West Yorkshire Playhouse and Talawa Theatre Company Present All Black 'Waiting for Godot'



Waiting for Godot:
 Image Richard Hubert Smith

Waiting for Godot
The Albany Theatre – London
Tuesday 6th– Saturday 10th March 2012
Saturday matinee, 3pm.
Time 7.30pm .
Age 15+
Tickets from £8
Running time 180 mins

Samuel Beckett’s masterpiece Waiting For Godot produced with Talawa Theatre Company and directed by Artistic Director Ian Brown, makes history, this is the first Waiting For Godot to be produced in the UK with an all‐Black British cast, Jeffery Kissoon and Patrick Robinson as Vladimir and Estragon.

Two old homeless men Vladimir and Estragon are waiting for a visit from the indescribable Godot which forces them to pass the time in the only way they can; with and for each other. Stories are told, boots are abandoned, religion is debated, memories of better days are shared, jokes are made, suicide is contemplated, the fear of being alone is overwhelming – and time passes. Chance meetings happen, arguments take place, thinking occurs, violence is advocated, hats are exchanged, friendship is venerated  and time passes. They are waiting for the one who never comes. They are waiting for Godot.

Novelist, playwright, poet and theatre director Beckett wrote in both English and French and penned some of the most important works of Twentieth Century literature. The mysterious and universal Waiting for Godot, which was first performed in the UK in 1955 remains one of his most famous and important works.

The Albany, Douglas Way, Deptford, London, SE8 4AG
Box Office 020 8692 4446
www.thealbany.org.uk

Short Film Screening: The New Faces by Dean Chalkley at The Book Club



The New Faces by Dean Chalkley.
Image: courtesy of the Book Club

Thursday 8th March 2012
THE NEW FACES: A SHORT FILM SCREENING & PARTY 6pm - 2am (screening at 7.30pm: duration 20 minutes)
Free entry

The Book Club
100-106 Leonard Street
London EC2A 4RH
020 7684 8618
Nearest tube: Old Street/Liverpool Street
www.wearetbc.com/


Dean Chalkley unveiled his successful landmark photographic exhibition almost two years ago ‘The New Faces’ exhibited at The Book Club, a study of eight young ‘Mods’, bound together by their shared passion for smart dressing, rare soul music, socialising and dancing. Dean returns to The Book Club, this time with The New Faces: A Short Film. The film forms a hypnotic visual experience as well as being an incisive and engaging contemporary document. It’s also a pin point in a perennial subculture that began in the 1960’s and has evolved and lives on in this modern age.

Not only will guests be among the first people to view Dean’s new short film, they will be enticed into dancing the night away to a sought-after selection of rare soul, rhythm & blues, ska, Latin and boogaloo! DJs on the night will include Jamie Parr and Tomas McGrath (featured in The New Faces: A Short Film) as well as Dean Chalkley and Si Cheeba (Black Cat).

The book club host many events on a regular basis in the form of cultural showcases, workshops and talks, to find out more about up-coming events at the venue please visit http://www.weartbc.com/

Something for the Weekend 3rd-4th March 2012: Barbican Weekender: Urban Stories



Parkour Photo Credit Johnathan Lucas
 Image courtesy of the Barbican. 

Barbican Centre, London, UK Saturday 3 – Sunday 4 March 2012, 10am until late.
All events are free (except evening concerts in the Hall) Part of BBC’s Music Nation and the London 2012 Festival.

Themed as Urban Stories – where Shakespeare meets hip-hop. This much anticipated annual fixture in the Barbican’s calendar coincides with the Centre’s 30th anniversary and is a London 2012 countdown event. We stongly recommend visiting this two day event not only is it actioned packed with dance, theatre and music it is inclusive and offers open participation for anyone eager to try something new. Many events and workshops are available for all ages, the majority of scheduled activities are free allowing for Londoners to really get involved!

