| It's been 7 years in the making but we finally did it. I learned about Laura Jury and the The South Devon Players Theatre & Film Company, Brixham shortly after I arrived in the UK. I was instantly impressed by the drive, tenacity, and sheer determination of this female theatrical powerhouse. Laura has made a way out of literally no way to build and brand her theatre company. As a mixed-race, woman of colour, she has beaten back the odds of owning a theatre company in an area of England that is certainly not known for it's diversity, inclusion, or tolerance of "others". With little to no money, and very little public funds, Laura has raised money for her company in creative ways like having car boot sales, selling on Ebay, sweets sales, and anything her creative mind can think of to finance her projects. I have sat back and watched and admired her progression, her work, her work ethic over the years, in awe of all that she has been able to accomplish. It is definitely a labour of love, but by no means should one mistake this for being a low-rent production company. The costumes alone will show you that. The talented performers in her group will show you that too. Many members of the company are neurodivergent, autistic, and other challenges, which none of it deflects from their incredible on-stage performances. So, after 7 years, Laura and I combined forces as I was able to host her latest production, "A Midsummer Night's Dream" at The Birmingham Black Box. She and her company drove 3.5 hours to get to Birmingham, ran a full tech/dress rehearsal, set the stage, and then performed the 3 hour show before driving the 3.5 hour return journey! The synergy was palpable as these performers gave it their absolute all in front of a delightfully enthusiastic audience. There are already talks about our next collaborative effort and I'm very excited about the prospects. Let me tell you all, it's not easy being a Black woman/woman of colour in business, especially in theatre. But somehow, we're doing it and we're making lots of progress in the area of inclusion for all people to participate in the arts. I feel so privileged to call Laura my friend, she has helped me in ways I can't disclose here, but she's been a rock in my life's progression. Stay tuned to see what we come up with next! Sending lots of love to this outstanding group. |  |
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We have had an absolutely incredible day today at Brixham Theatre bringing a full uncut performance to TSAT - Brixham College students, of our production of Macbeth, this concluding our show tour since November; Hearing from one of the teachers that this is the first ever experience of live theatre for many of the students, and then seeing (and hearing from the school staff) that the students really engaged with and enjoyed the show was one of the best things in the world. Also, a huge thank you to the Brixham Theatre staff for making it run smoothly and welcoming the students and teachers- and also to the students for being so lovely! It’s been a huge success for everyone and an absolute joy for our team <3   Last Saturday we had a great photoshoot promoting the show at Brixham Battery Gardens, around the old WW2 bunkers, and we also got to use a jeep belonging to the parents of one of our young actors! Photos, and video trailers will be released over the next while to whet your appetite, but to start off with, here are some pictures created to test out graphics and effects for the rest of the release. Original photos by Michael Betts, Laura Jury & Simon Slade. ...  A big challenge which we have had since the day we started is support accessing writing grant applications and networking etc.
With being one person doing all that, and the theatre company admin, while also being autistic and of a minority, Laura has found it largely inaccessible both in terms of time and in terms of people/ organizations/ funders making negative judgements on “someone different from them”, and her own social anxiety and c-ptsd. This has of course had a huge knock on to what we have been able to achieve for the amazing local people we work with. Appeals for reliable help on this, for 17 years, fell on deaf ears. Now the lovely Sue Slade from Paignton, also mother to two autistic teenagers who often become involved in our shows, has come on board as Laura’s access support for applying to grants, networking and building up those things, and being that contact whom outside bodies for funding, networking and the arts, may feel more comfortable accepting.. Already on Day 1; two applications have gone off with another two in the drafting stage. . So, it has been a really long time since we got to update this page. Our tour of Les Miserables through May and June gained fabulous audience feedback at all venues, excluding Plymouth which we had to cancel due to a bereavement on our team and an outbreak of Covid among the venue staff. Soon after the start of the run, the director's mother passed away suddenly, and other cast members also had illnesses and family emergencies, so it was quite a trial of fire to keep the show running - however, thanks to an amazing, supportive team of people, we kept it running. It has been an absolute honour to work with such an amazing team of people. We hope very much to work with many more times in the future and all of whom I would highly recommend as amazing and competent theatre actors and crew. Phenomenal audience feedback for the show, building a real fan following for our work there too. We are having quite a short turn around before we come back in for Macbeth,  A huge thank you to a bunch of our lovely actors who braved the heavy rain to join in with Brixham Future's Coronation parade to promote our performances of Les Miserables - and got lots of interested responses! And then a huge thank you to the Crafty Cwtch cafe for being a great base for drying off and getting a hot cuppa. #theatre #acting #actorslife #brixhamtheatre #britishtheatre #actors #lesmiserables #lesmis #devontheatre #DevonActors #torbay #Coronation2023  A huge thank you to our long time friends and supporters The Naked Sheep Hayle. This amazing family owned company in Cornwall makes handmade clothing and homewares from natural wools, sold all over the country. They are now supplying beautiful handmade tea cosies for sale at our friends cafe (Crafty Cwtch, 66 Middle Street, Brixham. , to raise funds for us here at The South Devon Players Theatre & Film Company, Brixham. Thank you sooo much Allie and Janet
And this weekend, our tour of Beowulf concluded with an excellent performance at Torquay's Royal Lyceum theatre. Now, the plans for over Christmas and the New Year, include sorting out our props and costumes from Beowulf (putting them away) and getting our props and costumes etc, for Les Misérables. It has been a fantastic show run - after a shaky start and some recasts, it came to have fabulous feedback, with a small but an amazing cast, most of whom plan to return to the stage with us in future shows and projects, and fabulous permanent relationships forged with new venues.
