Leeds Beckett University - City Campus,
Woodhouse Lane,
LS1 3HE
Landing Party takes off at Beckett Studio
Running from 4pm to 10pm, Landing Party, an exciting programme of original work, was performed to audiences, and included:
The [Yellow] Wallpaper by Faye Rose McDool. A solo performance inspired by the novel by Charlotte Perkins Gilman.
Edgar and Me by Charlotte Blackburn. A solo performance exploring the act of correspondence.
The Barbeque by Martin Ferry. A summer comedy with some audience interaction.
I Hope You’re Sitting Comfortably by Liam Gordon. A solo performance exploring the act of watching.
When I see you, I think of …dentist by Dawn Patricia Robinson. An attempt to be “British”!
Thirty Dancing by Laura Hillary. A solo performance exploring the frustrations of a 21st century post-feminist, post-thirty, married mother.
Alex Kelly, Senior Lecturer in the School of Film, Music & Performing Arts at our University, said: “Landing Party is the outcome of the Artist Project Major module - it marks the transition from being an MA student – when the students are already makers – to being an emerging artist.
“This year the module launched with a trip to the FLARE festival in Manchester – exactly the context where they can imagine showing their work in a year or two’s time: a young, internationally-connected performance festival: 58 artists from 10 different countries.
“The students by all accounts threw themselves in to the experience – seeing shows, taking part in workshops, writing reviews, contributing to discussions, making friends with many emerging international artists.
“Artist Project Major is designed to enable the students to make a ‘Calling Card’ piece of work: a performance that could be shown in other contexts and festivals. We have a strong record of our MA work – and BA work – finding a life beyond graduation, at festivals regionally and nationally.
“So the students are allowed – encouraged – to make the piece of work that they need to make next – about whatever is concerning them, interesting them, at the moment. Work about where they are in their lives and the world around them. Whatever they want to make work about, whatever they want to make work as.
“It happens to be a festival of solo performances this year. So, an eclectic programme of new writing, documentary theatre, visual theatre, comedy.”