With up to 40 events on the schedule, we have handpicked 12 for you to add to your diary.
Saturday 3rd 12.15pm, 2pm, 3.30pm & 5.30pm; Sunday 2.15pm, 5.30pm & 6.15pm
Free Running & Parkour
Storm
Be wowed and amazed by the jaw-dropping and gravity-defying stunts performed by Storm free runners. You’ll look at our Barbican foyers in a whole new light…. Not for the faint hearted!
Presented in partnership with Streets United.
Location: Foyers
Free event

Saturday 3rd 12.45-1.35pm Sunday 3.15-4.15pm
Hip-hop Shakespeare Lyric Writing Workshop
The Hip-hop Shakespeare Company.
Founded in 2009 by MOBO award-winning UK hip hop artist Akala, The Hip-hop Shakespeare Company presents a series of energetic ‘Hip-hop Shakespeare’ workshops that explore the social, cultural and linguistic parallels between two of the world’s most famous literary art forms. This workshop is for everyone: even if you are not a fan of hip hop or Shakespeare, you are guaranteed to have fun with words and rhyming.
Location: ClubStage
Age 7+
Free, drop-in

Saturday 3rd 2.15-3.15pm & Sunday 1.15-2.15pm
Street Dance workshops- Blue Boy Entertainment
Impress your friends by learning some classic street dance moves with top artists from award winning
Barbican artistic associates, Boy Blue Entertainment.
Location: ClubStage
Free, sign up on the day
Age 7+

Saturday 3rd 4.45pm
Live performance-Blue Boy Entertainment
Don’t miss this opportunity to watch dancers from hip hop dance company Boy Blue Entertainment as they take over the ClubStage with their trademark moves in this one off performance. Not to be missed!
Location: ClubStage
Free



Blue Boy Entertainment.
Image courtesy of the Barbican.

Saturday 3rd 6.30pm & Sunday 4.45pm Hip-hop Shakespeare Live
Akala and THSC present Hiphop Shakespeare Live, featuring rappers, singers and poets supported by the renowned THSC live band, undiscovered young talent & special guests all performing a medley of songs inspired by scenes/themes from famous Shakespeare plays and sonnets. All ages are welcome to attend this fantastic display of public performance and audience participation.
Location: ClubStage
Free

Sunday 4th 11am – 7pm
Opera in a Day The Hip-hop Shakespeare Company
Join The Hip-hop Shakespeare Company on a musical journey exploring one of William Shakespeare’s classics retold in a modern day opera. From rap to hip hop dance, poetry and performance, join in a day long event fusing Shakespeare, opera and live hip hop music with dance. Directed by award winning hip hop artist Akala, featuring composer/pianist Paul Gladstone-Reid MBE alongside guest collaborators from the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Boy Blue Entertainment. Please note: this event is a day long workshop, culminating in the opportunity for you to perform on stage in the Barbican Theatre at 6.15pm. Your participation is required for the full day of the project (11am– 7pm). Registration from 10.30am, Garden Room (Level 3). Free – limited availability. Call the Barbican Box
Office on 0845 120 7511 to book your place. Age 10+. Open to all levels of experience.

Sunday 4th 12pm
Globe town Performance- Dialogue
Inspired by the urban stories of the city, 100 young people from East London and musicians from the
Guildhall School of Music & Drama have created music that travels across the Barbican foyers
and takes you through the well known story of Hansel and Gretel told from a different perspective.
Location: FreeStage & Foyers
Free

Sunday 4th 2.30pm & 4.15pm
Word Up! Soweto Kinch
Award-winning saxophonist/ hip hop artist Soweto Kinch freestyles your words. Think of London and you think of? Pick up a postcard in the foyer and in a word or two, summarise what London means to you. Post in the Word Up! tombola and on Sunday afternoon, Soweto will pick words at random to create new urban stories with music and rap.Word Up! is produced by Serious
Location: FreeStage
Free

Sunday 4th 3pm
Barbican Young poets
Chill out at the FreeStage and listen to the talented Barbican Young Poets. Aged 14 – 21, the collective of emerging writers will be performing their own work inspired by the theme of urban stories, for your delight and delectation.
Location: FreeStage
Free

Sunday 4th 6.15pm
Opera in a Day Performance The Hip-hop Shakespeare Company
Come and watch our Opera in a Day participants perform their premiere of an adapted version of a Shakespeare play on the Barbican Stage. Directed by award-winning hip hop artist Akala, featuring composer/ pianist Paul Gladstone-Reid MBE in collaboration with the BBC Symphony Orchestra
and Boy Blue Entertainment.
Location: Barbican Theatre
Free

Sunday 4th 7.30pm
Urban Classic Feat. Fazer, Ms Dynamite, Devlin, Skepta and the BBC Symphony Orchestra.
N-Dubz leading producer Fazer and top UK urban artists Ms Dynamite, Skepta and Devlin share the stage for one night only with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, in a unique mashup of musical cultures featuring breakthrough anthems, massive hits and exciting new material. The BBC Symphony Orchestra will be conducted by Jules Buckley, fresh from his collaboration with Basement Jaxx and the Metropole Orchestra, where he is Principal Guest Conductor.
Location: Barbican Hall
Price £10 – £20

