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Matt Miller & Peader Kirk in partnership with Alphabetti Theatre present the World Premier of
Fixing
Written & Performed by Matt Miller
Directed by Peader Kirk
Tues 5th – Sat 23rd November 2024
Times: 7:30pm plus Saturday Matinees (3pm on 9th, 1pm on 16th & 23rd)
Tickets: Pay What You Feel (5th – 9th November) £15 - £3 (12th – 23rd November)
Age Recommendation: 14+
Access performances: Captioned, Wednesday 13th,
Enhanced Touch Tour 6:30pm – 7.00pm on Tuesday 19th
Audio described Wednesday 20th,
Relaxed performances all Saturday Matinees
Which is easier to fix; a 1954 Sunbeam Talbot, or a family relationship?
When Matt was little, their dad bought a classic car. A 1954 Sunbeam Talbot Mark II. Dad had ideas that he and Matt would do it up, repair, rebuild together. They never did, and the car festered in a garage.
I mean, Dad had just been through a divorce.
Now in their 30’s, Matt would like to learn how to fix a car engine. They’d like to learn a bit more about Dad, and that time, when Dad and Mum split up. The time when Matt and Dad were closest.
Matt can’t do this alone, which is tricky for a solo show. That’s where Matt’s drag alter-ego Natalie Spanner comes in. She knows all about things that girls like Natalie know about. Like how to build an engine. About maintenance, care and repair.
Together, Matt and Natalie will try to ask, in an increasingly broken world, how might we repair ourselves, together?
Praise for previous work created by Matt & Peader:
‘Such a fabulous piece of work that examines where people perceive they fit in this world, owning the middle area and turning the negative space we get lost in into a clear positive’
Ellie Lowther, Trans Aware, About Fitting
‘This is a show not to be underestimated: whilst seemingly gentle, Fitting has a quiet power to it. It’s exploration of gender fluidity is both personal and communal; as an audience member, I felt like I was genuinely sharing the experiences being played out on stage, not watching them as an observer. Consequently, the personal connection is incredibly strong, whatever your identity. ‘Matt is a mesmerising performer – their words, their gestures, their magic tricks (yes, real tricks) but most of all, their smile. I’m still thinking about that smile, everything that went in to it, and everything behind it.’
Annabel Turpin, previously Artistic Director at ARC Stockton, now CEO at Storyhouse, Chester, , About Fitting
‘Graceful and skilled’
Kirsten Luckins, for North East Reviews, , About Fitting
‘Sticking alternates between restless, rowdy rebellion and tender, genuine emotion through an accessible script that often lifts us up into a poetic remembering.’
Ciaran Hodgers, for State of the Arts, About Sticking
‘The desire to be bigger, to make yourself larger, to rage and storm at the world is intensely human and moving.’
Laura Fraine, for New Writing North Reviews, About Sticking
‘The performance itself was incredible . . . it is a play about people who feel, really feel, and are desperate to connect to everything and everyone’
Charlotte Hill, for The Courier, About Sticking
About Matt Miller
Matt Miller is a poet, performer and theatre maker who writes about place, identity and ways of belonging.
They learned their craft with Nottingham based poetry collective The Mouthy Poets, performing several times at the Nottingham Playhouse, as well as at the Olympic Park as part of the 2012 Cultural Olympiad.
In 2014, Matt was selected as one of BBC Radio Three’s Verb New Voices and their poem River Monster, charting their history growing up in Tyneside, was broadcast on The Verb.
Through this program, Matt started working with Peader Kirk and they have since made two shows together. ‘Sticking’ (2016) performed to sold out audiences in Newcastle, Manchester and Durham, and Fitting (2018-2021) toured nationally.
Matt has also toured nationally as a director with Five Years by Neal Pike (2019).
Matt has been an artist in residence at Alphabetti Theatre, was one of Live Theatre’s inaugural Live Lab Artists, and is a current member of Nottingham Playhouse’s Artist Development Programme Amplify.
They also regularly engage in theatre and poetry education, and have worked with The Mighty Creatives, Writing East Midlands, University of Bedfordshire and others in this capacity.
Matt has been praised for their ‘powers of urban storytelling’ (Ian McMillan, The Verb)
About Peader Kirk
Peader Kirk is an Artist and Director working internationally in the fields of Performance and Sound Art. He has directed over 50 performances since 2000 and the work has been shown at venues including Southbank Centre and Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, National Theatre of Greece in Athens, Academy of Fine Arts in Turin and Hong Kong Repertory Theatre.
Peader makes work that engages directly with communities to ask questions about how we meet amidst difference and how we create change. The scale of the work ranges from encounters in small rooms to large-scale public works in the urban environment.
Peader trained as a director with Robert Lepage at the National Theatre, London and with Eugenio Barba at CPR, Wales. Peader works as a mentor for emerging artists with hÅb, Manchester and Arts Captiva, Italy. Recent academic publications include The Performative Museum: the site constructive work of Mkultra and Intimate Listening both in Performance Research Journal published by Routledge
Wraparound events during this project
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Reaction Artist commission to Fixing
12th – 14th November 2024
Straight after the performance of Fixing
Alphabetti Theatre
Pay What You Feel
Funded by Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, Alphabetti Theatre have commissioned the fantastic theatre maker, to create a short piece of theatre in reaction to fixing, mentored by Louie Ingham.
Response Writing Competition Winner
19th – 21st November 2024
Straight after the performance of Fixing
Alphabetti Theatre
Pay What You Feel
Funded by Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, Alphabetti Theatre will be running a writing competition for writers to see their work professionally produced and they get paid. Watch Nurse's Station, then over a 1 week, write a 10-minute play for a chance to win £500 and have it professionally performed. Open to all writers over 16.