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Posh'POSH' from Beacon Actors Company

Friday, 24 April 2015

Filthy. Rich. Spoilt. Rotten

Beacon Actors Company's next production will take them into new and exciting territory.

'Posh' by Laura Wade will take place at the Little Theatre during election week - 6th, 7th and 8th May at 7.30pm.

Posh concerns an Oxford University based dining club called 'The Riot Club' a fictionalised version of The Bullingdon Club, which of course has both Boris Johnson and David Cameron among its most famous alumni.

The play is a fascinating study of class, wealth, greed, power, position and the state of modern Britain. It seemed an ideal time for us to put this play on, not least of all during the week of one the most intriguing elections in our recent history.

As young performers, many of them voting for the first or second time, the play has certainly struck a chord and they are really looking forward to putting this on in our local community, in their constituency and to an engaging, communicative and localised audience.

The production will also feature two seasoned performers in John Laing and Robert Garrett, both of whom have performed in productions all over the valley for the last three decades.

Future productions as part of the Hebden Bridge Shorts season, as well as work this Autumn and early next year are already in the pipeline so watch this space!

Beacon Actors Company was set up in 2013, originally as the Calderdale Young Actor's Company. It was designed as a mechanism to keep former members of Calderdale Theatre School working in the arts after they had left aged 18. They all felt that we had a great bond on and off the stage and their mission was to keep that alive through the only method they had in common – theatre.

The company was founded by 14 members: 12 young performers based from every corner of the Calder Valley – Jenny Birch, Patrick Costello, Sol Cotton, Daniel Cox, Joe Finegold, Will Foulds, Adam Garrett, Rachel Griffiths, Josh Nutbrown, James Patrick, William Pugh and Juliette Strobel. Plus 2 adults who acted as mentors as well as actor/directors – Gillie Kerrod and Stephen Finegold.

They have also added new members from the local area to the company this year - Pravinder Makh, Chris Rhodes, Samuel Heron and Isaac Rose. Sol, Dan, Adam, Will, Rachel, Josh, Sam, Isaac and Juliette are all from the Upper Valley and former Calder High pupils.

As part of the 2013 Halifax Festival, their first production was 'Private Peaceful', adapted from the novel by former Children's Laureate Michael Morpurgo. The production was commissioned by Square Chapel Centre for the Arts' Education and Outreach department to help engage local primary school students who were already studying the novel.

They performed three shows at Orangebox Young People's Centre in Halifax, becoming the first company to utilise their purpose-built performance space. The run was a great success and sold out all performances, receiving some wonderful feedback from children, teachers and adults alike.

Last year, they were asked by Square Chapel to bring the production back, transferring to the larger Square Chapel auditorium itself. Once again, all performances sold out and the piece was very emotionally charged, in no small part due to the centenary of the First World War.

This year, they have re-launched as Beacon Actors Company, named after their collectively favourite place in Calderdale, Beacon Hill. They told the HebWeb that they are incredibly proud to represent such a wide area of the Calder Valley and to unite their common interest in the arts through performance, engagement with the local community and widespread discussion and debate through theatre.

Twitter - @BeaconActors
Facebook – Beacon Actors Company
Instagram - @BeaconActors

Tickets for Posh are available here or you can buy them in person at Innovation.