Annual Report 2015

Fourth Monkey Annual Report 2015

After being shortlisted for The Stage School of the Year award last year, 2015 has been another landmark year in the short life of Fourth Monkey, having recently made the significant move to our very own training and performance space, The Monkey House. The entire monkey family stands to benefit from the building over the coming years, from student to alumni and the wider arts community. The Monkey House promises to be a hub of creativity and a ’school for life', fulfilling a core objective of the company in terms of its development and growth from conception.

The innovative Fourth Monkey Ensemble, a company borne exclusively of graduates, a concept unique to Fourth Monkey has recently completed it’s critically acclaimed, award nominated touring production of the ACE funded Elephant Man.

The ensemble are currently in the development stage for two new productions for 2016, continuing the great work of 2015 whilst developing partnerships and associations with leading venues and producers nationwide including a joint project with The Marlowe Theatre, whilst being in discussions with future projects with Theatre Delicatessen.

With graduate employment figures reaching a new high of 92% and significant increases in both applicants and audiences, more than 15,000 people seeing our work in 2015 alone, the company continues to grow it’s brand and industry reputation beyond the shores of the UK. Applicants from the European Union have increased this year by 18%, seeing a significant increase in cultural diversity within the classroom across both of our training programmes.

Annual Report 2015


The Monkey House This September Fourth Monkey took a huge step in its development, moving into its own training and performance base on Seven Sisters Road near Finsbury Park Station, North London. This move fulfilled a core objective of the company since its’ conception of delivering a training base and ‘home’ for training students and alumni alike. This includes delivering free masterclasses and refreshers to alumni making it a genuine ‘school for life’. This policy has been core to our principles and mission from conception. The Monkey House also stands to

act as an innovative artistic hub offering professional development to the wider industry in the form of short courses and classes, which are also offered to alumni at heavily discounted rates. The creation of the building places Fourth Monkey in a strong position to develop it’s growing reputation as a centre for excellence and creative learning, whilst placing itself central to the arts community in offering an innovative new building to develop and support new work by new and diverse voices.

This move has been a long time coming – finding suitable space in London is not easy! – but thanks to our brilliant team, we’ve finally found ourselves a home of our own. The ‘Monkey House’ is a crucial part of the company’s development for our actors in training, and indeed our alumni, with whom we retain a working relationship as part of our commitment and ethos.

The building is located on the Haringey/Islington border in North London and provides Fourth Monkey with numerous studio spaces, office space, a costume and props store, a number of student facilities and resources including a student library, along with a main performance studio and dance studio.

The building is of course primarily for Fourth Monkey’s students and our professional touring ensemble to develop and rehearse work in as well

as being a support mechanism to young and emerging artists. Students and alumni companies are bale to use spaces to aid their own personal development in an environment where they are supported and can easily help and collaborate with each other. Our ethos is ensemble-based by design and with this building, our ensemble’s reach will now become the wider arts community too.


Alumni

With graduate employment figures of 92% having worked professionally in the 12 months since graduation (figures correct as of November 2015), improving the already impressive 78% of the previous year our alumni are proving hugely successful in forging careers for themselves within the industry upon completion of their training. Our alumni are proving themselves to be adaptable, industry-ready and malleable as demonstrated through the diverse nature of work they have gone on to do since they finished training with us. From TV/Film, educational work, stage work as well as creating their own companies. The page below shows examples of the work are graduates are currently involved in:

92% of graduates have worked

professionally within 12 months of graduation

(correct as of November 2015)


In addition to this, our graduates are also working internationally on a variety of tours and overseas projects. These include touring theatre productions and TIE tours in Germany and Italy as well various filming projects in Europe.

Our graduates have also proven to be highly successful in acquiring professional representation whilst in training with us or indeed soon after completion of training.100% of 2014 alumni who were actively pursuing an agent and not solely focusing on forming their own companies, have acquired an agent one within twelve months of graduation.

Graduate Companies

With a strong track record of developing new companies from our training programmes 2015 has seen further successes for our leading alumni companies. Most notably Human Zoo and Shrink who have had incredibly progressive years, being awarded multiple bursaries and rewards for their work, including the Les Enfants Terribles developing company bursary and Theatre Deli’s developing artist award respectively. Both companies are continuing the work developed whilst in training and we celebrate and support them in the creation of bold, imaginative and resonant contemporary theatre. They are joined this year by another alumni company, Attila Theatre, who are embarking on their careers as theatre makers following graduation in 2015. They, like those before will benefit from creative and developmental support from Fourth Monkey.


