To visit the heavens. To touch the stars. To be myself
The work of Escape Artists is all about developing high quality arts experiences and events for people at the social margins.
What sets Escape Artists apart is that they believe that creativity is a vital life-line that can promote health and social well-being for people who find themselves in challenging life situations. That anyone, no matter what they have done, can change and develop through an involvement with the arts.
Escape Artists began in HMP Wayland, Norfolk, UK in the early 1990’s. The group was established by life prisoners who in 1991 recruited theatre director Matthew Taylor to come and work with them. Together they produced Accidental Death of an Anarchist by Dario Fo, Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett, and many other plays including Loot by Joe Orton and The Homecoming by Harold Pinter; who is now one of the company’s patrons. The group’s work was regularly featured on television and in the press and was praised by academics in the UK and abroad.
On ending his work at the prison Matthew Taylor set up the company, in partnership with two ex-prisoners, with the aim of preventing people from going to prison by involving them in theatre. Escape Artists established a reputation with its acclaimed production of Harold Pinter’s The Dumb Waiter in 1996.
The work of Escape Artists provides access to the arts within some of the country’s most disadvantaged and isolated communities: Those within Young Offender Institutions, Secure Hospitals, Prisons, Mental Health Institutions, Hostels for the Homeless and Hospices. Escape Artists is one of a small number of dedicated organisations with the experience, resources and training to be able to work within these sectors, both nationally and internationally.
Escape Artists works in collaboration with filmmakers, theatre practitioners, dancers and musicians to tour shows to professional theatres venues and the secure estates in the UK and Europe. The company also provides training for emerging arts workers with an interest in social inclusion throughout the UK and the EU.
Partners in art: The Italian Office – Edge workshop programme commencing in Rome 2006. As part of their commitment to forming creative partnerships both at home and abroad, Escape Artists has forged a partnership with artists working with marginalised groups in Rome and other parts of Italy.
As part of their commitment to developing specific trainings to assist artists to work in the Arts and Social Inclusion sphere, Escape Artists has co-devised a number of training courses for arts practitioners looking to develop their practice in these areas. The company currently offers Accredited and non-accredited courses in Pre-employment training, Theatre, Music and Video-making and Creative writing.
The courses cover issues such as working with offenders and ex-offenders; working with people with physical and or mental disabilities; working with the homeless or young people at risk. All courses have been designed for use within the criminal justice system.
Escape Artists’ Italian office is managed by Francesca Elia, who lives and works in Rome. After working for Escape Artists in Cambridge, where she helped to develop its European Projects/Social inclusion work with its Italian partners, Francesca decided to continue in her developmental role by setting up an administrative facility for the company in Rome.
It is through this facility that Francesca is now managing Escape Artists sister projects in Rome with the company’s Italian partners. Francesca Elia can be contacted at this email address: f.elia@escapeartists.it
FESTIVALS, WORKSHOPS AND EVENTS 2006
Film and drama workshop on Pier Paolo Pasolini in Rome Italy. A four-day workshop exploring the life, art and genius of Pasolini. May 11th -14th 2006. Cost £TBA.
Outside Italy Pasolini is remembered as one of the most significant film directors of the Italian postwar cinema. Within Italy itself, however, Pasolini’s work included; publishing numerous collections of poetry, two highly-acclaimed novels, collaborating widely in cultural-literary journals and firmly establishing himself as a leading writer-intellectual. He was always inspired by what he himself called “a desperate vitality” and a “love of Reality” — he made a dozen feature films, wrote, translated and directed theatrical works. His caustic columns in daily newspapers, became the loudest dissenting voice in Italian political and cultural debate.
Workshop leaders include Francesco Crispino is a video director and teacher of the History of Cinema at Roma Tre University. He is a recognised authority on the life and work of Pasolini and has written a number of essays and is the author of a book on Pasolini’s cinematic genius. He has also directed a documentary and two short films with Donatella Massimilla, about Pasolini.
Donatella Massimilla is a director who trained with Jerzy Grotowski. She established the European Centre for Theatre in Prisons and a number of international socially inclusive theatre projects including; Culture 2000: “Travel Diary from Imprisoned Places” in Cambridge, Belfast, Paris, Berlin, Wuppertal, Milano, Roma, and Reggio Calabria.
Travel to Rome: Very cheap flights to Rome (starting at £1.74!) are available from Ryanair (flying from Stansted and Luton), and Easyjet (flying from Gatwick). There is a cheap transfer by coach from Ciampino airport to Termini, at the centre of Rome. The workshop studio is a short walk from Termini.
