PILOT 18
8/12/09
Pilot 18 was co-hosted by Foursight who were delighted to sit in the PILOT cock-pit, so to speak, steering a course a little west of Birmingham into their sunny hometown Wolverhampton for a PILOT debut at The Arena Theatre. It was a bustling night of pre-Christmas delight with 5 brand new pieces of theatre on stage as well as live music, interactive installations, mulled wine and mince pies in the bar area. Performing were Void Physical Theatre, Studio 38, HamFisted!, The Marina Sossi Group, Francesca Millican-Slater, The Silky Pair and Needle and Thread.
It Came From PILOT - Warwick Arts Centre
8/10/09
It Came from PILOT was a unique double bill, a family affair taking a poignant look at the universal relationships of mother/daughter and father/son. The Other Way Works premiered Avon Calling which explores the eternal triangle of mother – daughter – and Avon Cosmetics. Drawing vividly on personal source material Louise Platt revealed an intimate and comic portrait of a woman, a mother and an Avon Lady. Ex-Avon lady. After the interval Father and son duo, Kings of England performed Where We Live and What We Live For. In 2001 75 year old Peter Bowes had a trans-ischemic attack, a stroke. In this gentle, deeply moving work he and his son remembered and imagined the man he once was.
PILOT 17
02/07/09
PILOT 17 was a one off summer special co-piloted and hosted by Birmingham’s Stan’s Café in their new space The AE Harris Building. The evening’s nine acts were spread throughout the building with some devised site specifically during the week leading up to the event. Audiences were met and inspected at the gates by Needless Allies. The Other Way Works branched into sound instillation in a piece inspired by the building whilst Kindle Theatre invited the audience to join them in the kitchen for a feast, in an extract from their latest work Eat Your Heart Out. Emerging regional company New Macho attempted to sell their alternative living in the depths of The Pen. Ben Payne and Jon Nicholls created an interactive sound piece inspired by the Madness of Crowds, BoXd productions came from London with a multi-media performance, in a hidden box room Gerard Bell adapted one of Kafka’s short stories whilst Katherina Radeva installed hundreds of origami birds in an exploration of the journey of an Eastern European Girl. Finally Untied Artists closed the night with a tribute to 1930’s star singer Al Bowlly which got the audience off their seats and dancing into the night.
PILOT 16
12/03/09
Co-Piloted by Jake Oldershaw and Jo Carr of Untied Artists PILOT 16 saw seven companies from across the country bring their newborn theatrical lambs to the Custard Factory. Birmingham’s Lucy Tuck and Dymphna Callery tested an extract from their collaborative, interdisciplinary piece Matadora. The Other Way Works gave the premier outing of their one-woman show, Avon Calling, and up and coming Needless Allies explored the disappearance of Manic Street Preacher Richey Edwards. PILOT creator Simon Day brought The Plasticine Men’s latest work Keepers, providing high quality physical storytelling. Tinned Fingers asked the audience to decide who should survive in Our Father’s Ears, 2Divide provided a comic insight into bipolar disorder and in the foyer Jo Bannon collected and displayed our claims to fame.
PILOT 15
18/12/08
Co-Piloted by Coventry’s Talking Birds PILOT 15 saw a night of theatrical treats from an all Midlands line up including Stan’s Café’s Come Together, a festive tale adapted for the stage by Untied Artists, a blow by blow account of Peter Fletcher’s sneezes, raucous tomato throwing from duo Millions and Pliers and an operatic foray into the world of defecation by Instant Opera Company as well as an early outing of Kings of England’s Where We Live and What We Live For which is now gaining national acclaim.
PILOT 14
8/8/08
Pilot 14 saw the UK premier performance from award winning Australian Company Side Pony Productions who brought the classic Western to the stage in a serial melodrama of epic proportions. PILOT star Ed Rapley returned with a monologue in which he attempted to travel through time in order to save himself from such a disappointing adolescence. Local favourites Spanner and HamFisted! were back alongside brand new Birmingham based company, Stepping On Rakes who brought their female clowns to the stage for the very first time. To top it off Tikur Anbessa asked the audience to consider what’s so frightening about ‘The Blackheart Man’ in his explosive one man show and London-based Vier Theatre made their Midlands debut to tell the mythic tale of The Hermit Crab.
PILOT 13
12/12/07
Curated by PILOT Nights PILOT 13 saw Half Wit bring their highly physical mask work to Birmingham with their tragicomic interpretation of Orwell’s Down and Out in Paris and London. Lost Spectacles’ clowns attempted a bit of acting. Livestock united two strangers for the first time, to tell the tale of their failed love affair. The Other Way Works’ call girls took the audience’s instructions whilst Frenzic’s ladies invited the audience to bring them a gift of little or no importance. Finally HamFisted’s sensory retelling of The Farmer and the Mermaid lead us out of the door and into the bar via a giant potato…
PILOT 12
13/09/07
Curated by Co-PILOTs Jane Packman and The Other Way Works PILOT 12 included a foray into the world of the musical with the passionate and explosive Little Miss Mousy. Rough Memory reported from the front line as war breaks loose between red and grey squirrels, and The Licensees invited the audience to meet the man behind the moustache in their anarchic cabaret of micro-skits. Ambitus Theatre brought together an international company to explore displacement, nostalgia and a craving for the way coffee is brewed at home. Finally the audience witnessed the debut performance of new Birmingham based company Fearless Theatre.
