2014: Commensal Triumph

December 30, 2014December 29, 2014 / Andrew Hall

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After three major theatre projects of their own (Endgame, ’Tis Pity and Jerusalem), as well as a large stake in last summer’s Othello and potential backing to further plays next spring and autumn, the Commensal Theatre account looks set to become one of Oxford’s most successful independent theatre companies. Though running against a wide variety of longstanding theatre groups and finance bodies, the core team of director Will Felton, production manager Eshan Shah, technical director Sean Ford and producer Andrew Hall believe that their vehicle has cleared more profit – and most importantly, sold more tickets – per pound spent than any of its rivals.

The scalable nature of theatre as a business within different venues, and even the same space, was hammered home in the difference between margins on Endgame, ’Tis Pity and Jerusalem: the former was held in the 50-seat Burton Taylor studio across five nights, working on a £500 budget to return the same again in profit in a sell-out run. ’Tis Pity drove a much larger £2400 into the O’Reilly Theatre’s 160 seat venue for five performances, reducing capacity on the matinee show to accommodate photographers and accept that there was no need to push for a sell-out audience for that event, with a heady £4000 of potential profit margin left intact. Returning to the same space for Jerusalem, one might expect the sums to remain the same. However, in justifying their splash of £3500 on a lavish and immersive set, the team realised that creating such a spectacle would ensure they could push for maximum capacity of the theatre. Once again, an impressive profit was brought home. This bodes well for future aspirations of projects in ever-larger venues, including the possibility of the Oxford Playhouse next autumn, Fringe tours, and London residencies in the future.

James: halfway there

December 22, 2014December 19, 2014 / Andrew Hall

As shooting continues on Oxford-set short film James this week, director Lily Taylor is delighted to have casting completed on the project, which stars Jake Palmer, Ollie Robinson, Esther Hodges, Luke Martin, Josh O’Shaugnessy and Georgina Ndukwe, all making their film debuts. Producer Andrew Hall has been working to assemble a full team to support the project once it enters postproduction, and is proud to be reunited with editor and colourist Ashley Hughes (whose previous collaborations include Tantamount to Treason, Dare I Say, Beauty and Acceptance and Red Ribbon | Blue Suit). Progress is being made to confirm a composer for the project, which draws inspiration from Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels and the legendary scores of John Barry.

Meanwhile, progress on set is tremendous, with the city shown at its most spectacular in the winter light, and the cast giving stellar performances despite the cold. Working on a project with a fun attitude yet a serious agenda appears to be the perfect combination to achieve a relatively smooth ride in the usually choppy waters of film production, and the team are pleased to be halfway through their shooting schedule, with five scenes left to complete in January. Watch this space for more news soon.

Casting Plenty

December 17, 2014December 17, 2014 / Andrew Hall

Director Luke Howarth (Othello) is delighted to confirm his cast for David Hare’s masterpiece Plenty as rehearsals start for the 4^th week O’Reilly show in a little under three weeks. Familiar faces returning to the stage include Kathy Stocker (Othello, ’Tis Pity, Jerusalem) and Andrew Dickinson (Jerusalem), as well as a number of Oxford theatre heavyweights building on the successes of previous projects at the O’Reilly, and the play’s strong presentation of gender and mental issues in the rarely-explored years following the war.

Plenty stars Kathy Stocker, Aoife Cantrill, Andrew Dickinson, Grainne O’Mahony, Emma Brand, Archie Thomson, George Varley, Shrai Popat and William Yeldham, and opens on February 11^th 2015.

Now shooting: James

December 12, 2014December 12, 2014 / Andrew Hall

Rediscovering the roots of one of our favourite literary characters through the streets of Oxford, James seeks to bring intrigue to a touching human story, reminding us that even our infallible heroes had to start somewhere.

Just three days since the project’s conception, Jake Palmer takes up the title role as casting nears its completion and scripting was finished yesterday. Director Lily Taylor (Plenty, Cherwell) makes her debut with this short film, hoping to wrap in early January and be prepared for festival release – complete with an original score – by spring.

The first period of shooting begins tomorrow; look out for all the news and pictures soon.

