PAGE 1/6 TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS Space: End on theatre space. Minimum stage space: 5m wide 6.5m deep. Audience: Any number sitting (intimate is best). Set: We bring a projection screen two projectors and 160 slides. Lights: Basic rig (see diagram). Sound: PA with two CD players and mixing desk Get in: 6 hours. Get out: 30 minutes. Duration: An intense 60 minutes with no interval. Programmes: Free programmes are supplied. Be Proud Of Me travels with an experienced and highly motivated company of two performers and two technicians/operators. The artistic director attends most touring performances. LIGHTING PLAN
PAGE 2/6 SUGGESTED BROCHURE COPY The mysterious Mr. Nowicki, a sister he misses, a woman - the chemist - his lover, a hotel he s sure he s already checked into, a plane he s destined never to catch, a briefing room where he s made to rehearse small talk, a doctor who sells a dangerous kind of health insurance, a necklace glinting in the moonlight. Scenes and characters dissolve into each other back and forth through time. Something very bad has happened, but a crumbling memory refuses to let him recall things clearly. Beautifully performed to a shifting backdrop of slide projections the show s language switches between slickly improvised banter and an hallucinatory text scripted from tourist phrase books. BE PROUD OF ME is a dark thriller experienced through the warped and shifting perspective of a flailing mind. 130 words BOX OFFICE BRIEFING Be Proud Of Me is the story of an amateur assassin tracking a top research chemist across Europe. When he finds her he is confronted with a choice between love and duty. The story is told from the assassin s point of view as he struggles with a failing memory. The show cleverly uses a stream of slide projections as scenery to jump back and forth through time and between locations. There is a great rumbling soundtrack. The acting is partially improvised but mostly scripted from tourist phrasebooks to create an odd and disturbing language. There are sparks of humour in the show but basically it s a dark atmospheric thriller with fantastic acting. 60 minutes long. No interval. No bad language. No nudity. No explosions No strobes No smoking, thank you.
PAGE 3/6 PROGRAMME NOTES Be Proud Of Me Be Proud Of Me was made in six weeks, by three people using two slide projectors and a pile of phrase books. We knew we wanted to make a show using the projectors and books, but didn t know what that show was. The answer has come slowly, by trial and error. The slides wanted the show to be about broken memory, time slips and false perspective. The phrase books gave us a language and settings. Although we have always had a story with us in rehearsals, it has had to change shape many times to fit the show. The latest version goes something like this: A man has been sent across Europe by a mysterious organisation to kill an important chemist. He is motivated by his love of a sister who died on a similar mission. She haunts his failing memory and invades his conscience when romance starts to make things complicated. We hope you enjoy the show. Devised by: Slides by: Music by: Lights by: Performed by: Advisory Producer: Amanda Hadingue Craig Stephens James Yarker Ed Dimsdale (with ) Nina West Paul Arvidson Amanda Hadingue Craig Stephens Nick Sweeting An early version of this show was performed at MAC in September 2003. Be Proud Of Me was commissioned by Mousonturm, Frankfurt. is funded by the Arts Council of.
PAGE 4/6 SAMPLE MEDIA RELEASE Media Release : 16th January, 2004 Be Proud Of Me On [insert date] the Birmingham based theatre company come to [insert venue] with their intriguing new show, Be Proud Of Me. The show, which was commissioned by the Mousonturm Arts Centre in Frankfurt and has since been performed in France and London, has an unusual feel and international flavour. The story of an amateur assassin who hunts a top research chemist across Europe is told in fragments, jumping backwards and forwards through time. Rather than a set, the two actors perform in front of a projection screen and 150 photographs taken especially for the show by Ed Dimsdale. The script is partially improvised, contains fragments of French, German and Italian but is mostly constructed out of sentences cut from tourist phrase books. This may all sound strange but, as company director James Yarker explains, there are is a simple logic to it all: We want the audience to see events from the assassin s point of view as he remembers them in his dying moments. For this reason the time line jumps around and much of the language is stilted. As well as helping us change locations rapidly the slides allow us to see through the character s eyes, changing as he looks up to the sky or turns around, they give this show the beautifully eerie feel of foggy memories. Whilst this complex use of time may be familiar from the movies think Memento, Pulp Fiction, Jacob s Ladder or Mulholland Drive it is highly unusual in theatre, Be Proud Of Me is breaking new ground. Early signs are that the experiment has been a success as actor Amanda Hadingue reveals. The responses in Germany and France were great, but it was stressful knowing most of the show was in their second language and that they have been enjoying the show without necessarily getting its more subtle touches. Back home the response has been really strong, people enjoy piecing the story together and seem to love its sinister tone.
PAGE 5/6 EDITOR S NOTES is a theatre company with a history of making unusual performances dating back to their formation in Birmingham in 1991. Previous works include: The Black Maze: a fairground ride built in the back of an old post office lorry. It s Your Film: a theatre show lasting four minutes performed to one person at a time in a kind of photo booth. Lurid and Insane: a satirical rock gig, which premiered in a farmer s barn. Space Station: astronauts who built a new stop on the Midland Metro. Whilst this list makes the company sound like art mavericks, they have also performed at The Royal Court, the Royal Opera House and Birmingham Rep. They have been commissioned by the English National Opera, had pieces broadcast on Radio 3 and toured extensively to festivals across Europe. PHOTOGRAPHS AND LOGOS Show photographs and logos can be found in the Be Proud Of Me resource folder on this CD. Photographs should be credited to Ed Dimsdale.
PAGE 6/6 WORKSHOPS Duration: 2 hours 30 minutes, but can be adapted to your requirements. Leaders: A member of the devising team. Participants: Aged over fifteen. Group Size: No minimum size, a maximum of 12 is preferred or one class. Space Requirement: This workshop cannot take place on set. Aims: To be fun. To enhance enjoyment and appreciation of Be Proud Of Me. To aid the understanding of alternative theatre. To provide participants with new methods for devising theatre. To enhance devising skills. To develop performance skills. Content: These practical and engaging workshops introduce participants to a range of techniques used by when devising Be Proud Of Me. Participants will learn tricks of staging and scripting and apply them to their own work. Support Materials: s website provides an extensive resource for placing both Be Proud Of Me and this workshop in a broader context. The site also provides materials and quotes for essay writing. The dialogue between the company and its audience need not end when the show ends.