They meet us on the winding road to fill us with amazement;
the actors, fireeaters, musicians, mentalists and magicians.
But how do they survive?
How would Wordsworth fare in our brave new world?
A play about love and forgiveness by Siobhán Nicholas
performed by Chris Barnes and Siobhán Nicholas
This play is dedicated to all Journey men and women; clowns, poets, actors, musicians, storytellers and magicians who throughout time have often lived on the fringes of society
"To make up for my emptiness, I turned to art" Fellini
"Who looks outside dreams; who looks inside, awakes" Jung
"He should be married to his art as a man is married to his wife, and he should love her with all his heart and mind for her own sake and not for the purpose of making money or to satisfy his ambition. If he loves his art, his art will be true to him" Paracelsus
Background
Our new play was inspired by the films of Fellini and Charlie Chaplin.
John Ramm was our director,
Arthur Pedlar / Clown Vercoe was our magic and comic mentor.
Jean Tyler shared with us her experiences and knowledge of the world of the Concert and Variety artistes.
Dolce Via was a co production wth Guildford's Yvonne Arnaud Theatre. We also had support from ACE and Larkhall Coridon ltd.
The Great Tourrinos were happy with their life on the road, performing top of the bill on the variety circuit, until one night when tragedy struck in the middle of their show.
Now years later, reunited for just one evening, they will endeavour
to entertain you, to mystify and amaze you
with one last performance of Magic, Song, Fire eating, Miindreading...........
.....................And Memory
Two intrepid artistes seek the elephant beyond the footlights
Tour Dates
Autumn 2010
The Lighthouse Studio in Poole
21 KIngsland Rd, Poole, Dorset BH15 1UG
Wed 20th and Thurs 21st October at 7.30pm, Tickets on 0844 406 8666
Summer 2010
The Lowry
Pier 8, Salford Quays, Manchester M50 3AZ
Saturday 31st July at 7.45pm
Tickets on 0843 208 6000
www.thelowry.com
Spring 2010
Mumford Theatre
c/o Anglia Ruskin University
Cambridge CB1 1PT
Friday 7th May at 8pm
Tickets on 0845 196 2320
www.anglia.ac.uk/mumfordtheatre
Harrogate Theatre
Oxford st, Harrogate, HG1 1QF
Saturday 1st May at 7.30pm
Tickets on 01423 502116
www.harrogatetheatre.co.uk
Greenwich Theatre
Crooms Hill, London SE10 8ES
Friday 19th Feb at 7.30pm
Tickets on 020 8858 7755
www.greenwichtheatre.org.uk
Autumn 2009
Trinity Theatre
Church Rd, Tunbridge Wells, Kent TN1 1JP
Thurs 3rd Sept at 8pm
Tickets on 01892 678678 www.trinitytheatre.net
Quay Arts
Sea St, Newport Harbour, Isle Of Wight, PO30 5BD
Thurs 17th Sept at 8pm
Tickets on 01983 822490 www.quayarts.org
The Rose Theatre
Edgehill University, Ormskirk L39 4QP
Fri 25th Sept at 3pm
Tickets on 01695 584480 www.edgehill.ac.uk/rosetheatre/
The Nightingale Theatre
29 Surrey St, Brighton, BN1 3PA
Fri 6th Nov at 7pm
Tickets on 01273 709709 www.brightonticketshop.com
Norden Farm Centre for the Art
Altwood Rd, Maidenhead, SL6 4PF
Sun 15th Nov at 3pm
Tickets on 01628 788997 www.nordenfarm.org
