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 Witches By Roald Dahl
Saturday 5th April | 7.30PM
At The Kelvedon Institute
“Down with the children! Do them in!
Boil their bones and fry their skin!
One child a week is fifty-two a year.
Squish them! Squiggle them! Make em’ disappear!”
Following on from last year’s successful production of “The Railway Children,” The Black Dog Theatre Creation are back with an adaptation of the much-loved story of “The Witches" by Roald Dahl.
In fairy tales, witches always wear silly black hats and black cloaks, and they ride on broomsticks. But this is not a fairy tale. This is a story about REAL WITCHES. The most important thing that you should know about a real witch is this…Now, listen very carefully and don’t ever forget what I am about to tell you next…
When a young boy and his grandfather check into a seaside hotel, they soon realise that the group of rather odd ladies holding a conference there aren’t quite what they seem.
Soon, the boy finds himself fighting none other than the vicious Grand High Witch!
Using larger than life characters, classic storytelling, raps and wordplay, this is a new special retelling of the story specially performed for free to the local community by members of the Black Dog Theatre Creation.
Performance notes:
-There is no interval
-Running time approx. 1 hr 05 minutes
- Suggested age suitability: 7 yrs +
-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
Fantastic Mr Fox
by Roald Dahl
“Run foxy, run foxy Run! Run! Run!
Here comes the farmer with his gun, gun, gun!
Bang! Bang! Bang! Goes the farmers gun
So, run foxy, run foxy Run! Run! Run!
Following on from the success of our production of The Reluctant Dragon last year, our Black Dog Theatre Creation East-Ham troupe are back with a special retelling of the popular story by Roald Dahl.
Fantastic Mr Fox is family fun at its finest. A juicy tale of greed, pride and the power of friendship, a dahlicious theatrical feast.
Boggis, Bunce and Bean, three greedy, smelly, horrid farmers hate the cunning Mr Fox. Mr Fox is smart, clever and rather fantastic, but he doesn’t realise how determined the farmers are to get revenge. Can he hatch a plan to save his family and friends? Can they outrun the diggers and outsmart the farmers? You know as well as I do: no-one outfoxes a fox!
Using larger than life characters, puppets, classic storytelling, raps and wordplay, this is a new special retelling of the story specially performed for free to the local community by members of the Black Dog Theatre Creation.
Performance notes:
-There is no interval
-Running time approx. 30 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:
Saturday 26th April 2.30PM
AT THE MANOR PARK LIBRARY
Sunday 27th April 2.00PM
AT THE EAST-HAM LIBRARY
To book tickets click below:
PERF
CURRENT NEWS
Victorian Project a big success
Last year our Colchester group worked with the Essex Records office and HLF to create our first community heritage project all about the Victorians. It was such a wonderful project. As well as creating a successful production, we also put together a cracking free learning pack along with audio clips and monologues. You can find this free resource either at the Essex Records Office or by checking out the Alfie James Productions website under the Heritage tab.
The Witches show underway
Our first Black Dog Theatre Creation play for 2025 will be with our Colchester group creating a retelling of the awesome story “The Witches” by Roald Dahl. Rehearsals are under way and we’re having great fun with all of the raps and larger than life characters.
East-Ham Troupe are back with puppets galore!
Following on from last year’s successful performance of The Twits, we’re back developing a new retelling of the story “Fantastic Mr Fox” by Roald Dahl. In this project, we are combining our puppetry work from last year with exploring immersive theatre and panto-like characters.
Tesco’s Bags for life helping to support our Bury group
Our Bury group has recently been selected as part of the Tesco’s bags for life blue token vote. If you’re shopping at the Tesco’s Express store at either:
-Bury St Edmunds Lawson Place Express
-Bury St Edmunds Superstore
-Horringer Bury St Edmunds Express
-Bury St Edmunds Crnhil Express
Then we’d really appreciate you voting for us with the blue tokens.
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