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  • BeautifulMess…

    Instigates playful performance projects, creating interactive, socially-relevant, celebratory shows in public spaces.

    Inhabits unlikely spaces, re-imagine discarded things and listen to neglected voices: mixing bold design, dynamic physicality and multi-sensory images into silly, surreal, shared and significant stories!

    Intertwines live music, contemporary clown, puppetry and satire to create striking and accessible performance.

    2016 mini-documentary about what we do:

     

    BeautifulMess has been creating Arts Council funded outdoor work since 2013 with performances Foxfood (2013) described by Spare Tyre as “accessible, with a hugely quirky humour”, Safety in Numbers (2013) “fresh, uncensored theatre…truly for EVERYONE! ”(Islington Community Theatre), and The 3 Scavengers (2014), attracting hundreds of new audience members who called it “magical, surreal, uplifting, comic, poignant … a treat on the street!”. The Loneliness Street Cabaret (2015) was their 3rd Arts Council funded show touring nationally to outdoor arts festivals and overlooked municipal areas, labelled “more entertaining than Cirque du Soleil” (Bureau of Silly Ideas).

    Since 2016 BeautifulMess have been exploring more immediate, interactive performance possibilities through their Creative Advocacy programmes, Art Activism and large-scale interventions such as Foxed! (2017). BeautifulMess has also been commissioned internationally (India, South Africa) to work in multiple communities creating celebratory, inclusive, site-based performance.

     

     

    BeautifulMess…

    Surprises people with theatre in unexpected places

    Our work happens in the everyday spaces that you walk through, meet in and accidentally stumble across.

    We make theatre for here and now

     

    Imagines theatre for specific situations

    We test our work on the street, where it is created & developed,  and through live audience feedback, developing Performance Action Research, we hone the most effective models of engaging people in Collective Creative Action.
    We make theatre with an active audience at it’s heart

    Breathes new life into old things

    Our sets, costumes and props are created from the things you threw away and forgot. We like to turn rubbish into revelry.

    We make theatre for a more sustainable world

     

    Shouts about fairer futures

    Our work explores empowering possibilities for a balanced existence. We connect communities, inspiring active citizens by engaging them with their surroundings. We promote social inclusion through high quality arts participation.

    In a time of fast paced regeneration, frontline service cuts and rapid change, we promote playfulness and artistic celebration, leading to greater social cohesion.

    We make theatre towards a more equal society

     

    Whispers new possibilities into the ears of giants

    Our creative process is inspired by people. We advocate for people whose voices are quiet and often marginalised.

    We tackle endemic social issues and explore individual disassociations.

    We make theatre that champions the voices of the unheard

     

    Catalyses work with, for and by communities

    We work locally in partnership with service providers to support people to engage creatively with their communities: developing their creative skills, social voices and self-advocacy tools. Through the genuine collaboration of professional and community practitioners around a shared idea, truly inclusive and innovative work can be created, facilitating a platform for community dialogue and a celebration of local life.

     

    Runs at big issues with big ideas and big laughs.

    Our ambition is to create work that makes you laugh loudly and think about things that matter.

    We believe that love and laughter are stronger than fear and the only way to break it. Love and laughter make us happy, bring us together and allow us to play with possibilities- to live our dreams…

    We make theatre that is fun and serious and seriously fun

     

     

    BeautifulMess…

     

    …is founded and Led by Artistic Director Kati Francis.

    Kati Francis has an international practice and has spent the last 12 years working in South Africa, India and the UK creating innovative inclusive theatre for public spaces.

    Her work is inspired by the idea of true collaboration, the opportunities to explore positive social change through theatre and the desire to champion community members whose voices are unsupported and unheard. She is the ultimate BeautifulMess maker and (occasionally!) blogs here (be-a-mess.tumblr.com) about her process.

     

    … was grown on the streets of Brixton

    From unexpected street performances at Windrush Square, the Bowie Memorial and Brixton Village Market to community engagement with Age UK Lambeth, the Vida Walsh Centre, Opportunities Project and Landmark (for adults with learning disability) and on the Moorlands Estate, we are always looking for different routes into the precious pockets of people Brixton holds.

     

    …is a collaborative outdoor theatre company

    we work with a number of freelance artists and front-line service providers, supported by NGO’s, government grants and multiple trusts and foundations to create local, national and international projects.

     

    …is inspired

    by the work of Welfare State International, Lab of Insurrectionary Imagination, Wild Works, Theatre-Rites, Knee-High, Ramshacklicious, Bread & Puppet Theatre, Odin Teatret, Magnet Theatre (ZA), Emergency Exit Arts, Royal Deluxe, Punch Drunk, Robert Lepage, SpyMonkey, The Bureau of Silly Ideas, Clowns without Borders….to name a few!

     

    We work nationally to address big social issues by touring work to places with few opportunities to engage with theatre.

     

    We work Internationally to inspire exchange and shared learning to address global challenges beyond national borders.

     

    …is growing

    we are now working in collaboration with like minded artists and organisations to reach more people in new ways. Our current collaborations include Ariza Barcina, Peta Lily and Flick Ferdinando for Loneliness Street Cabaret, Bureau of Silly Ideas and Club Silly for the London based Street Arts Showcase, The Change Collective, Thor McIntre-Burnie, Chloe Osborne and People United for the Kindness Commission, The Beekeepers Collective (Portugal): Jennifer Muteteli & Tom Leamon for Erendira, Theatre Arts Admin Collective and UNIMA (ZA) in Cape Town.

     

    …is coming to see you!

    We are in the process of expanding our national reach from the streets of Brixton to across the UK as we are touring our current shows to outdoor arts festivals and popping up in overlooked municipal spaces!