Forest Arts Centre
OLd Milton Rd, New Milton, Hampshire
BH25 6DS
Sat 12th Dec at 7.30pm
Tickets on 01425 612393
www.forest-arts.co.uk
Summer 2009
The Ross Live Festival
The Phoenix Theatre
Palace Pound, Ross on Wye, Herefordshire
Saturday 1st August at 4pm and 8pm
Tickets 01989 563883 www.rosslive.org.uk
Spring 2009
Mill Studio at Guildford's Yvonne Arnaud Theatre
Millbrook, Surrey, GU1 3UX
Thurs 5th, Fri 6th and Sat 7th march at 8pm
£10 (£5 student standby. All tickets subject to £1
restoration levy and 50p booking fee)
Tickets 01483 44 00 00 www.yvonne-arnaud.co.uk
Burton Taylor Studio, Oxford Playhouse
Gloucestershire St, Oxford, OX1 2BN
Thurs 16th and Fri 17th April at 7.30pm
£10 ( discounts £8)
Tickets 01865 30 53 05 www.burtontaylor.co.uk
The Maltings Arts Theatre
The Maltings, St Albans, Herts, AL1 3HL
Friday 24th April at 8pm
£12 (discounts £10)
Tickets 01727 844 222 www.stalbans.gov.uk/mat
Brighton Festival Fringe 2009
The Hive @ The Brunswick
3 Holland Road, Hove, BN3 1JF
Thurs 7th and Fri 8th May at 7.45pm
All tickets £8 on 01273 709 709 www.brightonfestivalfringe.org.uk
The Hat Factory
65-67 Bute St, Luton, LU1 2EY
Thurs 14th May at 7.30pm
£9 (discounts £5 to £7)
Tickets 01582 878100 www.thehatfactory.org
The Everyman Studio Theatre
Regent St, Cheltenham GL50 HQ
Wed 27th, Thurs 28th, Fri 29th May at 7.30pm
Sat 30th May at 8pm
£7.50 (discounts £6)
Tickets 01242 57 25 73 www.everymantheatre.org.uk
Havant Arts Centre
East St, Havant, Hants, PO9 1BS
Fri 5th June at 8pm
£9.50 (discounts £8)
Tickets 023 92 47 27 00 www.havantartcentre.co.uk
SIOBHAN NICHOLAS’ play Dolce Via is a wonderous magic trick from start to finish, conjuring the lost age of the variety circuit with affection, a bold sense of fun and not a little courage.The Great Tourinos come together after years of sadness and failed ambition to perform one last show.
And what a show it is, with fire swallowing, unicycling and song – not forgetting a meldodrama.Nicholas’s meticious research shines through, for she hasn’t simply written a two-man play but put together a variety act.This is intermingled with scenes of the Tourinos taking a painful look over their shoulders to the events leading up to the terrible tragedy that broke up their show.The contrast between these quieter, tensely emotional moments and the energy of those on either side make them all the more powerful.
Chris Barnes as Freddie handles the shifts in his character with expert skill – moving from a battered performer at the end of his career to a broken-hearted father finally confronting the past.By the end he has real tears in his eyes.
Nicholas plays Freddie’s wife Grainne, an almost ethereal woman who appears from the wings to take him on a journey to the past.There is real electricity between the two and it’s very easy to imagine Grainne’s head being turned by the young journeyman on their first meeting, told in a flashback sequence.
Both moving and amusing, Dolce Via has everything a good variety act should – great stories, plenty of laughs and compelling characters.
