Bye Bye Latitude, Hello Rich Mix!

The hippy sign and famous pastel coloured sheep

We’re all home safe and sound from Latitude and headed straight onto the next leg of our tour with Rich Mix. The festival was amazing and the tingling on our skin from a touch of sunburn is the only thing left to remind us of the wonderful weekend.

We are really concerned to hear about the  alleged rape that took place during the weekend and hope that this doesn’t taint the festival’s reputation. Although we felt entirely safe, the lighting on some of the paths back to the campsites was pretty bad – perhaps this will act as a warning to festival goers that heading back to your tent after a night out is no difference to heading home after a night out on the town – don’t do it alone.

According to The Guardian, in its first year Latitude attracted only 6,000 people – this year 35,000 visited Henham Park in Southwold. Maybe next year Latitude will do more to raise awareness of the possible dangers of the festival atmosphere. But, all in all, we had an amazing time and would like to thank all the festival staff for their help and encouragement.

Real highlights from the Sunday include the fantastic cast of Hair belting out “Let the Sunshine!” on the Waterfront Stage and the gorgeous performance of Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake on the same stage. There was something truly magical about seeing this performed against the watery back drop. The elegant dancers had to stop half way through to put big black socks on because the stage was too hot for bare feet – needless to stay the enthusiastic crowd got right behind them and showed their support as they found the correct part of the music in order to continue with the performance.

To the future…

Emma did an insightful interview with The Telegraph over the weekend which explores her passion for the fight against the sex trade and how it was her own involvement with the Helen Bamber Foundation, which specialises in helping survivors of human rights abuses, that indirectly gave rise to Fair Trade…

If you weren’t at Latitude and can’t get to Edinburgh this August, Fair Trade at Rich Mix on Bethnal Green road opens tomorrow and continues until Sunday. To book tickets click here.

Day 2 @Latitude

Still from today's show. All photos by Matthew Twaddell

After being woken up by heavy rain and presuming that the day ahead would be a rough one, everyone is all smiles today because the sun has put his hat on once more and provided us with another glorious day for festival going.

The second show went brilliantly. Everything felt slicker and tighter and the audience were much more responsive – we even got giggles and sniffles, and a big cheer at the end.

Following the show we had a bit of a panic because our representative at The Helen Bamber Foundation rang to say that she was having problems with her transport and that she subsequently wasn’t going to make it to the festival in time for the scheduled post-show discussion. So, after an emergency meeting we decided to chair it ourselves putting the emphasis on what we are trying to do as a company and how art can provoke change, raise awareness and change social conscience.

With a modest crowd in The Literary Salon we covered how Shatterbox is trying to tackle the huge problem of sex trafficking “from a different angle” and the dilemmas we are faced as a theatre company exploring such a sensitive topic: “are we trying to raise awareness or simply entertain?” We aim for both.

The audience soon warmed up and we were pleased with the level of engagement and passion the audiences have for the subject. We discussed the help that exists for victims of sex trafficking and handed out leaflets for unseen(uk) who give safety, hope and choice to people affected by trafficking, and are currently running a campaign called “Sponsor a room” which allows you to directly play a part in helping tackle the problem.

The cast, crew and audience enjoy a chat.

Highlights of today include Frisky and Mannish on the Cabaret stage – the decadent duo slickly performed material old and new and were as funny as ever! We also really enjoyed  Peter Hall in conversation in the Literary Salon discussing the state of British theatre and the impeding cuts to the Arts Council. “I believe passionately in subsidy,” he said – don’t we all! Director Thea Sharrock, who was leading the Q and A then added, “these are the beginnings of very dark times for British theatre.” Dun dun duuuuuuun!

Celeb Watch: Jarvis Cocker.

Trends: floral jump suits

What we’ve been talking about: THE BODY SHOP’s campaign against sex trafficking.

One down, one to go.

Still from the first performance. All Photos: Matthew Twaddell.

So we’ve just come off stage in the theatre arena. Had a bit of a stressful get in – the arena was running late so the pressure was on. But the audience reception was great – lots of woops and cheers – which we like – so it was all worth it. And don’t you just love it when the final moment of a play creates such an atmosphere that no-one dares move.

Fair Trade went really well, we had a few sound problems to begin with but  guess that’s to be expected and the booming music from other stages didn’t help. All in all though, brilliant turn out and we can’t wait for tomorrow!

Highlights of today include The Lyric Hammersmith and Filter Theatre’s Dream (A Midsummer Night’s Dream). Expectations were high after seeing their Twelfth Night and Three Sisters but they certainly did not disappoint. The duel between Demetrius and Lysander told through the medium of a computer game was ingenious and the Pyramus and Thisby enactment was hilariously original. An energetic and passionate cast, as ever.

Tonight we are hugely looking forward to Florence and the Machine, obvs, Duke Special, Richard Hawley and the shinanigans in the Cabaret Tent.

