Overview
The Starfish Theatre Company was established in June 2004 and creates arts projects for adults with learning disabilities. The members perform and exhibit art work, which demonstrates talent, creativity and commitment to provide work for all to enjoy.
The Haunted Trees - A Mysterious Folk Tale
Written and adapted by Cheryl Hickman
(Starfish Theatre Company)
The Haunted Trees is based on a traditional Cumbrian folk tale about a farmer and his three sons. Every spring the Farmer places flowers under three ancient trees that stand guard on the edge of his land. He does this to thank them for protecting him and his farm against the perils of nature; frost, drought, gales and floods.
The farmer lives to a ripe old age and the farm produces bountiful crops. Once the farmer is dead, his older sons become lazy and fail to uphold their father’s springtime ritual. One day they mysteriously vanish and are never seen again. Will the farmer’s youngest son survive and rediscover the balance in nature he needs to secure the future of his farm?
Using live performance, music, animation and puppetry Starfish Theatre Company have taken recent environmental events in Cumbria as inspiration to create a unique and magical piece of theatre that will delight and enchant audiences across Cumbria.
The Haunted Trees will be touring around Cumbria from October - December 2010.
The Big Daddy Show
In November 2009 Starfish wanted to use the theme of Cumbria and explore this through Poetry and Visual Art. During September Starfish members engaged in felt making, poetry writing and music.
All the work was created by the members supported by: poet Roger Cliffe Thompson, musician Mark Newport and felt maker Faye Metcalfe.
Performance: 12 November 2009 Tithe Barn Carlisle
Starfish Time Team
In 2009 Starfish produced an excellent piece of work called Starfish Time Team. The production was performed 3 times in 3 different venues.
Starfish members worked with Tullie House Museum and Art Gallery in Carlisle and English Heritage at Birdoswald Roman Fort to develop a production looking at the history of Carlisle from the Roman occupation to the Border Reiver period. Starfish members spent a day in Tullie House learning about the Romans and also visited Carlisle Cathedral filming and gathering ideas for a piece about the medieval church. They finished by researching old Cumbrian names from the Border Reiver period and wrote a song linking the importance of names to the present day.
The work was developed as a series of plays within a play. Each mini play focussed on a specific period of history. The work incorporated original visual art, film, poetry, dialogue, movement and music created by company members. A short film was produced that worked as a backdrop to the production. The film work was delivered in partnership with Glenmore Trust. Glenmore Trust members also produced a film record of the Birdoswald performance.
Company members worked with a visual artist to produce and design props including tabards for the Roman soldiers and cloaks & crosses worn by the medieval clergy.
Artists supported the development of the work throughout at weekly workshop sessions held in the Tithe Barn in Carlisle.
Performance 1: 14 May 2009: Birdoswald Roman Fort near Carlisle.
Performance 2: 2 July 2009 Beaumont College, Lancaster incorporating a workshop exchange.
Performance 3: 30 July 2009 Salvation Army Hall, Carlisle, incorporating premiere of the Starfish Film ‘Have we made you think?’
Starfish Icicle Winter Festival
The 18th December saw Starfish’s final show of 2008. Throughout the Autumn & winter months, Starfish used poetry and dance to explore how colours felt, tasted and sounded. 5 new poems and 1 new song were written, recorded and performed, whilst the core dance members of Starfish choreographed and performed Dance With The Rainbow which brought the show to a colourful end.
Starfish Tea Party
Over 150 people joined Starfish for their Afternoon Tea Party on Thursday 23rd October 2008 at the Tithe Barn in Carlisle. All of the usual Starfish entertainment was on show and this time included a demonstration of sequence dancing. All the proceeds from the Tea Party helped towards the new Starfish polo shirts.
Starfish Cabaret
Following a successful and highly productive 2008, Starfish celebrated summer with an afternoon of music, dance, comedy and art at The Salvation Army Hall in Abbey Street, Carlisle. The show was full of the usual Starfish originality and fun, guaranteeing that their audience would start summer with a smile on their faces!
Journey
In April 2008, Starfish premiered Journey at Theatre by the Lake during part of the annual La’al Fest. The show explored some of the many journeys that we take in life and apart from the usual trademark Starfish elements of music and dance, the group highlighted issues such as discrimination in the workplace and accessibility on public transport. As usual, Starfish wrote and performed Journey, but this time some of the group turned their hands to directing a large majority of the performances.
Starfish Christmas Cracker & Starfish Celebration 2008
In December 2007 and January 2008, Starfish were back in action with a Best Of production plus some new bits added in. In this production Starfish invited their current audience members to take a stroll down memory lane, and for those of them new to the fold, it was a chance to see what they had missed from previous years. This was the first production of the new season and it lived up to the promise of delivering “sheer entertainment”. The performance also acted as a launch for the Starfish Celebration 2008 CD.
Starfish United!
Starfish United! is a musical that developed from an art workshop during which some of the group began to talk about their favourite football teams. The conversations soon began to turn to the subject of how good it would be if there was a Starfish team and how well they would do due to the fact that everyone was so friendly and supportive of each other. Many of the pictures that were drawn and painted were of hands, so it was decided that they would provide the scenery for the production.
The Weavers
Based on a true story, The Weavers is a production highlighting the plight of the Carlisle weavers during the 1830’s. It focused two families: the Riggs, who were very poor and worked many hours in the mill, and the Fergusons, who owned the mill, but spent most of their days playing croquet on their lawn. Once again, the script and all the songs were written by the participants. The show was performed at the Tithe Barn in Carlisle and Theatre by the Lake as part of the La’al Fest 2007.
The Sensory Zone of Touch
This is an interactive installation using natural and synthetic textiles, shells, feathers, metal, stone etc. which explores the sense of touch and has been exhibited at Cockermouth School, Rheged Discovery Centre, The Tithe Barn and was shown on display at The Sands Centre, Carlisle early in 2007.
The Fantastic Fruit Show
Following a short performance concerning healthy eating during a conference at The Rosehill Theatre in Whitehaven, Starfish decided to develop their ideas into a full length show called The Fantastic Fruit Show. It was performed throughout 2006 at Theatre by the Lake, La’al Fest, The Brewery Arts Centre and The Tithe Barn, whilst musical numbers that had been written for the show by the participants, were performed to over seventy people at Tullie House Museum in Carlisle.
The Magical Maze and Darth Halla
Two shows written by participants and inspired by their drawings, which led to performances in 2005 at Theatre by the Lake in Keswick and The Tithe Barn in Carlisle.
Christmas Carnival
In December 2004, Starfish performed a series of short drama pieces based on animals. They also sang songs such as Hound Dog, Kumbaya and their own composition, The Starfish Song.
Starfish is supported by the Northern Rock Foundation, Cumbria County Council and Arts Council England North West.