Dolce Via at Ross Live
by Brian Jackson, Ross Gazette, August 5 2009
A gem of a play for Ross Live! ‘
DOLCE VIA’ the new play by Siobhan Nicholas presented by Take the Space theatre company as part of the Ross Live! 09 was a littlegem of a piece. It is dedicated to artists of all callings, those ‘journeymenand women..... who have often lived on the fringes of society,’and in it we meet Freddie, (played by Chris Barnes), stand upcomic, sometime conjuror and illusionist, scraping by in the shabbytwilight of his career. In the opening he gently harangues the audience- the Health and Safety police who object to his smoking in thetheatre and promptly stubs his cigarette out on his tongue; the firstintimation that there is more to Freddie than meets the eye. Jokesfollow, delivered in a half-sad, self deprecating fashion and soon weare on his side, sensing there is much more to come. On the pointof delivering another ‘magic trick’ he falters and the past swims intohis consciousness in the form of Grainne (the play’s author SiobhanNicholas), one time lover, wife, stage partner from the days whenthey were successful and happy together. We hear her first as a disembodiedvoice, offstage in Freddie’s memory and then she appearsto cajole, castigate and finally to get him to face the dreadful tragedythat drove them apart. Under Grainne’s goading Freddie attempts torepeat the trick that was the hightlight of their act; an up dated versionof William Tell, to shoot an apple from their son’s mouth witha pistol while blindfolded.The trick of course had failed, as it fails now and Freddie is leftwith the curse of their child’s death on his conscience, while Grainne- ghost of memory- slips away leaving Freddie to bid us a last, wistful‘Goodnight’.There is more to it than that, for woven into the action of the pieceare the tricks and illusions by which these faded music hall charactershad eked out their living and we were treated to a whole rangeof magic, from ‘mentalism’ and audience participation, to fire eatingand illusion in the telling of their story. The Phoenix Theatre wasperfect for the presentation of the play. It’s intimacy closed the gapbetween performer and audience so that, in some of the passagesbetween the actors we were more like eavesdroppers than audience.And them simple black set, highlighted by ingenious lighting andeffect, helped to dramatise the non-stop action.Chris Barnes and Siobhan Nicholas were perfect foils for oneanother as they ranged through emotions from elation to despair;nostalgia, love, hope and regret. Let us hope that Dolce Via doesn’tfade from view. It was a perfect one-act festival piece.
Dolce Via - The Everyman Studio Theatre, Cheltenham
Monday 1st June 2009.
Being married and divorced in one evening runs a gamut of emotions, but pales in comparison to the life of Dolce Via. My fleeting appearance as magician's assistant was part of an act within an act, a magical tale of a life lived between worlds, of which alchemy dreams are made of. This new play by Siobhan Nicholas is presented by Take the Space, in association with Guildford's Yvonne Arnaud Theatre. Siobhan herself plays Grainne, alongside Chris Barnes, who plays Freddie. Storytelling, song, magic and mindreading unite their past and present, as the two Vaudevillians present the show of their lives. Their way of life, their comedy, their tragedy, and the 'olio of oddities' at the heart of their stageshow. Together they relive the romance of roads travelled together, the smell of the greasepaint, the thrill of chasing fame and fortune. But Dolce Via is far more than a trip down memory lane, pulling a few rabbits out of a battered old hat on the way. It is a poignant and compelling story of love, loss and forgiveness, played out by two engaging performers who give their all throughout. This poetic play is dedicated to 'all journeymen and women: clowns, poets, actors, musicians, storytellers and magicians who throughout time have often lived on the fringes of society,' and every step of the journey is a hard act to follow.
Lystra Maisey
Dolce Via
Portsmouth News / The Guide / Friday, June 12, 2009
A bravura display of circus skills by Take The Space featured unicycling, fire-eating and even a bit of lion-taming. Chris Barnes, who includes a spell at Barnum And Bailey’s in his impressive CV, shone as the faded journeyman coping with the unexpected reappearance of his wife, Grainne (Siobhán Nicholas), some years after her abandonment of him midway through their stage act.This act was recreated throughout the evening, seamlessly interwoven with the couple’s own history, and featured extraordinarily polished magic tricks, mime and mind-reading. The talented duo are also accomplished singers and musicians and the narrative was augmented by everything from traditional folksongs to croon-tunes, creating an atmosphere of longing and regret as the story swept from an Irish cottage to a crosschannel ferry to a medieval village – all via a people’s hippodrome. The themes of grief and reconciliation, and the tension between both the connection and isolation of performers, were thoroughly explored in an economical 70 minutes.The audience, initially offbalance at the structure of the play, relished the music-hall atmosphere and heartily applauded the magic tricks. Despite the pyrotechnics however, the arts most truly celebrated in this energetic and energising performance were those of the simple storyteller.