Next performance 2.20pm tomorrow in the Theatre Arena and don’t forget our post show discussion with The Helen Bamber Foundation about the reality of sex trafficking.

Celeb watch: Keith Allen with his ukelele taking a bow after the Lyric’s Dream, Northern man from Halifax advert and woman in Sainsburys advert with Jamie Oliver. Pretty rubbish actually.

Trends: Ukeleles, maxi dresses (heard someone say it looked as if women were floating), babies with kids protective ear phones. Very cute.

We’re here… and the sun’s out!

After huge stresses with passes and the trains we have finally all arrived. How typical that the overhead lines go down the day everyone’s trying to get to Latitude. Quite an amusing image though – hundreds of festival goers sat on the platform at Colchester popping up camping chairs left right and centre.

So, some of the gang endured a torturing seven hour journey on rail replacement buses from London (I kid you not), whilst others sat in stationary traffic on the motorway for hours on end. Then we realised we were one performer pass down so after a bit of swapsees we got our VIP cast member in and everyone was happy.

We pitched up tents in a lovely wee spot and can’t help but feel like we’re cheating a bit camping in the calm and peaceful performers area. It’s filled with Guardian reading, coffee drinking ‘performers’ who are hilarious to spy on in the morning as they warm up and focus their minds for the day ahead with a casual spot of yoga – in their underwear! (not the Shatterbox crew)

The main campsite is jam-packed, there are tents for as far as the eye can see – how do people find their tents at night? Although, as calm and peaceful it may be in the performers area we were awoken in the middle of the night by a shriek and a man’s voice apologising, “sorry, sorry I thought this was my tent.”

After a difficult tech rehearsal last night we are hoping that today’s show at 3.30 will run a bit more smoothly. The space wasn’t exactly what we expected and therefore we were told our set was too big. So after an emergency meeting and a bit of downsizing we are good to go.

The queues for the theatre tent have been surprisingly huge so we’re hoping to pack it out for our first performance. Last night you couldn’t get into the RSC or Les Enfants Terrible for love nor money.

Tom Jones was a HUGE disappointment – he requested to play the smallest stage – so after all the hype he played to only one thousand people and left thousands of others pissy mc pissy. The word in the field is that actually we didn’t miss much – apparently he’s found God and so it all got a tad religious. He didn’t even play Sex Bomb! Still got one heck of a voice though. Rumours are now circulating that Tom Jones will be playing the main stage at 12:00 on Sunday. Woop! We’re hoping for the oldies.

First performance today at 3.30 in the Theatre Arena.

What people are wearing: flower garlands, sunglasses and wellies.

Celebs spotted: Richard Curtis.

Highlights so far: the glorious weather – and a girl clambering on to the rail replacement bus at Colchester with a bag three times the size of her body and a herb garden growing out of the top.

Latitude…here we come

An action shot during rehearsals. Photo: Matthew Twaddell.

So, our first performance of this year’s Fair Trade takes place in 2 days….

The race is on to get the show together, squeeze the set into our space and get the final bits and bob of press stuff done.

The programmes are printed and good to go, rehearsals have been going really well down at St Andrews Reformed Church on Frognal Lane and Emma did an interview for us yesterday with Dominic Cavendish at The Telegraph – so everything is on track for the weekend. We’re really hoping to get the word out about Shatterbox and engage with as many people as possible about the horrors of sex trafficking and how we can combat it.

Photo: Matthew Twaddell

The whole team’s off to Latitude this weekend so we’ve got a very early start tomorrow morning to make sure we’ve got time to unload the van and get in without any trouble.

Then we’ve got two performances: one on the Friday at 3.30pm and one on the Saturday at 2.20pm – with each show only an hour. So please come along and say hi – it’s a good excuse to get out of the supposed miserable weather and see a show that’s trying to do something other than simply entertain.

We’re on in the Theatre Arena – definitely the place to be with cool kid Duke Special (did anyone see Mother Courage at The National? Incredible), and the gang from the Lyric Hammersmith all performing in the same space.

Photo: Matthew Twaddell

Then we’ve got something really exciting happening on the Saturday after the show. We’re hosting a post-show discussion with the cast of Fair Trade and a representative from the Helen Bamber foundation so come along and get involved – we’re hoping to start around 5pm.

The weather forecast isn’t looking good so if anyone’s got any good tips on how to cope with camping in the rain then please let us know (drop us a tweet: ShatterboxTC). A hoody, some red wine and sprinkles of PMA are sure to get us all through.

See you in the muddy field.

SHATTERBOX NEEDS YOUR HELP TO COMBAT TRAFFICKING

Shatterbox Theatre Company needs all the help they can get to raise awareness about sex trafficking in the UK.
Feel inspired to get involved with this incredibly worthy cause? Show your support and donate whatever you can towards our campaign. Every pound will go a long way and be hugely appreciated by all of our company.