What's New?

We are delighted to announce the cast of Bruiser's forthcoming production of 'Low Pay? Don't Pay!' Director Lisa May will be joined in the rehearsal room by actors Richard Doubleday, Emma Little, Rachel Murray, Chris Patrick-Simpson and Andrew Thompson. Andrew last worked with Bruiser back in 2004 on our production of Alan Ayckbourn's 'Confusions' (where he first met his now wife, Sharon; a stalwart of many Bruiser productions). We are delighted to be working with the other four actors for the first time. Stage Management will be headed up by our wonderful CSM Rory Casey, assisted by Patrick Freeman on his first tour of duty with the Company. Sean Paul O'Rawe will again be designing the lighting for the show and the tour will be produced by Bruiser Company Manager Stephen Beggs.

This is a brand new 2010 version of the classic comedy 'Can't Pay! Won't Pay!', by Dario Fo himself translated by Joseph Farrell and we will be presenting the Northern Irish, Scottish and Irish premiere of this new version. The show goes into rehearsals at The South Bank Playhouse in Belfast on 31st August and opens in The Belfast Waterfront Studio on 24th September, before touring until 23rd October. We're delighted to be travelling over to Scotland for Bruiser's second visit to the Wigtown Book Festival and the fantastic Swallow Theatre. See Present Show Page for full tour details. We will post photos and news from the rehearsal room here on the site as soon as we have them!

We will once again be participating in 'Test Drive The Arts' with our run of 'Low Pay? Don't Pay!' at The Waterfront. Click on the logo above for details of the scheme, or see our Links page.

We presented a sneak preview rehearsed reading of the first act of 'Low Pay? Don't Pay!' as part of 'Sunday In The City' at The Group Space, Ulster Hall in March. Due to an administrative oversight on the part of Bruiser's Company Manager (I know - who knew this could happen?) this became the only Bruiser project to date to have no photographic record. Not one to be defeated, Stephen set about assembling a collage of the reading's cast, with actors texting through photos of themselves for inclusion. You can see the results of this peculiar quest on Bruiser's Facebook Group page!

Bruiser held its 2010 Level 1 & 2 Summer Schools in The Belfast Waterfront and Ulster Hall as part of The Trans Urban Arts Academy in July. The two ten day schools culminated in wonderful showcase performances at the Cescent Arts Centre and The Waterfront Studio, attended by 130 appreciative audience members. See the newly created Archive pages for more photos and details of these Schools.

Bruiser's second Graduate Academy will take place between 16th and 26th August in The Brian Friel Theatre at Queens University. This third level training programme is designed for participants about to start drama school or university, or enter the working world of theatre after training. See last year's Archive page for more details on the programme. Company Manager Stephen Beggs recently appeared on Episode 16 of Beat Generation TV talking about Bruiser and the forthcoming 2010 Graduate Academy. Watch the video at Beat Generation.

The Bruiser Beat Carnival Connections Group took to the streets of Belfast once more in June for the 'Puppet Picnic' parade, in partnership with the Beat Carnival. It was great to welcome back group members from last year, as well as some new recruits from this year's Summer Schools.

Lastly, back in March, The Northern Ireland Theatre Association held its first annual Conference at The Baby Grand in Belfast. The day was hosted by Bruiser's Company Manager Stephen Beggs, then the Vice Chair of NITA, now it's Chair. Illustration work was carried out throughout the day by Bruiser friend and colleague Patrick Sanders.

See you all on the road!

You can visit Bruiser's MySpace page at www.myspace.com/bruisertheatre or join our Facebook group.