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Here’s where you can find out all the latest news from around the venues!
BECK TOUGH MUDDERS!
On Saturday, the Beck Theatre team completed a 10km Tough Mudder to raise money for their Summer Youth Project 2023, somehow with smiles on their faces and without any trips to A&E (although one of the team did break a rib!)
Tough Mudder is an endurance test with 22 obstacles which saw them over the space of nearly 4 hours challenge themselves with common human fears, such as heights (the tallest being a 40ft climb up and down a very flimsy net), filthy water, being shocked with 10,000 volts of electricity, tear gas, plunging in freezing ice baths, crawling through tight enclosed spaces and of course… 10km / 6 miles of very thick and slippery mud.
The team can be seen here at the finish line and is made up of: Bradley Ward, Fiona Nisbet (previous Deputy Technical Manager for The Beck), Nigel Howlett (Building & Technical Manager for The Beck and interim Technical Manager for G Live), Charlotte Young (Creative Learning Officer at the Beck / Trafalgar Entertainment Trust), Steve Sargeant (Theatre Director for The Beck), Lewis Colclough (Campaign Manager for Trafalgar Theatres) and Sam Richardson and Alex Windeatt (both Causal Technicians).
Their motto was: it’s not a race, it’s a challenge. To complete this muddy assignment, they had to work as a team, but not just with each other, but the people around them to complete the tough, physical challenges and to keep everyone mentally and emotionally in check!
For their Tough Mudder, they fundraised for the Beck Theatre’s Summer Youth Project. They provide an affordable activity in an inclusive environment for local young people aged 9-19 in the summer holidays in a borough with one of the lowest cultural engagements in the country at a time when there’s a ‘creativity crisis’ in the school curriculum. Through learning the singing, acting, dancing and design for a show, their SYP develops participants’ transferable skills and strengthens social ties in the local community, thus improving wellbeing, confidence and community cohesion.
Their target was £1,000, and they’re thrilled that they’ve exceeded this! But of course, they’re still welcoming donations, so if you want to reward this bruised, achy, broken team for their hard work at the weekend, please do chip in a few pennies!
SOUTHEND FUNDRAISERS
Staff at Southend Theatres (pictured above) have been busy fundraising over the past few months and they can now reveal their grand totals! During panto season, the team raised a staggering £15,844.50 for Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital and more recently
£2,398.87 for the DEC Turkey and Syria Appeal! Well done everyone!
STREET FOOD AT G LIVE
Connor Harper and the team at G Live are delighted to pilot a vibrant new offering before every performance in their main house. Moving away from the traditional three course pre-show dining menu, they welcome a selection of carefully designed grab-‘n’-go-style dishes. Paul Lawman and the Trafalgar Theatres’ Group Chefs have explored cuisines from around the world to develop a choice of flavour-packed pots, including duck or halloumi filled Chinese bao buns served with five-spiced fries, a Moroccan influenced meatball tagine, a vegan Sri Lankan sweet potato curry, a Japanese chicken katsu curryand the South American burger with chimichurri marinade and seasoned wedges, which has proved by far the fan-favourite.
All served in compostable Vegware vessels with wooden cutlery, in an effort to assist their mission to operate as a venue demonstrating social responsibility. This comes in addition to their sale of Fair Trade chocolate, an ethically sourced coffee which supports communities in Rwanda, the switch from PET bottles to cans of soda at the café, the use of Polycarbonate glasses in place of single use plastics at the bar, and completing a good chunk of their bid to replace all light sources within the building to LEDs!
The G Live team are excited to redevelop the menu periodically and keep things exciting and fresh, so if you have any World Food faves which simply *need* consideration, get in touch with the team!
SHREK AT DARTFORD!
No it isn’t Lord Farquaad’s castle, it’s The Orchard Theatre, Dartford (above) with a new look for the Summer! Just like Fiona, the front of the theatre has transformed for Shrek The Musical. Shrek heads to Dartford in October 2023 and stars Antony Lawrence, Joanne Clifton, James Gillan and Brandon Lee Sears. That’ll Do, Dartford. That’ll do.
SPRING CLEAN IN SYDNEY!
From Theatre Royal Sydney foyer to the art studio! With a few weeks between productions, Charles O. Perry’s Mercator (above) has been brought down for its first clean! The three day process—which is being completed by Stephen Coburn who restored the sculpture for the Theatre Royal refurbishment after it sat in storage for 30 years—will see the sculpture hanging in the foyer again later this week.
STEVEN’S LEAP OF FAITH
Swindon’s Hospitality Manager, Steven Rogers (above), recently completed a 15,000ft Sky Dive and raised £315 for the Swindon Memory Projects.
Swindon Theatres have established three thriving projects aimed at supporting and working within the community of people living with dementia.
Consisting of the Memory Cafe, Memory Cinema, and Memory Move. The projects are free and designed to assist those living with dementia, their friends, their families, and their carers. You can still support Steve via his fundraising page below.
And finally!… Congratulations to Gavin Shuman, (Venue Director White Rock Theatre, Hastings), his wife Sam, and daughter Alex, who welcomed a baby boy, Edward Eric John Shuman (Teddy) to their family on Friday morning! Both mum and baby are doing well.
Teddy
