Tin Box curated their very first event at Stan’s Cafe’s beloved A.E. Harris venue. Alongside work-in-progress performances from intrepid theatre makers, the evening included a gallery of artwork from visual artists, music from The Mistakings, and food from everyone’s favourite street food van, The Jabberwocky.
Joe Hancock
A Show About Faded Childhood Genius, Which Is In No Way Autobiographical
Joe Hancock (male, underachiever, 24) is growing up and doesn’t seem to be okay with it.
Help him realise all of the dreams he had as a child.
It is a work in progress, and therefore he is reluctant to write anything here that he may later be obliged to include, as he has had his fingers burnt like this before (see Edinburgh 2009/2010/2011).
Instead, he is going to make up the word count with some of his favourite words.
Kettle. Euphonium. Vernacular. Oratory. Cack.
Spitz & co.
Gloriator
Gloriator is our first collaboration and an attempt to create a show which is very funny but also has a narrative arc. As performers we use clowning, physical theatre, improvisation and audience participation. The relationship between the two characters forms the heart of the show, and we want to find a journey for them.
Rambling Heart
The Vaudeville Icarus
Bring out the Storyteller! Prepare to be amazed!
A bold re-imagining of a classic tale, The Vaudeville Icarus invites you to join us for a variety show which has all but lost its sparkle. As the stage is swept clean, one burnt out act remains to sing us the song of the city, the song of the folk.
Rambling Heart create interdisciplinary theatre rooted in storytelling and folk art. We create work that connects with and involves our audiences, leaving you thinking and, more importantly, feeling.
Urban Foxes Collective
The Last Dance of the Twenty Somethings…
I am strong. I am always active. I am the last star at the end of the universe, burning out like a diamond mine.
Two women, alone, together and within the audience. Laying bare what it is to be one’s self. Me.
Tripping through fantastical stories, delusions or just the plain truth they wind through the internal processes of the indulgent mind.
Through physical performance, text and a cocktail of theatrical devices, witness the comic and absurd confessions of the individual.
Gergo Danka
He Was a Bad Man
Loosely based on a successful original Hungarian play, HE WAS A BAD MAN explores the human sides and vulnerabilities of a criminal man. Petrified, yet daring to ask questions about issues such as domestic violence, human nature and behaviour, Hungarian-born actor Gergo Danka examines the power of love, commitment – but above all: how we judge who is good and bad.
Collaborating with a team of international artists, this one-man show will ultimately feature an original score as well as authentic Romany music from Hungary, and will tour theatres in the Midlands and the South West.
Anne Pawlak
Wonderful World Dissocia
Concept, Direction and Design by Anne Pawlak
Music by Simon Humes
Performers David Bergere, Laura Markham, Sandy Gerling
2 performers, sound and scene- a performative installation.
Combining audio-visuals and physical storytelling to create an abstraction of the opening act of Anthony Neilson’s Wonderful World Dissocia.
Using ‘infographics’ and modern-popular stylistic references as starting points for the structure and look of the stage, the performers are choreographed through the set and, complemented by the bespoke soundscape, a unique and immersive outcome is reached, sitting somewhere between theatre and installation.
Venue: A.E. Harris
Initially Stan’s Cafe took a recently vacated portion of the A E Harris & Co (Birmingham) Ltd. factory for a six week period to stage Of All The People In All The World. Audiences responded so enthusiastically to the venue and Stan’s Cafe liked it so much that talks were initiated between theatre company and metal fabricators with a view to securing the space for performance on a long term basis.
The ambition was for this space to provide a location for devising, rehearsing and presenting Stan’s Cafe shows and to become a focus for the development of an independent theatre scene within Birmingham. For its first two years @ AE Harris operated under significant subsidy from Stan’s Cafe. Any hire fees went to off-setting rent or improving the venue’s facilities.
In November 2010 Arts Council England recognised the contribution AE Harris makes to the local theatre scene and agreed to provide a degree of financial assistance. An agreement is in place with A E Harris that the venue can continue until the site is finally sold for redevelopment.
Venue Managers: Stan’s Cafe
Internationally renowned, Stan’s Cafe is a group of artists from a variety of disciplines, though primarily theatre practitioners, working under the artistic direction of James Yarker. The company consists of a core of long term collaborators and a range of associated artists. The line up changes according to the project being worked upon.
Co-Pilot: Tin Box
Tin Box is a Birmingham based theatre company founded by Directors Jo Gleave and Jo Newman. Together with a team of collaborators we create theatre that explores inventive uses of storytelling, visual theatre and site-specific performance.
PILOT Nights is funded by Arts Council England and The Sir Barry Jackson Trust.
PILOT Nights: October 2013 
