Man-Kind by Alison Carr - Creative Team Announcement

We are delighted to announce our latest collaboration with poet and playwright Alison Carr, a Bishop Auckland based writer. This is our fifth show together after having produced Behind the Masque, Coal Dust Whispers Song, Matryoshka and Dust of the Streets Shining, all by Alison. We were also thrilled to support the creation of her debut collection of poems in print - Cornershop Cowgirl published by Iron Press. Her new piece, entitled Man-Kind, is a poetic odyssey across time, from the big bang and the Garden of Eden, through to playstations and a night out in a North East Night Club. Her prolific output for this epic work has been edited and directed by internationally acclaimed poet and playwright Bob Beagrie, who is currently working with a very exciting team of actors - Anthony Broderick, Andrew Buzzeo and Alice Byrne - to create a truly experimental theatrical experience full of surprises, mischief and a powerful journey through time. Information about tickets can be found here

 

Alison Carr (Writer) is a poet and writer from Bishop Auckland in Co Durham. Her first published solo work was the  script of Coal Dust Whispers Song by Mudfog Press. Alison’s first poetry collection, Cornershop Cowgirl, was published by Iron Press in 2017. Examples of Alison’s war poetry and suffragette themed work was recently exhibited at the DLI Museum in Durham and by Bishop Auckland Town Council. Her show Dust of the Streets Shining was performed at ARC, Bishop Auckland Town Hall and Durham Book Festival. Other productions created in partnership with Little Cog are Behind the Masque, Coal Dust Whispers Song, Matryoshka and Dust of The Street’s Shining.







Bob Beagrie (Director) is a widely published poet and international performer who has worked in theatre as an writer, actor, dramaturge and director. He has a BA (Hons) in Creative Arts and an MA in Modern Literature & Politics. He has been involved in many cross art-form collaborative projects, is a founder member of the experimental poetry and music collective Project Lono and co-director of Ek Zuban Press and The Electric Kool Aid Cabaret of the Spoken Word.













Anthony Broderick (Actor) is extremely proud to be involved in the production Man-Kind. He currently lives in Northumberland, and after a few years of pursuing career choices such as professional wrestling (at a very young age), football, astronomy, and law has firmly set his sights on theatre and film. Anthony is a recent graduate of Theatre Royal’s Project A, where he trained for 1 year and performed both showcase productions, Herons and Bluebirds, written by Simon Stephens.  After having graduated, he worked in the summer with the National Youth Theatre in London which also concluded with two showcases. Since then he has worked alongside Lorne Campbell and Mark Calvert at Northern Stage, as part of NORTH Training, having also taken part in their Young Company project, which had a multiple date run at the same venue. 







Andrew Buzzeo (Actor) graduated from Drama Centre London in 2018 where he won the Laurence Olivier and John Gielgud student awards and was nominated to represent DC at the BBC Radio’s Carleton Hobbs competition. Since graduating, Andrew has performed at The Cervantes Theatre as part of their Out of the Wings Festival. He has just recently finished working with his theatre company, Foppish Theatre, on a transfer of their first (co-written) play, ‘In Praise of Folly’. His TV appearances include: BBC's George Gently, CBBC's The Dumping Ground and ITV's Vera. Andrew has narrated and produced several titles for Audible and his theatrical experience is broad and varied.






Alice Byrne (Actor) is an actress and theatre maker based in County Durham. Since graduating with a First Class BA Hons in English and Theatre Studies from the University of Warwick (2017) Alice has been pursuing her acting career in the North East. Her recent theatre credits include The Little Maid Who Danced to Every Mood with the Northumberland Theatre Company, Hear Her Roar with the Workie Ticket Theatre Company and appearing as a storyteller for the November Club’s Beyond the End of Road. Alice is also a member of the National Youth Theatre and Regional Young Actor’s Ensemble, recently performing in an ensemble street theatre piece as part of the Hull City of Culture celebrations. Alice is very excited to be performing in her first production with Little Cog and can’t wait to share this unique theatre piece with everyone.





Little Cog (Producer) is a disabled-led theatre company formed under the creative leadership of Vici Wreford-Sinnott. They are based at ARC Stockton and create many improved and increased opportunities for disabled people to get involved with the arts. They have created a dynamic programme of work at ARC which has involved thousands of people in their activities and has seen ARC develop a policy of programming work by professional disabled theatre artists, and also introduce and maintain a range of accessible options for what is on offer at the centre, including British Sign Language, audio description of films and theatre or visually impaired and blind people, and relaxed performances suitable for people with neurodiverse conditions.
 

Funders and Supporters

The production has been funded by Arts Council England, and supported by ARC and Little Cog.