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BOP turns 25 – January: Garry Robson

Posted in Blog on 18th January, 2018

  In 2018 BOP turns 25. To celebrate we have been in conversation with some of the key figures who have helped to make the company what it is. Firstly we hear from Garry Robson, who become Artistic Director in 2012 and helped move the company to becoming disability led. Most recently he was the […]

Farewell

Posted in Role Shift on 8th June, 2016

The good ship Fortune has set sale, at least for now! Role Shift had a very successful run at Oran Mor and Ayr Gaiety during May. Thank you to both venues, we really enjoyed our time with you. Birds of Paradise have three core aims, all of which look to increase the profile and opportunities […]

Open Rehearsal Reflections

Posted in Role Shift on 13th May, 2016

It’s been a week since Birds of Paradise threw open the rehearsal room doors and welcomed theatre-makers and members of the public into Role Shift rehearsals. I have never been part of a rehearsal process like this. For me, moving to Scotland from London, I was very interested to see how much signing is incorporated […]

Q&A with the writer – Lesley Hart

Posted in Role Shift on 11th May, 2016

Rehearsals here at BoP are well underway, so we took the chance to ask Lesley Hart, the writer of Role Shift, a few questions about the project. Lesley is an actor who has worked extensively in film, theatre and television and was awarded Playwright Studio Scotland’s Award in 2011. Her work has been performed at […]

Day 3 – Taster for Open Rehearsal

Posted in Role Shift on 5th May, 2016

Our open rehearsal is only a day away and we’re very excited to be welcoming people into the rehearsal room for Role Shift. To give you a little taste of what things have been like so far, here’s Garry Robson, who’s directing Role Shift and one of the artistic directors of Birds of Paradise. Over […]

Day 1 – New Beginnings

Posted in Role Shift on 3rd May, 2016

It’s Monday morning in the BoP office and there’s a feeling of excitement in the air. We are about to start rehearsals of a brand new play by Lesley Hart, Role Shift. Role Shift is a crazy, mind-bending comedy set in the casino around the roulette table on a cruise ship. It’s about the struggle […]

Tomsk Blog 4 – Lost in translation

Posted in Urod The Last Show on 19th April, 2016

A lot of the theatre terms we take for granted in the UK don’t have a similar meaning over here. When I set up a first run through the other day expecting the usual nervous energy filled stagger through you get from UK actors – although of course they are all totally off the book […]

Tomsk Blog 3 – Damn fine soup Tatyana!

Posted in Urod The Last Show on 13th April, 2016

Part of the joy of collaborating with companies overseas is working with artists you might not generally meet that then bring a whole new flavour to your work and learning about whole new ways of doing things. At the same time it’s important to recognise that the company also want what you bring to the […]

Tomsk Blog 2 – Russia is full of surprises

Posted in Urod The Last Show on 7th April, 2016

Russia is full of surprises. I think it’s generally accepted that the social inclusion agenda for deaf and disabled people is way behind our own and certainly as I wrote about last time that’s the case for disabled people who simply don’t exist. However for the deaf community it’s not as clear cut and in […]

Tomsk Blog 1 – The Little Chocolate House

Posted in Urod The Last Show on 1st April, 2016

It’s the start of something but also it feels like I began this journey a long time ago. Today Sergey Jakovsky and I wait at Schiphol Airport Amsterdam for our flight to Moscow where a connecting flight will then takes us on to Tomsk in Siberia. In Tomsk I will be working for Birds of […]