, steps are being taken towards a ‘d’ day, celebrating difference, diversity, disability, and other delicious ‘d’s….

Award-winning playwright Kaite O’Reillyand internationally respected director Phillip Zarrillilead the team. The cast includes Singaporean collaborators Peter Sau and Grace Khoo, veteran disability arts practitioner Sara Beer (UK), Deaf UK-based Singaporean Visual Director Ramesh Meyyappan,performer Garry Robson(UK), a leading figure in disability arts and introducing Macsen McKay (UK). The performance aesthetic makes extensive use of pre-recorded video, featuring Sophie Stone(UK) in visual and spoken languages.

Kaite O’Reilly, Lead Artist, Playwright:

“I feel immensely privileged to lead this important exchange and theatrical dialogue between our two small nations: Wales and Singapore. Telling atypical stories about atypical people, this project sets an important precedent as the first piece of disability art to be made in Singapore, then touring to the UK. It celebrates what it is to be human - in all its diverse possibilities. 

Jo Verrent, Senior Producer (Unlimited): 

“Kaite O’Reilly’s 'And Suddenly I Disappear: The Singapore 'd'Monologues’ is exactly the kind of work Unlimited exists to support - high quality, provocative, challenging - and not just in relation to the disabled artists involved, or the innovative access elements planned to enable a greater number of disabled audience members to benefit. The biggest impact is the change in theatrical form that occurs when you truly embed disability-led creativity in the heart of the work, and that benefits us all.”

For more information please contact Rachel Kinchin rachel.kinchin@hotmail.co.uk/ 07769 290369 or Kaite O’Reillykaitekor@aol.com/ 07775944345

And Suddenly I Disappear: The Singapore ‘d’ Monologuesis commissioned and supported by Unlimited, with funding from Arts Council of Wales and British Council. 

Kaite O’Reilly

kaitekor@aol.com

About Kaite O’Reilly

Kaite O’Reilly is a leading figure in disability arts and culture in the UK. She recently was awarded Culture Woman of the Year in Wales for her work in diversity and disability arts in Chwarae Teg’s Womenspire18. As a playwright, radio dramatist, writer and dramaturg, she has won many awards for her work, including the Peggy Ramsay Award for YARD (The Bush, London), Manchester Theatre Awards best play of the year for Perfect (Contact Theatre), Theatre-Wales Award for peeling (Graeae Theatre company) and the Ted Hughes Award for new works in Poetry for her reworking of Aeschylus’s Persians for National Theatre Wales in their inaugural year. She received two Cultural Olympiad Commissions for In Water I’m Weightless, produced by National Theatre Wales and Southbank Centre as part of the official festival celebrating the 2012 London Olympics/Paralympics, an Unlimited commission. 

She is the patron of Disability Arts Cymru, and DaDa (Disability arts Deaf arts). Dramaturg for The Llanarth Group, she co-creates work internationally with renowned theatre director Phillip Zarrilli. 

https://kaiteoreilly.com

https://kaiteoreilly.wordpress.com

About Unlimited

Unlimitedis an arts commissioning programme that aims to embed work by disabled artists within the UK and international cultural sectors, reach new audiences and shift perceptions of disabled people. Unlimited has been delivered by the disability-led arts organisation Shape Arts and arts-producing organization Artsadmin since 2013, and is funded from 2016-20 by Arts Council England, Arts Council of Wales, British Council and Spirit of 2012. Since 2013 Unlimited has awarded over £1.8 million to ambitious disabled artists working in theatre, visual arts, literature and music. These artworks resulted in 2,323 performance and exhibition days, which were seen by 132,059 people. 

www.weareunlimited.org.uk

www.unlimitedimpact.org.uk

QUOTES / ENDORESEMENTS:

“Kaite O’Reilly is a writer to cherish.” Lyn Gardner, The Guardian.

“…high quality, provocative, challenging.” Jo Verrent, Senior Producer, UNLIMITED.

“a call for the redefinition of disability and how it is viewed in society…  Just like water, And Suddenly I Disappearis renewal; its representations are fluid and its diversity is refreshing.  And just as in water, it promises to make more waves.” Centre 42, Singapore (review of Singapore premiere).

“Sara Beer is really funny. I mean, very, very funny…” Disability Arts Online(March 2018)

“O’Reilly passionately believes in the need to stage issues of disability in mainstream theatre. Her award-winning work…stands testimony to this passion.” British Theatre Guide

UK PRODUCTION INFORMATION:

And Suddenly I Disappear is produced in the UK by The Llanarth Group. For production information contact:

Phillip Zarrilli

Executive Producer: Kaite O’Reilly’s And Suddenly I Disappear

Artistic Director, The Llanarth Group

Tyn y parc

Llanarth SA47 0PB

01545 580376; 07557 416831

richard III redux at GRENZENLOSKULTUR TheaterFestival, Mainz, GermanY 20 September, 2018

After premiering 08 March 2018 at Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff, and touring Wales through 23rd March, richard III redux heads to Mainz, Germany for a performance on 20 September, 2018 as part of this year's Grenzenloskoultur Theater Festival ('Theater without Boundaries'). 

