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Twas the Season

The snow's thawing and the world's returning to work. And so ends Three's Company's first London Season from the wintry heart of London's West End.

Our three-week residency at the Tristan Bates Theatre ended last Saturday and a big thank-you to all of you who came along to make it such a success. Here's how it all went.
  • After four years of work, our flagship production of Play On Words had it's first full London run. We were featured in the print editions of The Times ("both smart and funny... an ingenious little box of tricks") and Time Out ("light-footed and adept at scrambling the act of theatre") as well as in The Stage ("versatile, confident talent... just about the perfect format") and on Remote Goat ("entertaining and stimulating theatre craftsmanship"). And some pretty great crowds over the three weeks as well.
  • We hosted three Interactivity Symposiums which brought together critics from The Guardian, The Financial Times and The Stage as well as companies such as Coney and Non Zero One and practitioners such as Stuart Nolan and Steve Marmion (former associate director of the RSC) - all to discuss the place and the future of interactivity in theatre.
  • We produced three staged readings of plays by Tom: Later Showers and the newly written Still Life and Reverie. Each with guest directors and a great cast of new 3C artists.
  • We brought together a host of companies exploring interactivity in various art-forms - including a 'one-robot-show', an interactive library and dragon magic.
  • We performed all four of the currently existing episodes of our critically-acclaimed interactive radio comedy Adventure Time, starring our alter-egos and a wide variety of audience participants.
All in all, 43 performances of 18 different events over 20 days, all in the heart of the West End.

Based on this success, we hope this will be the start of many productions in London (as well as our visits to Buxton and Edinburgh). Watch this space for news of our next project.

So thank-you first to all of you who came along. Thanks to all our supporters who made the whole season possible. And here's a list of everyone else who was involved - huge thanks to you all!



Laura and the staff of the Tristan Bates Theatre, The Actors Centre and The Pleasance Theatre.
Bekki Coward, Natalie Eskinazi, Neil Keating Jacob Mason-Dixon, Amy Penrose and Meriel Rosenkranz for their various roles in creating Play On Words.
Bekki Coward and Natalie Eskinazi for co-managing the Interactivity Symposium.
Steve Marmion, Roger Foss, Stuart Nolan, Ian Shuttleworth, Annette & Tassos from Coney, Karl Rouse, Matt Trueman, Richard Stamp, Holly Gramazio, Neil Keating, Alex and John from Non Zero One, Esther Smith and David Byrne for taking part in the Interactivity Symposium.
Piff The Magic Dragon, Dan Somerville, Alan Fielden, Teak Show, Imprology, The Story Exchange and Bineural Performance for appearing in the Interplay Sessions.
Kyle McPhail for his help on Later Showers.
James Farrell with his cast Mariam Bell, John Cass, Stephen Connery-Brown, David Eadie, Jo Price, Gabriella Schmidt and Daniel Wiltshire for performing Still Life.
John Kay Steel with his cast Chris Porter, Joanne Cummins, Nick Ash, Sarah Thomas-Lane and Jennifer Jackson for performing Reverie.
Maram Bell, Jo Reekie, Rosie Stancliffe, Kyle McPhail (and several audience members) for performing in Adventure Time.

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Anonymous Dan @ FAT CONTENT said...

Brilliant! Nice one team 3. Can't wait to see what else you have in store for us in 2010.

27 January 2010 01:50  

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Join our festival!

Three's Company are looking for companies of all sizes with all levels of experience whose work in some way incorporates interactivity, or challenges the traditional audiences/performer relationship. Perhaps you talk to the audience, get them on stage or allow them to shape your work before or during performance?

Applications are invited to fill the remaining slots in The Interplay Sessions - part of The Reactivity Season, which explores audience involvement in the theatre. Slots are available on Saturday the 9th, 16th or 23rd January. The season takes place at the Tristan Bates Theatre, Leicester Square - home to cutting edge new work and experimentation in the heart of the West End.

Pieces of work can be anywhere between 15 and 45 minutes, and anything in the area of theatre, storytelling, comedy or performance art. Past work that fits the brief or ideas you will try out for the first time can both be accepted. Companies will need to develop the work themselves although a few hours of rehearsal time in the theatre are available.

This is a fantastic opportunity to perform your work for free at one of London's leading theatres, in an exciting new event exploring an urgent and important new genre of theatre.

