Birmingham’s Kindle Theatre plunder the city’s native sound of Heavy Metal to create a ballsy gig for you to come and get sweaty to.

“The Furies” smashes together rock, metal and soul songs in a drastic retelling of the ancient story of Clytemnestra – a woman’s loss, betrayal and bloody revenge – presented through original music, vocal-scapes and stark imagery.

“Straight out of a Ken Russell hallucination … there’s a sense that anything could happen” THE QUIETUS

Told through the eyes of Clytemnestra’s band of Furies, sensual and scary – this is the ultimate tale of envy, rage and revenge.

The crowd heaves and holds its breath as The Furies appear out of the shadows…their voices rise and fall as a needling bass pumps through the speakers…

This show hits you in the gut with its beautiful, violent sound, snake-like pounding images, and bittersweet tunes you won’t easily forget.

“Brilliant…wildly imaginative…one of the best emerging companies in the country” Andy Field, Guardian

Winner of ACT festival European touring prize, BE festival 2011
Development supported by mac birmingham and Arts Council England.

Booking Details

9pm – 10pm at VAULT
Thursday – Sunday
Ages 15 +
Tickets: £17.50 (+£1 Old Vic Restoration Levy)
Book Now At
WWW.OLDVICTUNNELS.COM
The Old Vic Tunnels, Leake Street Entrance (North side), Waterloo SE1 7NN
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CLICK HERE to listen to the audio trailer (recorded live at Supersonic Festival, Oct 2011)

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“THE FURIES is irresistible, unforgettable, theatrical fireworks” BE FEST
“Joan Jett, Ramones, Bowie, Rocky Horror, Angela Carter… Fantastic – they had the audience in their palms” Audience comment
“A show of incredible virtuosity and raw viscerality” FOREST FRINGE

CREATIVE TEAM
Created, written & performed by Kindle.
In collaboration with: Graeme Rose – Direction, Phill Ward – Guitars & Bass, Russell Collins – Drums, Keys & Sax, Vocal Direction – Jill Dowse, Vocal Training – Margaret Pikes
Jewellery Design: Ami Victoria Pepper, Casey Fenn, Yuanying Cai and Sally Collins. The School of Jewellery, Birmingham City University.

Lighting Design: Ben Pacey
Sound Engineer: Jonathan Blackford
Photography: Alex Brenner, Bianca Harvey & James Smith
Illustration: Joe Wray

** TOURING spring 2012 onwards, dates to be posted soon **

Past performances:
(30 minute extract)
22nd OCTOBER, mac birmingham in association with SUPERSONIC FEST
24TH & 25TH AUGUST, FOREST FRINGE, Edinburgh
6TH JULY, BE FESTIVAL, AE Harris Birmingham
(work in progress showing)

Aloclasp is a performance that examines the mind-boggling totality of the universe, its mechanics and the theories that help us understand it; from the violent birth of our own planet to its impossibly distant edges.  Presented through Kindle’s inimitable style, Aloclasp disregards conventional linear narrative in favour of a series of provocative, disconcerting and spectacular moments.

 Thursday 3rd – Saturday 5th November, 8pm, Ellen Terry Building, Jordan Well, Coventry

Read the Review from Marie-Louise Elton HERE

Read more about making of Aloclasp from 3rd year student Tim Scotson

As I write this we’re three weeks into rehearsals for the show that has come to be known as ‘Aloclasp’ and the most appropriate word I can find for it is nebulous, which seems apt. After all, even though space is unimaginably vast it isn’t exactly empty. Breaking up the vast stretches of nothing are a billion and more stars and circling those are untold numbers of planets and asteroids. The sky is littered with stars and rocks and novae and even a nebula or two. So yes; if it is anything, Aloclasp is nebulous and that is exactly what it needs to be.