Offer to schools: Key Stage 3 materials and activities based around theatre production of Beowulf.27/6/2022 We are currently embarking on our next theatre production, a dramatisation of the Anglo-saxon epic poem, Beowulf, which will be performed around the South Devon area and Torbay in November/ December 2022.
We always create educational materials around each of our productions, and would like very much to hear from any schools or homeschoolers teaching this poem as to what materials they might especially find at use - created for free or "at -cost" which we can make available online. We would also very much like to hear from any schools in the area, or homeschooling groups who would be interested in arranging either a trip to one of our performances in November/ December, or to recieve the theatre show streamed online (available from the end of November). Please do get in touch at any time to discuss, we would love to hear from you. Our direct email is [email protected] Our education side is led by our founder Laura Jury, who has a masters degree in education, focussing on the teaching of theatre, from the University of Exeter The South Devon Players offers a new approach to theatre-making of world-class standard. Involving people of all levels of experience, from beginners to seasoned professionals, we create full scale dramatic productions primarily focusing on historical events, literature, and classical texts. We perform in our home-town of Brixham then tour around the Devon area, as well as streaming our shows online to global audiences. We were founded during the winter of 2005/6 to create inclusive opportunities for people in the Torbay area (and some from the wider Devon area) to get involved in creating high-quality theatre and thereby develop / further professional skills, careers and portfolios towards, and as part of, professionally working in the entertainment industry, led by three volunteer company directors. People starting out with us have also gone on to work in large scale film & TV productions, to further training inclusive of RADA and Bristol Old Vic, working with us helps them obtain the credits needed for professional registration with the professional actors Spotlight directory, and Equity (the actors and entertainment creatives trade union) which in turns allows them to be able to apply to register with larger actors agencies. We also attract established professional actors seeking to expand and grow their portfolios. Audience feedback is also very positive from our shows and projects, frequently likening the quality of our shows to rival that of the Globe, and other famous theatre production companies. Our work, over the past few years, has won several awards including on a national and international scale; we are the All-England winner of the "Epic Award" 2017 (now rebranded as the Creative Lives Award) and the Theatre Partner Award in the Long Island Theatre Awards 2019 (New York), putting theatre from Brixham squarely on a national and international map. You can read more about us at www.southdevonplayers.com, or www.facebook.com/sdevonplayers  Quinn the Raven says come along to the Beowulf auditions at Chestnut Community Centre (auditions start at 1pm tomorrow- all comers welcome and everyone will be auditioned)
It’s also been arranged that when the show is cast and costumes, Beowulfs poster photoshoot will be with Quinn. (Yes there will be a cast photoshoot with Quinn!) While Beowulf is an Anglo-Saxon poem, it has a strongly Norse setting as well Norse mythology, the Icelandic Sagas, and Icelandic folklore usually show the raven as a wise, all-knowing messenger and often a bird of prophecy, protector, and helper #raven #beowulf #theatre #brixhamtheatre #acting #performingarts #devontheatre #britishtheatre #auditions #cute #norse #castingcall #actors #actorslife #theatrelife  So proud of our brilliant team of actors and crew for creating this amazing production of Ben Hur on stage -. The feedback from the first three performances of Ben Hur at Brixham Theatre has been phenomenal, as well as lots of incredible verbal feedback, we have also had some amazing written feedback for everyone as shown below. We now go on to bring the show to St Thomas the Martyr Church in Bristol, Stoke Damerel Church in Plymouth, St Petroc's Church, Bodmin, and Penlee Park Open Air Theatre - as well as screening a filmed performance at Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
Booking details at https://www.southdevonplayers.com/box-office.html #brixham #brixhamtheatre #lovebrixham #BeautifulBrixham #Torbay #devon #theatre #theatrelife #whatson #events #mustsee #booknow #britishtheatre #regionaltheatre #benhur #paignton #torquay #dartmouth #theater #whatsondevon #creative #actors #actorslife #professionaltheatre |
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