Just finished playing Prince Charming in Cinderella at The Pavilion Theatre (Gorleston, Norfolk), which ran throughout December 2011. It was produced by OhYesItIz Productions and the amazing award-winning Des Barritt, who whizzed off to London after the run began, to play the Wizard in the west-end’s Wicked.
Here’s a pic for those who didn’t manage to catch the show!
9 December 2012
Joseph with some of cast in rehearsal.
We’ve spent the weekend rehearsing for our first Christmas show here at The Atrium. I chose THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE because it appears to be a story that enchants a lot of people of all ages. Some of us remember the BBC TV series of the nineties, others the more recent Narnia film of 2005, and others remember the beloved books and handsome illustrations.
It’s a new play – I was given special permission from the estate of C. S. Lewis himself to write it – and I am sure our small cast of actors will do the original story proud. I’ll stress that it is a play – not a pantomime or musical – because we wanted to produce something that would compliment the existing local offers. Magic, enchantment and good versus evil are key parts of a story particularly at Christmas time, and I’m pleased to say we’re working up all those elements for a fantastic theatrical treat.
Amongst the fake fur and glue, cutting snowflakes and eating lots of mince pies (due to the first rehearsal taking place the same time as the Christmas food festival – which was excellent) everyone is working very hard. Characters such as Mr Tumnus and the White Witch are iconic figures both in literature and theatre, but we still want to present them as fresh new beings just for our show.
We’re sure everyone will have a great time this Christmas with us – we’ve already had hundreds of people joining us for our Christmas cinema (Arthur Christmas and It’s A Wonderful Life matinee), workshops and food festival. It’s definitely the time to come along for some theatre; along with with your special Turkish Delight hot chocolate of course!
Find out more about the show and book tickets here.
25 October 2012
It’s great we’re on the front page of the North Norfolk News and also in the EDP today. We’re in both papers quite a few times – from the feature articles, to Guide listings and in the Editor’s column. All the articles in there are about letting people know about the different activity on offer here at The Atrium, asking for supporting and making a plea for volunteer help.
The online version of the headline asks ‘Can fantasy show revive fortunes of North Walsham’s flagging £5.3m arts centre?’
We know it can’t – which is why we are getting the messages out there. Our splash in the media today is the first milestone in engaging with lots more people so everyone knows that we’re making things happen – and that lots of things can happen here too.
Everyone on The Atrium team is working really hard, along with just a few volunteers to ensure that The Atrium can contribute to and compliment the local offer for entertainment, workshop programmes and community engagement. We want everyone to be behind us – whether its volunteering at our events from helping serve refreshments and tickets, to helping with the technical aspects of a film or event, or helping us here in the office with our day-to- day tasks.
There’s already a lot to do – we’ve got an impressive venue to run and some exciting programmes of cinema, theatre and workshops and we want people to work with us, helping tell our story and spread the word about what is happening here already – and more importantly- what can happen here in the future with news partnerships and collaborations.
It’s also important to remember The Atrium is not just about the arts, it’s not just about North Walsham and its certainly not just about justifying a brand new building. It’s about ensuring the wider community makes the most out of this venture and unless people let us know what they’d like, or unless they come to us with offers of help and support, it is going to be about a battle of the wills and a wasted opportunity for the whole area to get involved.
Of course, our coverage and support from the EDP and Norfolk Norfolk News is great – a good relationship with the media is vital to the future of any organisation or venue. I’d like to thank them for giving us great profile and I promise we’ll have many more good stories to come – here we go with our new season which kicks off tonight!
Links to:
The Atrium
Links to news articles online:
North Norfolk News, 25 Oct 2012 (including an online gallery from our photoshoot)
Eastern Daily Press, 25 Oct 2012
Joseph Ballard, performer, actor, theatre maker and playwright, based in Norfolk. 