There is an entire student yeargroup (something like thirty five people) working collaboratively on the project and so many people can really crowd the creative process.In my experience if you were to simply throw thirty five students in a room and tell them to make a play, you would probably be lucky to get a final product in less than four years so the fact that we will have produced Aloclasp in around four weeks could reasonably be regarded as a miracle. And without the influence of Kindle it might have taken one, but they brought with them a working method that drove home focus and constant engagement while also allowing the whole group to work together on finding the material and playing with it. The end result is that a task that might have been a chore has instead been an utter joy.

Of course as far as themes go you could hardly get more scope and resonance than ‘outer space’. For as long as our species can recall we have looked up into the heavens, at Orion and Taurus, at the majesty of the Milky Way and the darkness of the eternal void and we have wondered. It must have been the stars that first griped the human mind and so awe-inspiring were they then that our ancestors named them for their gods and heroes. Who can truly say that anything has changed?  We are just now taking our first tentative steps into the heavens of our predecessors but one day we may stride amongst the stars like titans and stand toe to toe with the gods and heroes of old. The night sky is eternal and as long as humanity exists it will look upon its grandeur and be inspired.

The temptation when making a play is usually to start with a narrative but here that seems a strangely arrogant and self-defeating goal. Space is so vast and its impact upon humanity so multifaceted that to choose just one tale to tell would seem impossible. So we eschewed linear narrative in favour of exploring the history of humanity’s love affair with the stars. Just as the human quest for knowledge will take us beyond the stars to greater vistas of revelation, so too does Aloclasp refuse to be restrained.We are inviting the audience on a journey of discovery, and I sincerely hope that they come to it with that same sense of excitement and anticipation for exploration that we have had since the project began.

An Edible Performance

voted winner of  Invisible City 2010‘Things that Make me Smile’

Eat Your Heart Out – Teaser from Kindle Theatre on Vimeo. Video: Steven Davies

EAT YOUR HEART OUT performed at A..E Harris Building 29th October – 8th November 2009

In the last remaining corner of the human world, three cooks are summoned to create a celebratory meal using only the carcass of their once great kitchen. Inspired by the Baroque era, Flemish paintings and the contemporary obsession with Armageddon, EAT YOUR HEART OUT mixes the leftovers of disaster with the ceremony of the dining room in a performance that invites the audience to literally eat the story.

Combining live music, a rubbish dump and a highly original menu, EAT YOUR HEART OUT is an edible performance by Kindle in collaboration with artists and experts from a host of different creative fields. Set in the vast expanse of @A.E Harris in Birmingham’s industrial Jewellery Quarter, the set was an apocalyptic junkyard made from Birmingham’s own rubbish and installed by designers Tony Appleby and Claire Wearn. Multimedia design company filmcafe installed a pepper’s ghost affect  Queen, illuminated the set with actor controlled lighting that included: paint pot spot lights, swinging blubs and an exploding bicycle wheel/car windscreen chandelier. Regional composer-musician Phill Ward worked with Kindle performer-musicians to create a score that reinvented the decadence of the Baroque era and the unforgettable menu was conceived and delivered by food designers Blanch & Shock.

‘Recalling the orgiastic ritual of Mervyn Peake’s Gormenghast and Maurice Sendak’s In The Night Kitchen, and taking its stylistic cues from the vivid carnality of a Caravaggio, Kindle Theatre’s work in progress is a brilliant, interactively staged slab of grotesque…’ Read more of Latest 7 review here

‘One of the most fantastic stage sets I’ve ever seen’ Brighton Argus, 2009

‘…I felt Kindle’s undoubted ambition was undermined to some extent by their self-indulgence…’ Birmingham Post, 2009, Read More

EAT YOUR HEART OUT, Birghton at COACHWERKS September 2009.

Set created with Tony Appleby & Claire Wearn. Recycled waste, Magpie recycling. Lighting and video, Steven Davies

The studio version performed at Bite Size festival, Warwick Arts Centre, 2009

Kindle Theatre – Eat Your Heart Out Studio. BITE SIZE Video: Keir Williams.

