About Us
"A unique, special theatre project"
The Black Dog Theatre Creation is a special not-for-profit theatre group set up and run by Alfie James Productions which aims at using performance skills to support people suffering from poor confidence, anxiety and to help to reduce the risk of people becoming isolated. It is also open to those who simply love being creative, learning new theatre skills and staging plays regularly. Now in its sixth year it is slowly growing and is building its reputation as being a wonderful, positive, and successful group. We currently have two groups in Colchester and Camden, London and we often run short bite-size projects in Brentwood and Suffolk. We develop small projects, workshops and performances and work with other artists to offer our members the opportunity to engage in a wide range of artistic skills. Our projects are free to access and open to all.
To find out more about us click here:
CURRENT PERFORMANCE
The Essex Witch Trials
A Selection of performances & Stories
In this special performance our Black Dog Theatre Creation Colchester group will be sharing a selection of special short plays, stories, poetry and monologues about the Essex witch trials.
The pieces will be retelling true stories some of which have been inspired by Professor Marion Gibson's book "The Witches of St Osyth" We will be exploring why they were accused, the motives behind their investigators and the treatment of those accused.
Performed as rehearsed readings in this special performance by members of the Black Dog Theatre Creation and the Essex Witches Community Heritage Project. Supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund, Essex Records Office, Professor Gibson and Alfie James Productions.
Our
Performance notes:
-There is no interval
-Running time approx. 45 minutes
-There will be a small collection held at the end for anyone who wishes to donate any spare change towards our community projects.
-Please note that we will be filming our performance for our evaluation.
TICKET INFORMATION:
This is a FREE performance but tickets should be pre-booked
PERFORMANCES:
To be confirmed
To book tickets click below:
PERF
A right witchy treat!
Our latest Black Dog Theatre Creation project in Colchester came to a wonderful end recently with our special performance of Roald Dahl’s masterful classic “The Witches.” Over the past few months, we have been exploring wordplay, raps and creating larger than life panto characters. It’s helped to further develop our confidence and break down our anxiety on stage. The performance was a big success with our sell-out audience. Here are a few snap shots and a film recording of the performance for you to enjoy. THANK YOU to everyone who took part and came along to support us.
CURRENT NEWS
Women in War Success
Our Black Dog Camden group recently collaborated with Producer Robin McManus and his theatre group 'Out of Office' to create a special weeks run of performances of the play "Women in War" at the Camden People's Theatre. This was the groups biggest project to date and we were over the moon to be told that we'd sold out several of the performances. We invited local NHS staff including nurses and ambulance drivers and volunteers to come along to see the performance for free as well local community volunteers.
The Essex Witches Community Heritage Project
Our Black Dog Theatre Creation Colchester group were so excited to learn that they have been awarded funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund (A HUGE THANK YOU to the Lottery players) to create a project exploring and bringing to life the true stories of Witchcraft in Essex. Since starting, we have been busty working with The Essex Records Office and Professor Gibson researching and learning about why people were accused of witchcraft, what happened and the trials and punishments. We have developed short plays bringing to life some of their stories and recorded these as audio pieces to be donated to the Essex Records Office Sound Archives. We will also be creating a special mini touring exhibition touring local libraries sharing what we have learnt which will be donated to the Essex Witches Museum.
Space: The final frontier
Following on from last years successful Camden tour of the Reluctant Dragon which was directed by Luke Garner-Greene; we will be taking on a rather special challenge. This year we will be creating a project exploring spaces and how different spaces can affect us mentally and impact upon those who suffer from anxiety. We're also going to be exploring how a performance can be adapted to different spaces.
Tesco’s Bags for life helping to support our Bury group
Our Bury group has recently been awarded with a small grant from Tesco's Bags for life. Thank you to everyone who voted. Our next Bury St Edmunds project with the library will be starting soon so please watch this space! We're hoping to develop a fresh performance of The Reluctant Dragon.
WE’RE LOOKING FOR NEW MEMBERS, LOCAL ARTISTS & VOLUNTEERS
We are always looking for new people to work with including:
-New Members for all our groups (Adults aged 18+)
-Local Artists who may like to collaborate with us or be our guest workshop leaders sharing their skills.
-Volunteers to support our members
Please get in touch if you’re interested