We are now into our sixth year of existence with fourteen productions and 70 shows under our belt (see Past Productions) in over half a dozen venue spaces in and around Liverpool including the Unity Theatre, the Lantern Theatre, Williamson Tunnels and St Luke’s Bombed Out Church as well as our place of residence, The Casa on Hope Street. It’s been an exhilarating experience, putting on original work, adapting some of the classics, working with exciting new actors and meeting great Liverpool audiences.
We are currently preparing two shows for the inaugural Liverpool Fringe Festival taking place at The Casa and other venues throughout Liverpool in the last two weeks of June. An abridged one hour, 15 minutes version of Shakespeare: War Play, retitled now as ‘Shakespeare at War’, which we performed earlier this year. We’ve selected the best bits from the full version for you to sample. We are also performing an evening of Franca Rame’s monologues. This will be in conjunction with Italian actress Roberta La Guardia who has come over from Italy specifically to perform with us at the festival.
Click on the link for more details of all the shows at the Liverpool Fringe Festival
As soon as we finish performing at the festival we’ll be auditioning for our Autumn production, an original in-house production ‘Revolution’ which centres round the events of the Russian Revolution, one hundred years ago. See below for all the information you need for the auditions.
And if you fancy getting involved with Burjesta Theatre, whether you’re an experienced actor, a total beginner or somewhere in between the first port of call is our weekly workshops which take place each Wednesday in The Casa. We’re an inclusive and friendly group so there’s no need to hesitate! Our current workshops are on the theme of ‘Revolutionary Theatre’. Click here for more details.
Liverpool Fringe Festival
Liverpool Fringe Festival – 17th June to 2nd July
Liverpool’s inaugural Fringe Festival with theatre, comedy, dance, improv over two weeks at venues centred around Hope Street – The Casa, Fredericks, 81 Renshaw, The Caledonia, The Magnet and Unity Theatre.
We’ll be performing ‘Shakespeare at War’ and ‘Franca Rame Monologues’ (in conjunction with Italian actress from ‘Realisti Visionari’, whilst our sister company, Potentially Brilliant Production wil be reviving their Spring production of ‘Refugee’. In all there are different productions on at The Casa alone with many more throughout Liverpool.
Click on the following links for more information and to book tickets –
‘Shakespeare at War’ – Saturday, 17th June, 8.30pm – more info
‘Shakespeare at War’ – Sunday, 18th June, 3pm – more info
‘Franca Rame Monologues’ – Tuesday, 20th June, 7pm – more info
‘Refugee’ – Wednesday, 21st June, 8.30pm – more info
Click on the following link to see all the acts and venues and to book tickets –
http://liverpoolfringe.co.uk/
‘Revolution’ Auditions
Burjesta Theatre will be auditioning for their Autumn production, ‘Revolution’, on Wednesday 26th July @ The Casa, Hope Street, Liverpool from 6pm to 10pm.
‘Revolution’ is an original, in-house production which covers 50 years of revolutionary drama in Europe from the Paris Commune of 1871 to the Russian Revolution of 1917, and will include key figures, such as Lenin and Trotsky as well as their adversaries, Tsar Nicholas II, for example. We will be performing it at The Casa in October on the 100th anniversary of the Russian Revolution.
We will be looking for a cast of between 10 and 12 actors of any age from 18 upwards and of either gender. Actors cast will be playing multiple characters and also be part of a ‘Greek-style’ Chorus.
We will cast irrespective of gender, based on the merit of each actor for the parts as most of the characters are male. So, for example, Leon Trotsky, or Lenin could be performed by an actress.
You do not have to prepare anything. The audition will consist of group chorus work and main character work followed by a short informal interview. Please note this is unpaid work.
There will be a supporting preparatory workshop a week earlier on Wednesday 19th July, 7pm (also at The Casa) which will cover themes from the play, the style of theatre we will be using and general information about the production. You do not have to attend the workshop to audition but it will be advantageous to do so in order to familiarise yourself with the subject matter.
Rehearsals – Rehearsals will begin on 31st July and run through August, September and October. Rehearsals will be two to three times a week either on weekday evenings (probably Tuesday and Thursdays) or Saturday daytime.
Performance Dates – We are looking at four to five shows at The Casa between 17th and 25th of October. We are also looking into performing the show in Manchester immediately following these dates.
Performance Venue – Shows will be performed at The Casa which has been developed into a fringe theatre space with a capacity of 100 seats, in-house theatre sound and lighting and a two-level stage.
Revolutionary Workshops
Our current workshops are on the theme of ‘Revolutionary Theatre’. We are looking at how some of the great playwrights have covered times of revolution, uprisings, rebellions and class war with selections from Shakespeare’s ‘Coriolanus’ and ‘Henry VI Part II’, Lope de Vega’s ‘Fuente Ovejuna’, C.L.R. Jame’s ‘Toussaint Louverture’ and Bertolt Brecht’s ‘Days of the Commune’. The remaining workshop dates in this series are, at the time of posting, as follows: 7th June, 14th June, 12th July. Each workshop is a stand alone workshop and costs £3/£2. For more general information click here