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BARBICAN PIT THEATRE |
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This theatre hosts a mixed programme of productions.
www.barbican.org.uk
is their website, with the latest details.
Events include:
Thursday 2nd until Saturday 25th February 2012
Press Night: Tuesday 7th February 2012
Improbable presents a UK Premiere:
THE DEVIL AND MISTER PUNCH
A tragical comedy of manslaughter and love. It's Punch and Judy but as presented
by Messrs Harvey and Hovey, a pair of broken vaudevillians who have played them
all and are now in the gutter. In a small world writ large by a dog at a
typewriter, the indefatigable Mr Punch is chased down for his crimes and put
before the Judge. But it is creativity itself that is put in the dock and the
whole show goes to Hell. Accompanied by a lush score of bass fiddle, gin parlour
piano, metronome and bells, a set of fine crafted puppets and well worn
performers battle it out on a gloriously theatrical wood-panelled set. Hilarious
and thought provoking, beautiful and dark, brutal and tender, The Devil and
Mister Punch is an explosion of noses and chins, crocodiles and sausages,
piglets and baseball bats.
In 1662, Punch made his first recorded appearance. 350 years on, Improbable
marks the anniversary of a theatrical icon with a unique and totally different
spin on the childhood favourite. Samuel Pepys made the first record of ‘an
Italian puppet play… which is very pretty, the best I ever saw’ in his diary on
9 May 1662, now widely considered to be the ‘birthday’ of Punch. Punch and Judy
has its roots in 16th Century Commedia Dell’arte, and has become a staple of
British popular culture over the centuries. It has long held a fascination for
artists, featuring in everything from Charles Dickens’ The Old Curiosity Shop to
the Marx Brothers’ Monkey Business.
The Devil and Mister Punch has been commissioned by the Barbican London,
Walker Art Centre (Minneapolis) and Philadelphia Live Arts Festival. The Devil
and Mister Punch has been supported by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage
through the Philadelphia Theatre Initiative. Improbable is supported by Arts
Council England.
www.improbable.co.uk and
www.thedevilandmisterpunch.com
are the production websites.
@improbable1 / #devilandmrpunch Twitter.
Devised by: Julian Crouch, Rob Thirtle, Nick Haverson, John Foti, Saskia Lane,
Jessica Scott and Seamus Maynard
Text: Nick Haverson, Julian Crouch and Rob Thirtle
Direction: Julian Crouch
Set design: Julian Crouch with Rob Thirtle and Mike Kerns
Puppet Design: Julian Crouch with Jessica Scott
Costume Design: Sarah Laux with Julian Crouch
Music and Lyrics: John Foti, Saskia Lane, Julian Crouch and the company
Lighting Design: Marcus Doshi
Sound Design: Darron West
Filming and Moral Support: Ragnar Freidank
Production and Technical Management: Rob Thirtle and Mike Kerns
Set Built by Heywood Productions
With special thanks to Glenna Ryer, Marie –Audrey Desy, Jessica Cerullo, Vicky
Finney & Meghan Williams and the team at The Park Avenue Armory (New York) and
The Walker, Minneapolis, for all of their help.
Performed by Nick Haverson, Rob Thirtle, Jessica Scott, Saskia Lane, John Foti
and Seamus Maynard
Performance Times:
2nd, 3rd, 4th February 2012 at 7.15pm
THEN
Monday to Friday at 7.45pm
Saturday at 2.30pm and 7.45pm
Extra performance 4th February 2012 at 2.30pm
Running time: 1 hour 25 minutes approximately, with NO interval.
Ticket
Price:
£16
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The monkey advises checking performance times on your tickets and
that performances are happening as scheduled, before travelling.
Varies by event, see www.barbican.org.uk
for details.
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www.barbican.org.uk,
run by the venue itself,
provide the service for this theatre.
A brilliant box office system lets you select the actual seat you
require from those available. Colour-coded by price, some day all booking
systems will be this way, the monkey hopes.
A reader notes, though, that you can't buy concessionary priced tickets
online - you need to telephone for those. Booking fees per ticket for
online bookings:
Online is cheaper than booking by phone. A mere £2 per transaction, not per
ticket, fee applies.
Other Online Choices (with
S.T.A.R. genuine ticket
agencies):
Independent S.T.A.R. ticket agencies
may also offer an alternative choice of seats.
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Box Office Information: |
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Tickets offered differ between outlets. Outlets also may offer
different seats via their phone and online systems. Offers may be
available click here. |
Theatre Box Office:
Telephone: 0845
120 7500.
(020 7638 8891 if you cannot
use the 0845 number)
Operated by the venue's own phoneroom.A reader notes that you can't buy concessionary priced tickets
online - you need to telephone for those. Booking fees per ticket for telephone bookings:
Online is cheaper than booking by phone. By telephone, a £3.50 administration fee is added to the total
TRANSACTION cost for telephone bookings.
For personal callers or by post: Box Office, Barbican Centre, Silk Street, London. EC2Y 8DS
No booking fee for personal callers.
Postal applicants pay a per transaction for use of a Barbican
envelope, or can include their own, with stamp and pay nothing.
