Newsletter from Urban Sprawl, Yorkshires Only Homeless Theatre Company

Our new home

Discovery of the Oasis

Urban Scrawl

January 2013

Snap
Before a packed audience of clients and volunteers at St Georges Crypt, on 2nd November Team Sprawl gave an energised and hilarious performance of Snap Shot. The result of six months of focused effort, problem solving, and creative adventure, this was a piece of theatre which was led by those on stage, with the mixed client/ staff cast improvising happily around a skeletal script which took just about everybody completely by surprise. As did the set, which transformed the Training Rooms into a beautiful forest, a bank, and X Factor, all at the same time! The mirth on stage quickly infected the audience who, despite having lost the plot about half way through, enjoyed the experience regardless. The seriousness of the accomplishment was not lost on them, however, as the post show Q & A revealed great appreciation of a remarkable mountain climbed.

Shot Review

Confumbled Review

Staggering, blinded and half starved out of the wilderness, Urban Sprawl espied a far off oasis of civilization, and Lo! It was East Street Arts, our new and wonderful home! And from even the earliest encounters, bold, exhilarating ideas abounded. Urban Sprawl are seeking alongside East Street Arts to establish a worlds rst, a Yorkshire Centre for Arts Engagement. This will provide a physical, practical utility (a building) where arts and third sector organisations which use art as an engagement tool with people affected by overt disadvantages (poverty, homelessness, substance misuse, etc) can base and collaborate. It will provide a unique opportunity to promote and raise the prole of Arts Engagement as a primary tool of intervention, a means whereby people who are too often cast as societys outcasts can redene and reinvent themselves and their futures. Watch this space.

Love Leeds Radio hosted this resplendent evening of entertainment to raise money towards Urban Sprawl. To this end they recruited a superb mixture of top local artists all willing to give their time and talent for free in support of our work with homelessness. This included; Bob and Dean Biscuithead with their teapot tooting Jeeves laconic wittery; Matt Tiffany with a truly daring (where you hold your breath) master juggling act; Georgette Hiltons nightingale voice; a singalong with Pete Marshall and the Lomos; some tragi-dance (black roses, vampyres et al) from Sarah and Mark; and equally dark fusion bellydance from Beverley Spracklen. All of which lifted the packed out crowd of cabaret revellers to a joyous and mesmerised reverie, and contributed valuable social capital to Yorkshires only Homeless Theatre Company. Special mention must be made of Sarah Sturdy and Mark Taylor for pulling all of this together. We love you!

What they said

A spattering of comments from audience members at our shows in 2012:

The US safety net let the group of clients shine beyond themselves from review of FYI performance at On the Edge 2012

Wrecked
On October 19th we performed our show Wrecked at Seven Arts as part of The Love Arts Festival, supporting mental health and well being in Leeds. Set on a desert island, this comedy/drama traces the lives and interactions of two tribes of people whose pasts are revealed through a haze of prescription drugs and denial. The piece challenges the conicting themes of isolation and cooperation underpinned by the foreboding presence of the thing in the water. Is it really possible to Escape? With a cast of 11 made up of clients, volunteers and staff it was a big challenge that all the cast rose to. They did a fantastic job in front of an almost sell out crowd. The audience feedback was very positive and lots of people came up to us after the show to say how much they enjoyed it. If you didnt get to see Wrecked, dont worry we hope to perform it again in the near future..so watch this space!

They create and perform with such a positive, lively and willing attitude that you cant help but thoroughly enjoy watching them work together on stage. Review from our show Wrecked, performed at Seven Arts, Oct 2012 It was very surprising and very, very amazing! John, a client at our performance of Snap Shot at St Georges Crypt I would just like to say, thank you so much for coming to our event on Monday night. You were absolutely fantastic, we thoroughly enjoyed your performance and on the feedback forms that we handed out, a lot of people commented that your performance was their favourite part of the evening! It was great today! Loved Urban Sprawl!! Hopeless, not Homeless charity event by Team V That was fantastic Urban Stage Band at Confumbled

www.UrbanSprawl.org.uk Urb@UrbanSprawl.org.uk

Urban Scrawl
The Rudolphs
As we come to the end of another year, we look forward to our annual ceremony The Rudolphs, Urban Sprawls equivalent to The Oscars! The Rudolph awards are a celebration of everyone who has been involved in Urban Sprawl events and productions over 2012 . Similar to The Oscars we have awards (Golden Reindeers) entertainment (The Urban stage band and sketches) and categories ( Best actor/actress) but also categories such as best moustache of the year, a highly sought after award! The Rudolphs is all about having fun and celebrating the achievements of our fantastic members after a very hard working but productive year..and best of all we all get to put on our bling and walk down a (hopefully) red carpet!

Music with Urban Sprawl

Its been a busy few months for Urban Sprawl with three separate performances practically back to back. Luckily for the music department, only two of these required live musical accompaniment. This was an exciting opportunity to experiment with the enriching power live music can add to theatrical productions and both FYI and Snapshot came with at least ninety percent live backing from the Urban Stage Band. Many clients have progressed quickly with their musical skills and shown themselves to be natural singers, percussionists and fully capable musicians. Particular credit goes to the now famous (thanks to the YEP) Richard Preston for his ongoing support of the Urban Stage Band but weve also recently had a bassist and a second guitarist join the group. The Urban Stage Choir are ourishing too and have been tackling complex harmonies and now multiple languages in their singing, all of which have been professionally displayed in the highly successful Friday lunchtime concerts in the canteen at St. Georges Crypt. Resting on our laurels is not a concept Urban Sprawl are familiar with however and plans are well underway for further projects including the devising of a French-themed set for the Confumbled fundraiser at the Heart Community Arts Centre on the 30th of November.

The Street Theatre Project

It has been a very busy summer for Sprawl as on top of our regular sessions we have been working on our new Street Theatre Project which started in May 2012. It is a 3 year project kindly funded by Leeds City Council. Since May we have been developing and working on ideas in true Sprawl style. This years phase of the project culminated with FYI, a piece of traditional mystery cycle styled theatre which draws on contemporary themes, music and comedy in its quest to engage members of the public at street level. Telling the story of human development, FYI races through the Classical and Mediaeval Civilizations before arriving in a modern world which is distinctly less civilized than anyone might have hoped. Urban Sprawl performed FYI twice at On the Edge festival 2012, Planet Leeds festival and more recently at Emmaus Leeds birthday (with star guest, Terry Waite) and there are plans to bring FYI to deprived areas of Leeds, where its message is even more resonant. Lincoln Green here we come!

Interview with a Sprawler

James joined the Urban Sprawl Team 3 months ago and stayed with us ever since. How did you nd out about US? Crypt told me. Kim. What was your rst impression? Brilliant, enjoyed it, blown away. Singing Whats Going on? Made me feel welcome. Do you feel as though youre a part of the Team? Yes. Its given me a bit more condence, self esteem, got me out of the shell that I was in. How have you found the challenges? Hard but Ive coped with it. Proud that Im able to do that. Are you looking forward to doing more with US? Yes. What would you say to other clients? Come down, have a look, youll enjoy it, its fun, have a laugh. What things have you done with US? Three shows acted, sung, danced, had fun. Is there a last word that youd like to say to your adoring public? Come down, check us out!

Scene from Wrecked, October 2012