News from 2010: The Tempest

The Tempest: Alex and Tina (Trinculo and Stephano)

 We apologise for taking so long to up-date our news blog. This is an extended version of our seasonal newsletter, which we have sent to the people on our mailing list. It includes a summary of last year’s activities and some of our hopes and plans for 2011.


Before we begin telling you our news, we would like to thank the following people:
The Bristol Old Vic for all their support; without it we would find it very difficult to continue our work.
All our families, friends, supporters, trustees and funders for your continuing support and commitment to Firebird Theatre;
All the people who worked with us on The Tempest;
Our audiences, without whom there would be very little point really!
We would also like to wish everyone a peaceful and happy New Year.


Performances

The Tempest: Steve (Caliban), Chris (Prospero) and Jenny (Miranda)

As most people know, one of the biggest news items for us this year was the Regional Preview Tour of The Tempest, which opened at Bristol Old Vic in the Studio in March and then went to Salisbury Arts Centre and the Brewhouse in Taunton. In total we did 6 performances and we were excited by the sell out performances at Bristol Old Vic.


We collected audience feedback and reviews and will include all of these on our main website very soon. We have chosen one internet review however, because it highlights the support we have from Bristol Old Vic.


"But the final, and profoundest, message belongs to Caliban: I am also changed by the storm. I will not worship fools again... but one day they may respect the difference and see the man. Big credit to Bristol Old Vic for supporting this innovative company and this production." Crysse Morrison, freelance reviewer


We learnt a lot from developing and producing The Tempest, also from the preview tour. Chrissie Godfrey, Visionjuice, produced an evaluation based on Firebird’s work over the last couple of years and we will be using the report to inform our planning over the next year.

The Tempest: Liz (the servant) and Stephen as Alonso, King of Naples

We will remember

In May of this year we lost former member of Firebird Theatre/Portway Players, Claude Rimmer. Since retiring as an actor, Claude had become a member of the Firebird Poets and had worked with the other poets and Claire Williamson to write poetry for Firebird’s production of The Tempest. We miss Claude very much and our performance of The Nine Lessons of Caliban is dedicated to Claude.