Thursday 30 July, 2011

REVEALED: Your thoughts on Dining with Alice

Thank you to everyone who took our survey about Dining with Alice. Your feedback is really valuable to us and it’s also really interesting to find out a little bit more about you, our audience. So what did we learn?

• Most of you said that you chose to attend Dining with Alice because it would be something you would remember for a long time to come and 26.5% of you said that the MAIN reason you came was because it was an Artichoke project. We like this!
• The majority of you said that you heard about the show through the Norfolk and Norwich Festival and a whopping 84.8% of you rated the show either ‘great’ or ‘fantastic’.
• Nearly everyone (94%) knew that Dining with Alice was part of the Norfolk and Norwich Festival and most of you said that Dining with Alice was the only thing that you saw at NNF11.
• Over 80% of you said that you felt absorbed by the production and that you didn’t notice the time passing.
• 94% of you said that you liked the interaction with the cast and other audience members and 87.9% said that you enjoyed yourselves at the event.
• Fewer than half of you found it an easy matter to get to Elsing Hall but 98% of you said you enjoyed the surroundings once there.
• Of the people who had already seen an Artichoke production before most of you said that you had seen The Sultan’s Elephant in London back in 2006.
• You are a very cultured audience it seems with most of you attending at least one arts event every month and 46.7% of you engaging with some sort of cultural activity every single day!

 

Friday 3 July, 2011

Photos with the Hosts

If you were a VIP for Dining with Alice then you will remember the opportunity to have your picture taken with some of the cast of the show. We were delighted to see that so many of you snapped up the chance and are delighted to display a few of the photographs here. You can see the full gallery on our Flickr page. If you had your picture taken why not find yourself and download your picture? Ahhh, memories.

Thursday 19 May, 2011

Dining with Alice: Sky Arts’ behind-the-scenes film

Our partner Sky Arts have made a behind-the-scenes film of the Norfolk and Norwich festival featuring the making of Dining with Alice. The film, ‘Sky Arts at Norfolk and Norwich Festival’ will be broadcast from Saturday 28th May until Wednesday 22 July. If you’d like to catch the film here is a schedule of when the it will be aired over the coming weeks:
May

Saturday  28th: 21:50 Sky Arts 1

Sunday 29th: 08:50 Sky Arts 1

Monday 30th: 01:50 Sky Arts 1

June

Monday 6th: 16:50 Sky Arts 2

Tuesday 7th: 06:50  Sky Arts 2

Thursday 9th: 01:50 Sky Arts 2

Friday 10th: 23:50 Sky Arts 2

Saturday 11th: 00:50  Sky Arts 1

Monday 13th: 16:45 Sky Arts 2

Thursday 14th: 17:50 Sky Arts 2

Wednesday 15th: 20:50 Sky Arts 2

Thursday 16th: 14:50 Sky Arts 2

July

Friday 6th: 08:50 Sky Arts 1

Sunday 19th: 14:20 Sky Arts 1

Tuesday 21st: 17:20 Sky Arts 2

Wednesday 22nd: 17:50 Sky Arts 1

 

 

 

 

 

Tuesday 17 May, 2011

A little video of Dining with Alice
(WARNING: Don’t watch if you’re yet to see the show this week!)

Dining with Alice, Elsing Hall, Norwich 2011 from Artichoke Trust on Vimeo.

Monday 16 May, 2011

Topsy-turvy tea party

We are delighted to bring you the first batch of production shots from the preview performance of Dining with Alice. If you were there, you may spot yourself! See them in our gallery here.

Monday 11 April, 2011

Dining with Alice Meet and Greet

This morning is the first time the cast meet up again since the 1999 production. There are some new faces but most of them were in the original production and there is a warm feeling as old friends are reunited. It’s also the first time that the cast will meet most of the Artichoke team, and for the Artichoke team to meet the creative and technical teams. The cast and creatives will be around Toynbee Studios for the next week rehearsing and we can’t wait to catch a sneak peak at how the show is unfolding.

 

Friday 8 April, 2011

First photographs of our Alices!

Our lovely Alices had a chat with Matthew Gudgin on BBC Radio Norfolk yesterday afternoon. It was the first time the girls had been together as a group since winning the parts and there were lots of smiles as they were reunited with people who they worked with during the auditions. You can have a listen to it here.

You can also have a look at the first photographs of the girls all together too. Taken by our talented photographer, Sophie Laslett, these are the first pictures of the girls as a group. Much fun was had posing in the undergrowth and the girls went away with smiling faces and a lot of excitement – a great sign of things to come! View them in our image gallery.

 

Wednesday 6 April, 2011

Trainee Producer

We’re delighted to welcome Luke Emery to the Dining with Alice team as Trainee Producer.

Originally from Littlehampton on the South Coast, 27 year old Luke moved to Norwich to study at Norwich School of Art and Design and graduated in 2008 with a first class honours degree in Visual Studies. He became part of the Stew Collective, who went on to found the Stew Gallery, Artist Studios and Print Rooms, and co-founded the Grook Presents promotions group. He now runs the gallery, performance and installation space, Art in the Underbelly, at the Rumsey Wells in Norwich, works as a freelance graphic designer and runs the band booking agency Skinny Fist.

