performance

Meet Bound Feet Blues Q&A Chair, Betty Yao (8th December 2015)

/ Yang-May Ooi / Leave a comment

There are a series of 3 Q&A sessions during the 3 week run of Bound Feet Blues. One of them – on Tue 8th December 2015 – will be chaired by China consultant and curator, Betty Yao. We are super thrilled that she is taking part in that particular evening – the  Pan Asian Womens’ Association (PAWA) have bought up the whole theatre for a special outing for their members.

** Bound Feet Blues is NOW ON  at the Tristan Bates Theatre until Sat 12 December 2015. Don’t miss this “mesmerising” and “powerful” show – buy tickets below or via bit.ly/bfbtickets **

 Betty Yao, MBE

A sharp eye on everyday ChinaBetty is the Director of Credential International Arts Management, a consultancy providing project management expertise to organisations in the UK and China.  She has organised the Wellcome Library exhibition China: Through the Lens of John Thomson 1868 -1872 which has toured to 17 cities in China, Europe, US and seen by nearly 900,000 visitors.   

The evening is sold out but you can get tickets via PAWA as part of their charity theatre outing.

~~

You can buy tickets for Bound Feet Blues on other nights during its 3 week run via bit.ly/bfbtickets

DETAILS

Tristan Bates Theatre
1A Tower St, Covent Garden WC2H 9NP

Tue 24 Nov – Sat 12 Dec, Tue – Sat at 7.30pm.
Tickets £16 / £12 concessions.
Q&As post-show, 27 Nov & 4 Dec.

 

Introducing the landscape of Bound Feet Blues – The South Downs Way

/ Yang-May Ooi / Leave a comment

A climactic scene in Bound Feet Blues takes place on a 100 mile walk along the South Downs Way as writer/ performer Yang-May Ooi and her gang of hiking friends come across the majestic vista of the Seven Sisters. Here are some pictures taken from Pinterest to give you a glimpse of the beautiful and dramatic landscape featured in this solo show.

** Bound Feet Blues is NOW ON  at the Tristan Bates Theatre until Sat 12 December 2015. Don’t miss this “mesmerising” and “powerful” show – buy tickets below or via bit.ly/bfbtickets **

South Downs Way:

The South Downs Way, 100 miles from Winchester to Eastbourne – via Pinterest https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/174092341816790690/

2. Plumpton to Eastbourne "The direct train from London Victoria takes less than an hour to reach the East Sussex village of Plumpton," encourages Sarah Baxter. "From here, follow the rolling South Downs Way for around 25 miles to Eastbourne, via Saxon Lewes, the Cuckmere River and the Seven Sisters chalk cliffs, overnighting at Alfriston youth hostel en route." Where: nationaltrail.co.uk/southdowns:

The Seven Sisters – vvia Pinterest https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/148548487684014521/

The Seven Sisters | 13 Breathtaking Places To Visit In Sussex:

Seven hills rolling out over the white chalk cliffs – via Pinterest, https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/361132463843448476/

 

~~

BUY TICKETS

**You can buy tickets for Bound Feet Blues via bit.ly/bfbtickets **

DETAILS

Tristan Bates Theatre
1A Tower St, Covent Garden WC2H 9NP

Tue 24 Nov – Sat 12 Dec, Tue – Sat at 7.30pm.
Tickets £16 / £12 concessions.
Q&As post-show, 27 Nov & 4 Dec.

**BUY ONLINE via: bit.ly/bfbtickets **

“Mum, tell us a story!” – Bound Feet Blues Performance Photo

/ Yang-May Ooi / Leave a comment

Bound Feet Blues evolved from stories that were told to writer/ performer Yang-May Ooi by the women in her family. In this scene, Yang-May portrays an evening at home in Malaysia when she was an 8-year old child, running into her parents bedroom with her brother and sister, and asking her mother to tell them a story: “Mum, tell us a story!”.

