The Pilgrimage (1994)
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Amersfoort Street Theatre Festival, Holland
Large scale outdoor piece of rude theatre with 7 days of animations around the town – the last 2 nights being a huge procession through the streets and on the canals relating the story of a sacred statue and a little girl. Historical fact and desperate fantasy were interwoven, with the help of 20 volunteers, an exceptional admin. crew from the city, a rock band, a choir, an ice sculptor, dazzling pyrotechnics and fireworks. Action in buildings, on streets and in canals, with a huge finale in the town square.
A commission from Theater Terras.
‘A cheerful and unruly piece of theatre on a massive scale.’
Amersfoort Nieuws, Holland
The Fountain (1994-1995)
A Comic Street Opera about love, greed, tyranny and water. Featuring our own language – Desperanto. Five piece brass band, accapella harmony singing with surreal characters and live ‘cello accompaniment.
Toured the UK and Europe.
Performers: Dik Downey, Shirley Pegna, Jon Beedell, Richie Smith, Luci Gorell Barnes.
‘Street theatre performed with great passion, alacrity, and fun. Loved it!’
Venue Magazine
The Fountain – complete version filmed at St Werburghs
The Fountain – Teatro del Mar’s Portugese version
The Ghastly Family
Dysfunctional family go on a day trip to Weston Super Mare and cause havoc. Fun for all generations.
Studio for hire
Now under the management of Tit for Tat. This light and airy rehearsal space has been redecorated and updated thanks to an Arts Council grant, and is available for hire.
New features include insulated floor, double glazing and a new kitchen.
Click here for details and rates.
Past Projects
Loads of our previous projects and shows are now available in full to watch for FREE!
Click here to find out more!
Don’t Call Me Love, Love (1989) / Indoor
An island … a rock in a glittering sea, two people in isolation. A traveller arrives. After the storm, the rescue. Comic, sad, terrifying and beautiful, the music fades and the dance begins …
Made in Alentejo, Portugal, with Luci Gorell Barnes. Written and directed by Paddy Fletcher.
Toured UK and Europe.
Deadline (1988) / Indoor
Much music in a stylish black and white setting. A fast moving black comedy dealing with death, washing up, adultery and jazz … a must for everyone who expects to die sometime.
With Ali Houillebecq (Le La Les). Written & directed by Paddy Fletcher.
Toured UK.
White Horse Show (1987) / Street
Conceived and performed by Jon and Luci Gorell Barnes.
Very loosely based on a mummers play.
The Book of Jobs (1986) / Indoor
A multi-layered, over populated musical cartoon. Phil and Simon seek the ultimate job, with the aid of 24 noses and a set made of newspaper.
Written and directed by Paddy Fletcher. First in his trilogy about Work, Love and Death.
Toured in the UK and Europe.
“Rich, dreamlike qualities”
The Guardian, UK
Shaman (1984) / Indoor
A young witch-doctor resists the temptations of a quack travelling salesman, to reach Nirvana.
Toured in the UK and Europe.
Spirit Level (1982) / Indoor
Thematic roller-coaster ride about empire, Thatcher, royalty and death.
Toured UK and Europe.
The Penguin Zone (1981) / Indoor
Absurd, narrative nonsense about penguins taking over the world.
Toured in Europe.
Eggs and Enemies (1980) / Indoor
Absurd, non narrative collection of oddities, with the theme of friendship and obsession. Toured in the UK and Europe.
The Pipe People (1978-1980)
Half dance, half vaudeville, half loony, half art, but one hell of a whole presence.
These strangely clad acolytes with hands on their heads congregate around a scaffolding pole in a kind of surreal dance. One of our most popular animations ever.
The Pipe People in action at Builth Wells Hobby Fair
CSI Clowns
Crime Scene Investigator Dr Litmus and tough New York cop Lieutenant McHeath have been called in to investigate a crime scene. At the centre is a large box with a radioactive sticker. Wires protrude, connected to a variety of everyday objects: water, charcoal, tofu, a bugle, anti-dandruff shampoo, matches, a drill bit and an axe, among other strange items. What is going on? Can our heroes solve the mystery? Are these objects connected in some way? And why is there a wired up a banana-bomb?
In CSI Clowns, our comic investigators look at elements and compounds and explore how the building blocks of life are created. Performances feature comedy and songs and are highly interactive. CSI Clowns is the third in a series of science shows, following on from Darwin and the Dodo and Everything Gets Eaten.
Commissioned by the British Council in Hong Kong and Ciencia Na Rua, Estremoz, Portugal.
