Analogue

2401 Objects coming to a theatre near you...

2012-02-16T05:31:00.001-08:00

2401 Objects will be making its way around the country and further afield over the coming months. All the dates are below so bring friends and family and come and say hi after the show - we love to meet our audiences...

March

Fri 9/ Sat 10 The Brewhouse, Taunton

Wed 14 The Junction, Cambridge

Sat 17 Universityof Bedfordshire, Bedford

Thu 22 The Point, Eastleigh

Wed 28/ Thu 29 Harrogate Theatre, Harrogate

Fri 30/ Sat 31 Traverse, Edinburgh

April

Fri 13/ Sat 14 Derby Theatre, Derby

Tue 17 Parabola Arts Centre, Cheltenham

Thu 19 Barnsley Civic, Barnsley

Tue 24/ Wed 25 Arc Stockton, Stockton

Sat 28/ Sun 29 Pazz Festival, Oldenburg, Germany

May

Thu 3/ Fri 4 Oldenburg Staatstheater, Oldenburg, Germany

Wed 9 The Lowry, Salford

Sat 12 The Dukes, Lancaster

Tue 15-Sat 19 Plymouth Drum, Plymouth

The product of a non-product driven process...

2012-02-05T07:00:00.000-08:00

It is so often the way that before you know what show you are making, you are required to summarise your project into a pitch, in order to secure money enough to make it.

Of no more than [number] words please describe your idea and indicate all intended outcomes and audience outreach… Upon receipt of funding, please display the appropriate logo of no smaller than [size] in all publicity and be sure to [list of rules to which your company must comply in order to be eligible]… Following your funded period of R&D it is a requirement that by means of scratch, feedback forms or other materials, please supply evidence of your impact on [list of demographic groups]…

Having just returned from the Darkroom, an initiative devised and organised by China Plate where two companies are invited on a two-week blind date with two writers, I am now convinced there is a better way to get the most out of an artist.

I will admit to having my doubts before embarking on the Darkroom: What’s the catch? What do the organisers of a non-product driven initiative get out of this? And how do they sell something without a tangible output to an output-orientated funding body?

However it now occurs to me that these producers know a little something about the ingredients needed to create a product and that, in fact, a product can take on many forms. So perhaps there is no such thing as a non-product driven process? For whether you leave the Darkroom with a Three Act play, 400 pages of beautiful prose, the solution to that troublesome stumbling block in your process which has long been responsible for the flaw in your final shows, a regained pleasure in making work with your collaborators, or simply the knowledge that you don’t want to - or can’t - continue as you have, a product will emerge.

They choose companies that find themselves at a very particular point in their development, a point 5 or so years into their company’s life, where they are attempting to define themselves and, in part, the act of doing so is affecting how they make work. They are asking themselves who they are, how they are perceived, whether they are enjoying themselves, what they need, who they need, who they are, what they want as individuals and what that means to their collaborative work. They have experienced the ecstatic highs and crushing lows that come with the industry and have an understanding of how life can get in the way both to the detriment and the benefit of the work they make. And mostly they want to know, what next?

Returning from the Darkroom, I am awash with what I have learnt and fearful that I may not be able to keep hold of it. I feel armed with the teachings of an invaluable exposure to an entirely different writing process and excited at a potential piece of work that didn’t exist in any form whatsoever less than two weeks ago. But also there is everything in between. The stuff that would not fit into the cordoned off answer boxes on a funding application.

In the middle of nowhere, there is the space and distance you are allowed from the common distractions that hamper your creativity, the knowledge that someone is looking after you, relieving you of the day-to-day routines that otherwise occupy your mind. There is the enlightening conversations with those five to ten years your senior over a pint or an avocado and marmite sandwich where both the more and less experienced leave having learnt a little something about where they are and what they might want in the future. There’s the opportunity to witness another company’s process, share the concerns and difficulties that you think are just your own but are in fact everyone’s, and identify what might be lacking from your own work by the impact of theirs on you, without any sense of competition.

Of course this is a luxury and it would be naïve to expect such an opportunity from every working process from now on. And yet why shouldn’t we demand more of this kind of thinking? Why does the Darkroom stand alone among a sea of initiatives with a very one-dimensional view of product? We have long since known that arts do not deliver in the same way as other sectors – proven if nothing else by our annual wrestle with HM Revenue and Customs – so I wonder why it has not had more of an effect on the opportunities offered to artists to encourage them to make work?

Either way, we feel very lucky to have been involved in the Darkroom and grateful for the combination of artists, thinkers and facilitators that made it what it was. It is no overestimation to declare that Analogue has only been made better by this opportunity, the difficulty China Plate has, of course, is how they communicate that to their future funders…

Analogue meets the world of Neuroscience: The Man Behind the Brain, University of Edinburgh, 2011

2011-09-23T08:35:00.000-07:00

After the final performance of the award-winning 2401Objects at the Edinburgh Festival on 28th August 2011 Analogue, in collaboration with the University of Edinburgh and supported by Wellcome Trust, brought together Professor Richard Morris (Neuroscientist at the Centre for Neural and Cognitive Systems at Edinburgh University) and Dr Jacopo Annese (Via live video link up from his lab at The Brain Observatory at the University of California) together with members of our team to discuss The Man Behind the Brain.

