Hatch Double Bill #3

 

Hatch was originally founded in 2007 by writer Michael Pinchbeck and director Nathan Miller and we've followed them with intense interest - and not only because they're so damned hard to pin down. Preferring to take over a building - or sometimes even a street - at a Hatch show you can expect to ride the full gamut of joy, laughter, sorrow or general confusion – and that's usually in the time it takes to walk from one room to another.

From their early days at Hotel Deux, with people dressing and undressing in a walk-in wardrobe, Hatch have redrawn the boundaries of what performance art can be in the 21st century; not only is it a group without a theatre, but - bar a core team - there isn't an actual ensemble, either. Instead, the call goes out on a regular basis to local artists, writers, performers, directors and flat-out creative randoms to take part, resulting in some of the most out-there moments in town over the past half-decade. Men in drag performing a striptease in the Nottingham Castle café. A Spaghetti Western gunfight (with lots of ketchup) at the Malt Cross. A woman playing Oh I Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside on a Casio keyboard with a fork attached to her head. And it's not just a Nottingham thing, either; there have been Hatch events right across the East Midlands, and even Skeggy.

After having a few well deserved summer months off, Hatch have shot back into action this autumn, bringing artists from the East Midlands to Nottingham and forcing them to collaborate with others from further afield in a two-part extravaganza – Hatch Double Bill #3.
 

 

Part One - Friday 26 October - a collaboration between Leicester-based performance maker, actor and writer Olwen Davies and Andy Field - an artist, writer, part-time curator, occasional polemicist and co-director of the legendary Forest Fringe. Davies kicks off her Broadway residency with a showing of the acclaimed Fridge Logic - a troubled attempt to make a movie when you're not sexy, scary or entertaining enough. And she needs you to believe in her. Meanwhile, at Primary Studios, Field present Zilla! Part One - the first of an epic three-part story of disaster movies and the city, about an artist deliriously trying to make sense of the disasters that we dream of and the disasters that we are already living through. Don't worry between having to choose between the two - a bus ride from Broadway to Primary will be provided as part of the ticket price.

Part Two – Friday 9 November - located in the same venues, Olwen Davies will be showing brand new work from her project Inside Neverhood - an exploration of how identities can be constructed in a media saturated world. While in Zilla! Part Two - a duet for a single voice and Google Street View – the disaster moves closer to home, describing the city in tantalising detail as it falls apart.

Each half of this double bill is a stand-alone event: if you miss Part One in October you’ll still be made welcome at Part Two, and be able to follow what’s going on. Both events are the perfect way to immerse yourself in the world of Hatch, as well as instantly getting to know some of the most creative people in town.

Hatch Doubel Bill #3 is at Broadway and Primary Studios: Part One, Friday 26 October, 6pm. Part Two, Friday 9 November.

Hatch official website

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