Chapter 8
2013-2015
Bianco, Open House, Noodles and Block
2013
British Council listing
Company business
British Council listing - Theatre and Dance section
Mentions: Barricade, Bianco, Parklife/Parklife Pod, with fairly detailed descriptions of the shows.
"NoFit's latest spectacle, directed by Firenza Guidi, is like dropping in on a wild party thrown by strangers, and emerging two hours later having begun to establish a peculiar but intoxicating kinship with your hosts. Portentously subtitled 'standing on the edge of the wilderness', this orchestrated chaos is peopled by exhibitionists infused with a kind of mad bacchanalian courage."
Donald Hutera, The Times - reviewing Tabu in the 2008 incarnation.
2013
Streets Alive / Open House
Community shows
2013
Bianco - turning savage
Shows
After Bianco ‘time for beauty’ in Eden it was time to ‘turn savage’ The show was reworked with a slightly harder, darker edge. This had to be the craziest tour ever, rehearsed in the WMC Premiered at the Roundhouse in April back to the WMC, Transferring to the Big Top for Brighton, touring the UK and Europe and finishing off at the Perth festival in Australia the following February.
Go to Show Page
Bianco in The Roundhouse
17 April 2013
Live Broadcast from Roundhouse
Shows
BIANCO, the latest show from the UK’s best-loved contemporary circus will be broadcast live from the Roundhouse Main Space on Wednesday 17 April at 7.30pm.
BIANCO is an immersive promenade experience that takes place above, behind and all around a standing audience. With a constantly evolving narrative set to a pounding soundtrack performed by a live band, this is the kind of all-consuming theatrical experience that can only happen at the Roundhouse.
"All performances will be broadcast live by the trainee crew of the Bloomberg Broadcast Volunteer Programme.
Please note dialogue in the performance is performed in English, French and Portuguese"
2013
Noodles
Shows
Noodles was a departure from our normal work. Made as small scale show for theatre touring and family audiences. Silly, stupid and surreal, we had a lot of fun with the stringy food staple.
11 Dec 2013
Four Elms opens
Premises
NOFIT STATE CIRCUS: THE OPENING OF FOUR ELMS COMMUNITY CREATIVE SPACE
14 - 23 Feb 2014
Taking the Air
Shows
A commission by Showzam circus festival in Blackpool to animate the festival central space with large scale aerial routines 4 x day with a cast of 12 and band
The Olympia Winter Gardens.
[From the main website]
Taking the Air is an explosion of circus when you least expect it. A cacophony of colour. A spectacle of sound.
Wide-eyed circus performers will pull you into their world for a brief, enchanting moment. You might be in a queue, buying coffee, or walking the dog; you'll soon be immersed in a fantastical circus spectacular. Brightly dressed characters will make you forget where you came from and draw you into their dreams. NoFit State comes to Take the Air, and take Blackpool by storm.
Taking the Air was commissioned for Showzam Festival and was performed in February 2014.
3 -4 April 2014
Ali at ArtWorks Cymru Conference
Presentations
Ali Williams from NoFit State Circus talks about their recent project, Park Life, as part of the ArtWorks Cymru Conference 2014.
(Yes, that's Brian Eno watching Parklife rehearsals)
2014
Bianco 2014
Shows
Bianco 2014 reworked and redeveloped as Bianco ‘here be dragons’ we rehearsed in Cardiff in the Big Top outside John St. Before another major international tour finishing at the prestigious Bilal du cirqu in Marseilles in Feb. 2015. All new music this year with David Murray stepping in to MD
Go to Show Page
28 January 2015
Drum roll please:
Other News
Drum roll please: Take to the air with 17 NoFit State Circus snaps from the past.
Liz launched an appeal through the local press - for people with memories of NoFit State shows, over the years.
30 Jan 2015
Appearing in the Arts Power List for 2015
Awards
26. TOM RACK AND ALI WILLIAMS
Three decades ago Rack and Williams were among the five young friends who started out performing together. Today they are co-Creative Directors of NoFit State Circus, which is one of the most successful circus companies in the world. They currently have productions being staged as part of the London International Mime Festival: MimeLondon and the International Circus Festival in Marseille.
2015
Bianco 2015
Shows
Significant cast changes gave us an opportunity to reinvigorate the show. Rehearsing and premiering in Cardiff for the second year running, before a month in Antwerp, a month in Prague and a 2 month tour of France.
Go to Show Page
Past, Present and Future
The last five years
Dec 2015
Big thanks to John Ellingsworth
Major Collaborations
We owe a lot to John Ellingsworth, who designed and built this website, for us - and listened patiently to our feedback.
Please visit his own website - Sideshow Circus Magazine.
15 January 2016
Toby's last words
Memories
We have finished the official year of archiving, but this kind of project can never feel entirely 'complete'.
We have now handed over all the paperwork to The Glamorgan Archives - so if you are missing a photo, or a newspaper cutting here, they may well have it! The website only represents a selection of what we found.
Likewise, we have given all the oral histories to the Cardiff Story Museum.
Although the paid work (from the Heritage Lottery Fund) has finished, no doubt I (and others) will continue to tweak the site, and add updates (for instance, we now know that Ali Williams has resigned as a Creative Director, and will pursue her own projects from now on.) Volunteered work, over and above paid hours, typified the circus from day one.
January 2016
Company documents deposited in The Glamorgan Archives
Company business
At the end of the year-long Archive Project Toby Philpott delivers the Company's paper documents to Glamorgan Archives
January 2016
Archive Project audios gifted to Cardiff Story Museum
Company business
Liz Lavender and Polly Baggott hand over recordings, consent forms and summaries of some 136 audio stories to Samantha Heale
February 2016
Ali interviewed for Sideshow circus magazine
Articles
Ali Williams, one of the founder members who stayed and developed the company over a period of 30 years - in interview with John Ellingsworth on his web-based magazine - Sideshow Circus Magazine.
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