Arts

Roar talent on display

The summer season at the Lakeside Theatre is a renowned hotbed of student activity.
 
This week the Theatre Arts Society stage their annual Roar Talent Festival, a non-stop week of original work produced and performed by students.
 
The chance to develop and produce work in a professional environment is a rare thing in the arts industry, so Roar festival provides an excellent opportunity for students to experiment with their work in a mutually supportive environment.
 
From short dramas to comedy sketch shows, radio plays, band nights and poetry readings, Roar is never short on variety. Divided nightly by styles, the festival runs from 7-11 June.
 
Students from the University’s Centre for Theatre Studies(CTS) are set to go into rehearsals of their own, in preparation for the annual departmental show - this year a production of Naomi Iizuka’s Polaroid Stories directed by Gari Jones whose recent high-profile productions include Depot, Under Milk Wood, Accidental Death of an Anarchist and The Lonesome West  for the Mercury Theatre, Colchester.
 
A theatrical precedent with a history of high quality stagings, the CTS departmental show gives the director just two weeks of intensive, professional rehearsals with the students to produce and perform the show. A steep learning curve for many, the process is as demanding as it is richly rewarding.
           
This year’s show, Polaroid Stories, is a modern, mythical play which reinvents stories, characters and themes from Ovid’s metamorphoses to tell the stories of street kids living on the edge in a desolate urban landscape. It runs at the Lakeside Theatre from Wednesday 30 June to Friday 2 July.
 
For more information and tickets visit the Arts on 5 website, see: www.essex.ac.uk/artson5
 

Help crack Constable’s cryptic code

Wivenhoe Park is the setting for a special family-friendly fun event which encourages children to get out and discover their local heritage.

Children getting ready for the Quest at Colchester Campus

The event – called the Curious Case of Constable’s Cryptic Code – is a follow-up to last year's successful Colchester History Quests, an interactive performance piece where the audience took part in the story.

Run by local journalist and author Neil Jones, the quests were inspired by his Young Explorer Books, which encourage children to discover their local heritage.

Starting at the Lakeside Theatre, the quest will be a cross between a play, a treasure hunt and a guided walk and is aimed at children aged six upwards.

Taking place on 3 and 4 July, the quests will start at the Lakeside Theatre at 10am and 2pm. Tickets are £5 adults and £2.50 children. Spaces are limited so booking is advised, telephone: 01206 573948.