To register interest, or for any question, contact us in one of the following ways:

  • Tweet us ... @reactivity_fest
  • Email interplay@reactivity.org.uk
  • Leave a comment below

Details & small print:
You're expected to cover your own props, set, expenses and resources - Three's Company & The Reactivity Season can unfortunately offer no resources towards the realisation of your work. Companies will be neither charged nor paid by Three's Company, The Reactivity Season, or The Tristan Bates Theatre. We'll provide promotional support, and we'll try to help in any other way we can. You'll only have a few minutes to get in and out of the space, so complicated sets or technical requirements are not going to be practical. You'll be invited to take part for free in the Interactivity Symposium on the day you perform, and we hope you'll attend to talk about your experience in interactivity. Full details and practicalities will be discussed in a more formal way with successful applicants!

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Merry Christmas from Three's Company

With snow falling in London - and rather more in Buxton - it's time for 3C to head off for a mini Christmas break. Even more snow for Michael however who is off to some unnamed French mountain to ski (or rather drink hot chocolate, learn his lines and avoid any pre-show injuries).

Of course it's only a mini break as our first London season starts on Monday 4th January at the Tristan Bates Theatre.
We're performing Play On Words - with a fantastic new design by Amy Penrose - every evening.

Our interactive comedy show Adventure Time will be mixing things up on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday nights (if the audience can save the day)

Each Saturday sees a day-long Interactivity Symposium - complete with experimental performances in the Interplay Sessions afterwards.

And Back & Forth sees two new plays by Tom Crawshaw - Still Life and Reverie - given staged readings, as well as the London premiere of Later Showers (in scratch form).

Find out more at www.play-on-words.net

and www.reactivity.org.uk (for everything else)

Keep up to date by following Three's Company or The Reactivity Season on Twitter.

And, as a special Christmas present to all our Blog followers, we'd like to offer a half-price deal to see Play On Words, which can be used any time in the first week (4th - 11th Jan). Just quote "3C Blog Deal" when booking in person or by phone (from the 4th Jan).

So from all of us at Three's Company, have a Merry Christmas, a Happy New Year, a pudding-and-stocking-filled and carbon-free holiday and we hope to see you all in January 2010!

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Three's Company's First London Season

Exciting news theatre fans!

Hot on the heels of another wonderful Edinburgh Fringe, Three's Company have just been offered a three-week slot at top London theatre the Tristan Bates (near Leicester Square) this January.

We're still putting the finishing touches to our exact plans for this season but here's what we've got so far:


Play On Words makes its London transfer (after a critically-acclaimed sell-out run at the Pleasance Dome) from January 4th-23rd. Bigger and better than ever before and (hopefully) ready to take London by storm.

Alongside this flagship production we'll be hosting the Reactivity Season. This is a festival of new work celebrating and exploring audience intereaction in theatre. Featuring:

An Interactivity Symposium on the three Saturdays (9th, 16th, 23rd). Talks and debates with an invited panel and performances from guest theatre companies. Bringing together everyone currently working in - or interested in - interactivity in theatre. A chance to take stock, share ideas, learn from others experiences and plan the future for this exciting, new and emerging genre.

Adventure Time: after trials around the country, we bring our anarchic, interactive, spoof radio series back to the Tristan Bates where we'll be staging the full series of pun-dimensional episodes. Can the audience save the on-air broadcast that will make Comedy Trio's name? Come along and find out / decide.

Play readings of two new works (and one in need of refreshment) by Tom Crawshaw. Still Life which explores the place of religion in modern urban life and Reverie which follows a young man on a journey to harness the power of dreams. Joined by Later Showers which makes its London premiere after wowing critics in Buxton and Edinburgh in 2005 (starring Michael Grady-Hall and directed by Yaz Al-Shaater). All readings welcome feedback to help the development of the works afterwards.

So it's all happening at the Tristan Bates theatre, 4th-23rd January. There'll be plenty more information to follow but feel free to email fun@threescompany.co.uk if you'd like to know any more. We hope to see everyone there at some point, whether you like watching, interacting or joining discussions.

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Audience To The Rescue In Sci-fi Adventure

Thanks to everyone who came down to see A Live Transmission of 'Adventure Time' Episode #II: Attack of the Grabons and filled the house at the Midnight Matinees on Saturday. The show was a huge success and that's mostly thanks to the audience! For those of you that didn't, we got a video and two recordings, so you'll be able take a look and listen, and quietly sob over what you missed. A helpful chap on the front row took some photos with Yaz's camera, so you can also see photos of the show in our gallery, or check out our Adventure Time collection on flickr. Finally, we'll be blogging soon about the theory behind A Live Transmission of Adventure Time, and the experiments it's designed to show. Look out for that soon!