Fourth Monkey Ensemble We pride ourselves in being able to employ our Two-Year Rep graduates to perform in our touring company, the Fourth Monkey Ensemble. During the first half of 2015 five recent graduates were employed on equity contracts thanks to ACE funding on our critically acclaimed touring production of Elephant Man, described as “searing and uplifting” by The Stage. The production toured nationally to predominantly full houses, performing over 35 dates receiving an Off West End award nomination for best actor and some glowing press:

“This is small scale touring theatre at its most inventive.With a story to tell that is of its own time and for ours.”

The Stage

“The production succeeds in absorbing the audience into Merrick’s world”

The Independent

“Elephant Man” is one of the must-see shows of the year so far and if I could give it 10 stars I would but even that wouldn’t be enough praise for such an amazing, compelling, thought provoking and unforgettable production.

London Theatre

“Fourth Monkey’s Elephant Man is simple and beautiful in its execution, uplifting, unforgettable”

Stage Review

On the back of the Elephant Man tour the Ensemble’s growth has been significant, creating a new project with The Marlowe in Canterbury as a direct result of the relationship built in delivering Elephant Man and other outreach projects with the theatre. In addition, the Ensemble currently have two further projects in development for scheduled tour in 2016-17.

One piece being developed is borne directly from the ‘fringe’ project of original student developed work on the Two-Year Rep that has been awarded a bursary for development from Fourth Monkey. The bursary is to the value of £15,000 investment, alongside additional dramaturgical and creative support to develop the project in to a fully fledged piece of work from it’s scratch origin. The piece will ultimately become a touring project directed by the company’s artistic director and involving 5 recent graduates in the cast and an additional alumni as an assistant director.


The Ensemble are also delighted to be employing alumni for workshops and outreach work in schools, colleges and higher education institutions as the company continues to embolden it’s commitment to provide employment opportunities for their graduate actors as a means of supporting them at the outset of their careers. Coupled with this a significant aspect of the Fourth Monkey training programmes commitment to it’s students is to offer a bursary for the development of new work as outlined above. These schemes will continue as part of the Two-Year Rep’s training programme, designed to offer yet more professional industry opportunity in support of our graduates actors upon the completion of their training and the launch of their careers.

Awards and ReviewsWith an established and formidable Edinburgh Fringe track record with both our training and graduating company, Fourth Monkey continued to deliver work to critical acclaim at Edinburgh Fringe in 2015 following on from previous successes. This year we took four productions with around 80 company members performing over the month. Our Grimm season comprised of Grimm tales Little Red Cap, Hansel & Gretel and Rapunzel with our Year of the Monkey’s and with our graduating Two Year Rep students: ‘The Bloody Countess’. All shows were well received by Fringe audiences with all shows welcoming sell-out audiences during the run.

“A perfect production” Broadway Baby on Hansel & Gretel

“Beautiful & striking” A Younger Theatre on Little Red Cap

“Stellar ensemble piece” Broadway Baby on The Bloody Countess


Our Students The Fourth Monkey student is an individual and that individual’s individuality is central in retaining our unique ensemble training environment. We celebrate the diversity in our workshop rooms in all it’s variable forms with our students drawn from all over Europe and the UK bringing with them a broad range of life experiences and backgrounds which in itself creates a rich learning environment. We believe in building on the individual and celebrating their uniqueness, we do not believe in breaking down to rebuild and this is something our students appreciate and celebrate in both their work and their feedback. Against a supportive background focusing on ‘playing’, ’exploring’ and ‘failing gloriously’ our actors in training are free to express and truly discover themselves as performers without prescription or design. Our training is founded in the principles of Lecoq, Wright, Meisner and Grotowski, yet not exclusively so with the objective being to provide our actors in training with a rounded ‘toolkit’ to enable them to adapt to the various rigours and demands of the industry and to enable them to work in any professional room. We feel this approach enables the actor to remain an individual whilst at the same time acquiring the knowledge and skills to enable them to work and thrive within the contemporary industry

Every August Fourth Monkey’s training year ends with a visit to the Edinburgh Fringe for the duration of the entire festival, with both our one year and two year courses concluding at the end of the fringe. The festival offers an inspiring fishbowl experience for those about to embark on their professional careers and is a fantastic springboard to launch them headlong into it often with opportunities, contacts and work borne directly from the experience; either by association or directly as has previously been the case with the transfer of Fourth Monkey’s work to professional settings in London and beyond.


