Broadway Baby is chatting to Kate Goodfellow of RedBellyBlack and the show she is bringing to Ed Fringe, Tumbling After.
so I decided to build the beds on a 65 degree angle, allowing the audience to have a birds eye view, as I strongly believe the smallest gestures have the biggest impact, I will say no more, as it’s sort of a surprise.
Tell us about your show
Jack and Gill went to “The Hill” to have a pint of lager… Jack met Gretel and Gill met Peter and this tale is the Tumbling After. RedBellyBlack Productions returns to Edinburgh Fringe with the seductive story of two couples as they stumble in and tumble out of love. A fairytale about what our “happy ever after” means these days: friendship, longing, tangled bodies and relationships. Tumbling After is a devised physical theatre production that interrogates the modern relationship; Stable Jack falls for directionless Gretel, while artist Gill shacks up with self-assured Peter. This blood-quickening show combines physicality and vocal play, straddling the gaps between theatre, performance art and a vivid dream. This is a show that speaks to to the brain and the body.
Why did you decide to take your show to Space UK this year?
In 2014 RedBellyBlack Theatre Company and Kate Goodfellow performed their award winning one-woman show Smoking Ban at Surgeons Hall, to which Broadway Baby gave 4 stars!
The relationships we developed with the staff and attending companies was invaluable. There was no elitism, on or off the stage.
I truly believe that TheSpace maintains the spirit of the fringe, which is undoubtedly fleeting at times, with £ signs and stars dictating the success and experience for most young companies. And undoubtedly I am returning for the quality of communication, Charles Pamment is a legend that will always give you the time of day, not matter how big or small the issue.
What are you most looking forward to at this year’s festival?
We are looking forward to raising the bar of artistic quality that RBB produces, and delivering a production that is so close to our hearts, I'm anxious and excited to experience how audiences will be changed and moved by the content.
Why Edinburgh? What’s the attraction?
It is the world’s biggest playground for new writing and ideas, and we want to go play!
Have you brought a show to the festival before?
Yes, Smoking Bana one-woman multi role production, performed by Kate Goodfellow, WINNER of Best Female Performer of the Brighton Fringe!
What makes your show unique amongst the
thousands of others at the festival?
Most shows use one style of performance, but we are using all of our collective
talents to make a piece that is well designed and free-spirited. Our show is a Jack (and Jill) of all trades,
playing with the potential of naturalism, physical theatre, music, poetry and
clowning.
What has been the biggest challenge in getting your show ready for Edinburgh?
In all honesty, money! And I'm sure I speak for a lot of young companies that do not have corporate sponsors. The creativity is something that runs in our veins and as a tight knit company we revel in the creative process. Money is always lingering, deadlines looming, and we are only human, 6 under-25 year old humans to be exact, all based in London.
Have you been to other venues at the festival?
Performed with, no, attending, yes.I adored FREAK at assembly, Naked In Alaska at Assembly Roxy, Pss Pss at Zoo Southside, among many others.
How did you create your show?
During Fringe 2014 I found myself sleepless at 4am due to nerves, stress and adrenaline. An image popped onto my screen whilst scanning the web, a montage of tangled bodies in bed, and I realised so much can be told by the proximity of our bodies.
I approached friends I had made during the fringe, and pitched the concept of “Interrogating modern relationships”, somehow involving our personal experiences, and they nodded nervously, come December it all kicked off and we auditioned the male roles.
I have 4 years of diary entry-esque poetry as ammunition, and a solid framework of themes and experiences we wish to explore, so we begun devising. Without our Director Vicki Baron and Elizabeth Mary Williams, Director of movement, forever present in the room, we had begun to build and develop the show through acrobatics, movement, poetry, live music and probably our most unique feature, a partially vertical set.
My mind has been stuck on those images I saw during the fringe, so I decided to build the beds on a 65 degree angle, allowing the audience to have a birds eye view, as I strongly believe the smallest gestures have the biggest impact, I will say no more, as it’s sort of a surprise.
We are continuing to devise and develop, and there is something terrifying and exciting about not knowing exactly where this process may take us, but with our own stories paving the way, it’s set to be a genuine tale, sure to speak to our audiences directly.
What’s the main thing you want to get out of the festival this year?
Apart from the obvious, which is to meet hundreds of people who love what I
love, I want the opportunity to re-stage the production in London 2016, with
greater support. And if I may mention a pipe dream? RBB is an Australian born
company, and it has always been a dream to take my work home, and share in on
familiar soil, so yes, the Holden Street Theatre Award would be lovely.
Can you tell us a bit about your company’s background?
RBB was born in Australia in 2009, with the support of my peers from the National Institute Of Dramatic Arts and Actors Centre Australia.
I knew you needed a name before you could play “the game” so we created RBB to work as a roof over our heads, and a door that was always open to ideas and potential collaboration.
If your show does well in Edinburgh, what do you want to do with it next?
I adore the Young Vic Theatre and New Diorama Theatre London, and the possibility to perform this production on their stage would be a dream come true.I would allow the cast a month or two to breath and remember why we love each other, as we all know the fringe takes its toll.Then in early 2016 we would revisit and develop the concept further and see what we could achieve with the support a potential commission.
Production Company: RedBellyBlack Theatre Company
Venue: SPACETRIPLEX (V38)
Dates: 7TH -27TH
Times: 18.25 - 19.25
Twitter: @red_belly_black
