April 2023
HAVE YOU MISSED OUT?
Or were you there?
This month has been another chock-a-block one for Accidental – the building and the people!
With rallies, rehearsals, and read-throughs, read on for more of what you may have missed:
First up, Richard talks to Gillian about the move from Accidental the theatre company, to Accidental the building.
April
External Events
While the stream team didn’t have any external events to do this month, Outreach Officer Gillian went down to the Black Box for a rally to protest the impending 10% cuts to the arts budget. NI already is by far the least funded part of the UK and Ireland, with only £5.44 per person being spent on the arts, compared to £25.90 in the Republic of Ireland. That’s only 0.06% of the total budget for the region!
If you enjoy the arts in NI (which we hope you do!) please help us #StopTheCuts and sign this petition.
The rally itself was great, with a packed out room and brilliant speakers - Gillian was obviously particularly excited by the appearance of Rachel Tucker, a West End musical theatre star, who gave an emotional speech about the devastating impact cuts would have here. (If you’d like to hear Gillian and Emy talk about musical theatre, tune in to our podcast Take Me Or Leave Me!) It felt like half the arts industry was there, which was quite a feat on a Tuesday afternoon!
The event was run by Equity NI and The Array Collective, The MAC, and The Black Box were instrumental in making it happen at very short notice. At time of writing the petition has nearly 10,000 signatures, all in less than a week, which shows just how important the arts are to people here. Let’s hope it goes all the way!
Second Floor
AT team members Tommy, Emy, and Gillian are working together on a new creative project, and had their first full readthrough of their brand new play this month up in the Meeting Room. It’s a one man show written by Gillian, acted by Tommy, and directed by Emy, about identity, marriage, what it is to be a man in the modern world, and how we're always learning new things about ourselves. Watch this space for more news in upcoming months!
The Rehearsal Room was also full of creativity this month, with our usual workshops and classes and the occasional one off special. This month Tolu Ogunware, a local director and photographer, filmed some vox pops and interviews for an upcoming project.
First Floor
Figure This teacher and co-founder Hattie Godfrey appeared on BBC Radio Ulster this month, having been invited to discuss a new body-positive TV show for teenagers, from her perspective as a life model. You can listen here (from 1:03:58 onwards). Those of us who were in the office that day listened live and cheered her on!
Our monthly membership event Never Seen It Film Club happened in the Book Bar, this time showing Little Miss Sunshine (2006), attended by a small cohort of lovely members who chatted about the film, and the anticipation for our next - Grey Gardens (1975).
Theatre
Our lovely friends at Awkward Productions brought their new show Diana: The Untold And Untrue Story to the theatre at the very beginning of the month (and end of the previous one!) and had a little surprise…
Two shady characters came into the theatre just before the show started, wearing Charles and Diana masks. They sat at the back, continued wearing their masks throughout, and then at the end of the show revealed themselves to be Joseph (stage manager/co-producer)’s parents! They’d popped up to Belfast just for the day as a surprise, to get to see the show.
What adorable parents!
The live stream of Diana: The Untold And Untrue Story is now available until the coronation on the 8th of May here, and for Accidental Members here.
Stones From David are a brand new band who graced our stage this month for a gorgeous gig. Michael-James Warke is a singer-songwriter with a new band behind him, who said of the gig:
“Last night was quite the something…
Putting on a show can be quite the mixture of emotions on the build up but the second I step on that stage with these guys beside me and you people in front of me who actually pay to come hear my music just makes it worthwhile. MAD!❣️”
Nicky Larkin is a Belfast filmmaker who used our theatre back in December to film some interviews with Kate Guelke (Spark Opera) and her dad, who was shot in his bed by paramilitaries when she was a child.
This month they have released the trailer for the film, and wow it looks powerful! That’s something to look out for, folks.
Basement
Our friends at Outburst came down to record a podcast with their special guests from Poland, Alka Nauman and Dorota Glac. Alka and Dorota talked about their amazing political (and funny) performance work in Warsaw, and the difficulties of doing queer and activist work in an increasingly right-wing country.
The podcast should be up here soon!
Emy was joined by J.J. McKenna in California for a special edition of the Never Seen It Film Club discussion this month. Does the film still hold up or is it just too controversial for a modern audience? Emy and J.J. chatted all things Little Miss Sunshine (2006) live on Discord - now available as a podcast here.
And lastly Gillian and Emy recorded another episode of Take Me Or Leave Me, the love it or hate it musical theatre podcast, which will be edited and uploaded to wherever you get your podcasts soon!