Talawa Theatre Company will present HatcH at Hackney Showroom 1-3 September, marking the 21st year of its flagship programme TYPT and 30 years of Talawa. Rehearsals and devising begin 8 August.
Taking up the theme of Space, Place and Protest, HatcH will be devised by TYPT, Talawa’s company of emerging artists. TYPT will work with a multidisciplinary team of experienced practitioners to explore what happens when the spaces we call our own shrink, shift and are invaded. The company will work over 4 weeks to develop their practice, test ideas and produce a brand new piece of theatre.
Kevin McCurdy, the UK’s first and only Black Equity Fight Director, will integrate fight choreography into the piece, as movement director. The show will be produced by Talawa Theatre Company’s Producer: Participation & Learning.
DJs and performance poets will provide additional dialogues on the theme of place and space before and after the show, making this an unmissable late summer arts event.
Set up in 1995, TYPT provides a truly unique stepping-stone for emerging theatre makers, including actors, stage managers and designers at the beginning of their careers. Participants’ relationship and development with Talawa does not end with the initial intensive 4-week programme, as the Company continues to offer free support to participants as their careers develop.
Past TYPT participants have gone on to successful careers in theatre; working as performers, producers, writers and technicians for a range of organisations, including The Bush Theatre, Oval House, Young Vic, and the National Theatre. Alumni include Femi Oguns MBE (Director of The Identity Drama School), Nonso Anozie (HBO’s Game of Thrones, Disney’s Cinderella and NBC’s Dracula), Sandra Thompson-Quartey (Artistic Director of Writers Avenue Theatre Company and Talent Agency), Michaela Coel (E4’s Chewing Gum and The Aliens, Channel 4’s Top Boy and Home, National Theatre) and Shanika Warren-Markland (Noel Clarke’s Adulthood, Brotherhood, Patrik-Ian Polk’s The Skinny and BFI’s Gone Too Far!).
I came to TYPT looking for the empowerment to develop as a performer and writer, and I certainly succeeded, we all did. Talawa’s enduring faith in developing new artists is remarkable and for my own journey TYPT was the biggest part of that.
Michaela Coel, Writer and Performer (Chewing Gum, BAFTA Winner ‘Best Female Performance in a Comedy Programme’ and ‘Breakthrough Talent’ 2016)
Described as a ‘theatre laboratory’, TYPT places an emphasis on experimentation and collaboration. Using a theme and another art form as a catalyst for devising, the script emerges out of the rehearsal process. Past productions have devised around gender and sexuality with stand-up comedy, betrayal with acrobatics and Britishness with a DJ.
“It is my opinion that TYPT is the jewel in the crown of Talawa Theatre Company. It is an emblem of the vision of the company that is mindful of the past and brave about the future – always living in the moment…” Nazli Tabatabai-Khatambakhsh, Artistic Director, Zendeh Theatre Company
Creating a piece of theatre from scratch in just 4 weeks is a challenge for any practitioner, regardless of their level of experience. TYPT meets this challenge head on – trusting and using the unique skills that the emerging and established theatre makers bring into the room.
The emerging practitioners, whether working on, off or backstage are given an invaluable experience of professional theatre. Every element of the process is exposed to them from initial production meetings to dramaturgical sessions; from marketing meetings with graphic designers to the get-out.
Those first tentative days exploring the world of theatre with the support of Talawa were an amazing time. It was the gateway that led to the career I now enjoy, working with film, television and theatre makers all over the world.
Nonso Anozie, Actor (HBO’s Game of Thrones, Disney’s Cinderella and NBC’s Dracula)
TYPT also provides experienced practitioners with the opportunity to reflect on their practice and explore new ways of working through collaboration with each other and the emerging theatre makers.
Totally grateful and appreciate the TYPT experience. It’s a complete collective collaboration and I loved and would love to continue working this way … very liberating. I love what I do even more from this experience.
Coral Messam, Movement Director (DV8’s To Be Straight With You and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, National Theatre)
LISTINGS INFORMATION
TYPT: 16
Venue: Hackney Showroom, Hackney Downs Studios, Amhurst Terrace, London E8 2BT
Times: Doors open 7pm; poets from 7.30pm; show starts 8pm
Tickets: £5/£8
Box Office: https://www.tickettailor.com/checkout/view-event/id/61385/chk/a32a