UPDATED: 01/04/2018

 Here's WHAT THE CRITICS ARE SAYING ABOUT richard III redux:

Arts Scene in Wales: ‘…unpredictable… evokes laughter and reflection in equal measure…intimate…witty…ingenious…commanding and nuanced…thought provking…uncompromisingly funny…great power and impact…brave…’

Photo by Paddy Faulkner @ panopticphotos

British Theatre Guide: ‘…a bold, informative, occasionally traumatic, and irreverently amusing 70 minutes of theatre.’

Wales Critics Fund review (5*): ‘dynamite theatre… an absorbing exercise in personal insight, humour, pathos and historical amendments’.

The Stage: ‘an incendiary look at the lack of inclusivity in theatre.’

Theatre Wales Review: ‘Sara Beer’s Richard is…captivating…confirmed by the loud, loving, standing ovation…’

Disability Arts Onliine Magazine: ‘Sara Beer is ‘really funny. I mean, very, very funny…[she] has…oodles and oodles of on-stage charm. Audiences love her, whether she’s sending herself up as a would-be diva or revealing her younger self. This audience was no exception, laughing one moment and then the next hanging on her every word… go and see it. You won’t regret it.’

Photo by Paddy Faulkner @panopticphotos

Wales Arts Review:  ‘…Redux is a strong piece of work… Redux is full of grenades…dropped with disarming gentility by Beer….Beer is…charming and erudite, extremely good company…a damning indictment of an industry that actively discourages disabled actors from entering…’

2018 SUMMER INTENSIVE TRAINING DATES FOR Tyn y parc Studio Wales

To register, contact: Phillip Zarrilli, P.Zarrilli@exeter.ac.uk

INFORMATION ON THE 2018 SUMMER INTENSIVE TRAINING AT THE TYN Y PARC CVN KALARI/STUDIO IN WEST WALES: Beginner's and Intermediate/Advanced (below)

BEGINNER'S INTENSIVE:  July 14-17, 2018

Led by Phillip Zarrilli

An introduction to the psychophysical training I have developed over many years utilizing yoga, kalarippayattu, and taiqiquan, applied to performance/acting problems. Participants are introduced to a core set of exercises, key principles of the training are elaborated, and the principles of the training are applied to structured improvisations.

Saturday 14 July: arrivals by 15:00.

Session 1: 16:00-19:00 session 1: training

Sunday 15 July: 10:00-13:00 session 2: training

                           14:30-17:30 session 3: training plus application

Monday 16 July 10:00-13:00 session 4: training plus application

                             14:30-17:30 session 5: training plus application

Tuesday 17 July 10:00-13:00 session 6: training plus application

                  Departures after lunch from 14:00.

Admission is by application only: those interested should apply by sending a professional resume indicating previous training as an actor/performer, dance/movement training, other trainings, performance experience, etc. Please indicate why you wish to undertake this specific training at this point in your development/career. Send application by email to P.Zarrilli@exeter.ac.uk.

COST: The all-inclusive fee for the 4 days is £375. This includes instruction, simple vegetarian meals, and housing (mostly shared twin accommodation either on-site or at nearby Woodlands Village).

TRAVEL: Especially for those coming to Llanarth for the first time, as you plan your travel PLEASE KEEP IN MIND HOW LONG IT TAKES TO REACH LLANARTH, WEST WALES VIA RAIL/BUS!!!!

It generally takes 5 to 6 hours to reach Llanarth or Aberaeron via rail/bus travel from London Heathrow, Bristol, Cardiff, or Birmingham airports. For example, from Birmingham International Airport there are direct trains to Aberystwyth that take about 3 to 3 ½ hours, plus another 1 hour from Aberystwyth by bus to Llanarth. After reading this information and going on-line, please contact me if you have questions!!!

For UK RAIL TRAVEL information you can visit and book on-line rail travel: (note…the earlier you book the cheaper the tickets!)

https://www.thetrainline.com

You will want to travel either to ABERAERON or CARMARTHEN. Aberaeron is located approximately 50 minutes by bus north of Llanarth. Carmarthen is located approximately 94 minutes by bus southeast of Aberaeron. Approximately two weeks before your arrival, I will ask all of you to inform me of your travel plans so that I can pick you up by car either in Llanarth (Ceredigion) OR Aberaeron (Ceredigion) and deliver you to your accommodation either on-site or at Woodlands Village, New Quay.

