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Our Mission
Vivid Theatre Company was established in 2006 with the simple
aim of creating ‘clear, well acted professional theatre.’
This is at the heart of all our work. We are committed to the
idea of ‘ensemble performance’ through the collaborative
work of actors, directors, technicians and playwrights. Vivid’s
mission is to display the diversity of theatre and to nurture
artists and creative relationships. Although Vivid is not a
North East only company our roots in this area, particularly
Teesside, are of extreme importance to us as there is so little
professional theatre created in this region. We want to question
the perceived notion that only London creates good theatre.
It is also of extreme importance to us that an audience is challenged,
has the opportunity to learn and the right to enjoy the theatrical
experience.
The Beginning - 2006
In January of 2006 Vivid began rehearsals for their
first production, Squirrels by David Mamet. The production was
paid for from Vivid’s first corporate job, providing actors
for Teesside University’s Social Sciences Department,
a contract we still hold today and regard with extreme importance.
Rehearsals were held in lecture rooms of the university and
the show was performed for two nights at the Arc Studio in April.
The reception to this new theatre company was excellent and
both performances sold out. From this point on, Vivid forged
strong links with the Arc in Stockton-on-Tees. The then artistic
director immediately asked for more work and in November of
that year Vivid produced four short plays by Harold Pinter (Mountain
Language, The New World Order, One for the Road & A Slight
Ache) under the collective title The Pinter...Pause. With a
larger cast and more challenging material that examined the
loss of language, refugees and torture the work was again well
received by the audience. The year ended with a collaborative
effort with the then resident company of Arc, the excellent
Arden Theatre Company. Arden had already begun the work that
Vivid would take up with excellently received work of both Shakespeare
and more modern work. Indeed, in the programme notes for the
final Arden production, Journey’s End, the director wrote
‘it would make a tremendous, positive difference to the
area if the audience trebled in size, got braver, and gave a
company like Vivid the support that you have given us over the
last five seasons.’ The joint production was a deliberate
antidote to the sugar-coated version of Christmas. Hughie by
Eugene O’Neill and The Zoo Story by Edwards Albee both
investigate loneliness, psychopathy and violence. The shows,
again, sold out.
2007
The 2007 season began with Vivid’s first Arts
Council England funded project, The Collector by John Fowles
(adaptation by Mark Healy). Dealing with the abduction of a
talented art student by a deluded psychopath the play was hailed
as ‘the theatrical highlight of the season’ (ARC)
before moving onto performances in Newcastle. In another first,
Vivid then took a production of Mamet’s Duck Variations
from a five night run at the Stockton International Riverside
Festival to a seven performance run at the Edinburgh Fringe
Festival. Audiences were very good for a small two-hander by
a fledgling company and the reviews were excellent. Broadwaybaby
commented on the ‘extraordinary language and fine acting’
while one4review praised the ‘flawless performances and
superb timing.’ To complete an excellent year, Vivid then
returned to the Arc to produce, in rep, two plays by German
playwrights. The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui by Bertolt Brecht
was performed in the Main House by an ensemble of six (playing
35 parts). Georg Buchner’s incomparable Woyzeck was presented
in the world premiere of a new translation by a cast of four
in the studio. Both productions played to excellent houses and
began Vivid’s ethic of supporting the work with educational
workshops. Indeed, Arts Council England commented that ‘as
well as admirably fulfilling their aim of producing professional,
clear and well acted work of popular plays and new works, Vivid
encapsulates the importance of using theatre as a powerful educational
tool.’
2008
Following on from the success of the German Plays season,
Vivid then decided to showcase British writing by presenting
two thematically similar pieces of writing form the 1960’s.
The Dumb Waiter by Harold Pinter is a modern classic whereas
The Local Stigmatic by Heathcote Williams is a forgotten piece
of violent drama about the stalking of a successful actor by
two sociopaths. The latter piece created an uncomfortable air
in the close studio environment and yet it highlighted how shocking
Pinter’s piece actually is, allowing an audience to laugh
at two hit-men who may have recently murdered a young girl.
This two-header, perhaps more than any other piece by Vivid,
fulfilled the original aims set out by the company – to
challenge and entertain. In November of that year, Vivid embarked
on their most challenging piece to date. Our Country’s
Good by Timberlake Wertenbaker contained Vivid’s biggest
ensemble yet and played to the largest houses yet. The piece
was, again, well received by both student groups and the general
audience.
2009
This year began with, again, an Arts Council England funded
production. Sexual Perversity in Chicago, again by Mamet, gained
Vivid’s best notices yet and was important as it was not
only the company’s first production as Associate Company
of the Arc but also the first piece to play in the studio space
of the Theatre Royal Newcastle. The response was so positive
that discussions are taking place to tour the piece around the
country next summer before ending at the 2010 Edinburgh Fringe
Festival. The final six months see Vivid revive The Collector
at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival before two productions in November.
The Revenger’s Tragedy will be Vivid’s first classical
piece where After Darwin (again by Timberlake Wertenbaker) is
a collaboration with Newcastle University and the Darwin Festival
2009.
Contact us for more info
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