Installation extracts of EAT YOUR HEART OUT have been performed at:

Birmingham, PILOT nights @ A.E Harris Building,  Thursday 2nd July 2009, 7.30pm (www.pilotnights.co.uk)

EAT YOUR HEART OUT Birmingham was supported by Arts Council England and the Sir Barry Jackson Trust. Development has been supported by PILOT, China plate theatre, Stan’s Cafe and COACHWERKS.

images by Steven Davies, Claire Wearn (Installation) and Alicja Rogalska (BITE SIZE)

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WE ARE THE MINOTAUR: Performance Opportunity with Kindle

25th July – 6th August

This summer Kindle Theatre is proudly working with mac birmingham on an ambitious outdoor theatre event and we are looking for individuals to make it with us.

Are you interested in making experimental performance? Are you up for the challenge of collaborating with others on a large-scale outdoor theatrical event? Do you dare push your creative boundaries?

With the core members of Kindle: Sam, Olivia and Emily, we will make an uncompromising reinvention of the ancient myth of the Minotaur; a playful and subversive retelling of this story told by those sacrificed to the beast encased in the vast labyrinth; an exploration of the people and rules that frighten and influence us and how we might challenge them to affect change.

We would love to hear from musicians, performers, dancers, students, and enthusiasts of live performance who are up for the challenge of creating this ambitious theatre event with us. There are also opportunities for those who are interested in costume and design.

The workshop will run at the newly refurbished mac birmingham, Monday to Friday from25^th July – 5^th August. The performance will take place in and around the building and the epic Outdoor Arena on Saturday 6^th August at 7.30pm.

The cost of the workshop is £75 for the 2 weeks and places can be booked through mac birmingham’s sales and information, in person or by phone on 0121 446 3232 / book here now

If you have any questions and want to know more about the project please get in touch with Olivia Winteringham, Kindle Theatre: info@kindletheatre.co.uk

If you would like to see an example of our work and what to expect from the summer school please come to The Furies, a filthy theatrical rock gig that deals with bloody and murderous revenge. The Furies will be raging out at Forest Fringe on Wednesday 24^th + Thursday 25th August @ Forest Fringe, Edinburgh – midnightish.

BULL: An Invitation to Dinner

Kindle Theatre in collaboration with Mike Knowlden from Blanch and Shock Food Design

27^th – 29^th May 2011, 7.30pm

Bradford Theatre in the Mill, University of Bradford

7.30pm, £6.50/£5.00/ Students pay what you can

BULL by Birmingham-based theatre company Kindle, reinvents the myth of the Minotaur using ensemble rhythm and voice, striking visuals and a playful menu that is prepared live before the audience, on and around a drum kit. Hosted by Pasiphae – mother of a monster and lover of a bull – BULL is a dinner party and evening ritual you won’t forget.

Performed by a chef-percussionist, a dancer and a singer, BULL is a bizarre ceremony that politely celebrates the death of others and marks the passing of those sacrificed to the half-man half-bull encased within the labyrinth.

Mike Knowlden, from London-based Blanch and Shock Food Design, is collaborating with Kindle on the project. He will prepare the evening’s unusual menu live before the audience whilst drumming. A pulsing rhythm persists throughout the performance, to remind us that ritual sacrifice cannot be avoided if we are to celebrate our own freedom.

is a performance meal originally conceived in July 2009 in the small canteen of A.E Harris for an audience of 12 it has now become a theatrical banquet for 130 via installations, intimate and epic in COACKWERKS, Brighton,  A.E Harris, Birmingham, Bite Size festival and BE festival in the West Midlands. In 2010 it was voted winner of the Invisible City’s award for ‘Things That Make me Smile’ and in February 2011 the banquet version was performed for just 2 nights as part of Ideas Tap’s Coming Up Festival at Debut, London Bridge.

Read Bella Todd’s Guardian Blog article about edible performance

As with all Kindle’s work to date EAT YOUR HEART OUT has been made collaboratively. We continue to work with long term collaborators Blanch & Shock Food Design, composer – arranger Phill Ward, collaborating artist Nina Smith, Creative Director Ideas Tap, and musicians Laura Mattison and Catherine Pollard.