Luke will be working closely with our production team to help realise the show bringing his own set of skills and expertise whilst learning from our team about how to make large-scale productions happen. We look forward to hearing more from Luke soon.

 

Monday 4 April, 2011

Extras Workshop

If you are interested in taking part in Dining with Alice please come along to our Extras workshop this Thursday 7 April, 6-8pm at The Garage, 14 Chapelfied North, Norwich, NR2 1NY.

During this time you’ll have the opportunity to find out more about Dining with Alice and what you could be doing in your role. This will include meeting the Director, having a costume fitting and enjoying a cup of tea and a chat with your fellow Extras! Click here for more details.

 

Wednesday 30 March, 2011

Arts Council Funding

Event producers Artichoke are very pleased to announce that we have received additional funding from Arts Council England to support Dining with Alice.

Helen Lax, Regional Director for Arts Council England (East), said: “Artichoke has developed an enviable reputation for creating large-scale events full of spectacle and imagination. As we have seen with events such as The Sultan’s Elephant and La Machine the company excel at engaging large numbers of people, many of whom do not normally attend arts events. Arts Council England is delighted to support Artichoke to create Dining with Alice with lottery funding through Grants for the arts.

Audience members will be taken on a unique journey, participating in a Mad Hatter’s feast on an unprecedented scale, in the grounds of Elsing Hall, Norfolk. There will also be multiple ways for the local community to take part in the project: from volunteering as a personal butler, to an opportunity for an emerging producer to further their professional skills as part of the Escalator talent development programme. Dining with Alice will be a landmark part of the Norfolk and Norwich Festival and we look forward to audience reactions to what will undoubtedly be a must-see event in 2011.”

 

Friday 25 March, 2011

Introducing our Alices

Following a very successful audition process last weekend, the 150 hopeful girls have been whittled down to the final six by Dining with Alice Director, Hilary Westlake.

With a range of ages and heights the six girls will each play the role of Alice in the show this May acting alongside a professional and well-seasoned cast and crew to bring the title character to life.

In no particular order, our Alices are:

• HANNAH MARJORAM, age 6 from South Walsham;
  

  Hannah Marjoram

  Hannah is very excited about being Alice and has been involved in drama since September 2009. She has taken several LAMDA exams and also dances ballet and tap.

  
  

   

   

   

   

   

   

• CHLOE WATTS, age 6 from Great Yarmouth;
  

  Chloe Watts

  Chloe heard about the opportunity to become Alice from the Head Teacher at school.  She has taken part in shows before, and absolutely loves dancing and acting.

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

• NANCY DICKINSON, age 7 from Wymondham;
  

  Nancy Dickinson

  A keen dancer, this will be Nancy’s acting debut! Determined to be Alice, she insisted on auditioning even though she had a busy weekend planned.

 

 

 

 

 

• AMELIA MASON, age 8 from Sprowston;
  

  Amelia Mason

  Amelia’s big ambition is to be a professional actress or dancer.  She heard about the opportunity through a teacher at her drama school who thought she’d like to apply. She is “delighted” to have been chosen.

 

 

 

 

• MILLIE HOUCHEN, age 12 from Lowestoft;
  

  Millie Houchen

  Friendly and outgoing, Millie recently played Tinkerbell at Yarmouth Hippodrome. With a brother at Guildford School of Acting, creative talent clearly flows through the family. She heard about the opportunity through her drama group.

 

 

 

 

• and LILY HIGHTON, age 15 from New Buckenham.
  

  Lily Highton

  Lily has got a fair bit of acting experience under her belt, including performing in several shows at the Maddermarket Theatre. Mum, Sarah, told us, “Lily is hugely excited about taking part.”

 

 

 

 

 

Hilary is delighted with the girls and commented, “I was so impressed with all the girls who auditioned and it was very difficult to choose.  But the girls we chose seemed just right for our show and I look forward to working with them.”

The Alices start rehearsals in May and we wish them all the very best of luck. We hope this will be an experience they will treasure for many years to come and we look forward to seeing them tread the boards in the show!

 

Tuesday 22 March, 2011

Alice Audition Pictures

We have some great pictures of the Alice audition day and wanted to share some with you. All photos taken by our fabulous photographer Sophie Laslett. View them in our image gallery.

 

Tuesday 15 March, 2011

Dining with Alice gets some air time

Dining with Alice gets a lovely feature on today’s Stephen Bumfrey show on BBC Radio Norfolk. You can hear the coverage here. It should start in the right place but if not, skip along to 1hr 35 mins into the show. Enjoy!

Friday 11 March, 2011

Alice Auditions

This Saturday 139 young hopefuls will audition to play ‘Alice’ in Dining with Alice. Good luck everybody! But remember, it’s the taking part that counts.

We’ll bring you a full report on how the day went next week.

Thursday 10 March, 2011

The Audience Responds

The Queen of Hearts was delighted to receive such an enthusiastic response following her recent communication with all her subjects attending the dinner party in May. You can see what our audiences have been saying about the show so far here.

If you have something to say to the Queen of Hearts, or any of the other hosts be that The White Rabbit, The King of Hearts, Tweedledum/Tweedledee, The Duchess, The Red Queen or Alice herself, do get in touch; we will ensure that all correspondence lands safely into the hands of those you wish to communicate with!