Sunday 4th 7.30pm
BBC Symphony Orchestra/ Rufus Wainwright
Rufus Wainwright performs the UK premiere of his exquisite settings of five of Shakespeare’s sonnets with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, in a Shakespeare inspired evening. Also featuring readings of the sonnets by Siân Phillips, excerpts from Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet, and music by Erich Korngold and John Adams. Produced by the BBC Symphony Orchestra.
Location: Barbican Hall
Tickets £12 – 40

Address: Barbican Centre, Silk Street, London, EC2Y 8DS
For more information visit: www.barbican.org.uk/weekender

Open Call To All Artists: Shape Open Exhibition 2012

                                                                                                                               


Image: All Rights Reserved
CreativeHappen London 2012


Shape, in association with Westway Development Trust and sponsors HSBC, invites applications for the Shape Open Exhibition 2012 from artists who have work that comments or makes reference to issues surrounding disability.

This is an open call to all artists!!!

 The exhibition will feature work of disabled and non-disabled people chosen by the selection panel and will exhibit at the Portobello Gallery, Notting Hill.

The Shape Open Prize of £500 will be given to the artist with the best works in show as selected by the selection committee. The People’s Choice Award of £250 will go to the artist whose work has been most voted for by visitors to the exhibition.Tony Heaton, Shape Chief Executive, said “The word disability holds so many connotations, this exhibition is ‘open’ in every sense of the word in that the word, disability, is open to interpretation and the exhibition is open to both disabled and non-disabled artists, as a result we expect to see some very interesting work.”

Submission Fee: £10 for up to 2 pieces.

Deadline: Monday 19th March 2012

Submission: Deliver to the gallery or email a digital format to exhibitions@shapearts.org.uk

Full instructions on how to apply can be found here
http://www.shapearts.org.uk/artandexhibitions/exhibitions/current-exhibitions/shape-open.aspx

ARTIST FEATURE: Michael Mapp



Artist: Michael Mapp


London based Photographer, Artist and Graphic Designer Michael Mapp, has been dedicated to his photography for a number of years, and has consistently produced strong imagery across multiple genres which includes fashion, landscape, music and portraiture. You will be familiar with Michael's work on this blog, his imagery conveys the some of the best of London's culture and our ever-growing active Creative Capital. Therefore I thought it would be a good idea to promote some in-house creative activity. Roots and Wings: International Photography Exhibition 13-24th February 2012 In Crawley, features artists from the UK and Caribbean Michael Mapp being one of them, celebrating the presence of the Barbados, Bahamas,Grenada and Dominica Olympic team in Crawley (further exhibition information below).

Artist Feature: An interview with Michael Mapp:

When did you start your career in Photography?

13 years ago after being handed my first SLR camera by my stepfather while studying art in 1999. I was about 17 years old at the time.

How would you describe your work?



Powercloud Vicinity Collection,
Through the lens:
a new black perspective of British Iconic Landmarks (2004) 

 As a science having learnt photography traditionally with the chemicals, it was a very scientific and hands-on vocation when I began my involvement in the discipline, my love of science inherited from my grand-uncle the late Dr. Esmond Mapp a ground breaking scientist in America, is reflected heavily in my work, in the way I try to use light and metering which is evident in my a collection produced using film with no computer manipulation what so ever. This collection has been highly praised and has been exhibited in London and more recently at the Bargehouse South Bank.

What is your biggest motivator?

My family, their support and encouragement has been what has motivated me over the years. Although they believe my projects are a bit wild, they know how passionate I am. Not forgetting my daughter!

What are your biggest influences?

My biggest influences? that is a vast question, and the initial answer I would give is life and the world around me, I'm an observant type of person so differing environments and scenarios be it political, social, fiscal etc.. They all provide some sort of influence along with, those figures that have gone before producing work by which the standard had been set, people by the likes Nan Golding, Barbara Kruger, Martin Parr, Nick Knight, Glenn Loachford, Testino, Bailey, Newton and Cartier-Bresson to name a few. As photography as a discipline is very vast my influences are too broad.

How can the themes of your work best be defined?

I have become known for my representation of classic beauty, challenging norms and traditional conventions. I have recently become a little more political than before, highlighting Nationalism and Immigration in the UK through my works. I am a Trinidadian who has lived in the UK for almost 25 years now, so now producing strong imagery highlighting belonging and acceptance as an ethnic minority in Britain is what I would say is best known of me at this point.