Previous versions of the project have been made possible with the creative talent of individuals including Tony Appleby, George Appleby, Claire Wearn,  Rosalyn Newbery, Steven Davies and Martin Bonger and support from Stan’s Cafe @ A.E Harris and COACHWERKS. Please click here to read more about the different versions of EAT YOUR HEART OUT.

Photo: Steven Davies

Special thanks to Collective’s Jonny Burch for flyer design, Dan Hall for website design and James Gorrie for building it:  www.eyhokindle.com

The House of Asterion

Wednesday 3rd – Saturday 6th Novmber 2010, 8pm (doors 7.30pm)

Ellen Terry Building, Jordan Well, Coventry

Dedicated to the memory of Sylvia Stenhouse

A promenade performance that reinvents the myth of the Minotaur from the perspective of its victims.

Kindle worked with 34 final year students of Coventry University’s Theatre and Professional Practice degree on a performance inside the iconic Ellen Terry Building. The performance is inspired by the Greek myth of the Minotaur and takes its name from Jorge Luis Borges’  short story The House of Asterion.
It is a reinvention of the myth that focuses specifically on the young men and women of Athens who were sent to the Cretan island as sacrifice to the Minotaur incarcerated in its labyrinth. The performance looks at key moments in the selection and preparation of the condemned and puts the audience right in the centre of this terrifying experience.
The ensemble performance will include live music, song and 5 baths.

“Kindle are that rare thing, a young theatre company whose work is fresh, intelligent and above all, able to articulate itself with a truly original voice. The work that Kindle undertook with our third year theatre students at Coventry University was as artistically beautiful as it was academically rigorous. The experience that they provided for our students was exceptional and we warmly thank them for their valued contribution to our department.” Geoff Willcocks, Head of Performing Arts, Coventry University

Photos: Peter Prokopiw

‘The act of eating together transforms a necessary bodily function into something far more significant, a social event‘

Roy Strong, Feast: A History of Grand Eating.

‘Cook a meal / host a party for eight people, four of whom I barely know’

James Yarker, Stan’s Cafe. 2010 Theatre Pledge

Since April 2010 Kindle have been hosting meals in Birmingham on a monthly basis as a pleasant way for artists and industry folk to meet one another and talk informally around the dinner table. These monthly events invite diners to enjoy a menu of topical, often experimental and provocative food that is connected to Kindle’s current research and to the season in which it takes place. A big thanks to Stan’s Cafe for hosting the Birmingham events in A.E Harris.

Please keep an eye on our website, facebook and twitter to find out more about our next events, how to book as a diner and opportunities for collaborators.

Saturday 30th October, Tony Appleby’s Podophiliac dinner. Do it at home in your own house with a tent in your front room.

The recipe for this dinner is being posted here: CLICK

Saturday 25th September FIERCE @ WEDNESBURY TOWN HALL 7.30pm – 11pm. FREE

As part of FIERCE INTERROBANG 2: Relationships, Stoke Newington International Airport hosted Live Art Speed Date, an evening of spectacular intimate encounters in Wednesbury Town Hall (Map here).

We served you fresh espresso filtered with:

thyme, orange, chilli, rum or tobacco.

16th – 19th August. Meals on Wheels: The Minotaur @ Forest Fringe, Edinburgh Festival 3 Bistro Square, Edinburgh, EH1 1EY

‘Kindle Theatre may not be performing a show on the Fringe this year, but they’ve given me my most memorable Edinburgh 2010 moment’ Bella Todd, fringereview.co.uk

Held in the back of a van, August’s meal was an intimate dining experience that invited diners to literally taste and smell a story. Dining with the company members guests enjoyed a delicious reworking of a Greek myth and a peep into Pasiphae’s love for a bull.

Dinner:  Pasta vaginas, edible lube, beef, bison, a folk song on an orchestral harp, lemon posset and an after dinner speech on the (pop) science and yearnings of Love.

Kindle would like to say a big thank you to Foursight Theatre for the loan of their van and to Andy Field, Deborah Pearson and all at the Forest for supporting us and washing our pans.