** Bound Feet Blues is NOW ON  at the Tristan Bates Theatre until Sat 12 December 2015. Don’t miss this “mesmerising” and “powerful” show – buy tickets below or via bit.ly/bfbtickets **

 

The photo is from the Oct 2014 showcase performance.

~~

BUY TICKETS

**You can buy tickets for Bound Feet Blues via bit.ly/bfbtickets **

DETAILS

Tristan Bates Theatre
1A Tower St, Covent Garden WC2H 9NP

Tue 24 Nov – Sat 12 Dec, Tue – Sat at 7.30pm.
Tickets £16 / £12 concessions.
Q&As post-show, 27 Nov & 4 Dec.

**BUY ONLINE via: bit.ly/bfbtickets **

Meet Bound Feet Blues Q&A Chair Rona Steinberg (4th December 2015)

/ Yang-May Ooi / Leave a comment

Bound Feet Blues will have 3 Q&A sessions after the show during its three week run. We are delighted to introduce you to Rona Steinberg, the chair of the Q&A session on Friday 4th December 2015.

** Bound Feet Blues is NOW ON  at the Tristan Bates Theatre until Sat 12 December 2015. Don’t miss this “mesmerising” and “powerful” show – buy tickets below or via bit.ly/bfbtickets **

Rona Steinberg

rona steinberg public speaking coachRona is a Certified Professional Co-active Coach at Out Loud Coaching working with women who want to throw off the shackles of a society that expects them to be “quiet, nice, demure, discreet, good, self effacing, modest or mild” and “women who don’t think they are good enough or beautiful enough or thin enough or intelligent enough or young enough or old enough or sexy enough or any other enough – or who have been told that by others”.

Her philosophy is: “Be powerful, true and joyful. Live your life the way you want. No more being told to stay in the background or hiding your true nature, desire or mess. Just be yourself, without apology or justification.”

Our kind of woman!

She is also a public speaking trainer with Ginger Public Speaking.  Her background in the legal profession gives her an incisive intellect that gets to the heart of the matter while her coaching training and natural intuitive approach allows her to respond with authenticity in the moment.

We are in for a treat on 4th December – so come and join the conversation, take part in the Q&A and be prepared for a meaty discussion about the creative process as well as women’s empowerment, body image, footbinding and the other themes of the show!

~~

BUY TICKETS

**You can buy tickets for Bound Feet Blues via bit.ly/bfbtickets **

DETAILS

Tristan Bates Theatre
1A Tower St, Covent Garden WC2H 9NP

Tue 24 Nov – Sat 12 Dec, Tue – Sat at 7.30pm.
Tickets £16 / £12 concessions.
Q&As post-show, 27 Nov & 4 Dec.

**BUY ONLINE via: bit.ly/bfbtickets **

 

“This was not the life I was meant to have…” – Bound Feet Blues Performance Photo

/ Yang-May Ooi / Leave a comment

In Bound Feet Blues, writer/ performer tells the story of her great-grandmother in China who had bound feet. This performance photo from the showcase night in Oct last year, shows Yang-May enacting a scene of this bound foot woman from her family’s history: “This was not the life I was meant to have…!”

** Bound Feet Blues is NOW ON  at the Tristan Bates Theatre until Sat 12 December 2015. Don’t miss this “mesmerising” and “powerful” show – buy tickets below or via bit.ly/bfbtickets **

~~

BUY TICKETS

**You can buy tickets for Bound Feet Blues via bit.ly/bfbtickets **

DETAILS

Tristan Bates Theatre Continue reading →

“Terrific… poignant… sexy” – Read Audience Feedback on Bound Feet Blues

/ Yang-May Ooi / Leave a comment

“Terrific… poignant… sexy”

Ben Monks, Creative Producer of Tristan Bates Theatre described the show as “a powerful, provocative and intimate story told in an intelligent and engaging manner”

** Bound Feet Blues is NOW ON  at the Tristan Bates Theatre until Sat 12 December 2015. Don’t miss this “mesmerising” and “powerful” show – buy tickets below or via bit.ly/bfbtickets **

What audiences have said:

“Mesmerising – not for the faint hearted. Drew us in from the start and left us gasping for breath.”