I will provide fill information on bus timings, etc. closer to the beginning of the workshop.

FOR THOSE TRAVELING FROM ABROAD, YOU WILL PROBABLY WANT TO ARRIVE IN THE UK ON FRIDAY 13 JULY AND OVERNIGHT BEFORE TRAVELING TO WEST WALES, and you may need to overnight in the UK before your return trip home after our final workshop on the 17th.

[NOTE: Occasionally it is possible to consider an individual for both the Beginner’s and Intermediate/Advanced workshops. After the initial application, admission would be based on a skype discussion.]

INTERMEDIATE/ADVANCED:  July 19-28

Led by Phillip Zarrilli, and for application work Phillip Zarrilli and Kaite O’Reilly

The Intermediate/Advanced workshop will have two daily sessions of training and/or application of principles/processes to performance. Playwright/dramaturg Kaite O’Reilly will again join Phillip Zarrilli in working with participants as we explore and develop performances structures and begin to link them in sequences for

                  ‘…that which comes after…’

Following on from the 2017 summer intensive where we began work with ‘…that which comes after…’, in 2018 we will pick up where we left off, reviewing writing exercises and structures initially developed last summer, and adding new exercises and structures. The process will provide stimuli for the imagination and/or generation of psychophysical scores, and text (spoken or unspoken).

Housing either on-site or at Woodlands Village. Two communal meals on 18th July and 27th July (first and last evenings together).

Wednesday 18 July: arrivals anytime after 14:00-15:00. Plan to arrive no later than 18:00. Begin gathering at Tyn y parc for the evening meal together at 18:30.

Thursday 19 July: two training sessions

10:00-13:00; 14:30-17:30

Friday 20 July through Friday 27th: two sessions daily, training/application

         10:00-13:00; 14:30-17:30

[One half-day off mid-way through the workshop, based on good

weather!]

Saturday 28th: departures  between 10:00-12:00

TRAVEL REMINDER: Especially for those coming to Llanarth for the first time, as you plan your travel PLEASE KEEP IN MIND HOW LONG IT TAKES TO REACH LLANARTH, WEST WALES VIA RAIL/BUS!!!!

COSTS: (on-site 700 [fully waged] 640 [not fully waged]; Off-site  600 [fully wages] 540 [not fully waged] 

RICHARD III REDUX UPDATE: in Cardiff for video locations shoots

Great fun working with Sara Beer, videographer Paul Whittaker, costumer Deryn Tudor, and playwright/dramaturg Kaite O'Reilly on two location shoots this past Thursday in Cardiff. Capturing short video 'takes' as part of the set of commentaries/roles O'Reilly is creating for Sara Beer in this performative response to Shakespeare's Richard III! 

Sara Beer in one of her 'characters' outside Wardrobe in video shoot for 'richard III redux'

We did a second location shoot at a red phone booth in Roath, Cardiff! What's not to like about working on 'richard III redux'. We even had sunny winter weather for the outdoor shoot! Hope we'll be this lucky next weekend when we do location shooting in West Wales!

Paul Whittaker, videographer as I work with Sara Beer preparing for this shot.

richard III redux [or] 'Sara Beer [is/not] richard III premieres 08-23 march 2018

With support from Arts Council of Wales richard redux is in rehearsals.

Richard III: Bogeyman. Villain. Evil incarnate.

 Or is he?

What if he is she? 

What if the ‘ hideous…. deformed, hobbling, hunchbacked cripple’ is portrayed by someone funny, female, feminist, and with the same form of scoliosis?

In this reimagining of Shakespeare's Richard III, how does the story change, the body change, the acting change, the character change when explored by a disabled actress with deadly comic timing and a dislike for horses? How would previous star vehicle Richards measure up to this reimagined richard??? 

Following their critically acclaimed collaboration on Cosy, Sara Beer will take on Richard III and his previous (non-disabled) interpreters with award-winning playwright Kaite O'Reilly and director Phillip Zarrilli, joined by filmmaker Paul Whittaker. 

‘Sara Beer… steals the show… a brilliant and disconcerting comic turn…’  [Gary Raymond ‘The Arts Desk’ on ‘Cosy’ 2016.]

‘O Reilly is a writer to cherish…’  [Lyn Gardner. The Guardian.]

richard III at THE BATTLE OF BOSWORTH

chapter arts centre (Cardiff): 8-9-10, 16, 17 March (8pm) 17 March (3pm matinee); aberystwyth arts centre studio: 14, 15 march (7:45pm); theatr clwyd (Mold): 19, 20 March (7:45pm); the torch theatre (milford haven): 21 March (7:30pm); small world theatre (cardigan): 23 March (8pm)