Attended by in excess of 150 people, this cross-discipline event offered the opportunity for the general public to access experts at the cutting edge of their field who had met Henry Molaison in his lifetime.

We were keen that audiences should be able to ask questions - both ethical and technical - that came out of the show and to have the opportunity to hear directly from those involved in Henry's case about the details of his condition and equally what we can learn from him in the future.

Edited by the very talented Alex Markham, click here to watch the event.

An incredible Edinburgh for Analogue's 2401 Objects...

2011-09-01T12:33:00.000-07:00

A big thank you to everyone who came and saw 2401 Objects in Edinburgh - It has been an absolutely incredible year for Analogue up at the festival!

Our last show on 28th August was followed by a very special Q&A event entitled 'The Man Behind the Brain'. Organised in association with the University of Edinburgh and supported by Wellcome Trust, we heard presentations from Professor Richard Morris, Neuroscientist at the Centre for Cognitive and Neural Systems who met Henry Molaison in his lifetime, and Dr Jacopo Annese, the neuroscientist who cut HM's brain into 2401 slices, who joined us via live Skype link from The Brain Observatory in San Diego. Attended by over 150 people, we organised the event to allow audiences the opportunity to ask questions that emerged out of watching the performance. The event was filmed and we will make the edited video available online very soon.

Having returned from Scotland just a few days ago, we are already in Exeter where the show has been invited to be part of a new and exciting annual conference entitled Isolated Acts at the University of Exeter on 2nd September.

2401 Objects is due to tour in Spring 2012, but for now here is a brief round-up of how the show was received up at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2011...

Winner of a Fringe First 2011

Short-listed for the Carol Tambor Best of Edinburgh Award 2011

**** The Scotsman Hot Show

**** The Times

**** The Telegraph

**** The Sunday Times

**** Exuent Magazine

**** Broadway Baby

**** Three Weeks

**** Fringe Guru

**** WhatsOnStage

**** Edinburgh Fringe Review

***** Theatre Review London

'Pick of the Festival' The Sunday Express'

'2401 Objects is a solid, well-researched piece of theatre that adds to Analogue's ever-growing canon of work.' Total Theatre Magazine

'It's understandable why Analogue's production was nearly sold out on the afternoon I saw it. 2401 Objects is a fine piece of theatre that breaks down the barriers of science as something to be understood by those who studied it. The story of Henry Molaison is fascinating, ad Analogue presents it with tender care and imagination. A must see for people looking for a more defined production at this year's Edinburgh Festival.'
A Younger Theatre

Join us in Edinburgh for a free Q&A event with leading neuroscientists on 28th August...

2011-08-16T05:28:00.000-07:00

Patient HM: The Man Behind the Brain

28^th August, 6pm, Informatics Forum, University of Edinburgh

'In 1953 Dr William Beecher Scoville removed the hippocampii from Henry Molaison's brain and left us with this artefact – which sort of makes archaeologists of us all – this artefact, Patient H.M.'

How do we reconcile a person with their brain? What have we learnt from Patient HM? And what will become of the 2401 Objects?

Analogue are delighted to invite you to join us at a special Q&A event that accompanies the Fringe First-winning Edinburgh run of our new show 2401 Objects, which tells the story of Patient HM – the world’s most important neuroscience patient.

During experimental surgery in 1953, Henry Molaison had his hippocampii removed from deep inside his brain, leaving him eternally in the present without the ability to form long-term memories for the rest of his life. Henry’s brain was dissected live online in 2009 and now exists in 2401 perfectly preserved slices, which are helping change the way we understand memory.

On 28^th August, Analogue come together with a leading figure from the neuroscience world to discuss the man behind the brain. Among the panelists is a neuroscientists who met Henry in his lifetime, Professor Richard Morris from the Centre for Cognitive and Neural Systems at the University of Edinburgh. We are hoping to also include Dr Jacopo Annese - the man who dissected HM’s brain in 2009 - via live link up from The Brain Observatory in San Diego but it will depend on his schedule that day which is changeable. We also have Liam Jarvis, Co-Director of Analogue and co-writer of 2401 Objects also on the panel.

This is a rare and exciting opportunity to ask experts at the cutting edge of their field more about HM’s story, to find out what we are learning from exploring the 2401 slices, and to explore what impact is might hold for our understanding of memory and the brain.

Drinks and nibbles: 6pm

Panelists and Q&A: 6.30pm (1 hour)

Free of charge

Tickets can be booked via http://patienthm.eventbrite.com/

Venue: Informatics Forum
10 Crichton Street, Edinburgh, Midlothian EH8 9AB

Analogue wins a Scotsman Fringe First 2011

2011-08-16T04:22:00.000-07:00

We are enormously excited to announce that 2401 Objects has won a Scotsman Fringe First at the Edinburgh Festival 2011. Accepting the award on Friday, we were in amazing company among the talents of The Team and Blind Summit. We would like to thank everyone who has supported us and also all those who have come to see the show.