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Anonymous Kathleen said...

Hello there,

I can say it was a success and the audience was quite remarkable.
Yes, I was there and able to experience it first hand, when I was, in a way, "volunteered" as one of the Ex-wings. I couldn't refuse and didn't want to either since I went to see the show to grasp what you guys call immediacy or intereactive theatre.
Let me tell you I had a great time, and though I stick by my idea that theatre still has a unique identity (my answer to the post "the future of theatre") in regards to cinema and TV, there is definitely space for "mainstream" regular theatre and some new adventures. We actually need it in art.

I can now say I am hooked. You made it so easy and comfortable to be on stage, that I am sure people will want to go for it, even the most shy.

I have a question though: do you think it is a concept applicable to drama or can it only work with comedy?

Well, when is the next episode?

P.S: by the way, Yaz is quite a champion at having plenty of ex-girlfriends!

Kathleen (Ex-wing 5)

24 March 2009 09:17  
Blogger Tom Crawshaw said...

Kathleen,

So glad you enjoyed the show. Getting people, who would otherwise be nervous of the idea of interaction, to experience how fun theatre can be when you're a part of it is one of our main aims. It's certainly one we plan to take further with our Edinburgh show this year - provisionally titled 'Play The Play'.

We certainly felt this episode was a good indicator of how much people appreciate an opportunity to experience theatre in a different way. And how keen they are to be a part of it. Even if they are sceptical to begin with.

Thanks very much for helping us experiment. We don't have any other episodes planned at this precise moment (what with Edinburgh plans) but there are an intended seven in the 'Adventure Time' series!

This is an idea we are applying to comedy at the moment - as it seems to lend itself very obviously and comedy is an area our company has a lot of experience in. However, we do feel there is much potential for inter-reactive theatre that is mainly serious in tone. Possibly something for a few years down the line...

P.S. That's true - do you know Yaz then?

1 April 2009 12:52  

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It's Adventure Time - again!

Hey Three's Company fans!

If you hadn't already heard, we'll be onstage again at the Midnight Matinees this Saturday (21st March), at - you guessed it - midnight.

After the phenomenal success of A Live Transmission of Adventure Time - Episode #1: The Lady of FunnyHaHa, we've been invited back to the Tristan Bates theatre for Episode #2.

The show is another comedy, taken over by our fictional alter-ego theatre company Comedy Trio, and once again the audience will play an integral part in making it work.

If you want to be in that audience then call 020-7240-6283 or email boxoffice@tristanbatestheatre.co.uk and ask for a ticket to the Midnight Matinee - just £5. Book soon, they're prone to selling out!

The Midnight Matinees are an acclaimed monthly showcase for new work, featuring scratch performances a time. So for your fiver, you'll also get to see a reading of a new play by Royal Court writer Dean Stalham and a performance by Total Theatre nominees Bottlefed Ensemble. Talk about value for money.

Finally, a sneak preview of our Intro:

Find out more here.

See you there!

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Three's Company hit the West End

That's right, Three's Company's first performance since going full-time will be at the Tristan Bates Theatre in the West End... although at the not-quite-prime-time of midnight.

Each month, the Tristan Bates runs the 'Midnight Matinees' - a showcase for new work with a strong following among London theatre fans happy to stay up late.

We will be producing a new piece of interactive theatre - expanding on the work we started in Auditorium - based around the recording of a new radio comedy.

Most exciting, this latest work will be in collaboration with up-coming comedy group Comedy Trio - formed by Martin Brady-Small, John Withershaw & Jazz Carter. We can't go into detail about the exact nature of this collaboration here but head to their website - comedytrio.co.uk - to find out more.

The piece - A Live Transmission of 'Adventure Time' - will be appearing, along with other work, as part of the 'Midnight Matinee' at the Tristan Bates Theatre on Saturday November 15th - starting at (surprise surprise) midnight.

The shows sell-out each month but it would be really good to have a little bit of a home crowd so do please come along (if you don't mind a late night). It's only £5 (!) for the whole evening's entertainment and tickets can be booked by calling 020 7240 6283 or emailing boxoffice@tristanbatestheatre.co.uk

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