Accommodation in Rome: Escape Artists can arrange low cost accommodation for workshop participants at the YWCA (for men and women) or if you would prefer to stay in Bed and Breakfast-style accommodation, this can be arranged through Francesca Elia, in the Rome office.
Accredited Arts and Pre-employment Training involves a one-day workshop in Cambridge UK: Introduction to Working with the Arts in Prisons. May 19th, 2006 11.30am – 5.30pm. Cost: £60.
Escape Artists will be running a one-day training workshop that has been designed to provide artists with an introduction to the issues involved in delivering arts based activities to imprisoned adults and young people. Structured exercises have been created to engage and involve participants in an exploration of what it means to work within the penal system.
Workshop Leader Paul Malcolm, is an ex-prisoner who, since his release, has spent ten years working with drama in prisons and theatres throughout Europe.
…Stop Press Announcement…
Owing to increased demand for the company’s popular drama based pre-employment training and other accredited arts programmes, Escape Artists are currently looking for experienced arts practitioners who would like to work with the company on a freelance basis.
The company encourages artists interested in working within the penal system to fill in the online questionnaire or to forward an expression of interest via the company email address. Escape Artists promise to respond to all enquiries.
New Technology Applications in Disability Arts ELY UK: An Interactive demonstration. Date: TBA. The Bishop’s Palace, Ely. Cost: £40
For the last 12 months the company has been working with the Department of Engineering at Cambridge University to develop new ways of enabling severely disabled people to communicate through music.
To find out more about this new technology and to try it for yourself you can attend a workshop/demonstration at the Bishop’s Palace, Ely where Simon Gunton, Escape Artists’ Musical Director, supported by John Hall from Cambridge University, will facilitate with residents from Sue Ryder Care.
Workshop places are available in the UK exclusivley from Escape Artists and can be booked by contacting: Jeremy Hardingham or Matthew Taylor on telephone 01223 245 945, email: houdini@escapeartists.co.uk and web www.escapeartists.co.uk.
The Bach and Mozart Project UK 2006-2007: After seeing the Italian production, Escape Artists commissioned an English translation of Adriano Vianello’s The Bach & Mozart Project. Vianello’s play Il Progetto di Bach e Mozart was written in 1997 and was a finalist in the Premio IDI, Italy’s most prestigious dramaturgical competition. The English version production will tour institutions and theatres throughout the UK in 2006-2007.
The Bach & Mozart Project is the luminous story of two inmates in an anonymous institution, attempting to transform their lives. As Bach and Mozart attempt to live up to their names, a desperate creative struggle ensues at the very edge of genius and madness.
The Bach & Mozart Project is a fast-paced, emotionally powerful and intellectually vibrant piece of theatre. It is performed with tremendous physical
commitment and an intensity of spirit by the two actors, a dancer and a musician.
The play delves into the heart of what it means to create something from nothing, as Bach and Mozart struggle with and master the will to free themselves and each other.
Mozart : If I remember correctly…our project consisted of the miracle of transcendence.
Bach : Indeed. Miracle because science and logic deny that it could happen … Transcendence because each one of us wants to become something more than themselves.
For a play set within a secure institution, The Bach & Mozart Project bravely tackles the harsh realities of incarceration whilst at the same time ringing from these struggles an overwhelmingly positive, uplifting and transformative experience.
What critics have said of the Italian production of Bach & Mozart, directed by Donatella Massimilla:
“The play is an emotionally powerful, intellectually challenging, vibrant piece of new writing performed with tremendous physical commitment and intensity of spirit…surprising and touching … uncovering our deepest fantasies, our maddest exasperated longings, our tireless search for redemption … this is what theatre is all about.” Rodolfo Di Giammarco, La Republica, Italia
“The Bach and Mozart Project reaches right into our hearts and minds, touching us with a light caress and involving us in a crescendo of emotion … a deeply moving metaphor for life.” Rosita Spinozzi , Il Resto del Carlino
“Despair, rebellion and liberation weave themselves into a new language to express the human condition.” Guiseppe Pignataro, L’Unità
The UK tour of Bach and Mozart promises audiences an extraordinary night in the theatre, just as Escape Artists provides people in extraordinary circumstances with life-affirming experiences of community, creativity and art.
For more information about Escape Artists, their Roman sister-office and creative partnerships visit:
www.escapeartists.co.uk
www.edgenetwork.it
www.theguardianonline.co.uk