This incredible accolade adds to a growing number of 4 and 5 star reviews across the board. Here is a round up so far...
**** The Scotsman (Hot Show)
****The Times
****The Telegraph
**** Exuent Magazine
**** Broadway baby
**** Fringe Review
***** Theatre Guide London

2401 Objects heads to Edinburgh

2011-07-26T07:19:00.000-07:00

As i type this, most of team Analogue are hard at work putting the finishing touches to our new show 2401 Objects at Jacksons Lane, ready for Wednesday night's London preview.

We've been working hard on it since we returned from Germany at the start of July, where we made the majority of the show at Oldenburgisches Staatstheater, our brilliant Germany co-producing venue. Over there, we spent a month devising, writing and rehearsing this piece - the culmination of a long process that started at Farnham Maltings back in Autumn 2009. We also did four brilliant public performances of the piece, for which we got some lovely reviews in the German press.

Now, Edinburgh is on the horizon once again and so we're making those final tweaks before opening at Pleasance Courtyard next Wednesday (3rd August). The show's running all month, and we'd love to see lots of you there.

We'll be updating this page a bit more regularly throughout the festival, and tweeting from @Analogue_ too.

In the meantime, here's some of our lovely production shots from the show:

Lecture Notes tour

2011-04-15T06:44:00.000-07:00

Wow, time is flying by... not only has the Beachy Head tour now ended, but we're half way through development on our new show 2401 Objects. It's a busy and exciting time at Analogue HQ.

The Beachy Head tour was a real success, with almost 4000 people seeing the show across its tour, and a brilliant new cast doing a great job. Copies of the script will be available to buy via this site in the not too distant future.

The company are currently in Ipswich, being hosted by our regular co-producers New Wolsey Theatre, developing 2401 Objects - which will premiere in the UK at the Edinburgh Festival this summer. There'll be more news about this, and some UK previews soon.

If that's not enough, in May there are three more chances to see our intimate and atmospheric performance for single audience members, Lecture Notes on a Death Scene. Audience feedback to the show in Ipswich, Salford and London has been brilliant so far, so check out the tour dates page for details of performances in Leeds, Harrogate and Taunton. There will be more dates in Autumn 2011 and throughout 2012 announced shortly.

Tour Week 2 update

2011-02-07T07:40:00.000-08:00

The Beachy Head tour began brilliantly last week at the fantastic Drum Theatre in Plymouth, who were massively helpful and supportive as ever. We got great responses from audiences throughout the week, and some nice local press too:

"Interesting ideas, great observation, tremendous character portrayal" Whatsonstage.com

Tonight, we open at The Junction in Cambridge - the brilliant venue where we developed our interactive installation Living Film Set last Autumn - and we then spend most of the week in London at lovely Jackson's Lane, where we open with a sell out performance on Wednesday night.

Over the weekend, we were delighted with a great preview piece from Lyn Gardner in this week's Guardian Guide.

And most excitingly, we have in our possession the shiny new playtext of Beachy Head, published by the good people at Oberon Books. The playtexts are on sale at all tour dates, or via Amazon.

Beachy Head Tour - Spring 2011

2010-12-18T10:51:00.000-08:00

The team at Analogue HQ are very excited about the upcoming Spring tour of our 2009 Edinburgh hit Beachy Head.

Throughout February and March, a brand new cast will be touring all corners of the UK - and briefly, Switzerland - with a revised version of the show. To accompany the tour, Oberon Books are publishing the script as a programme playtext, available to buy at all tour dates or online here.

We hope to see you on the road.

27 Jan Frensham Heights, Farnham (preview)
2-5 Feb Drum Theatre, Plymouth (Link)
7 Feb The Junction, Cambridge (Link)
9-12 Feb Jackson’s Lane, London (Link)
15 Feb Unity Theatre, Liverpool (Link)
17 Feb The Showroom, Chichester (Link)
19-20 Feb The Lowry, Salford (Link)
23 Feb The Castle, Wellingborough (Link)
24 Feb Lakeside Theatre, Essex (Link)
25 Feb Parabola Arts Centre, Cheltenham (Link)
1 Mar Theatre Basel, Switzerland (Link)
3 Mar The Library Theatre, Luton (Link)
4 Mar The Space @ The Stag, Sevenoaks (Link)
7 Mar Wales Millenium Centre, Cardiff (Link)
9 Mar Brewhouse Theatre, Taunton (Link)
10 Mar Wickham Theatre, Bristol (Link)
11-12 Mar New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich (Link)
14-16 Mar Harrogate Theatre (Link)
19 Mar Brewery Arts Centre, Kendal (Link)
21 Mar Paisley Arts Centre
23-24 Mar Aberystwyth Arts Centre (Link)