“A riveting bravura performance that brilliantly weaves together personal stories, family history and gender issues with humour, sensitivity and great emotional impact.”

“I loved your physicality and performance. The piece was beautifully written – complex, moving, so many layers.”

“A powerful message well delivered… It’s simply a must see!”

“Go and see it!”

“Spellbinding”

“It was a powerful performance – I had to remind myself to breathe. Truly wonderful! we want more!”

~~

BUY TICKETS

**You can buy tickets for Bound Feet Blues via bit.ly/bfbtickets **

DETAILS

Tristan Bates Theatre
1A Tower St, Covent Garden WC2H 9NP

Tue 24 Nov – Sat 12 Dec, Tue – Sat at 7.30pm.
Tickets £16 / £12 concessions.
Q&As post-show, 27 Nov & 4 Dec.

**BUY ONLINE via: bit.ly/bfbtickets **

Bound Feet Blues opens tonight for 3 weeks – Buy tickets here!

/ Yang-May Ooi / Leave a comment

Writer/ performer Yang-May Ooi and the creative team are at the theatre right now working on the final preparations for opening night tonight. There is the final dress rehearsal, the technical lighting run through and making sure the set is just right.

Then, finally, after almost of a year of preparation, Bound Feet Blues will open as a full production tonight at 7.30pm at Tristan Bates Theatre for a 3 week run. The house lights will go down and as a haunting fusion ballad of East and West plays, Yang-May will step onto the stage to perform the work she wrote almost two years ago….

Have you got your tickets yet?

Go to the bottom of this page for the link to the box office or go straight to buy tickets via bit.ly/bfbtickets

There’s still an outside chance that there will be tickets left for opening night tonight – but if not, the show runs for 3 weeks to 12 Dec. So there’s still time to get your tickets to catch this extra-ordinary solo show.

Watch the highlights from the showcase performance in Oct last year:

 

~~

BUY TICKETS

**You can buy tickets for Bound Feet Blues via bit.ly/bfbtickets **

DETAILS

Tristan Bates Theatre
1A Tower St, Covent Garden WC2H 9NP

Tue 24 Nov – Sat 12 Dec, Tue – Sat at 7.30pm.
Tickets £16 / £12 concessions.
Q&As post-show, 27 Nov & 4 Dec.

**BUY ONLINE via: bit.ly/bfbtickets **

Meet The Centre for Solo Performance where writer/ performer Yang-May Ooi developed the script of Bound Feet Blues

/ Yang-May Ooi / Leave a comment

Bound Feet Blues was just an idea in the mind of writer/ performer Yang-May Ooi when she signed up for a workshop at The Centre for Solo Performance in January 2014. With the guidance of facilitators Luke Dixon and Sean Bruno and the feedback of the others workshop participants, Yang-May completed the script of Bound Feet Blues in 12 weeks. She performed a work-in-progress version of the piece at the Centre’s Going Solo scratch night in March 2014 at Conway Hall.

At the performance was one of the producers of the South East Asian (SEA) Arts Festival, Annie Kwan, who invited Yang-May to perform the completed show at that year’s festival in October. The showcase was performed at the Tristan Bates Theatre to a sold out audience and 4+ star reviews. Now, within 2 years of first starting the script, Yang-May and the Bound Feet Blues creative team have brought the show to full production, opening at Tristan Bates Theatre for a 3 week run on 24 November 2015.

The Centre for Solo Performance

CSP-workshopBased in central London at historic Conway Hall, THE CENTRE FOR SOLO PERFORMANCE works with THE CONWAY COLLECTIVE in providing a specialist series of unique performance workshops, events and opportunities catering to writers, actors and performance artists interested in creating, developing, sharing solo performance work.

