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Forest Forge celebrates its 30th anniversary this year!
In celebration the company will be throwing open its doors for a number of events designed to celebrate and entertain. Events will include:
To find out more and to keep up to date with all these events sign up to our E-Newsletter on the left.
From the Artistic Directors:
"I had known Forest Forge by reputation for many years so it was very exciting to be offered the post of artistic director in the summer of 2004. There was only one small surprise in store for me. When I asked where the script was for the autumn touring production that was to be my first show for the company I was told “You have to write or devise it yourself!” There are no half measures at Forest Forge. When you work for the company you are right in the middle of an incredible hive of activity and creativity. Old FF hands made me welcome and helped me to understand the ethos which makes the company so distinctive. I was also told that we needed a Stage Manager for the next season and was lucky enough to find that an old friend from my Royal Theatre days in Northampton Dominic Phillips was available and willing to join us for the tour. Five years later he is still in post! It is that sort of place. Lucy Bailey, David Haworth and Karen Jeffries have all found working for Forest Forge pretty much addictive and are worthy of long service medals and Lisa Halpin has already completed her third year with the company. There are so many happy memories of my time at the Forge that it is hard to know where to begin, but projects which stand out in my mind are spending a weekend at the Streets of Brighton Festival performing a madcap piece called the Big Bang every ten minutes for an audience of one; being obliged to go on stage and perform in The Lost World at Sixpenny Handley and Ibsley Village Halls because an actor lost his voice; travelling across Newfoundland with writers Nell Leyshon and Robert Chafe, and enjoying a large number of post performance pints in lovely Hampshire and Dorset village pubs! Forest Forge continues to thrive because it hasn’t forgotten what lies at the heart of its work, the .local audience. I hope that I will be invited to write something on the FF website when the company reaches its 60th anniversary – always assuming I am capable of doing so!"
Sean Aita, Artistic Director 2004-2008
"It hardly seems possible that Forest Forge will soon be celebrating its 30th birthday in 2011!
I still have vivid memories of myself, and Mike Sherman in 1981 standing in the old costume cupboard at New Milton Arts Centre (Forest Arts) having heard the news that we had been successful in getting a Manpower Services Grant to set up the company.
I think the conversation went something like, "Well what are we going to call it?… Well… We’re in the Forest… Yeah?… And we want to forge links with people, don’t we?… That’s true… Why don’t we call it ‘Forest Forge’?... Why not!"
And so the name and the company were born. We recruited a permanent company - Debbie, Ruby, David and Andrew as well as Mike of course - and set off on one of the most exciting years of our lives, creating countless productions and touring to hundreds of children, young people and adults across the area. Highlights of the first year include productions of Tennesse Williams The Glass Menagerie, a devised musical adaptation of The Phantom of the Opera (before the Andrew Lloyd Webber version, I might add!), and a devised musical production of The Tinder Box that toured to schools throughout the area. In all during the first year we created over eight major productions!
The commitment and creativity of the company in that first year set the Forest Forge style that, in many ways, has remained ever since. The company made genuine relationships with the people they met and developed trust with the people who booked the shows. It was a privilege for all of us to be part of a unique opportunity, establishing our own new theatre company! The first year was a tremendous collaborative journey for both the company and its audiences and built the foundations for the years to come.
On a personal note its strange now to think that since leaving Forest Forge after thirteen years as its founder Artistic Director in 1994, I have now been freelance for longer than I ran the company! However, over the past years I have really appreciated being made so welcome when I have occasionally popped in to borrow props or costumes for one project or another. It’s been brilliant to see the company develop, thrive and maintain the positive and exciting atmosphere of the early years. Long may it continue." Karl Hibbert, Artistic Director 1981-1994
3 Men & a Suit © Forest Forge 2012
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