Six Lips Theatre look to take House Of Tragic She to Fringe Festivals

An appeal video by Tony Hipwell, of York independent film company Miles Tone Productions, was launched in February and Six Lips have been hosting a series of fundraising events in York to supplement an online campaign, including two "Fun-Raisers" at the City Screen Basement Bar, the first in February and the second coming up on May 9.

"It will be a French film noir-themed evening, tipping our beret to Le Grand Depart for the Tour de France," says company co-founder Roxanna Klimaszewska. "We'll have a bicycle wheel of fortune; vin et fromage tasting; York actor Andy Love playing a French mime artist; a cabaret with poetry, all tailored to the French theme; and 'Six Levres Theatre' doing their French thing.

"Everyone is invited to come in film-noir costumes and the best dressed will win a prize, as will the best film-noir photographic image we take on the night, judged by us."

Doors open at 7.30pm for the 8pm opening of the Le Chateau de Tragique fund-raiser, for which the £15 tickets include Champagne and entrees. Bookings can be made through City Screen on 0871 902 5726 or at picturehouses.co.uk/york

Stacey Johnstone is the latest addition to the Six Lips ranks, joining Roxanna and fellow co-founder Hannah Wallace in the company that will take House Of Tragic She to Brighton and Edinburgh.

The show is described as a research and development performance produced in collaboration with industry professionals and mental health/wellbeing service users and organisation and offers the thought that "We all go a little mad sometimes".

"Merging verbatim research with an expressionist revamp of Brechtian epic theatre, we bring you a poetic, poignant and colourful physical theatre performance that delves into the effects of loneliness on our functionality as human beings," says Roxanna.

"What do you know about your own emotional wellbeing? Did you decide that for yourself? House Of Tragic She draws on literature’s constant re-interpretations of loneliness and madness to explore through wonder and inquiry the concept of ownership through narrative. Is your story in safe hands? Cue a juxtaposition of the surreal extension of life allowed by the human mind with the serious tragedies of its realities."

As part of the Create 14 programme at York St John University, Six Lips will be presenting a free performance on May 16 at 7pm with reserved seating for only 30 in Theatre 4 at the St John Quad. After the Brighton run from May 30 to June1 at the Marlborough Theatre, they return to York for 7.30pm performances of the completed play on June 5 and 6 at 41 Monkgate.

Tickets are on sale at the York Theatre Royal box office, 01904 623568. In addition, Six Lips will hold a workshop in devising ensemble theatre techniques at 5.30pm on the Friday.

The show will then head to the Edinburgh Fringe for the 5.30pm to 6.30pm slot in The Vault in the Annexe at St Augustine's from August 19 to 25.

Look out in House Of Tragic She for video projection of fragmented images, put together by York film-maker James Arden in a new progression for Six Lips, whose production is being directed by Matt Harper and also utilises experimental electronic soundscapes by Calvin Miller.

The play has been devised from working with Converge, an educational programme at York St John University that engages with mental health service users, and in particular from working with Converge's theatre company, Out Of Character. "We've also worked with York Mind, with advisory mentoring from one of their young people mentors," says Roxanna.

"And we've worked with Converge's creative writing class, weaving poetry and prose short stories from those classes into the show."

Summing up the performance, Roxanna says: "We don't want victim stories, but a celebration of the possibilities of the mind, so the House Of Tragic She is an ironic title. Look at Virginia Woolf: was she a tragic woman or was she an amazing writer who explored her sexuality and though she happened to be suffering from depression also had periods of a very exciting and thriving life?"

Should you be wondering what theatre style lies in store from a company with a Brechtian desire to experiment, Roxanna says: "It's important that people should know this project is the result of research and development rather than creating a narrative. It has episodic vignettes, not a narrative flow; it's performance art within a theatre framework.

"Having been around for four years now, going to major festivals, I think we have to be clear about what we present and what are objectives are. Narrative theatre hasn't been our priority. Instead it's about making the audience find their own narrative.

"If we were seeking comparisons with anything in the film world, we would be [David] 'Lynchian'."