The Patrick Studio was completed during Birmingham Hippodrome's award-winning redevelopment, endowed with a generous gift from The Patrick Trust. An adaptable studio theatre seating just over 200 people, it is fully accessible with air-conditioning and state-of-the-art technical equipment.
The Patrick Studio is home to DanceXchange, one of Birmingham Hippodrome’s partner organisations, and a national centre of excellence for dance. DanceXchange is one of nine national dance agencies committed to presenting and promoting the best in dance and bringing together artists, companies, educators and venues to benefit people of all ages, abilities and cultural backgrounds.
The Patrick Studio is used for research, rehearsing and creating new work, professional development, education and performance. This studio theatre is a great space to bring any small scale production to fruition ready for touring. It is a totally adaptable room that can be set out as a traditional performance and auditorium with raked seating or as an installation style space.
Groundbreaking dance project Critical Mass brings together some of...
Last weekend, British Youth Music Theatre presented a brand new musical, based on George Orwell’s novella, Animal Farm, whose plot centres around the animal population of a farm overthrowing the (human) farmer. While the original was an allegory for Stalin’s dictatorship, this reimagined version, written and directed by Ellie Jones, sought to bring the story into 2024.
Hosted by Birmingham Hippodrome and their New Musicals Department, and performed in the venue’s Patrick Centre, this production featured over 30 cast members, and a small group of excellent musicians live on stage.
The young cast were talented, with prominent soloist singers and strong performances from the all-singing, all-dancing troupe of animals. Highlights included an impactful duet from Napoleon (Amy Bennett) and Snowball (Ezra Jones), the farm’s mis-aligned pig leaders, as they tried to win favour with their chorus of voters. Nel Jenkins had an excellent solo as the cynical Cat, showcasing some seriously impressive voice control.
The leading performances were generally very strong, given the company's relative inexperience, with horses Boxer (Jonathan Chant-Stevens), Clover (Tess Harper) and Molly (Summer Bindley-Carr) taking on prominent roles in the story, and solo songs to boot. Mackenzie Winnall was also engaging as the alcoholic, shotgun-wielding farmer.
The reimagined story began with a similar trajectory to Orwell’s, but the tale twisted to highlight more modern ‘issues of authoritarianism, misinformation, and social inequality’, according to the director’s programme note. However, new elements of the plot didn’t quite gel with Orwell’s characters on stage, and lacked some clarity. Arguably, to tell an updated version of this story, it needed a new selection of allegorical animal characters altogether.
The songs, music and choreography were impressive, showcasing the talent of the performers. Tom Ling’s lyrics worked nicely in the ‘folk pop’ score, under the musical direction of Geddy Stinger. Bradley Charles’ choreography was visually impactful, and added a great deal to the songs and performances.
British Youth Music Theatre is a performing arts education charity, who train aspiring performers aged 11-21 in collaborative new musicals. They run courses and summer camps in which the young people work together to create shows over an intense period of one or two weeks. To build a production in such a short space of time is impressive, and the final result was a testament to the company’s hard work.
The company returns to the Hippodrome from 16 - 18 August, with Unbound: a production exploring the nuances of community, set to an 80s-fuelled pop-rock score, and promising ‘big choruses, big hair and big magic’. For those who want to support a talented young company, or prospective participants, it should be worth a watch.
The Patrick Studio was completed during Birmingham Hippodrome's award-winning redevelopment, endowed with a generous gift from The Patrick Trust. An adaptable studio theatre seating just over 200 people, it is fully accessible with air-conditioning and state-of-the-art technical equipment.
The Patrick Studio is home to DanceXchange, one of Birmingham Hippodrome’s partner organisations, and a national centre of excellence for dance. DanceXchange is one of nine national dance agencies committed to presenting and promoting the best in dance and bringing together artists, companies, educators and venues to benefit people of all ages, abilities and cultural backgrounds.
The Patrick Studio is used for research, rehearsing and creating new work, professional development, education and performance. This studio theatre is a great space to bring any small scale production to fruition ready for touring. It is a totally adaptable room that can be set out as a traditional performance and auditorium with raked seating or as an installation style space.
Patrick Studio,
Birmingham Hippodrome Theatre,
Hurst Street
B5 4TB
Bollywood Time Machine
Sat 7 Dec
An evening filled with laughter, dance, and timeless melodies
The Jingleclaw
From Thurs 12 Dec
The perfect first musical for ages 3+
Coming Together
Groundbreaking dance project Critical Mass brings together some of...
Last weekend, British Youth Music Theatre presented a brand new musical, based on George Orwell’s novella, Animal Farm, whose plot centres around the animal population of a farm overthrowing the (human) farmer. While the original was an allegory for Stalin’s dictatorship, this reimagined version, written and directed by Ellie Jones, sought to bring the story into 2024.
The young cast were talented, with prominent soloist singers and strong performances from the all-singing, all-dancing troupe of animals. Highlights included an impactful duet from Napoleon (Amy Bennett) and Snowball (Ezra Jones), the farm’s mis-aligned pig leaders, as they tried to win favour with their chorus of voters. Nel Jenkins had an excellent solo as the cynical Cat, showcasing some seriously impressive voice control.
The leading performances were generally very strong, given the company's relative inexperience, with horses Boxer (Jonathan Chant-Stevens), Clover (Tess Harper) and Molly (Summer Bindley-Carr) taking on prominent roles in the story, and solo songs to boot. Mackenzie Winnall was also engaging as the alcoholic, shotgun-wielding farmer.
The reimagined story began with a similar trajectory to Orwell’s, but the tale twisted to highlight more modern ‘issues of authoritarianism, misinformation, and social inequality’, according to the director’s programme note. However, new elements of the plot didn’t quite gel with Orwell’s characters on stage, and lacked some clarity. Arguably, to tell an updated version of this story, it needed a new selection of allegorical animal characters altogether.
The songs, music and choreography were impressive, showcasing the talent of the performers. Tom Ling’s lyrics worked nicely in the ‘folk pop’ score, under the musical direction of Geddy Stinger. Bradley Charles’ choreography was visually impactful, and added a great deal to the songs and performances.
British Youth Music Theatre is a performing arts education charity, who train aspiring performers aged 11-21 in collaborative new musicals. They run courses and summer camps in which the young people work together to create shows over an intense period of one or two weeks. To build a production in such a short space of time is impressive, and the final result was a testament to the company’s hard work.
The company returns to the Hippodrome from 16 - 18 August, with Unbound: a production exploring the nuances of community, set to an 80s-fuelled pop-rock score, and promising ‘big choruses, big hair and big magic’. For those who want to support a talented young company, or prospective participants, it should be worth a watch.
Reviewed by Jessica Clixby on Fri 5 April
3 Stars on Fri, 05 Apr 2024