What projects are you working on?



A Modern portrait of Britain
 from the Can you hear me Britain? Collection

 Well in early 2009, I was elated to produce a new collection of work alongside fellow Trinidadian Haiden Medina from which Can You Hear me Britain? (2009) was derived. This landmark project was to become iconic, first exhibited at the Bargehouse South bank, the first Black conglomerate of Black African and Caribbean artists together and supported by the British Design Council 2011.The complete Can You Hear me Britain? (2009) collection is yet to be exhibited and I am keen to complete the full Nationalism/immigration project internationally in 2012/13.

How important is the Roots and Wings exhibition to you?

Like all exhibitions they all have equal importance, however this one provides me with Caribbean exposure, I am open to new territories.

Apart from photography what else do you enjoy?

Eating lol, any Trinidadian delicacies send my way please! I love aggressive skating, I'm currently teaching my daughter to inline skate. I also enjoy restoring and up-cycling furniture and my work of course.

Find the Michael Mapp here http://www.michaelmappphotography.co.uk/
                                        http://www.michaelmapp.wordpress.com/

12 - 24 February 2012
Roots and Wings -International Photography Exhibition
celebrates the forthcoming presence of Barbados, Bahamas and Dominican Olympic teams that will be training in Crawley for the 2012 London Olympic and Paralympic games. The exhibition will be  launching the arts programme which aims to connect artists and communities across traditional, cultural and social and geographical divides.

Roots and Wings is virtually linked to partner exhibitions in Trinidad and Barbados. Michael Mapp's Iconic work from the collection Can you hear me Britain? is  featured in this exciting and vibrant cross-cultural project represents artists from the UK and Caribbean.

This Landmark project by Urban Flo Creative Consultancy in collaboration with the Brighton Photo Finge, Crawley Borough Council and Barbados Commission for Pan African Affair, is a great way to celebrate creative culture here in the UK whilst welcoming Olympic 2012 teams.

Venue: The Hawth, Hawth Avenue, Crawley, West Sussex, RH10 6YZ
Free Entry
further information here: www.urbanflo.com/rootsandwings-exhibition.php

David Hockney RA: A Bigger Picture

21 January - 9 April 2012
In the Main Galleries


David Hockney
The Arrival of Spring in Woldgate,
East Yorkshire in 2011
Copyright David Hockney
Photo credit: Jonathan Wilkinson

Hailled as the must see exhibition of the year! 
The Royal Academy of Arts presents the first major exhibition in the UK to showcase David Hockney’s landscape work. Vivid paintings inspired by the Yorkshire countryside, are shown alongside related drawings and digital video. Over 150 works are on display, the majority of which have been created in the last eight years. The exhibition also includes a selection of works dating as far back as 1956, which are displayed on multiple screens. This exhibition takes you on a visual journey through the eyes of David Hockney.

Royal Academy of Arts
Burlington House
Piccadilly, London W1J 0BD
http://www.royalacademy.org.uk/
Tickets can be purchased in person from the box office throughout the day from 10am onwards
Adults £14
Children under 7 Free

Hajj: Journey to the heart of Islam

Until 15 April 2012

The Ka’ba in Mecca shown as the centre of the world.
 Illustration from Tarih-i Hind-i Garbi. Turkey, 1650
© Leiden University Library

Hajj: journey to the heart of Islam will be the first major exhibition dedicated to the Hajj; the pilgrimage to Mecca (Makkah) in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia which is central to the Muslim faith. The exhibition which has been organised in partnership with the King Abdulaziz Public Library Riyadh will examine three key strands: the pilgrim’s journey with an emphasis on the major routes used across time (from Africa, Asia, Europe and the Middle East); the Hajj today, its associated rituals and what the experience means to the pilgrim; and Mecca, the destination of Hajj, its origins and importance. The exhibition will bring together a wealth of objects from a number of different collections including important historic pieces as well as new contemporary art works which reveal the enduring impact of Hajj across the globe and across the centuries.

Opening hours 10.00-17.30 Saturday to Thursday, 10.00-20.30 Fridays. The exhibition runs between 26 January – 15 April 2012 Admission charge £12, children under 16 and Members free plus a range of concessions including group rates. Tickets are available to book through the box office by calling 020 7323 8181 or online at www.britishmuseum.org/
British Museum, Great Russell Street, WC1B 3DG