CSI Clowns at Ciencia na Rua, Estremoz, Portugal
Everything Gets Eaten
Produced to celebrate the International year of Biodiversity, Everything Gets Eaten explores the relationship between the natural world and your lunch box, looking at the web of life and what humans can do to preserve the environment. Successfully presented at the Lyme Regis Fossil Festival, Natural History Museum and science shows in Hong Kong among others.
Desperate Men would like to thank the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation and the Arts Council (SW) for funding the development and production of Everything Gets Eaten.
Darwin and the Dodo
Grounded in science and thorough research, this show looks at Chalres Darwin’s ideas, life, times and legacy. Although he never saw a live Dodo, by weaving the story of this species demise through Darwin’s own it provides an unlikely juxtaposition for a tongue in cheek and sideways look at the ‘mystery of mysteries’.
All carried off in Desperate Men’s inimitable, dynamic and engaging style, Darwin and the Dodo explores themes of evolution and extinction. It premiered at the launch of Darwin 200 at the Natural History Museum.
“I must admit to having been sceptical of Darwin and the Dodo before I saw your performance at the Hong Kong Science Museum. Like many scientists, I am uneasy about mixing fact with fiction – we are always taught to separate very clearly facts (observations) from inferences, let alone suppositions. However, I was won over by the accuracy of the science in your performance and how you were able to convey difficult issues about evolution in an intelligent yet light-hearted way.”
Dr Paul D. Taylor, Dept. of Palaeontology, Natural History Museum
“Went down a storm ! Everyone was really pleased with them and so were we.”
Ashley Kent, Science Development Project Co-ordinator, Centre for Life, Newcastle
Darwin and the Dodo at Ciencia na Rua, Estremoz, Portugal
Water Balloon Toss
A lot of water in a lot of balloons being tossed, thrown, chucked, hurled and caught – without bursting – over immense distances. A knock out competition for all ages. Great fun for every occasion and any community. A bunch of tossers having a laugh!
Pig Pen Riots
The Pig Pen Riots allows you, Joe Punter, to vent your frustrations, whatever they are, in a safe manner. We provide the placards, suitable attire and even a set of foam bricks for you to lob at the department store windows.
Then we herd you all into a pen to have your five minutes of mayhem, before letting you out to go home in a calm and responsible manner. There – who said protest was dead?
Carbonopoly
Like Monopoly, but instead of making money you see how far you can get round the board without using up all your carbon allowance. Land on the farmers’ market and buy some local veg, and that’ll cost you nearly nothing. Land on a big shop and go on a spending spree – that’ll cost you a load of smackers, thanks.
The person with the most credits left at the end of the game wins!
A commission from Bristol City Council.
Rubbish Heads
A live art excursion into the wilderness of the throwaway society. Smartly suited performers with heads covered in rubbish, drop litter and decorate the ground with tin cans, plastic bottles and packaging – and then pick up the pieces. Balletic, wistful, and engaging, the mysterious repetition of clearing up and throwing away causes embarrassment and laughter in equal measure.
An audacious attempt to create high art from low level rubbish and perfectly suited to be part of any environmental based event or recycling campaign. A meditation on the idiocy of our over packaged world.
“The best load of rubbish I’ve seen this year.”
Faye Bradley, Arts Development, Portsmouth City Council
Rubbish Heads by film-maker Paul Gilbert
Eco-pirates
This spin off from the original Pirates Show sees our scurvy scumsucking squideaters turn up on the beach with a chest of what seems to be treasure. Only after the Pirates have sworn all present to an oath of silence is it revealed that the chest actually holds six month’s worth of ship’s rubbish!
The Pirates are eventually persuaded to take it to recycling rather than bury it in the sand. With a piratical take on marine ecology and ocean conservation, lots of bawdy songs and devastatingly cut throat jokes.
“My son (age 8) has often quoted the three R’s – re-use, re-duce and re-cycle which he has only heard from the Pirates and there have been many occasions where this has come up. We have also laughed about the pirates jokes – Arrrrrm wrestling, Arrrrsenal etc”
Teignbridge Holiday maker
Pirates
Originally a commission from The International Festival of The Sea, this crude crew of loveable rogues have been putting the naughty in nautical events ever since.
At their helm that old seadog, Captain Cliché, and with him his crew of historical misfits and comical cut-throats, Mr Mince, Black Eyed Nell, and Billy Boy Fingers.
As they spout authentic sea-faring gibberish and sing lusty shanties they take no prisoners in their quest to find the lost treasure or where they parked their ship!
Pirates by film-maker Paul Gilbert
The Film Crew
Delighting audiences and film fans, The Film Crew employ convincing fake hardware and involve the audience as extras. As befits the film and TV industry, giant egos and artistic temperaments are on display as the crew fight to get footage in the can! Hilarious consequences ensue, resulting in situations as alarmingly realistic as they are unforgettable.
