To watch video clips of a 'Beastly Beauties' performance, click the links on this top right of this page>> Premiered at the University of Birmingham in November 2004, the first four night run of Beastly Beauties sold out within two days of ticket sales opening.  | | Scene from Beastly Beauties |
The work is a must see for all those interested in, and supportive of a new generation of enthusiastic theatre makers. The thematic scope of the piece discusses issues beyond ‘the female identity’ expounding the artistic arena of theatre culminating in a massively charismatic expression that broaches global, social and cultural issues of class, identity, gender, sex and throbbing desires of the flesh.
The piece was conceived at the University of Birmingham Drama department under the direction of award winning theatre practitioner Carran Waterfield. Carran is Artistic director of Coventry based Triangle Theatre who had visited the department a year earlier to devise 7777 All Good Girlies Go to Heaven in collaboration with 2nd and 3rd year undergraduate students. Nine of the original 15 have formed Kindle Theatre and are taking Beastly Beauties on a tour of theatres around Birmingham and beyond. Inspiration and performance Inspired by female archetypes found within folk and fairy tales, Beastly Beauties is an exploration of the phases and faces of the maiden, the mother and the crone. The audience witness a public exposure of private experience through the voice of the ensemble.  | | Flo - Beastly Beauties |
The work is set in the round and so the audience is seated within the action placing them as interactive participants to the performance. Performers weave through and around the space creating an hour-long sensory surround experience. In tightly-buttoned anoraks, the ladies enter prepared for the introductory meeting of the British Tree Society, of which the audience are assumed members. As each weekly session takes place, we are transported into the world of the deep dark wood a place of transformation, catharsis, and confrontation. Beneath the anoraks, it seems the women are ready for a party. But should they have strayed from the path?  | | Joy - Beastly Beauties |
The action slips between the everyday and the fantastical, which is a risk for all involved. This ritual is rich in references and imagery. It incorporates dance (particularly ballet), movement, raw psycho-physical theatre, live harp, and choral singing. Beastly Beauties reflects a radical and fresh vision of society and women. It has received very strong reviews from audiences who have seen the work in development.  | | Karen - Beastly Beauties |
This is an exclusive society, ladies only, which begins in a circle. Each week an informative introduction to a British Tree: Uniquely British. They sing and dance but all is not well; bubbling below, a dark, confused self threatens the order of the institution. The comic is not always funny and an apple is not always an apple. From the community hall to the depths of the forest, follow- but don’t stray from the path. What the company thinks it is about: Emily Ayres who plays the role of Trudie the wickedly amiable president of the Society believes that the piece is about:  | | Lil - Beastly Beauties |
"Scandal and tensions. It’s about being a character and having a dance to reveal what is below the surface both physically and pathologically. Beneath the tempered veneer of womanhood lie the intense emotions of want and desire: to be wanted, to want and to possess. One aspect of my research was rooted in learning about the pagan significance of the apple tree, its biblical associations with Eve and the original sin and also as a symbol of abundance and provision in pagan belief. "Trudie is a guide for audience and performer embodying the pagan ritual of journeying. I employed the technique of opposition and slippage between two paradoxical worlds: the real world and the ‘Other-world’. Through this transcendence I explored the vulnerability of the performer and what it means to expose the opposing forces of truth and lies. I believe that the piece is a dynamic and colourful celebration of the freedom of women and the joy of joy and magic! Olivia Winteringham plays the character of Annis:  | | Lil - Beastly Beauties |
"It is about careering towards catastrophe but never quite colliding, about hurtling naked and screaming at the thing that most terrifies you, but never quite confronting it.
"It is about not really being certain about anything, about never anticipating the next moment and not relying on an obvious conclusion allowing ourselves to consider thing that we so often compartmentalise within boundaries and frames.’ "I think that my character is based on multiple personalities of being a young women but it is not just about the female it is about being terrified but laughing at the same time. I certainly think that there is a lot about identity conflicts and considering how and if a person and their character fit a template.  | | Trudie - Beastly Beauties |
"There is a lot of frustration, fear and intense self-gratification that Annis manifests and personifies. She represents both good and bad oscillating between the daily and the mythical. It is between these aspects of good and bad and between a frustration and resolution that meaning can be interpreted without the need to spoon feed the audience with any one message loaded with political or social agenda. "Beastly Beauties requires imagination and liberation of thought not the imposition of academic or rigorous enquiry and judgement. There are no specific rules: the stage picture, resonance of verbal communication, and story through song and dance presents meaning in myriad forms inviting a multiplicity of interpretation that elicits individual responses from all who see it and are involved in it. It is about freedom, what ever that may mean." Tickets, touring and more information  | | Scene from Beastly Beauties Birmingham |
Currently Kindle Theatre has been booked to perform in July 2005 at the Herbert Gallery in Coventry and the company are awaiting confirmation to perform at the conference held by the Magdalena Project in Aberystwyth before performing a two-week run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. For more information about Kindle Theatre or specifically Beastly Beauties please visit: www.kindletheatre.co.uk
Or email: sa1fox@yahoo.co.uk For more information on Carran Waterfield please visit the Triangle Theatre website: www.triangletheatre.co.uk
=== All photos on this page are copyright of Alan Wood photography.
=== To watch video of 'Beastly Beauties',
click the links on this top right of this page>> | 
Video: Beastly Beauties