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| Ragroof Theatre is a Brighton-based theatre company that specialises in site-specific work, engaging and collaborating with the community in which its productions are realised. The imaginations of the Ragroof team are inspired by other people’s memories and knitted together using physical expression, text, soundscapes, poetry and visual language.
Members of the company met while studying Theatre and Visual Practice at the University of Brighton, Ragroof was founded in 2001. Their first key productions were Make Do And Mend, and The Button Museum supported by the Arts Council, England. Both are site-specific pieces based on the memories of older people about life in the 1940s. The shows premiered in Tunbridge Wells, and have since toured nationally: being adapted many times for host sites. Make do and mend established Ragroof’s research process, using reminiscences as a major tool and starting point for theatre and storytelling. By developing this personal contact with communities, Ragroof has formed a special relationship with a diverse audience. Ragroof Theatre aims to continue to deliver high quality performances, whilst retaining this emphasis on community participation and community involvement.
Company Biography Luan Blake is the artistic director of Ragroof Theatre. Since graduating from the University of Brighton in Theatre and Visual Art in 2002 she has performed with Company Collisions (Medea, La Petite Morte, The Little Mermaid, The Constant Tin Soldier) and Periplum Tree (Crowley). In 2005 she collaborated with French street theatre company La Cercle de la Litote as part of the On Festival in the Streets of Brighton. Also in 2005 she co-wrote and directed A Town In The Sea a play based on the reminiscences of local people about the floods on Canvey Island in 1953, a Heritage Lottery funded community play for Canvey Island. Marion Duggan is an artist, performer and core member of Ragroof Theatre. She has a BA in Theatre and Visual Art from Brighton University and graduated in 2003. In 2005 Marion also co-wrote and directed A Town In The Sea. From this she was able to develop work with reminiscence sessions, highlighting the unique experiences of using shared memories of older people as a starting point for theatre projects. She continues to work with young people, teaching jive, leading drama and art workshops and project managing a borough-wide citizenship for younger children scheme across Newham in East London. Marion has also devised and performed with Dirty Methods (How To Be A Lover, BAC 2006 and 2007). Ivan Fabrega is an artist and performer with Ragroof Theatre. He is also the co-founder of Martinez & Fabrega who produced The Incredible Bull Circus and Speakeasy Theatre who produced The Radio Show; the Arts Council has supported both companies. The former was funded to produce The Incredible Bull Circus in 2002, the latter to produce and tour The Radio Show in 2003/4. He is also the co-founder of High Rise Rubber (est.1991) – one of the original and most successful stilt/walkabout companies that continue to work to the present day. Anna Symes is an artist, performer and a core member of Ragroof Theatre. She has a BA in Theatre and Visual Art, graduating from Brighton University in 2002. Anna comes from a broad background in dance and visual art, specialising in jive and Argentine tango. She has also performed and collaborated with Brighton and London-based theatre companies Periplum Tree, Company: Collisions (The Constant Tin Soldier), The People Show and The 5th Wheel. She is the artistic director of Round in Circles, a site-specific live art organisation and supports Ragroof and Company: Collisions in Tour Booking, Marketing and Administration. |
Artistic Statement As theatre makers we are fascinated in the way that stories and memories become brighter, more vivid in the retelling. Our work is often inspired by the very smallest detail, and it is in the retelling of this story, along with the added elements of theatricality, that the essence of memories comes to life. We have always made theatre in unusual spaces, believing in the added dimension that this gives our work. From our first show made in a Citroen 2CV, we came to be called Ragroof Theatre Performance History Ragroof's regular Tea Dances take place in London and Brighton, also often performing in Spiegeltents at festivals including including Dublin Fringe, Brighton Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe and Norfolk & Norwich Festival. Gloves On recently finished a tour of major UK Street Arts Festivals, including Paradise Gardens, Shoreditch Festival, SO Festival 2010, Skegness as well as Stockton International Riverside Festival and Winchester Hat Fair as part of the Without Walls programme. A site-specific show in Peacock Gym, Canning Town was also commissioned as part of LIFT 2010. Ragroof have recently been awarded a commission for a new project from Meridians - a European network supporting performance in non-conventional spaces. Ragroof will be developing a new piece of work which will be presented in 2011 at Stockton International Riverside Festival and Scènes de Rue, Mulhouse in France.
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