Battle For The Winds
“An unbelievable scene. So beautiful – what an ending to a great show”
Nigel Hinds, London 2012 Festival
As dusk falls, two thousand and twelve people wait on Weymouth sands. One by one, the torches in their hands flicker to life and they process into the sea, carrying fire into the dark waters …
A unique theatrical event marking the opening celebrations of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Sailing events, Battle for the Winds told the story of a quest to gather the winds from across the South West to power the sailing events in July. Co-produced with Cirque Bijou, it’s the largest outdoor arts show we’ve ever worked on and was four years in the making.
The tale began in April 2012, with 52 events in total across the South West culminating in three magnificent days of performance in Weymouth and Portland from July 26-28, involving 5000 artists and a total audience of 530,000 people.The grand finale on July 28 was seen by 8000 people gathered at the Live Site on Weymouth Beach.
The events in Weymouth featured:
- Seven companies of street theatre artists from all the counties of the South West with their specially designed Wind Gathering Vessels;
- Brand new aerial performance directed by Cirque Bijou’s Billy Alwen and devised by 7 of the UK’s most exciting aerialists;
- DiverseCity’s company of 64 disabled and able-bodied performers from UK and Brazil, presenting Breathe;
- Lorna Rees’s beautiful, eerie multimedia installation and dance piece at Doldrum’s Lair in Portland High Angle Battery, featuring over 2000 hand-made blue butterflies;
- A spectacular display by the Royal Marines 4 Assault Squadron, who delivered the stone-hearted Doldrum to the beach amidst flares, ships and pyrotechnics;
- 212 Bridgwater Carnivalites who set the beach ablaze with the first ever Squibbing display outside of Bridgwater;
- The awesome, primal spectacle of 2012 community participants wading into dark waters with flaming torches.
A truly awe-inspiring spectacle and an unforgettable experience for everyone who worked on the project, Battle for the Winds will leave a legacy of new outdoor arts and creative networks across the South West. So far the events have been featured in The Guardian, on Sky News, BBC1 and ITV, in Event magazine and throughout the regional and local press, as well as news outlets across the world thanks to Reuters.
The show was selected as part of the London 2012 Festival, a spectacular 12-week nationwide celebration bringing together leading artists from across the world with the very best from the UK, and was also part of Maritime Mix – London 2012 Cultural Olympiad by the Sea.
Partners included Arts University College Bournemouth, Activate, Outdoor Celebratory Arts Network, Quest (South West) Co Ltd, Barnardo’s, DepARTure, Weymouth College, Diverse City and Remix. Battle for the Winds is supported by Arts Council England and South West local authorities. You can find out more about the project at battleforthewinds.com.
Here’s some of the press coverage of the event:
- Torch Wader video on the BBC London 2012 Festival homepage
- Event Magazine interviewing Richard Headon
- Torch Wader video on the BBC London 2012 Festival homepage
- Reuters on the Battle for the Winds extravaganza
- ITV WestCountry’s article
- Blog from the Department of Culture, Media and Sport
- The Royal Navy on their part in the show
- Battle for the Winds “good for business” according to Weymouth traders
TESTIMONIALS
“How can Weymouth and Portland ever thank you for what you did last night? It was MAGNIFICENT! And it will inspire all that took part or saw it for years to come”
Alan Rogers, Cultural Co-Ordinator, Weymouth and Portland Borough Council 2012 Operations Team
“Thank you for entertaining, enthralling and exciting us. Overhead lots of great comments from inside the crowd: ‘historic’, ‘once in a lifetime’, ‘tears in my eyes’, ‘wow!'”
Weymouth, Dorset Tourist Agency
“I particularly enjoyed the parade during the day and thought the finale with the squibbers and the torches out to sea was both exhilarating and haunting in equal measure”
Laura Dyer, Arts Council England Area Chief Executive (SW and Midland)
“I had very positive feedback from a Deaf audience member, thanking us for the caption and saying that they enabled her to understand the story….it’s brilliant that we broke through that barrier on this show”
Christine Hathaway, Access & Production co-ordinator, Breathe
Invisible Walls
Jon Beedell was invited by In Situ Theatre to collaborate with Neil Butler and Kosovar theatre company Teatri Oda to develop a project around the “invisible walls” that determine contemporary life in Kosova.
‘Home’ is about a thirst for freedom, and a liberation that brings a different set of restrictions – the social and political barriers that stop movement and sometimes communication. Home is something to dream of and escape to, but also a place to escape from. ‘Home’ looks at situations when you are not allowed a home. ‘Home’ is about how freedom of choice has a price.
Directed by Jon and created with Teatri ODA, “Home” combines installation, performance and radical theatre with Albanian song, dance and history. The audience is drawn to a beautiful installation representing Home. However, it isn’t quite what it appears – a little difficult to enter and even more so to leave.