By Siobhan Nicholas Take the Space Theatre Company
This new play combines ‘mentalist’ tricks, ventriloquism, fire-eating, uni-cycling and some pretty funny stand-up with an emotional disclosure of the hero’s attempts to recover from a devastating tragedy that results in the loss of his son and wife. The narrative of this piece is peppered with illusions of a broad, circus/music hall nature, and is itself shifting and tricksy, so that you can’t be quite sure exactly what is happening. Some of the tricks involve the participation of members of the audience, Derren Brown-style (they are not stooges, I can assure you, as one of them was my daughter), and these are very cleverly done so that they a) astonish the audience in a how-did-they-DO-that! kind of way, and b) resonate brilliantly with the disclosure narrative. There is a constant tension between the ostensible purpose of the surface performance – a variety act designed to amuse and astonish an audience in a life-enhancing but fairly superficial way – and the underlying story of the man and his wife, which confronts the audience rather uncomfortably with terror, grief, rage and emotional breakdown; and the cultural context of the play, which evokes with uncritical nostalgia the lost arts of ‘journeymen and women: clowns, poets, actors, musicians, storytellers and magicians who throughout time have often lived on the fringes of society’ and who provided precious moments of joy to down-trodden working people in the olden days before telly. The programme notes (and title) tell us that we should be thinking of the films of Fellini and underdog scamps like Charlie Chaplin; of course we will also be bringing along memories of Archie Rice, emotional emptiness, spiritual drought. As you can see, this is a lot for a play to do that is less than an hour and a half long; but it succeeds triumphantly, because of the amazingly committed performances of Chris Barnes as Freddie Tourrino and Siobhan Nicholas (who wrote this and Take the Space’s previous play last year,Hanging Hooke) as his wife Grainne. Individually they are both remarkable; together, they are a tour de force that sweeps the audience in their wake as they strike, flare up and blaze from one another’s incandescent energy. Barnes as Freddie looks like a cross between Barquentine and the Ancient Mariner – his glittering eyes and wild hair convey a barely suppressed fury with his audience, placid and bovine and outside the circle of his personal hell (but not for long!). He has a simply wonderful nose - the nose Laurence Oliver spent his whole career trying to create out of putty (cf Olivier’s Nelson in That Hamilton Woman and his Duke of Wellington in Lady Caroline Lamb); but these external details are incidental to the actor’s emotional range and power – he seems almost to implode with grief before our eyes. Similarly, Siobhan Nicholas as Grainne exhibits the remains of a remarkable fey beauty with her huge cornflower-blue eyes and cascading hair that was once blonde and is now mostly white, but a beauty lit up from within by a spiritual furnace of love and grace with which she attempts to heal her husband’s bitterness and rage (but was she ever really there, or is he imagining it all from his prison cell?). Both performers are physically tiny but they absolutely fill up that stage (hence the company’s name I guess). Definitely a must-see.
Andrea Hopkins, 17/04/09
Biogs
Biographies of the Take the Space team
Chris Barnes: performer for Hanging Hooke and Dolce Via / director for Sam & I
Chris' professional life began at eight years of age when he became a chorister at Westminster Abbey. After graduating from Durham University with an Honours degree in Music he ran away to Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Bailey's Circus in America to train at Clown College.
Since then he has appeared alongside Robert De Niro, Michael Keaton, Keanu Reeves and Allan Bates in the films Much Ado About Nothing, Frankenstein and The Grotesque. On television he has appeared in Silent Witness, Wycliffe, Waking the Dead, Trial and Retribution, Dalziel and Pascoe, Midsomer Murders, Eastenders, Casualty and The Bill and featured in the dramas The Ebbtide, Hornblower and Ivanhoe. Currently he can be seen in the film Amazing Grace with Albert Finney and Michael Gambon.
Chris' theatre work has taken him all over the world. In this country he has played the Young Vic, the National Theatre, the West End, a season of Shakespeare at the Old Vic and for Actors Touring Company - a repertoire of original work at the Donmar Warehouse. He has also appeared at The Bush Theatre in London, the Traverse in Edinburgh and now for Take The Space he is performing Hanging Hooke, a solo piece about the great C17th genius Robert Hooke.