LukeDixonSeanhiresLuke Dixon is a performance maker, writer, teacher and academic, internationally known for his innovative productions of Shakespeare, his site-specific performances, his teaching of actors and his research into performance. www.lukedixon.co.uk Sean Bruno has a wide range of experience in making, both solo and collaborative, performance work in various contemporary and traditional styles; including dance, spoken word, multimedia and site specific. www.seanbruno.co.uk

Creating Solo PerformanceTheir book Creating Solo Performance is now available as well. It is an innovative toolbox of exercises and challenges focused on providing you – the performer – with engaging and inspiring ways to explore and develop your idea both on the page and in the performance space. Creating Solo Performance by Sean Bruno and Luke Dixon £18.99

You can watch highlights from that first scratch night performance at Conway Hall below:

~~

BUY TICKETS

**You can buy tickets for Bound Feet Blues via bit.ly/bfbtickets **

Continue reading →

Introducing the landscape of Bound Feet Blues – Malaysia, where writer/ performer Yang-May Ooi grew up

/ Yang-May Ooi / Leave a comment

The setting of Bound Feet Blues ranges from Oxford in England to China and the Australian Outback – and to Malaysia, the childhood home of writer/ performer Yang-May Ooi. We are sharing with you some of these landscapes here on this blog.

Many of the scenes in Bound Feet Blues depict Yang-May as a child running barefoot in the garden and spending time with her family.  To give you a feel of that lush tropical landscape that forms the central heart of the show, here are some photos of gardens in Malaysia and of Kuala Lumpur, Yang-May’s hometown.

 

Garden, Kuala Lumpur – from flickr.com (CCL) https://www.flickr.com/photos/smarterwithin/

 

Garden, Kuala Lumpur – via Pinterest – https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/412079434624710326/

 

Malaysia – contrast of East and West – from flickr.com (CCL) – https://www.flickr.com/photos/hagens_world/

~~

BUY TICKETS

**You can buy tickets for Bound Feet Blues via bit.ly/bfbtickets **

Continue reading →

Yang-May Ooi on Resonance FM’s Out in South London talking about Bound Feet Blues with Rosie Wilby

/ Yang-May Ooi / Leave a comment

Writer/ performer Yang-May Ooi dropped into the Out in South London studio at Resonance FM earlier this week to talk to Rosie Wilby about Bound Feet Blues, the show and the book. Bound Feet Blues may be about bound feet but it is also Yang-May’s coming out story – and Yang-May chats to Rosie about the metaphor of binding and restriction in the show and how it relates to her emerging lesbian identity. They also talk about friendship and falling in love… of course!

To listen to the conversation with Yang-May, click on the image below:

resonance screenshot

OR click here to launch the audio player

You can also listen to the whole show via the Out in South London Listen Again page for 17 November 2015.

Out in South London

Out In South London is a weekly LGBT radio show on Resonance 104.4FM that goes out live every Tuesday at 6.30pm. It is devised and presented by comedian Rosie Wilby and jointly produced by Rosie Wilby and Sabine Schereck.

Out in South London started as a monthly show on South City Radio in Peckham in December 2008. Rosie was inspired by shows like Out This Week on Radio 5 Live in the 1990s, where she once worked as a trainee reporter. The show transferred to Resonance 104.4FM in late 2009.

~~

BUY TICKETS

**You can buy tickets for Bound Feet Blues via bit.ly/bfbtickets **

DETAILS

Tristan Bates Theatre
1A Tower St, Covent Garden WC2H 9NP

Tue 24 Nov – Sat 12 Dec, Tue – Sat at 7.30pm.
Tickets £16 / £12 concessions.
Q&As post-show, 27 Nov & 4 Dec.

**BUY ONLINE via: bit.ly/bfbtickets **