Thursday 5th June

Nic writes:

Brief Candle are having a very busy summer! Dave is currently rehearsing a cast for Tight (the alcohol and personal safety play for Y9 students) and there's already a cast out touring schools to keep in touch with. Paul is rehearsing Hardwick's Lost Princess and I'm working on publicity for our Edinburgh Fringe debut, No Place for Dreams as well as Hardwick's Lost Princess.

The programme launch for Edinburgh was today - it's getting very close now, and very real! Tickets go on sale next week, let's hope for some full houses!

It's all very exciting, but sometimes a little chaotic - creative chaos, and it's great to see everything  come together. The real pay off of course comes with audience reaction and feedback - and the comments we're getting about Tight have been great!

Friday 30th November

Paul Writes

It's been a long time since we've written! No excuses, life has been very busy.

The Democracy project went well. Combining live action and video projection was a new departure for us and an exciting challenge. We felt it was successful and would like to develop that way of working in future projects.

'The Tower' is very nearly fully booked. If you've been contacted by us and haven't booked yet you need to get a move on. Very little space left.

I've got plenty of writing to do. 'The Lost Princess' is shaping up well. We're also developing a new piece for the Chesterfield Pomegranate New Writing Festival in March and another for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival summer 2008. More details to follow soon!

We're currently involved in a number of creative projects with Derbyshire Primary Schools. We're currently working with Bradley, Baslow St Annes, Brookfield, Bramley Vales and Swanwick schools. It's great fun for us and they'll be more about it on the website soon.

Tuesday 7th August

Paul Writes

We've got an exciting new project for Autumn 2007. North East Derbyshire District Council have commissioned us to create a new piece of theatre for Democracy Week in October. It will tour to KS3 (12 - 14 years old) audiences across North East Derbyshire. I'm just starting to research and write it, and more details will appear soon - it will get its' own page once it has a title! - but in the meantime I'd be very interested in any opinions people have about young people and the political process. The play will particularly explore arguments around lowering the voting age - to 16, and possibly 14.

If you have any thoughts on whether young people should have the right to vote, and what the most appropriate age for voting should be, I'd be very interested to hear them. Get in touch, particularly if you live in North East Derbyshire, and make sure the play reflects your views.

With this new play to write, and 'The Lost Princess' to finish, it looks like being a busy summer!

Tuesday 31st July

Dave Writes

The summer is here and schools have closed for the long holidays giving us a chance to catch up with all the things we don’t manage to get done during term time; tidying the office, planning for the coming year, and preparing for the months ahead. There is a lot happening in the coming year including two new plays for Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 3 audiences and a new film-making group. So watch this space!

Tight has been a great success this year. It is a perfectly targeted piece of drama, and  this year all eight actors delivered what most people agree has been the most successful and effective production to date. Thank you to teachers for organising our visit, to the actors for sustained hard work, commitment and good spirits, and of course to the 8000 students in 40 schools who saw the play, took part and made us feel so welcome.

We are disappointed that the Summer School had to be cancelled. Hopefully this is something that we can return to next year. We are very keen to offer a wide range of activities and experiences for young people in our area. If you have any suggestions, please do get in touch.

Wednesday 4th July

Dave writes –

We’re about to start booking for our autumn tour of ‘4-Ever?’ which will tour to Y10 audiences in Derbyshire and Derby City. In total we will do 140 performances this year. This is shorter than last years tour due to funding cuts. Check availability here.

We’ve recently had local students with us on Work Experience. This is a nice thing to be able to do as it does give students an opportunity to see the reality of working in touring theatre. I hope it was meaningful for them. I am always concerned that we can’t find enough actual ‘work’ for them to do! One student got caught in the floods with the actors on the way beck from our venue and had to spend the whole evening with the cast before being rescued by her mum at 10pm!

I went to see a performance of ‘Tight’ last Thursday.

Brilliant workshop facilitation from all four of the cast. They have each developed very high-level skills in a relatively short time. I am really proud of them all, and some great acting as well.

Monday 25th June 2007

Paul writes -

Welcome to our new website. We’re very pleased with it and we’re interested to hear any comments you may have about using it. Contact us and let us know what you think.

The ‘Tight’ tour is going extremely well. Both casts are doing a great job and audience reaction has been very positive. Have a look at the ‘Tight’ page in ‘Performance Projects’ if you want to find out more about the show.

We’re very excited about the Summer School we’re running this year. It’s a first for us and we’re looking forward to working with a group of young people for an extended period of time. The Summer School is for current year 9 and 10 students from Chesterfield and North East Derbyshire who have talent in Drama and Performing Arts. The course will take place over three days at the beginning of August and is fully funded by Derbyshire LEA. It's going to be an intensive, fun experience. All secondary schools in the area have received details about it, but if you want to know more from us get in touch.

I'm also starting to work on a new play for 2008. It's provisionally titled 'The Lost Princess' and explores the relationship between Bess of Hardwick and her granddaughter Arbella Stuart (who was a possible successor to Elizabeth I as ruler of England). We're working closely with Hardwick Hall on the project, which builds on the relationship we established during 'Blood and Stone'. The play will tour the region in Spring / Summer 2008. It will be aimed at upper primary and lower secondary school audiences, and at families for public performances. We've already scheduled a performance for Saturday June 21st 2008 in the grounds of Hardwick Hall. I only the hope the weather is better than it is this year!

Helping me with research for the play are a fantastic group of young people at Bramley Vale Primary School. Louise, Lauren, Sam, Adam and James are the school's Archive Group and they already know masses about Hardwick Hall and the people who lived there. They're being brilliant in helping me develop ideas for the play.

Want to get in contact? Email or call us now!