Chris has also written several plays, written music for many shows including Canterbury Tales at the Prince of Wales in London's West End and directed throughout his career. For Take the Space, he directed Sam & I and co directed Hanging Hooke
Siobhán Nicholas: performer for Sam & I and Dolce Via/ co director for Hanging Hooke /writer for Sam & I, Hanging Hooke and Dolce Via
Before training as an actor at the Drama Centre, Siobhán graduated from London University with a BA Honours in History. Since then she has performed at most of the major reps in the UK including Birmingham Rep and The Royal Exchange, Manchester and has toured with companies such as Actors Touring Company, The New Vic, Hull Truck and The Natural Theatre Company. She has appeared in the films Down In the Valley, Little Dorrit, The Fool, Sparkle, Baby, Sparkle [Dublin Film Festival] and featured in two award winning pieces by the film maker, Roz Mortimer: Wormcharmer (London Film Festival) and Neverland (Films des Femmes, Paris). TV credits include Lucy Shaw in George Bernard Shaw with Brenda Fricker, Phyllis Blew in Shadow Of The Noose, Helen Mirren's Detective Parker in Prime Cracker, Minni in Bully - also Grange Hill, Hollyoaks, The Bill and Casualty.
She has written three plays for Take the Space: Sam & I, Hanging Hooke and Dolce Via. For children, she has written and directed two original plays and two adaptations.
John Ramm : director for Dolce Via
John has worked extensively in theatre and television. His performances include productions at The RSC, The National Theatre, The Donmar Warehouse, Shakespeare's Globe and London's West End. Recent TV appearances include The Palace and he has just played Scrooge in A Christmas Carol at The Rose Theatre in Kingston. For ten years John has been a member of The National Theatre of Brent.
Lizzie Wyllie: design consultant/ costumes for Sam & I and Hanging Hooke
Lizzie has worked extensively in both Theatre and Opera. Productions designed include Cinderella and Loot for Theatre Clwyd, Canterbury Tales and Ghost Stories for the Welsh Drama Company and The Charge of the Light Brigade for the National Theatre of Brent. She made the clown costumes for Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, the animated toys for Mary Poppins and the Birds and Grasshopper for the Royal Opera house's production of Cunning Little Vixen. Every summer Lizzie works for the New Shakespeare Co in Regents Park.
Sharon Davey: costumes and set construction for Dolce Via
Sharon has worked extensively with Guildford's Yvonne Arnaud's Youth Theatre as their resident designer
Chris Umney: lighting designer for Sam & I
Since graduating from the Visual and Performing Arts (Theatre) BA course at Brighton University in 1995 Chris has been working as a composer, sound engineer, lighting designer & production manager for performance companies both in the UK & in Europe. He has toured the UK with numerous companies including High Spin; Sound & Fury; The People Show; Theatre & Beyond; Trio Con Brio; Voodoo Vaudeville; Quirk Productions; Bandbazi; Bright FX; Facepack Theatre; Intoto Theatre; Clout Dance Theatre; Barb Jungr; & Brighton Theatre Events.
From 1994 to 1998 he was fortunate to work throughout Europe with the Brighton based Divas Dance Theatre Company, & in 2001 Chris toured to 24 theatres in The Netherlands with Swamp Circus Theatre's production of "Moto". Most recently he has been working in London as Production Manager for Schtanhaus on BAC's Xmas show "World Cup Final 1966" & for Oxford Stage Company / Dumbfounded Theatre's 'The Last Waltz' Spring season at The Arcola.
Emily Laurens: lighting designer for Hanging Hooke
Emily was resident lighting designer at the Little Angel Theatre and then for New Perspectives on When Icicles Hang by the Wall and The Butterfly Lion, also making puppets for The Butterfly Lion and Long Way Home. She worked with Theatre-Rites on Finders Keepers, Shopworks and is now touring with The Thought that Counts.