The content and delivery of the project have been devised in a 2 week workshop. The ‘Home’ artists will reconvene in October in Kosova to continue the devising of the show which will be made in spring 2013 and toured thereafter at major European festivals.
Work in progress from Teatri Oda’s new show ‘Invisible Walls’
The Severn Project
As artistic directors, Desperate Men worked with Shropshire County Council and other local authorities to develop this ground-breaking three-year project (2006 – 2009).
Inspired by the River Severn, its stories and settings, the Severn Project interpreted, celebrated and explored the heritage and culture of the river and the communities that live along its banks, visiting Upton-on-Severn, Bewdley, Bridgnorth, Ironbridge and Gloucester.
In 2009 we worked with Gloucestershire County Council to deliver ‘Severn Mud Larks’ in Tewkesbury, Lydney and Gloucestershire which was based around interpretations of Alice Oswald’s specially commissioned poem A Sleepwalk On the Severn.
Severn Project 2009 Mudlarks
Main Performers: Joe Hall, Chris Bianchi, Claire Thompson, Angus Barr, Jon Beedell
Severn Project: The Sturgeon Hunters
Severn Project:The River Inspectors
Severn Project – Sturgeon Moon (2007)
Main Performers: Ric Jerom, Agnieszka Blonska, Paschale Straiton, Joe Hall, Vic Llewellyn, Jo Kessell, Hilary Ramsden, Richard Headon, Jon Beedell
The Severn Project 2007
(filmed and edited by Chris Smart)
Praise for The Severn Project
“We were delighted to fund the River Severn Project. Villages and towns along the River Severn were able to experience great art in different spaces and places, which we believe is a wonderful example of how communities can come together to enjoy and participate in performances and events.”
Chris Humphrey, Executive Director, Arts Council England, South West
Extract from the Countryside and Community Research Institute (CCRI) evaluation report on the Severn Project.
‘Street performance (as in the work of the street theatre company Desperate Men –the Creative Producers and performers at the festivals) is an ideal art form for reaching new community audiences and expanding people’s exposure to accessible but high-quality art. Making the project’s creative producers a street theatre company working in partnership with local authority arts outreach teams and local artists who specialize in participatory outreach work means that Severn Project was highly effective in reaching new audiences and enabling audience participation in the festival host towns. The two main festivals were preceded by live rehearsals and walkabouts in order to promote the events and reach ‘non-arts audiences’. At both festivals the audience were very much part of the spectacle and unfolding dynamic of the event.
Audience feedback included:
- ‘The atmosphere created at Tewkesbury and Lydney by the dance, theatre and music made two truly magical events which were enjoyed by all. The outside “site specific” element made it particularly special. Please, please can we do something like this again?’ (Written feedback from participant and audience member who attended both festivals)
Triangulating communities, arts and landscape/environment: One respondent felt that the festivals ‘got people to new places and the poem made people look at the river in a whole new way’. In this way the wider Project can be seen as forging (new) relationships between community, landscape and art. The need for people to (re)connect with their local landscapes and nature within them is a strong theme of current environmental politics and policy discourses (Adams, 2003). The arts are increasingly being used to do this (Massey, 2005). The festivals were site specific in the way they used the geography of the locations within the staging of the various elements and thus ‘celebrated places’ in ways likely to engender community cohesion, collective self-esteem and environmental sensibilities (Lippard, 1997). One festival-goer commented that she valued “exposure to the Severn – beautiful River – [we] don’t appreciate it enough even though we live so close to it”.’
Mentoring and Teaching
We help mentor young and emerging companies, with 30 years of experience to pass on to artists interested in developing their theatre, street art and creative production skills. We supported eight new pieces of work for the Festival of Desperation, including Poste de Resistance (pictured).
Our most recent artist support was with Fried Gold Theatre. We helped support the creation of their 2012 street show, Ratty, Mole and Mr Toad, by meeting with them to help with the conception of the artistic ideas, funding application, the exploration of producer partnerships and the making and management of the final piece.
We also have an ongoing teaching relationships with Circomedia and Circus Space and have taught at universities including Bristol, Warwick and Winchester. We also have creative partnerships with Arts University College, Bournemouth and Weymouth College.
Work With Us
From small, bespoke shows to epic outdoor arts productions, we can help you create amazing projects. Read on & get in touch
Studio for Hire
Our light and airy rehearsal space is available for hire. It’s a fantastic, low-cost venue for theatre company rehearsals, measuring 17 by 24 feet, with facilities including a piano, sofa and chairs, toilet and kitchen with sink, microwave and kettle. The studio is available for hire 7 days a week and is also great for location filming.
