project - when the trees dance 

If money truly grew on trees, would we really be any better off? Brass Budgie’s newest theatrical imagining focuses in on financial power in communities and the ostracising of the working classes.  

Three siblings trapped in their hometown long to break free from their stifling community, their abusive father and their own lives mundanity. Examining sibling rivalry and compassion, ‘When the Trees Dance’ seeks to tear up traditional family politics, for the good of our communities. Dealing with perceptions of memories and outdated and unhealthy family dynamics, this piece works as a rhapsody on financial power.   

From the mind of award-winning writer Georgie de Suys, directed by award-winning director Ramiro Silveira and produced by working-class led production company Brass Budgie, ‘When the Trees Dance’ is a visual feast of eccentric performance. A boundary pushing extravaganza of the problems in patriarchal culture, this is set to Brass Budgie’s biggest, brightest and most gut-punching production yet.  

By Georgie de Suys  

Directed by Ramiro Silveira  

Produced by Declan McLaughlin and Georgie de Suys  

Cast:   

Bryn Mitchell  

Grace Ludlam 

Georgie de Suys  

Creatives:   

Musical Direction/Creative Direction - Thomas Sansone  

Creative Direction - Bryn Mitchell  

Technical/Stage Manager - Ann Bailey  

Who are you?

We're eight graduates from East 15 Acting School. We formed Brass Budgie Productions a year ago and our main aim in doing this was to make theatre accessible to everyone, whatever class and background. All members are vastly based around the U.K from Scotland, Brighton, London and Surrey. On leaving drama school a year ago, we've already managed to secure Arts Council funding and we've also received a grant from The University of Essex for emerging new companies. 

our story

Our main focus when creating our work is to present and highlight current affairs in the world; we always take a very non-bias standpoint and allow the audience to come up with their own opinion. Some of our previous work delves into the lives of those suffering from addiction, media manipulation, LGBT+ subjects such as the trans community as well as taboo subjects such as sex offenders.

As a group of people we feel that, although social media is a great thing, it's not always factual and most media platforms take a bias standpoint of some sort. We want to be able to showcase information to an audience and allow them to formulate their own opinions. Theatre is a fantastic way to do this. Our latest project 'When the Trees Dance' highlights the importance and also the dangers that comes with having money and needing money.

By donating money to this production, you will be allowing us to share our message to a wide range of people. We will also then be able to pay our actors, who will have to give up a lot of their time to be a part of this project; we will also with your donation be able to expand the show to regional areas such as Brighton and Scotland, making theatre accessible to everyone, whatever class.

Where will the money go?

This money will be spent in a numbers of ways but most importantly it will go towards paying our creatives for the hard work they do. We always prioritise paying our actors/creatives fairly above anything else. We will also use your kind donations to help go towards securing a venue (we plan to tour this show for up to a month). 

This piece is also looking to be quite set-heavy so, your donations will go towards allowing us to source high quality pieces of set/costume. 

We aim to spend our minimum of funding on venue hire and most importantly the fees of our actors/creatives. We'd also spend the money on securing instruments for the live musical aspect of the piece. We'd also spend the money on ensuring that we can purchase all the set we desire. 

Rewards 

If you were so kindly to donate to our project see below a list of rewards you'd receive from us!

£5: A special shoutout on our social media.

£10: A personalised video message from the cast.

£15: A drink with the cast.

£20: A personalised poem by Georgie de Suys.

£25: Name a character in our next project!

£30: A signed copy of poster and artwork by graphic designer Zaib Nasir.

£50: A signed copy of the play and artwork.

£100: You will receive a bundle of all of the above prizes!

Find us here

Twitter: @BrassBudgie

Facebook: Brass Budgie Productions LTD

Instagram: @brassbudgieproductions

Help us succeed! 

• You don't need to give money to help us succeed! Please share this project with anyone you think would support us – on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, by email, telephone, in a chat over the fence or on your blog.
• In fact, share it with everyone you know as we think it's a great idea, and the more people who know about it, the more likely we are to make this work out brilliantly.
• And we know we said you don't need to give money to help us, but we'd love it if you did! Please sponsor us and help make this happen.