Announcing: Plenty

November 16, 2014November 17, 2014 / Andrew Hall

Following a bidding process packed with strong competition and three projects vying for each of the four slots at the O’Reilly Theatre for the spring 2015 season, director-producer collaborators Luke Howarth and Andrew Hall (Othello) are delighted to be bringing David Hare’s Plenty to an Oxford stage. Their team was built around the mantra of experience – the ability to deliver on their objectives and avoiding the pitfalls of so many hopeful production teams of the past by using lessons each member of the team has learned personally. Luke has directed and acted in over a dozen productions in the city while Andrew stepped off his fourth successive sell-out show earlier this month, and the pair are surrounded by talent in every role. Lily Taylor, current Broadcasting Editor for Cherwell, takes up the role of marketing director in fulfilling the team’s aim of a comprehensive online, print and press strategy which genuinely delivers on all three fronts, particularly in ensuring that Oxford’s papers carry their weight in driving people to the production. Having come into their own on the hugely ambitious Jerusalem this month for Commensal Theatre, technical directors Mina Ebtehadj-Marquis and Alex Grew are building on their experience in delivering a set worthy of a David Hare play, and designed by Lamorna Ash, a key part of many artistic teams in productions this year. Jerusalem stage manager Ruth Ingamells reprises her role for Plenty too, organising the practical aspects of this twisting exploration into schizophrenia and the role of women in post-war society.

With casting scheduled for the next fortnight and a tough schedule ahead, watch this space for all the updates.

In-house technician takes on Cuppers

November 10, 2014November 9, 2014 / Andrew Hall

Oxford’s annual theatre competition is in full swing for the next six days as teams of freshmen from each College battle to win directing, writing, acting and the coveted Best Production prizes, making use of one of the city’s best studio venues. In 2012, the founding partners of Commensal Theatre – Will Felton, Andrew Hall and Sean Ford – first joined forces to bring Coalition to the stage of the Burton Taylor Studio for a single night in front of a sell-out crowd. Walking away with a prize for Best Technical show, the project inspired the team to immerse themselves in theatre, and led to producer Andrew Hall managing their successor Cuppers teams in 2013, who brought a swathe of acclaim home from their performances.

Now, as Cuppers 2014 gets under way, we are delighted to announce that our Commensal teammate Mina Ebtehadj-Marquis (technician on Endgame and ’Tis Pity, technical director on Othello and Jerusalem) is picking up the mantle and managing the freshmen’s production of Sartre’s Huis Clos. Their debut performance takes place on Tuesday 11^th November at 2pm, in Oxford’s Burton Taylor Studio, and the entire team wish them the best of luck.

Triumph: Jerusalem

November 9, 2014November 19, 2014 / Andrew Hall

“Triumphal”, the Oxonian Review of Books declared. Trumpet-blowing in the theatre business is something to be frowned upon, particularly when (as is so often the case) it detracts from the energy a team can spend on improving their production, and when it leads to projects being picked up which would otherwise remain untouched for very sensible reasons. Nevertheless, the 5-night run of Jerusalem at Oxford’s O’Reilly Theatre this week set incredibly high boundaries for success on the performance, design, technical and finance fronts, and to see the show thrive in all four areas has been my proudest moment as a producer.

The setting, drawing almost £3500 from Commensal’s production funds and the team-member investment system which has made this group so tight-knit as a vehicle for delivering projects, included hundreds of metres of camouflage netting, an aluminium caravan and a stage worth of turf, not to mention the problems presented by the show’s two live chickens. “A carnival of sensory delights”, the show was labelled in its 5-star Oxford Student review. The heavy financial burden was worth every penny, transforming a difficult space – which includes one entirely naked concrete wall stretching up two storeys – into an English forest. When presenting the concept, it is understandable that none of the team could grasp just how real its delivery would be.

Such spending raised the bar in terms of necessary returns, and the show broke all expectations in selling out four of its five shows entirely, and drawing almost 70% capacity on its Saturday matinee. The reason for this was not pure chance, and the team built on lessons learned from Othello and ’Tis Pity, where large casts of impressive talent delivered record audiences. Similarly here, with Barney Fishwick in the lead and a cast of heavyweights in the city’s comedy and theatrical scenes, a dedicated and energetic group of talent draw audiences. They also, and this is at the heart of my pride in producing the project, delivered astonishing performances – described by a number of guests as the best student drama they had ever seen. On the final day, the cast took to the stage for almost seven hours in two performances separated by a ninety-minute break, and still drew gasps and grins from their audiences.

