Local shops for local people

Went into Prime Mark today to see if they would let us use any old shelving for the set of the show.  Talk about corporate bureaucrats, I had to write a headed letter so the manager could forward it to head office where it would surly get passed around for a month before they told me no.  So, I went down the lane to Zutti and spoke to Maggie the owner of this independent clothes shop who without a heart beat said "Yes".  Moral of this story is, when ever you need the help of business in the arts ask the local businesses as they have the power to help.

Shops are like theatres, in the front are flash stock, shelving, lighting and glamour, behind all the gloss are the bare bones, the kettle and if you're lucky a toilet.

Putting the Mark into Market

We've just collected the contents of our pretend charity shop from Dr. Kershaw's Hospice in Royton Oldham.  They have been kind enough to save the "weirder" things left as donations, stuffed 8 foot bear, a bag of dentures, nipple hooks.  Dr. Kershaw's has two giant storage units where all the donations are kept before being sorted into useful or not and moved into their shops.

I know from past experience that lots of donations are not good enough for re sale and are scrapped, I also know that some people don't even wash their donations and many charity shop workers have told me they have opened bags of soiled clothes.

The thing that I have found most interesting today is the shop and the town centre.  We couldn't park anywhere near our unit and had to borrow a trolley from the florist to get us anywhere close.  the traffic wardens were not the least bit interested in our plight and told me to shift.  Tough times for the retail industry.

Press release

THE COMEDY STORE

OLDHAM’s Hard Graft Theatre Company has come up with a novel way to give one of Oldham’s empty shops a new use. 

Company founder Mark Whiteley has hired a town centre unit for three weeks with plans to stage his latest production in it! 

Audiences will be able to watch their hit comedy “I Love Oldham” in the shop unit on Albion Street.   “I Love Oldham” is set, appropriately, in an Oldham charity shop. 

Mark wrote it after gathering tales from over 50 charity shops about the sort of goods donated for sale. 

“There were some really funny stories - but the story that stuck was that of a hand gun, a ski mask and a stack of cash - which is where our story begins.”

The tiny “theatre” will only be able to hold 35 people a time. 

AS well as putting on the play, Mark has stocked the shop with items from the local charity Dr Kershaw’s Hospice, audience members will be able to make a purchase at the end of every show.

An earlier version of the show was a big hit at the Edinburgh fringe festival, and is by no means unusual for Hard Graft, which has appeared in people’s sitting rooms before now. 

The show runs from May 21-June 9. All tickets online at www.hardgraft.co.uk 

or call 0161 652 6026 

or 07956-913 666.

I Love Oldham 21 May – 9th June 2013 A Hard Graft Theatre Production Written by Mark Whiteley Directed by Keith Hukin Designed by Celia Perkins Cast : Mark Whiteley (Burt Priory) Rayyah McCaul (Joyce Priory) David Crowley (Bungo, Mac Man, PC Ted Fletcher)

Design Interior - The Empty shop has a new purpose

This is the interior of 6 Albion Street Oldham, or it will be in the next few weeks.  Theatre Designer Celia Perkins has measured the unit and mapped out where everyone and everything should fit.   The small white squares are individual chairs, and as room is an issue we can only fit 35 people per show.

If you have never seen a piece of theatre in a found space, this is how the company (or our company) manage the space.

If you want to see the process of building a show in a shop keep your eye on the blog or join our news letter here

Oldham Theatre in a Shop.

In three weeks we will be turning an empty retail unit (a shop) into Oldham's first theatre in a shop.  For the last few weeks I have been working hard to get everyone and everything in place to make this as exciting as possible for the North West.



On board so far is brilliant Oldham designer Celia Perkins.  Celia is the Oldham Panto designer and she has been busy getting our magical shop made over in time for the grand opening on the 21st May.

Owl Marketing are supplying the PR know how letting all the Oldhamers know about our event.

Dr. Kershaw's Hospice shops are supplying the contents of our shop.  They have a giant storage unit where all your donations go.

I will be trying to keep up with the project via Blogger so keep your eye on the ball and join us.

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Kids, who'd have them? Me

My children have been away now for a nearly four weeks and I miss them. I catch myself looking at their photos and tears fill my eyes, i'm crying now writing this. They have followed their mum to Guadeloupe in the Caribbean where she's working for the BBC until August. The worst thing is the communications between here and there, Skype is crap, the phones are rubbish and forget about sending letters, I'd might as well take it myself.

The loneliness is sometimes hard. I have proper conversations with dog, I mean proper, politics, religion, dog food. Talking to myself like some mental serial killer in a B Movie (I'm laughing now - but not like a mental serial killer, don't get me wrong I'm not mad, yet).

Have you ever told a lie and regretted it?

In 2004 I told the world that I was a burglar. My friend Daniel Hoffmann-Gill and myself needed a little bit of publicity for a comedy we were producing at the Edinburgh fringe, what happened next who catapult me into the public eye with a story that would follow me for the next seven years.

After a couple of interviews with local press the story was picked up by BBC Radio 4’s Home Truths and I was interviewed by the late John Peel. I thought that would be that, we’d get a few more “bums on seats” and our Festival would be a success, but fate had a few more twists to unfold.

My interview on Home Truths was heard by the Marketing Director of a major insurance company who thought it would be a great way to get their brand into the press, by hiring a ‘reformed burglar’ to give the public advice about keeping their homes safe during the summer. The result was unbelievable, TVAM, BBC News 24, East Midlands Today and most regional BBC Radio. One after another I told my ‘story’ how I stood over an old man whilst he slept, or how I stole £4000 of camping equipment because we wanted to go to Matlock one Easter. The media lapped it up and to date I have talked with countless presenters including Nicky Campbell on BBC 5 Live, Gaby Roslin and Paul Ross on BBC London and the then Home Secretary Jackie Smith. My little lie did get us a lot of publicity, it put bums on seats, it entertained thousands if not millions of people, it educated the general public about keeping the homes safe, but it was a story, a fiction, a lie.

If you don’t believe me write the words ‘reformed burglar’ in any search engine and I’m top.

Sorry.

Mark Whiteley will be telling this story and many others at

May

13th Lakeside Nottingham

21st - 22nd Lowry Salford

26th - Square Chapel Halifax

June 3rd Stafford Gatehouse

9th The Plough Arts Centre, Great Torrington Devon’

10th Newark Palace

For further information contact Hard Graft Theatre Company 01706 881 258