The Secret Annexe

Het Achterhuis

The Diary of Anne Frank

Piano Trio in 6 movements by Colin Decio

Colin Decio – composer
Elizabeth Mansfield – performer and deviser
Steve Trafford – writer and deviser
Richard Aylwin – visual artist

THE SECRET ANNEXE will be an exciting, innovatory theatre/music piece which celebrates the life of Anne Frank.

THE SECRET ANNEXE will interweave carefully chosen extracts from Anne's diary, sung and spoken by actress, Elizabeth Mansfield, with the music of Colin Decio's Anne Frank Trio. The composer himself will be at the keyboard.

The filmmaker and video artist, Richard Aylwin, will create an expressionistic visual landscape, which will flow through the performance.

THE SECRET ANNEXE will be performed primarily in the UK, in theatre/chamber concert spaces, and in schools and colleges.

An Education Pack and Workshop Programme will accompany performances in Schools and Colleges.

We hope to be working with the Anne Frank Trust UK, and we will be seeking funding for the project from the Arts Council of England, and other arts/ education funding charities, in the UK.

The project is scheduled for Autumn 2009.

 

TWO THIRDS OF THE WORLD

CUT BY THE ARTS COUNCIL!

Richard Aylwin - Tinoush Bahrami - Amina Khayyam
Elizabeth Mansfield - Anna Mudeka - Ali Nourbakhsh
Steve Trafford

TWO THIRDS OF THE WORLD explores the relationship of human beings to our most precious resource, water - Water as life giver, as life taker, as a substance of extraordinary beauty and of terrifying power. And in a world of changing climates, this new theatre piece takes us on a journey where we come face to face with ourselves in water's reflective light.

In TWO THIRDS OF THE WORLD different cultures and art forms combine to mirror the universality of its theme: Indian Khattak and African dance flow through original spoken text - Songs of Africa and the European Baroque cascade into the Dastgahs of classical Persian music - Moving video images echo and interplay with live performance.

TWO THIRDS OF THE WORLD was developed during workshops, at the Farnham Maltings, which took place in the summer of 2005. These workshops were funded by the Arts Council of England. In July 2006, further workshops took place in the new SOUTH WING at the Farnham Maltings, with a showcase presentation held on July 5th 2006. The Arts Council were invited and attended.

TWO THIRDS OF THE WORLD was scheduled to go into its final development and rehearsal stage in the spring of 2008, at the Farnham Maltings, as a co-production with York Theatre Royal. 20 performances were successfully scheduled at venues all over the UK. We were working with WATERAID, to lead discussions on global warming after every performance, and were offering a rich workshop package to go into schools, together with a full Education Pack. Spelthorne Borough Council had enthusiastically agreed to fund this aspect of the work.

However, The Arts Council refused to fund this exciting project. The reasons given in the Arts Council's letter of refusal to us were as follows:

“Artistic – development. It was not clear enough how your artistic idea and practice would show (or lead to) artistic development. Public benefit – clear benefit. It did not clearly show the public benefit of the activity.”

Ensemble pointed out to ACE that 20 venues had booked the show and were quite clear about what artistic idea and practice were entailed, and how the public would benefit. ACE informed us that they no longer speak to the venues when assessing applications for funding.