Meals on Wheel: The Minotaur was featured on Guardian blog in Paul MacInnes’ On the blag at the Edinburgh fringe festival

Photo: James Smith www.thisistomorrow.info

Saturday 3rd July. The closing meal of BE FESTIVAL, Birmingham

Kindle served up the finale meal to the brilliant BE Festival - 30th June – 3rd July

On Saturday 3rd July we served a celebratory meal for 130 diners (- 1) at the BE Festival venue: Stans Cafe’s AE Harris. The meal was based on previous work EAT YOUR HEART OUT and designed in collaboration with Blanch & Shock.

We would like to say a big thank you to the collaborators Nina Smith and Blanch & Shock, and also to Rita, Kate and everyone in the BE Festival team.

Photo: Alex Brenner

Tuesday 18th May: Courtship & Sex May Day Meal, Birmingham

‘...it was such an amazing evening. The food was intriguing, tasty and encouraged much debate. The music was evocative and enjoyable and the dancing was a real treat, I’d forgotten how much fun it can be dancing with complete strangers!

I thought the whole evening was so thoughtfully developed and this was clear in it’s execution, there was such a warm, relaxed and intimate atmosphere and the conversation flowed nicely between different groups. It was refreshing to have such a unique experience and I can’t wait to see what comes next! Congratulations on a great success!’ Natalie Wilson, Diner

As a belated May day celebration the event’s theme was Courtship & Sex and diners were invited to eat and experience a theatrical menu inspired by the research. Entering into the industrial A.E Harris warehouse they were greeted by…

…the subtle smell of tobacco smoke & lavender to the sounds of love songs, followed by lubricated labial pasta, a good mouthful from a 6ft schlong and climaxed in a creamy kiss before jigging around our Human May Pole.

We would like to say a big thank you to James, Charlotte and Craig from Stan’s Cafe; to all the ‘Athenian Youths’: Eileen McCarthy, Katherine Goodenough, Kate Kavanagh, Cara Gould, Rita Neveckaite, Cassey North, Alice Pegrum, Olivia Zetterstrom-Sharp and Jo Newman, and to Tony Appleby for photographing the evening.

Click on images below to enlarge.

Wednesday 31st April: Pre Pilot April Fools Eve meal.

Dinner cooked by Kindle for the PILOT and Birmingham artists with an after dinner speech on ‘The fear of April Fools Day: The Fool vs the fooled’ or ‘Dangerous food’

On the menu was:

A hearty tomato, bean and kale stew, bastardised potato dauphinoise, leaves and bread.

Click on the thumnails to see images of the R&D in December 2008. We worked for two weeks in a warehouse space in Digbeth and then invited guests to a final dinner. We roasted six pheasants in metal fire bins, boiled red cabbage in buckets, and fried devilled kidneys on hot coals. We served the feast in a yurt (a delight after the freezing cold warehouse) withlive music and singing

In May 2009, Kindle Theatre collaborated with filmcafe, Tony Appleby and the digital planetarium at Birmingham’s Thinktank, Millenium Point to showcase the first scene from The Balham Ladies Amateur Astronomy Club, a neo-traditional play set between 1835 and 2009, in which three women struggle for Enlightenment and emancipation in the man-made world of the sciences. Using innovative fulldome content shot by Steve Davies of filmcafe, and Kindle’s playful, intimate style of audience interaction, the invited guests were hushed into the planetarium to attend the inaugural meeting of the Balham Ladies Amateur Astronomy Club. With the night sky opening up on the dome above them, they witness a demonstration of meteor showers disintegrating into confusion, exasperation and sublime terror.  What is truth?

1I thoroughly enjoyed, as ever with Kindle performances, the sense of event, of occasion and of a complete experience; the show began the moment we all began accumulating at the bottom of the elevator, long before we arrived in the Planetarium. What I took away with me from the event was certainly a sense of the potential that space offers and the potential impact the interplay of those two media – film and theatre – might offer an audience in that space.1 Audience Member.