Special Access Needs Customers:
Wheelchair users and other registered disabled
theatregoers can book their seats on 020 7638 8891 and enquire about
concessionary prices that may be available to them.
The wheelchair users line connects
directly to the venue box office in London. Wheelchair hire bookings on 020 7382
7021. See Notes.
www.barbican.org.uk
is the
official venue website. |
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Theatre Seat Opinions: |
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Please remember that cheaper seats often do not offer the same view /
location quality as top price ones, and that ticket prices are designed to
reflect this difference. |
| Seating is usually a simple grandstand facing an open stage. This is split into a central and two side blocks by aisles. Row
J is elevated above row H at the rear corner of the seating block.
Occasionally the plan is altered to allow for the style of production -
cabaret may have chairs and tables added, for example. Alternative seating plans
are shown on the seating plan page when
available.
Wheelchairs are relegated to the front of a side block from the previous prime seats in the centre. The view is not bad, but not quite as good as it was. See
notes.
For non wheelchair users, the centre block row A is prime, as it is on stage level with good legroom. Of the rest, the central block rows B to F are the next choice.
Currently H 1,2, 18 and 19 have an aisle in front of them, offering a little
more legroom, when the theatre is in the normal arrangement.
In the usual plan, in side blocks, the closer to the centre is better, and remember that the seats farthest out from the centre will mean looking sideways at the stage. Usual theatremonkey rules apply - go for the centre as you will be paying exactly the same money for an inferior view. Oh, yes, Row J seats 1 to 12 are last choice, having least view of the stage and being furthest from it.
Notes
Total 175 seats maximum (plus 4 for latecomers!)
Air-conditioned.
Infrared headsets for Hire. Guide dog sitter available. Some audio
described and signed performances. Wheelchair access is good down a slope and over a small ridge.
Adapted toilets available. Wheelchair users get free parking in the centre car
parks. www.artslineonline.com
has comprehensive details, call 020 7388 2227, artsline@dircon.co.uk.
A "venue access guide" from the team who created book "Theatremonkey,
A Guide to London's West End," is available to download in PDF format
by clicking here.
Three bars shared with the rest of the theatre complex in the common foyers.
A range of cafes and restaurants in other parts of the centre. Ice cream and
confectionery in the auditorium.
Toilets on all levels of the common foyer outside the auditorium.
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Nearest Underground Station:
Two choices; Barbican - Circle Line (yellow), Hammersmith and City (light
purple), Metropolitan (dark purple). Theatremonkey prefers Moorgate - Circle
Line (yellow), Hammersmith and City (light purple), Metropolitan (dark purple)
and Northern (black).Use the button below to plan your tube journey to Barbican:
Or use the button below to plan your tube journey to Moorgate:
THEN:
From Barbican, follow the yellow line to the centre along walkways.
From Moorgate the walk is shorter, at street level, for the adventurous. This
monkey's route is to exit the station on Moorfields. It prefers the "West
Side" exit. If you can use this one too (take the left hand exit), you will
emerge facing a road, with a building opposite to the right. This building is
called "Tranter House". Turn to your right and cross the road to
it....pause a moment.
If you came out of the "East Side" exit of Moorgate Underground
Station, you too will have a road in front of you, with a "Clinton
Cards" on the far side of the road. Ignore it and look to your left. A
"Dixons" shop is here. Turn to your left and walk in front of it, and
keep going until you come to "Tranter House". Meet your friends here,
and continue together to the Barbican Centre by...
Continuing along past "Moorfields House" until you come to the end
of the street. There are no signs telling you, but you have come to
"Ropemaker Street". Turn left into it, and walk along. You pass a
pedestrian area on the left containing strange metal pyramids. Wonder at them as
you pass. Keep going until you see ahead of you on a wall (across a roadway) a
"Corporation Of London" Crest and signage. To the right of that is a
tiny "Moor Lane" sign. Good news, you are in the right area!
Cross the road to this set of signs. Turn to your left and walk on passing a
loading bay area. Just past this, is the turning into Silk Street. This is on
your right. Take it and cross to the other side of the road.
Continue down it, passing blank walls with car park vents in them, to the
Barbican Centre main entrance at the end of the road where it curves round. The
centre is on the right, under the canopy with the statues on it. Careful the adjacent stage door
and car park access ramps! Ignore the curved entrance. Instead turn down the
slope to the left immediately in front of it. Keep going, and the entrance to
the centre is through the set of doors on the left at the bottom of the slope.
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Buses:
8, 11, 22B, 25, 26, 56, 133, 141, 214, to Barbican / Moorgate. Follow yellow
lines from Barbican, or directions above from Moorgate. Be aware that no buses
stop outside the centre or close to it.
Taxi:
Book in advance, chances are low of hailing one on Moorgate.
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Car Park:
Within the centre. Make careful note of the car park number and bay numbers
before leaving or you will probably still be searching for your car until next
year. Also note the public foot exits from the car park to the centre are hard
to find and narrow. This feature amuses theatremonkey as it seems the builders
were embarrassed about having a car park linked to their nice arts centre.
Strange.
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