Testimonials 2015 "After what seems to have been a lifetime, leaving Fourth Monkey now I am prepared for whatever comes my way next. I know my training will not fail me. I know what is to work myself to the bone and to not cheat myself into doing otherwise. I know if I work as hard as I did here I will go a very long way in the future. But most of all I know Fourth Monkey itself will continue to grow and become something spectacular. I will need to make sure that I'm not left behind."

Daniel Chrisostomou - Fourth Monkey Alumnus and OffWestEnd award nominated for Best Actor with the Fourth Monkey Ensemble’s production of Elephant Man

“Fourth Monkeys’ main focus of ensemble creates a beautifully free and safe environment to risk take, fail and fall in and get back up laughing with your peers. It's a family I never thought I'd have. If you want to succeed in a battling industry Fourth Monkey have proven and still prove to deliver.”

Will Townsend, current Two Year Rep student

“It is a real pleasure and privilege to be working with Fourth Monkey. They offer an exceptionally valuable and unique training for actors and physical performers. Performers in training with Fourth Monkey not only learn new skills and techniques but they also get a real opportunity to discover their own voice as individual theatre makers.”

Guillaume Pige, Artistic Director Theatre Re

“Fourth Monkey has exceeded all my expectations. I have learnt a tremendous amount from brilliant practitioners who care greatly about your development and growth as an actor. I have loved the ethos of the ensemble training as well as growing so much as an individual. I have found this year so valuable and enjoyable that I decided to carry on my training with the two year course. Fourth monkey is an exciting company to be part of who challenge you to be bold, daring and the

best version of yourself.”

Hayley Muirhead, YOM alumnus and current Two Year rep student

“The two-year training is extraordinary in being compact yet comprehensive. Learning through doing is an invaluable practice and I am delighted to have been part of such a innovative ensemble. The company has been incredibly supportive and strives to make their actors the best that they can be. The best choice I could've made was coming to Fourth Monkey.”

Alex Newport, Two Year Rep Alumnus

“I joined Fourth Monkey as a doe-eyed 18 year old, scared to even volunteer in group exercises. In my 3 years with them I have truly become the person I am today. Being instilled with a sense of ensemble every step of the way I know I've made connections and friendships that will keep me strong in this industry. If this company has taught me anything, it is that everything is possible!”

Beth Smith, Two Year Rep Alumnus


National & International PartnershipsFourth Monkey has built an extensive number of links

both nationally and internationally. One of the main highlights in the first year of the Two-Year Rep course is

the month long residency in Italy, training under Commedia dell’Arte maestro Antonio Fava. This gives the

students a first hand, in depth look at the historical art form and the archetypes that form the foundational

aspects of Fourth Monkey’s physical performance style and training.

As well as these international links, there are many theatres and organisations within the UK we have formed

strong and collaborative relationships with, these include Told by an Idiot, Theatre Re, Gecko, Blind Summit, Theatre Temoin, Complicite, SmallNose, All In and Sketty Productions amongst many others. Additionally we continue to build exciting links with venues and programmers both with our training company and our graduate Ensemble.

The professional graduate ensemble company following their successful touring production of Elephant Man throughout 2015 continue to forge new relationships whilst also developing established links further in a professional context. This development is one Fourth Monkey is actively looking to build on and grow with other venues as the company continues to build it’s reputation nationwide.

Additionally, the link with the Marlowe theatre in Canterbury has continued beyond the work on stage, we now have practitioners from the theatre actively employing and working with our students and graduates in London and Canterbury, as well as inviting Fourth Monkey to host workshops in Canterbury for local schools and colleges and at the University of Kent, another partner organisation we have and continue to collaborate with.

As previously mentioned, one of the strongest links outside of the training company is with our professional touring company formed solely of Fourth Monkey graduates, The Fourth Monkey Ensemble.

As well as the touring element of the company, one of the things Fourth Monkey offer is a bursary for students to take work started whilst in training to develop it further - ultimately into a professional show. This year this bursary is to the value of an initial £15,000 as outlined above to develop a project that will ultimately tour with our graduate ensemble company in Autumn 2016.