Official photographs from the event came from Oliver Robinson, while reviews have been published by the Oxford Student, the Oxonian Review, Cherwell and the Tab.

Jerusalem Launch

October 21, 2014May 29, 2015 / Andrew Hall

“Like Beckett on speed or Coward on coke, The Bard on base or Davenant on dots, Butterworth bashes out some hard-hitting-no-nonsense-quipping dialogue in his masterpiece-glance at rural England. Johnny Rooster Byron strides half-magical about his caravan-glen residing over an assorted bunch of minions. The troupe gather to enjoy a May Day of pagan abandon. Yet darker forces threaten to penetrate the amphetamine haze and dislodge Byron and his legions. Kennet and Avon Council intend to raze Rooster and his dwelling by sunset, an unstable father-in-law wants revenge, and the loyalties of Byron’s crew are increasingly suspect…

The original production opened in 2009 at The Royal Court, having received rave reviews it transferred to the West End, it then hopped the pond to Broadway and then whooped back in for one triumphal last run at Apollo. Some big boots to fill. But fill them we will with a production that ramps up both the magic and the murkiness. Featuring a live-band, live chickens, dead pheasants, flares, axes, a rave scene which will confirm the fifth dimension, and a fantasy black-tie dog sequence based around Beethoven’s 5th Symphony, this is not one to be missed.”

THIS is the writeup ahead of Jerusalem’s 5-show run at the O’Reilly Theatre, Oxford, from the 5th to the 8th November. Tickets are onsale now.

Read previews from Cherwell, The Oxford Student and The Oxford Tab.

The Jerusalem Caravan

September 17, 2014September 17, 2014 / Andrew Hall

Following negotiations with a theatre production company based in Staffordshire over the past month, the Commensal team bringing Jerusalem to the O’Reilly Theatre in Oxford have acquired this amazing aluminium stage caravan to form the centrepiece of our set. The search has once again hammered home the value of social media for creative networking, when producer Andrew Hall was contacted directly by the director of the Staffordshire Jerusalem production about his plans for staging. His generous offer was discussed carefully by director Will Felton and signed off on by technical director Sean Ford – ultimately responsible for getting the caravan, which can be extended up to 20ft, into the O’Reilly venue. The team would like to thank director Leo Carpernaros of Stone Revellers Musical Theatre for his support in providing us this opportunity, and are looking forward to putting the caravan – which has featured in a number of Jerusalem productions around the country since its creation – onstage again this autumn.

This is only one of a number of exciting developments on the project in recent weeks, as the rehearsal schedule is confirmed and the cast start working in earnest towards their November 5 opening night. Tickets will go on general sale soon; watch this space for more news as rehearsals get under way and the marketing campaign begins to hit its stride in a little over three weeks’ time.

Jerusalem: Cast Announced

August 21, 2014September 24, 2014 / Andrew Hall

The Commensal team are delighted to announce final casting decisions for their latest project, Jez Butterworth’s Jerusalem, opening in the O’Reilly Theatre from 5^th November. Amongst the twelve members are a number of previous stars on Commensal stages and other projects under Andrew’s management, including two stars of this summer’s sellout run of Othello, three members of the wildly successful ’Tis Pity cast and band, an acclaimed Cuppers director, five Fringe performers and more. The list features heavyweights of the Oxford drama scene alongside newcomers and those changing the production office for the stage boards; the production team believes such a mix of talent from a variety of past shows will lead to the perfect cast.

Jerusalem opens in November at the O’Reilly Theatre, starring Barney Fishwick, Tom Pease, Will Hislop, Tommy Siman, Sammy Glover, James Mooney, Tom Gaisford, Clemi Collett, Ellie Lowenthal, Kathy Stocker, Alice Rivers, Duncan Cornish and Andrew Dickinson.

Andrew Hall

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Author: Andrew Hall