Making It Up: Some Frequently Asked Questions about Imprint Theatre Company
How did you get started?
Imprint began when four theatre practitioners from Leeds decided they'd like to make some theatrical goodness together. Their names were Dick Bonham, Chloe Bezer, Carolyn Eden and Gemma Rickwood.
We had all been involved in various aspects of performance for a few years, including study for our University courses; productions for other companies; community theatre; and Theatre in Education.
However, we wanted to create our own work. The opportunity came when Dick was invited to produce and direct a new version of Joan Littlewood's Oh What A Lovely War at the Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds. This formed part of the city-wide Together for Peace festival and was exactly the catalyst the company needed to get going. After its run at the Armouries, the piece toured to Manchester and Bradford, in partnership with the Speak Network.
This is when the work really began. We were looking to make our own, original performances, and started to devise an entirely new show. This eventually became Last in Line.
We took this to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in the summer of 2004. The Scotsman newspaper gave us a good review, and we were given our first grant by the Arts Council. Imprint was born!
What happened next?
In 2005, we made a second original piece, The Spectacular Fall and Rise of the Piejus Sisters, which we again took to Edinburgh.
At the end of that year Gemma decided she'd like to step down from working mainly with Imprint to pursue some other projects. Shortly after, Carolyn decided to take some time to widen her acting experience with other companies and on film.
Without a regular ensemble, Dick and Chloe decided they would carry on making work together and involve other people when the time seemed right (including Gemma and Carolyn, who returned to be involved in Smoke & Mirrors).
So what about your work for Light Night - I hear that's been pretty big?
Imprint really "arrived" in October 2006, with a series of three performance installations for Leeds City Council's Light Night. Smoke & Mirrors was followed by Night on the Water, a specially made show on a barge in 2007.
Imprint's work for Light Night has been called "glorious" (Yorkshire Evening Post), "spectacular" (Leeds Guide) and "fantastic" (BBC Leeds web site).
These projects marked the point at which we started to get somewhere and say "we can do this". We liked them, and so did other people.
Do you work with other actors?
Sometimes we do audition other actors to take part in our shows. However, such opportunities are few and far between. We get sent quite a lot of CVs from people looking for work, and we can't respond to all of them. If you live locally, the best thing to do is invite us to see something else you're in, so we can get an idea of what you can do.
How can I keep in touch with what you're doing?
We'll try to update the web site whenever there's news. You can join our mailing list - just go to the connect page and fill in the contact form. Don't forget to give us your postal address if you want to get our flyers!
And if you want to be our friend, then visit www.myspace.com/imprinttheatre