The bursary is awarded to the scratch piece that has the most potential when they perform it as part of their Experimental Fringe module held at The Etcetera Theatre in Camden at the end of the first term of the second year. For this unit they must pitch and create their own 15/20 minute piece of original work which ultimately leads to the development of the project. To include production and stage management of the shows themselves as well as devising, writing and directing them. The long-term objective with these projects, as with the current piece in development in partnership with Alumni is to create national and international touring work of the highest calibre.


Outreach Work Now established in our own building one of the main points of developmental focus over the coming years will be to continue to work with our ensemble in furthering our educational outreach programme. This is specifically targeting schools in the inner cities with a view to introducing students to the company’s way of working and indeed physical ensemble performance as a whole.

These workshops and sessions are currently being offered free to schools and offering a form of employment to our alumni as they outreach to institutions in delivering the work, this philosophy is central to the principles of the training company.

The intention of this work is multi-fold. Firstly to offer schools and educational institutions the opportunity to work and ultimately collaborate with the company on projects and educational programmes, whilst also actively pursuing opportunity to unearth talent to whom the company can offer scholarships to train with them, thus actively playing a significant role in the de-gentrification of actor training, something the company believes passionately in.

A workshop programme also ran nationally alongside our touring production of Elephant Man in 2015 which has been performed in a number of colleges and accompanied by a complimentary workshop.

Beyond this initial phase the ultimate objective of this strand of the company’s work as outlined in last years application was to form a diverse, innovative central creative hub whereby we can provide support to our alumni as well as the wider community who may be looking for space/and or collaborators. With the advent of the Monkey House, this hub is now a reality and is being developed to serve as affordable or free space (something that is of a premium in London) to give our alumni companies such as Shrink (supported by Theatre Delicatessen on their emerging artists programme), Human Zoo (winners of the Les Enfants Terribles award for emerging artists) as well as recent alumni company Attila Theatre along with other young and emerging companies to create and develop exciting new work.

This core development is central to Fourth Monkey’s mission statement and defined objective of supporting emerging artists in the most hands on way possible. This support extends to dramaturgical, creative and other forms of support in kind for new and emerging artists in the creation of collaborative and innovative new work.

Workshops and development

As stated above, we continue our programme of workshops in schools and colleges as well as housing free taster workshops by means of introducing people to the company and our physical way of working.

We also now offer a programme of short courses designed to support professionals in their development and bring different audiences into the building alongside our training actors, again enhancing the reputation of the Monkey House as an artistic and cultural hub for our actors, alumni and the wider developing arts community.


Other Successes Through partnership with The Stage in 2014 and 2015, Fourth Monkey have had the pleasure of offering two half-scholarships for new students on our Two Year Rep actor training programme and we are delighted to have signed up to the scheme again for our 2016 applicants. Additionally, funded by the in-house Emrys Johns Scholarship award another talented student’s training is supported and enabled to train with the company on the Two-Year Rep actor training programme where elsewhere it may not be possible for them to do so.

Through an innovative partnership and mentoring programme with a number of our partners, most notably Told by an Idiot and Complicite, Fourth Monkey has been able to offer our students some of the best contemporary directorial talent to work with whilst in training, examples being RSC associate director Justin Audibert, Theatre Temoin’s Ailin Conant, Sketty Productions’ Toby Clarke, the Marlowe Theatre’s Andrew Dawson, Simone Coxall, award winning All In’s Stephen Sobal and The Spanish Theatre Company’s Jorge De Juan. 2016 promises another collaboration with Told by an Idiot as well as Shunt’s Gemma Brockis and further collaboration with The Spanish Theatre Company’s Artistic Director Jorge De Juan.

Onward As Fourth Monkey moves towards 2016 and it’s sixth year of intake in the September, the company looks forward to the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead with the clear goal of continuing to develop it’s ensemble rep training programme and to reach wider audiences with both it’s work and training ethos whilst ensuring a long-lasting legacy with the establishment of The Monkey House.

For those who have supported our work over the last calendar year, we thank you and to those who have worked with and for us we are sincerely indebted to you for your talent, commitment and belief in our training philosophy. As we say to our students, ‘once a monkey always a monkey’ and we extend the same to you.

Yours sincerely,

Steven Green

Artistic Director

Documents

Annual Report 2015