This Friday 8 October we have our only evening performance of Mission To Mars at Polka Theatre. And we’re making a bit of an event of it…
pic Max Alexander
As well as the show at 7pm, we’ve invited some brilliant people to speak afterwards to start/provoke some conversations with our audience (you) about space exploration, science, art and education…
– Dr Gail Iles (Astronaut Instructor at the European Space Agency)
– Dr Andy Newsam (Director of the National Schools Observatory Project)
– Chris Riley (science writer and director of the documentary “In The Shadow of the Moon“)
– Juliet Desailly (Author and Educator specialising in creative approaches to curriculum teaching)
– Me
We’ve given it the title “Mars – How Far Away Is it?” and Alison (our acting general manager) and Gloria (our administrator) have been awesome in pulling all this together.
Each of us gets 2 minutes to make a statement and then Polka’s Artistic Director Jon Lloyd will chair the ensuing conversation. It’d be a massive pleasure if any of you and your children (if you have them) were able to join us. There will be age appropriate space cocktails served.
And after that we’re going over the road to gradually take over the slightly odd hotel bar for a Space Disco – our very own Ellie Duck (best stage manager in the country) will be playing dirty electro space pop disco beats and David Edwards aka Minotaur Shock (who composed the original music for the show) has made “a beatmatched mixtape of space disco science music” specially for the occasion. This all subject to the bar manager’s approval who has made it clear that there should be “no classical, rock or really hard core gangsta rap” (although the last time I was in there they were playing “You’re In the Army Now” by Status Quo, so it’s difficult to really know what the taste rules are – as David said “There isn’t anything more rock than Parfitt and Rossi. Not a thing.”)
It’ll be fun. There will be no Quo. Come and play…