PULSE Festival Opens Bookings Early for 10 Shows

26 Jan 2017 Press Release

---

The New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich and China Plate present
PULSE FESTIVAL IPSWICH 2017

• The first 10 shows of PULSE Festival Ipswich 2017 have today been announced and will go on sale on Friday 27 Jan.
• Suitcase Prize Day returns for its fifth year with a prize for the best environmentally sustainable show that can be toured on public transport, with On The Run presenting their winning show TELL ME ANYTHING from 2016.
• Victoria Melody presents a preview of her brand new show UGLY CHIEF
• Hoipolloi presents THE DUKE – a free event to raise money for charity Save the Children
• 1927’s dystopian fable GOLEM will end the festival on Saturday 10 June

New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich
Thursday 1 – Saturday 10 June 2017

Returning for its 17th year, this 10 day festival offers a bright and inspiring snapshot of contemporary theatre with established and emerging artists, both local and those from further afield.

This year, PULSE Festival is delighted to announce the first 10 companies that will perform in the festival that can be booked early from Friday 27 January. The full programme of the festival will be announced in March, and will include those who applied through the Open Call process.

Building on previous Pulse Festivals, this year’s programme carries on the successes of Suitcase Prize Day and Scratch Day with new work from returning companies, and even more high quality theatre coming from around the UK and abroad.

This year’s Suitcase Prize Day will see the 2016 winners On The Run return with their production TELL ME ANYTHING on Friday 2 June. Tell Me Anything is an award-winning autobiographical show about David’s experience of caring for his girlfriend Kate, who had an eating disorder, when he was a teenager. It juxtaposes the euphoria of first love with the darker side of a relationship increasingly dominated by Kate’s illness and David’s insistence that he must save her. The show received rave reviews at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2016.

Scratch Day on Saturday 3 June will feature previews of Rachel Bagshaw’s THE SHAPE OF THE PAIN following its work-in-progress in 2016, and a new PULSE commission by Victoria Melody UGLY CHIEF. Rachel Bagshaw returns to PULSE with her new piece about love, perception and constant, relentless pain, commissioned by Battersea Arts Centre and the New Wolsey Theatre. Ugly Chief is a comedy based on true events performed by Victoria Melody and her father, TV antique dealer Mike Melody. It’s a eulogy for a living soul which explores the taboos around death and its practicalities, and the fractious relationship with a parent whose opinions you don’t always agree with.

On Friday 9 June, Shôn Dale-Jones performs his free show THE DUKE following its Fringe First Award-winning run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The Duke is a new solo show from the multi-award winning writer/performer behind the much-loved Hugh Hughes. Exploring kindness, generosity and the value of what we do, Shôn will raise money for Save The Children’s Child Refugee Crisis Appeal. The show is presented free to audiences, with donations to the charity welcomed.

On Saturday 10 June, 1927 present their international smash-hit dystopian fable GOLEM, which has previously performed in New York, Australia and London. Like a giant graphic novel burst into life, 1927 invites you to take a step through the looking glass into a dark and fantastical tale of an extraordinary ordinary man. Blending 1927’s synthesis of handmade animation, claymation, live music and performance, Golem is the follow up to 1927’s hit international shows The Animals and Children took to the Streets and The Magic Flute

Ed and Paul of China Plate, the festival’s co-curators, said: “We are so excited about our Pulse 2017 programme that we just couldn’t wait to share some of it with you. Once again the Pulse team have travelled the length and breadth of the country to bring together a body of work that will delight audiences from Ipswich and beyond reflecting the vibrancy of the UK theatre scene. On Friday 27 January we are opening bookings early for 10 of this year’s shows, including Golem from internationally best-selling company 1927. There really is something for everyone and we’d encourage you to get in quick to avoid disappointment.”

Other productions now on sale include: Nick Cassenbaum’s BUBBLE SCHMEISIS and Natural Shocks’ MY WORLD HAS EXPLODED A LITTLE BIT on Monday 5 June; Stephanie Ridings’ THE ROAD TO HUNTSVILLE on Tuesday 6 June; Unlimited Theatre’s AM I DEAD YET? on Wednesday 7 June, and Kieran Hurley’s HEADS UP on Friday 9 June which returns to PULSE after its work-in-progress preview in 2016.

PULSE Festival Ipswich is supported by local company Harrison C White, who are sponsoring the festival for the next three years. They will also continue to work with media partners The Reviews Hub.

On sale from Fri 27 January, 10am:

Tell Me Anything | On The Run
New Wolsey Theatre | Friday 2 June, 8pm
Young love, mental health – a tender, raw boy-meets-girl story.
Running time: 60 mins

The Shape of the Pain | Rachel Bagshaw & China Plate
High Street Exhibition Gallery | Saturday 3 June, 7pm
A one woman show weaving together words and sound to explore living a life in extremity
Running time: 60 mins

Ugly Chief | Victoria Melody
New Wolsey Theatre | Saturday 3 June, 8.30pm
A comedy based on true events performed by a genuine father and daughter; a eulogy for a living soul
Running time: 90 mins plus interval

Bubble Schmeisis | Nick Cassenbaum
New Wolsey Studio | Monday 5 June, 8pm
An intimate and personal true stories about identity, home and getting schmeised (washed) by old men.
Running time: 60 mins

My World Has Exploded a Little Bit | Natural Shocks
New Wolsey Theatre | Monday 5 June, 9.30pm
A funny, heartbreaking, deeply personal guide to bereavement.
Running time: 70 mins

The Road to Huntsville | Stephanie Ridings
New Wolsey Studio | Tuesday 6 June, 8pm
An exploration into unconventional love, state homicide and cats.
Running time: 60 mins

Am I Dead Yet? | Unlimited Theatre
New Wolsey Studio | Wednesday 7 June, 8pm
Stories and songs about death and dying and about how we don’t talk about it enough.
Running time 60 mins

The Duke | Hoipolloi
High Street Exhibition Gallery | Friday 9 June, 8pm
Blending fantasy and reality, this playful show gently challenges our priorities in a world full of crisis.
Running time: 60 mins

Heads Up | Show and Tell & Kieran Hurley
New Wolsey Studio | Friday 9 June, 9.30pm
Kieran Hurley asks what would we do if we found ourselves at the end of our world as we know it.
Running time: 60 mins

Golem | 1927
New Wolsey Theatre | Saturday 10 June, 7pm
A dystopian fable for the 21st century
Running time: 90 mins