When the stars start to fade

The Buzz: Bread and Roses Theatre

Don’t we all love celebrities. And don’t we all love them even more when they fall from grace.

Kyla was once a TV personality. Now she’s the dress hanging on the arm of her celebrity popstar boyfriend. That’s the theme of The Buzz, the final instalment of the Playwriting Award at Clapham’s Bread and Roses Theatre.

When her anti-establishment squatter brother pays her a surprise visit on the night of the biggest music award ceremony of the year, Kyla is forced to confront the life, and lie, she’s been living.

The Buzz is a dark comedy exploring the seduction of fame, overnight celebrity culture and the injustices we disregard in favour of our own success.

Written by Lydia Rynne, the production brings together a collaboration of talent from the theatre’s playwriting and emerging director schemes and marks an exciting moment as Velenzia Spearpoint heads her first in house production as newly appointed Artistic Director.

It follows the success of The Black Eye Club by Phil Charles and Little Did I Know by Doc Andersen-Bloomfield.

It opens at The Bread and Roses Theatre on May 8, till May 19. Details and tickets: http://www.breadandrosestheatre.co.uk/the-buzz

Lydia Rynne is a writer for stage and screen. She is a Soho Theatre Writers Alumnus and is currently one of ten screenwriters at the National Film and Television School. A finalist in BFI/Creative England‘s Funny Girls scheme, Lydia’s short film Nugget Love was selected as a Sundance Ignite finalist.

The Bread and Roses Theatre, at 68 Clapham Manor Street, London,  SW4 6DZ, is an award-winning, innovative fringe theatre above the pub of the same name. It features a wide variety of productions for local as well as far-reaching audiences. Equality, diversity and artistic quality are at the forefront of the theatre’s programming, which features in-house productions as well as many visiting companies.

New writers invited to compete for award

An opportunity for new playwrights is launched this week as The Bread & Roses Theatre in London open the submission window for their biennial award.  The Bread & Roses Playwriting Award is a competition for full length theatre plays that have not previously been produced or published and feature at least half female, non-binary or gender neutral roles.

Up to three winning plays will receive a professional production at The Bread & Roses Theatre (& 10% of box office income) as well as publication by the Theatre  (& royalty from all sales). Submissions for the award are open until May 31 and can be made at www.breadandrosestheatre.co.uk/playwriting-award . The judging process is anonymous and playwrights from across Europe are invited to submit.

The winning play of the 2016/2017 award, The Black Eye Club by Phil Charles, was staged last November to great acclaim and two runners-up have productions in 2018, with The Buzz by Lydia Rynne set for production and publication this coming May.

The theatre is also accepting submissions of theatre productions, comedy and other variety performances for the Clapham Fringe Festival taking place at the venue from  September 27 to October  14. The Clapham Fringe has been hailed as an “egalitarian performing arts festival [that] aims to celebrate and foster emerging talent by offering an affordable stage for comedy and drama” (South West Londoner) and is now in its fourth year. Submissions are open until  June 3 and can be made at www.ClaphamFringe.com .

Meanwhile Velenzia Spearpoint is to be the new artistic director of the theatre.   She will take over  next month from Tessa Hart, who is moving to work for the Astrid-Lindgren-Bühne in Berlin while staying involved as a co-executive director of  Bread & Roses.  Velenzia will be working alongside current managing director Rebecca Pryle.

Associate producer of the theatre since 2016, Velenzia will be programming the main seasons from December 2018.  A director, producer and actor, she has over ten years’ experience both on and off stage and is also a co-founder of all-female theatre company Get Over It Productions.

The Bread & Roses  is a 40- to 60-seat innovative fringe venue developed by Rebecca Pryle and Tessa Hart,  above The Bread & Roses Pub in Clapham. Artistic quality, equality and diversity are at the forefront of the theatre’s programming, which features visiting companies as well as in-house productions, with a focus on new writing, underrepresented voices and distinctive work. Having seen over 35,000 audience members through its doors to date, the theatre has worked with award-winning ensembles with decades of experience but also frequently welcomes emerging companies taking their first steps and supports theatre-makers by providing box office split deals with no hidden fees. In every full year of its existence the theatre has been a recipient of the ICWP 50/50 Applause Award for Theatre Gender Parity and the press has described it as ‘one of the most exciting ones amongst the London pub theatres’ (RemoteGoat), ‘an extremely ethical organisation’ (London Pub Theatres Magazine), and ‘a new wave of venues (….) – all on the sort of sweetheart deals of old.’ (The Guardian).  www.breadandrosestheatre.co.uk