COMPANY BACKGROUND

Big Telly Theatre Company

Mission Statement

To invest in the development of professional theatre, theatre skills and creative expression through theatrical experiences that surprise, stimulate and entertain.

Big Telly is a professional theatre company and a recognised charity (registration no. XR22007) formed in 1987 and based in Portstewart in Northern Ireland. The company receives annual support funding from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland and in-kind support (use of an office) from the local authority, Coleraine Borough Council. Big Telly is an Approved Manager of the Independent Theatre Council (ITC) and operates Equity/ITC contracts for all its productions. The company designs and delivers theatre productions, interactive workshop programmes and community creativity projects, which it tours throughout Northern Ireland and the Republic. Big Telly concentrates on the visual potential of theatre through fusion with other art forms such as dance, music, circus, magic and film to create a unique sense of spectacle.
Big Telly's work is driven by a determination to offer audiences entertainment that surprises, stimulates and ignites the imagination.

Vision and Objectives

Big Telly aims to innovate, involve, inspire, excite and ignite the imagination through the company's design, delivery, production, touring and training activities.

Primary objectives:

  • To concentrate on the visual potential of theatre through fusion with other art forms such as dance, music, circus, magic and film to create a unique sense of spectacle
  • To develop skills for practitioners and the dissemination of professional theatre skills to a wider community

Values and Approach

  • Educational and outreach programmes, open rehearsals and community creativity projects, workshops, talks and summer schools
  • Placing the audience firmly at the centre of work through open and inclusive processes
  • The production and touring of new work, and production and touring of classic texts and published work which are presented in an innovative manner (existing work is given a contemporary angle and relevance is stressed)
  • Acting an agency role to support skill development of teachers, actors, community groups and staff

Patrons

John Godber; Frank McGuinness; James Nesbitt; Fiona Shaw

Staff

The company has a full-time General Manager (Louise Rossington), a full-time Development Manager (Linda McCracken), a full-time Finance and Administration Officer (Collette Quigley), and an Artistic Director (Zoë Seaton). Projects are managed by the Artistic Director alongside additional technical/artistic staff who are contracted on a project basis. Individual Board Members are appointed to oversee projects.

Board of Directors

The company's current Board Members (trustees) include Heather Carr, Client Services Manager for Arts & Business Northern Ireland; Karl Doherty, Partner in Doherty Brennan Solicitors, Coleraine; Gerda King, freelance Communications Consultant; Chris Hurd-Wood, Human Resources Consultant with IBM; Cara MacMahon, freelance Arts Consultant; Tom Maguire, Course Director for Theatre Studies at the University of Ulster. The Board of Trustees meets quarterly.