COMPANY BIOGRAPHY

Big Telly is a professional theatre company formed in 1987 and based in Portstewart, Northern Ireland. The company designs and delivers theatre productions, interactive workshop programmes and community creativity projects, which it mainly tours throughout Northern and Southern Ireland. We 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. Big Telly's work is driven by a determination to offer audiences entertainment that surprises, stimulates and ignites the imagination.

Mission Statement

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

Vision

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

Affiliations

Big Telly Theatre Company is a company limited by guarantee recognised as a charity by the Inland Revenue. The company receives annual support funding from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland and in-kind support (use of an office) from our 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.

Management Structure

The company has a full-time General Manager (Louise Rossington), a full-time Development Manager (Linda McCracken), a full-time Finance/Administration Officer (Collette Quigley), and an Artistic Director (Zoë Seaton) who works for the company on a retainer basis. Projects are managed by the Artistic Director alongside additional technical/artistic staff who are contracted on a project basis. The Company is managed by a Board of nine voluntary Trustees. The company's current directors (trustees) are: Heather Carr, Client Services Manager for Arts & Business NI; Karl Doherty, Partner in Doherty Brennan Solicitors, Coleraine; Gerda King, freelance Communications Consultant; Jill McEneaney, Director of the Market Place Theatre, Armagh; David McClarty, Councillor and Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly; Stephen Donaghy, freelance Management Consultant; Chris Hurd-Wood, Human Resources Consultant with IBM; Cara MacMahon, freelance Arts Consultant; and Tom Maguire, Course Director for Theatre Studies at the University of Ulster.

Work Schedule

The company's yearly work schedule includes an Ireland-wide tour of a middle-scale theatre production, an Ireland-wide studio tour of a small-scale theatre production, a three-to-four-week curriculum-based Schools Workshop Programme and an eight-week Summer Workshop Programme in theatre skills for rural communities. However, forthcoming productions may tour worldwide.

Previous Productions

2009	Puckoon by Spike Milligan, adapted by Big Telly Theatre Company
2008	The Well of the Saints by J.M. Synge / The End of the Beginning by Sean O'Casey Sinbad by Zoë Seaton and Paul Boyd
2007	Bog People by Lucy Caldwell, Nicola McCartney and Francis Turnly The Country Boy by John Murphy
2006	The Little Mermaid by Zoë Seaton and Paul Boyd - remounted for SPARK Children's Festival, Leicester and TIBA Festival, Belgrade The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, adapted by Zoë Seaton
2005	The Little Mermaid (International Tour of swimming pools) by Zoë Seaton and Paul Boyd The Shadow of the Glen and The Tinker's Wedding by J.M. Synge
2004	The Playboy of the Western World by J.M. Synge - remounted for Haymarket Theatre, Basingstoke The Thief by Zoë Seaton, Paul McEneaney and Paul Boyd
2003	The Colleen Bawn by Dion Boucicault The Playboy of the Western World by J.M. Synge
2002	McCool XXL by Paul Boyd
2000	Fish by Zoë Seaton and Paul McEneaney
1999	The Pursuit of Diarmuid and Grainne by Zoë Seaton Lovers: Winners/Losers by Brian Friel
1998	To Hell with Faust by Zoë Seaton The Water Babies by Zoë Seaton
1996	Metamorphosis by Steven Berkoff
1995	Cuchulainn by Zoë Seaton
1994	My Mother Said I Never Should by Charlotte Keatley Onions by Big Telly Theatre Company
1993	Blood, Sweat & Tears by John Godber
1992	I Can See The Sea by Big Telly Theatre Company
1991	Onions by Big Telly Theatre Company Cut and Dried by Jane Thornton
1990	Teechers by John Godber
1989	Crumbs! by Big Telly Theatre Company
1988	The Bald Prima Donna & Frenzy For Two by Eugene Ionesco
1987	Waking Up & The Same Old Story by Franca Rama and Dario Fo

Educational & Outreach Projects

2009	Puckoon Workshops with older people Intergenerational Workshop Programme (CIN workshops with older and young people) Step back to wartime...Ballymena (Workshop and performance programme in association with the Mid-Antrim Museum)
2008	The Well of the Saints and The End of the Beginning workshops with older people Intergenerational Workshop Programmes (Workshops with older and young people) Mill Strand Voyage (Inter-disciplinary arts project with a local school)
2007	Bog People Workshops with older people Irish Classic Drama Workshops (Schools Workshop Tour) Tide Will Tell (Inter-disciplinary story-telling project with five local schools funded by Heritage Lottery) The Country Boy workshops with older people Intergenerational workshops (Workshops with older and young people) Imaginative Interpretation of Rural Identity (Workshops with rural young people)
2006	Painting by Numbers (Maths, Theatre and Art workshops) The Cameo of Dorian Gray (Miniature Wilde workshops for older people) Laughing Matters (Comedy Festival with two local Primary Schools) Irish Classic Drama Workshops (Schools Workshop Tour) The World of Imaginative Play (Programme based on The Little Mermaid with Mothers and Toddlers groups in North Belfast) Arabic Origins of Sinbad the Sailor (Workshops with Ethnic Minority groups based on Sinbad the Sailor)
2005	Summer Workshops 2005 Irish Classic Drama Workshops (Schools Workshop Tour)
2004	Millstrand Movies (Primary Schools Multi-media Project) Summer Workshops 2004 Philadelphia, Here I Come! (Schools Workshop Tour for ART NI)
2003	Interpretive Drama Workshops (Schools Workshop Tour) Summer Workshops 2003 Mad Hatters Tea Party (Mini two day outdoor theatre production) Interpretive Drama Workshops (Schools Workshop Tour - The Playboy)
2002	Summer Workshops 2002 McCool XXL Tricks of the Trade (Schools/Teachers & Amateur Dramatic) StageCoach Community Project (Community Workshop Programme)
2001	Summer Workshops 2001 Summer Camp of the Imagination (Pushkin Prizes Residency)
2000/01	Magic, Madness & Mayhem in Macbeth (Schools Workshop Tour)
2000	Fish Street and Community Theatre (Street Theatre Programme) Summer Workshops 2000 Summer Camp of the Imagination (Pushkin Prizes Residency) Millennium Festival- Kesh (Community Residency in Magicianship)
1999	Summer Workshop Tour '99 (Community Workshop Programme) Lovers Workshops (Schools Workshops Tour)
1997	Summer Fun With Big Telly (Community Workshop Project) Stage Your Story (Inter-generational Story Telling Workshop) Navigating Shakespeare (Schools Tour)
1996	Wordplay (Writing for Performing Workshop) Wild Child by Robert Parry (Schools Tour)
1995	Wigs on The Green (Schools Tour)
1994	The School on the Green by Greenwich Young People's Theatre
1993	Rubbish (Schools Tour)
1992	Twice Upon a Time (Schools Tour)
1991	The Peacemaker (Schools Tour)
1990	Little Lucy's Magic Box (Schools Tour)
1989	Crumbs! (Schools Tour)
1988	Conflict & The Peacemaker (Schools Tour)