Belt Up Theatre

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Belt Up Theatre are a British theatre company based in the north of England. Company directors Dominic J Allen, Jethro Compton, James Wilkes and Alexander Wright met whilst attending the University of York. The foursome set up the company in 2008, basing in the city of York.

Productions and major awards

  • Belt Up Theatre made the first of their many visits to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August 2008, with a production of "The Red Room", 'its ambition invited your respect - and the talent was there to cement it'.[1] Shows featured in 'The Red Room' were 'The Tartuffe', 'Volpone', 'The Women of Troy', 'The Park Keeper' and others which collectively won the Edinburgh International Festival Award 2008 for the best work on the Fringe.[2][3] It also won the ThreeWeeks Editor's Award 2008[4]
  • At the 2009 Edinburgh fringe, Belt Up Theatre staged a well-reviewed production of Kafka's The Trial[5] as well as re-staging 'The Tartuffe' in 'The Squat'.
  • May 2010 saw a re-staging at the York Theatre Royal of The Tartuffe, described by Charles Hutchinson as "young Monty Python does Moliere"[9]
  • At the Edinburgh Festival fringe in August 2010, Belt Up staged a set of eight productions in the C Soco venue, all original compositions or adaptations, called collectively 'The House Above'. The plays[10] were Metamorphosis,[11] Lorca is Dead,[12] Odyssey,[13] Atrium,[14] Antigone,[15] Quasimodo,[16] The Boy James[17] and Octavia.[18][19] Three of the plays were transferred to the Southwark Playhouse the following November.[20]
  • The old vault of Clerkenwell Prison was the location for Belt Up Theatre's site specific production of Shakespeare's Macbeth in April–May 2011.[23] and again in 2012.
  • Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2011 showed Belt Up Theatre's 'The Penthouse' which featured a return of 'The Boy James', 'Outland', 'Twenty Minutes to Nine' [1].
  • Belt Up Theatre will present two showings of 'Outland' in a University Women's Club in Mayfair [2] in July 2012.
  • Belt Up Theatre announced their Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2012 season as the return of The Boy James and Outland as well as a world premiere of A Little Princess, an adaptation of [Frances Hodgson Burnett]'s children's fiction novel. These will be showing at new location C nova.

Other awards

NSDF FestGoer's Award for Metamorphosis

NSDF Buzz Goodbody Award for best Director for Alexander Wright for Metamorphosis

NSDF Spotlight Award for Best Actor for James Wilkes as Gregor Samsa in Metamorphosis

NSDF Judges' Award for Best Lighting Design for Jethro Compton for Metamorphosis

NSDF Judges' Award for Best Ensemble for Metamorphosis

Residency at York Theatre Royal

In autumn 2009, Belt Up Theatre were announced as a resident company at the York Theatre Royal[24]

References

  1. Fringe Guru interview
  2. BBC News 27 August 2008
  3. Edinburgh International Festival award 2008
  4. Threeweeks awards 2008
  5. Lyn Gardner in The Guardian reviews The Trial, August 2009
  6. London-SE1 on The Trial and Tartuffe, November 2009
  7. British Theatre Guide: The Trial
  8. British Theatre Guide: The Tartuffe
  9. York Press review of The Tartuffe, May 2010
  10. Viewreview August 2010
  11. Lyn Gardner on Metamorphosis, Guardian, August 2010
  12. The Stage Edinburgh: Lorca is Dead, August 2010
  13. fringeguru on Odyssey, Edinburgh 2010
  14. Edinburgh List, Atrium, August 2010
  15. The Stage Edinburgh: Antigone, August 2010
  16. EdinburgGuide.com August 2010 on Quasimodo
  17. fringereview The Boy James, Edinburgh 2010
  18. Herald Scotland August 2010 on Octavia
  19. Stage Edinburgh August 2010 on Octavia
  20. WhatsOnStage "Brief Encounter With ... Belt Up Theatre" November 2010
  21. WhatsOnStage "Five Reasons To See ... Belt Up's The Boy James" January 2012
  22. The Barefoot Review: Belt Up Theatre's 'The Boy James' 28 February 2012
  23. Londonist Review: Macbeth at Clerkenwell House of Detention
  24. creative partnerships at York Theatre Royal