CURVE WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
SAT 8 AUG 2020
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Welcome to your weekly newsletter from Curve. We hope this finds you, your family and loved ones well.
As you may have seen, there have been a number of announcements from theatres across the country postponing Christmas shows. We send our love and solidarity to everyone who has shared upsetting news this week including our friends and neighbours Birmingham Hippodrome, who we worked with as co-producers on last year’s production of The Color Purple.
Whilst acknowledging this is a challenging time, we are keen to ensure that feelings of hope and positivity remain strong. As such, this week’s newsletter is packed with opportunities to reminisce and be entertained, to participate and be inspired, and to be together and enjoy the arts online.
To bring some cheer whilst theatres are still in lockdown, we commissioned our friends and Curve Associate Artists Sheep Soup to create a song inspired by Curve and the shows we’ve presented on our stages over the years. You can watch this wonderfully uplifting – and very catchy! – musical tribute to our theatre below. And if you see Mrs Green when you’re out and about in town, do say “hello!”
The great work continues with our Affiliate Company Nupur Arts, who are bringing the very best Indian classical dance and music to your home with their Nartan Online Series. Join the company online each weekend for performances from an array of different artists and musicians; you can also catch up with the series so far by clicking here. Congratulations to Smita Vadnerkar and her team on getting all of this work online.
Our friends at Leicester Comedy Festival are taking the comedy online with a virtual version of their An Interview with… series. Catch Festival Director Geoff Rowe in conversation with top comedians every Thursday throughout this month; more information and ticket details can be found below.
For younger audiences, we’re pleased to share a new addition to our Bedtime Stories series – David Walliams’ The Ice Monster. Curve regular Cathy Tyson gives a tremendous reading of the novel that is sure to capture the imagination of children and adults alike.
Shane Richie offers advice, insight and inspiration in the latest instalment of Curve in Conversation, following his blisteringly beautiful performance as Archie Rice in our Made at Curve production of The Entertainer. Those days of seeing shows in our theatre seem incredibly distant now, don’t they? – almost like a dream. Let’s hope we’re back there before too long.
Meanwhile dancers can now book for Across_Dance, a new five-part workshop series hosted by Curve Associate Artist Aakash Odedra and Aditi Mangaldas. Each session will explore kathak and contemporary dance, so this is a great opportunity to experience these styles and develop your practice.
There’s also a reminder of Graeae‘s BEYOND programme, which launched a couple of weeks ago. The scheme is designed to transform the careers of d/Deaf, hard-of-hearing and Disabled artists by supporting new connections to artistic development opportunities, and offering training, mentoring and creative spaces within a national network of theatres – including Curve! If you know anybody who might be interested in this scheme, please forward the information on to them.
Thank you again to each and every one of you, Leicester City Council and
Arts Council England for your continued support.
And enjoy the sunshine this weekend!
With great good wishes,
Chris & Nikolai
CURVE COMMISSIONS
A celebration of Curve with Mrs Green and Sheep Soup
We’re very much missing being with you all at Curve, so we commissioned our Associate Artists Sheep Soup to pen a song inspired by our theatre and the shows we’ve presented on our stages over the years.
The incredible team of East Midlands artists did not disappoint and we’re so pleased to share Curtain Up with you all. We hope it reminds you of some of the fantastic times we have spent together at our theatre and you enjoy listening out for all of the references to Curve!
Huge thanks to Sheep Soup’s Rob Green, Ben Welch (Mrs Green) and Nic Harvey.
This commission follows our recent digital project with Leicester poet Jess Green, Not Something That Other People Do. Stay tuned for more exciting commissions coming soon!
THE SHOW MUST GO ON-LINE
Experience Indian classical and folk dance at home with Nupur Arts
It’s shaping up to be a busy August for Curve Affiliate Company Nupur Arts, as they continue to bring the magic of the Nartan Online Series 2020 to your screens each weekend, with support from Curve and Arts Council England.
Nartan Online showcases the best of Bharatanatyam, Kathak, Odissi, Kuchipudi and Mohiniattam. For the first time this year, the series will also showcase various Indian folk-dance forms from Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Punjab; catch up on the event at the link below.
Curve in Conversation with Shane Richie
Our Curve in Conversation series continues this week with Shane Richie, who most recently appeared at Curve in our Made at Curve production of The Entertainer.
In this video, Shane chats to our Artistic Director Nikolai Foster about about his career beginning in his dad’s clubs, how he has been able to move between genres, and why Curve is not just about theatre.
Leicester Comedy Festival's comedy Q&As go virtual
Our friends at Leicester Comedy Festival are taking their An Interview with… series online to raise money for the annual festival.
Join Festival Director Geoff Rowe for a bunch of fascinating and funny digital interviews with top comedians, including Zoe Lyons, Ed Byrne, Al Murray and more!
Develop your dance practice with Aakash Odedra and Aditi Mangaldas
Calling all dancers! Join Curve Associate Artist Aakash Odedra and Aditi Mangaldas for Across_Dance this September – a unique, five-part, online dance workshop series based around
kathak and contemporary dance.
Both Aakash and Aditi will lead the sessions at an intermediate level, with a focus on structure and re-imagining your approach to movement. Each session will explore one of the five elements: fire, water, earth, wind and ether, and will be supported by discussion and interaction.
Go BEYOND with Graeae's new creative development scheme
Graeae‘s BEYOND programme is designed to support d/Deaf, hard-of-hearing and Disabled artists. Artists who apply can enjoy creative space to explore theatrical ideas and support in sourcing funding and bursaries, among other development opportunities.
Applications are now open. For more details on how to apply (including information in accessible formats such as Easy Read and BSL), please visit our website at the link below.
READ ALONG TO THE ICE MONSTER WITH CATHY TYSON
Ready for another Bedtime Story?
To help keep kids entertained and inspired, we asked leading actors to read a selection of children’s books.
We’re thrilled to share this reading of David Walliams‘ The Ice Monster by Cathy Tyson (My Beautiful Laundrette, The Importance of Being Earnest, Band of Gold) for you to enjoy together at home.
Read along with Cathy by clicking the button below.