Tomorrow Theatre Ark open their production of The Tempest. This morning a dumper truck full of sand arrived for their beach. It promises to be a spectacular production. The ship they have built in ‘Africa’ is fantastic.

It has been a real pleasure hosting Mehmet Sendar and his dancers over the last few days. He is a charming man and his dance pieces look fantastic. We encourage everyone to come along on Friday night for something special (see Diary to the right).

We’ve been storing the track for Graeme Miller’s Track for the last few months, now the man himself is here, sprucing things up ready to install the piece under Spaghetti Junction for Fierce. It promises to be a great ride.

On 6th March the venue hosts Ping It, Ring It, Roll It, Write It. A drop in day for exciting new music. ‘Ping It’ refers to, Ping! a piece composed by Joe Cutler, performed by the Coull Quartet and featuring the Fusion Table Tennis Club. Roll It refers to Stan’s Cafe’s collaboration with composer Michael Wolters: The Voyage. Tickets are now on sale.

Keep tuned for news of ‘Roll It’ and ‘Write It’.

Things are hotting up here – the courtyard is beautiful when the sun is beating down on it. A team from Theatre Ark are preparing for the big push when they take The Tempest into production. At the same time Mehmet Sander is in ‘Africa’ working with his team for a dance performance her as part of the Fierce Festival on Friday.

Sneakily Stan’s Cafe have been using ‘Australia’ to audition for The Just Price of Flowers.

See the diary to the right for all dates and details.

Jane Packman’s new show, a work in progress opens today (see diary). It should be good.

These are busy times @ A E Harris. Untied Artists have been here extensively building and rehearsing For Their Own Good whilst alternating between here and mac: birmingham have been Little Earthquake preparing a 30 minute version of a new show It’s Only A Paper Moon. Both companies are scurrying to be ready for Bite-Size at Warwick Arts Centre on Saturday. Read the rest of this entry »

Mick is back, rewiring Europe, keeping us all powered up. Keeping us all safe.

Jack Trow, who has been rehearsing the new Untied Artists show here, has just spotted The venue used as a location for The Hustle. Anyone who can find an online link for that will be much in our favour.

Also, look out for the space as the backdrop for photographs modelling ‘urban golf chic’ – which isn’t something I know much about but am happy we can facilitate. There’s not currently enough golf on the streets of Ladywood.

The annual Theatre-ish party last night brought together an impressive range of folk from across the Birmingham Theatre/Artsy scene. It was good fun. Next year let’s make it even bigger and even better.