Sarah Sage: lighting designer for Dolce Via
Sarah is the resident lighting designer and studio manager for The Mill Studio, Guiildford's Yvonne Arnaud Theatre
Owen Johnston: sound for Hanging Hooke and Dolce Via
Owen has not spoken a word for over 20 years, preferring to communicate through the medium of electronic music. He does composition and sound design for film and theatre and will work for food.
Gus Munro: scenic artist for Hanging Hooke and design consultant for Sam & I and Dolce Via
Gus trained at RADA and Camberwell College of Arts. She has toured with theatre companies including Take the Space throughout the UK and abroad. With the artist Isobel Smith, she set up "Nosebag", a company taking art workshops and events to venues all over the UK and as far afield as The Ukraine.
Ken Hodgson : graphic design for Sam & I, Hanging Hooke and Dolce Via
Ken of Good Dog Design was kidnapped by Take the Space in 2005. They will never ever release him.
Annie Castledine: Dramaturge for Hanging Hooke
A nationally acclaimed theatre director, Annie was Artistic Director at Derby Playhouse and Associate Artistic Director at Theatre Clywd in Mold. Since then her work has included productions at The National Theatre and the Royal Court. For Theatre Complicite, she has been Associate Artist on a number of productions including - A Disappearing Number, A MInute Too Late and Measure For Measure. Most recently Annie directed Medea at The Cambridge Arts Theatre.
Arthur Pedlar / Clown Vercoe: Magic and Comic Advisor for Dolce Via
Arthur's career spans an illustrious sixty years. One of his first engagements was at The Cirque Medrano in Paris playing a stooge for Buster Keaton who at that time topped the bill. Since then he has performed in the former Soviet Union, at the first World Clown Congress in Sweden and at festivals in the States, Scandinavia, Singapore, Japan and specially for Prince Rainier in The Throne Room at his palace in Monte Carlo. In 1988 he became tutor at Wisconsin University's Clown Summer School. He then had the honour of being the first living non American clown to be voted into the International Clown Hall of Fame and Research Centre, Milwaukee. Arthur was also President of The World Clown Association from 2003 until 2004 and in 2002 became involved with the Circus School of Israel which teaches skills to Palestinian and Jewish youngsters together [ its raison d'etre] He is now their Honorary President. Arthur still performs throughout the UK and Europe and at seventy five rides a mean unicylcle. Furher details on www.goldiellepromotions.com
Jean Tyler: research mentor for Dolce Via, advising on the world of Variety and Concert Artistes
Jean trained as a soprano and was a member of Doyle Carte before joining what became a hugely successful comedy and song duo. She was a Concert Artiste during the golden era of the fifties and the sixties, working with Ali Bongo, Max Jaffa, the great Geraldo, Cyril Fletcher, Pamela Condell and many other iconic figures.
James Carver - Grenside: photographer for Dolce Via production and press
Resident photographer for the Yvonne Arnaud Youth Theatre. Further details can be found on www.flickr.com/photos/jamescg
Dolce Via
Mill Studio at Guildford's Yvonne Arnaud Theatre
Chris' professional life began at eight years of age when he became a chorister at Westminster Abbey. After graduating from Durham University with an Honours degree in Music he ran away to Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Bailey's Circus in America to train at Clown College.
Before training as an actor at the Drama Centre, Siobhán graduated from London University with a BA Honours in History. Since then she has performed at most of the major reps in the UK including Birmingham Rep and The Royal Exchange, Manchester and has toured with companies such as Actors Touring Company, The New Vic, Hull Truck and The Natural Theatre Company. She has appeared in the films Down In the Valley, Little Dorrit, The Fool, Sparkle, Baby, Sparkle [Dublin Film Festival] and featured in two award winning pieces by the film maker, Roz Mortimer: Wormcharmer (London Film Festival) and Neverland (Films des Femmes, Paris). TV credits include Lucy Shaw in George Bernard Shaw with Brenda Fricker, Phyllis Blew in Shadow Of The Noose, Helen Mirren's Detective Parker in Prime Cracker, Minni in Bully - also Grange Hill, Hollyoaks, The Bill and Casualty.