David Macintosh Loumgair

Written and Directed by Rikki Beadle Blair, I Assistant Directed this incredible production about 10 male youth offenders in a high-security wing going through an hour-long drama workshop. ‘Everyone’s inside for murder, but who is guilty? And what is innocence?’ It was hugely beneficial not only to further hone my directorial style alongside a hugely respected and knowledgeable director, but also to get a chance to stage a play at the Bush Theatre. The audience were on three sides, a form I had never previously worked with before, and so it was challenging to adapt to this style. However, with Rikki’s guidance and facilitation, I soon began gaining confidence with the form and became adept at experimenting with the style. Working alongside Rikki, who is such an accommodating and lovely director, massively increased my confidence and abilities with directing. The training I receive from him has also improved my time management, articulation and has given me invaluable experience working alongside a professional director and in a professional theatre.  

From May 2014- July 2014 I acted as the Assistant to the Director of Music (Bill Barclay) at Shakespeare’s Globe, which included tasks such as: Shadowing Directors/ Producers/ Composers to absorb skills and gain ideas. Striking the instruments and set of a performance and setting the stage for the next show. Repairing/ replacing instruments that are damaged and lost during a production. General administration such as researching obscure instruments and quickly sourcing them for a show. Assisting the musicians and those in the theatre department with anything they might require, such as help with an instrument or general queries. The job has given me outstanding communication skills, as it requires me to be able to comfortably and confidently talk to staff, patrons and visitors to the Globe all whilst simultaneously performing tasks for people. I have also heightened my abilities with time management, as I could be given tasks by over 5 members of staff, actors and musicians at one time, each each urgently requiring a task completed. I am able to closely adhere to a schedule and fulfil tasks with great detail and speed, making sure that the needs of all those in a department are aptly met...

I volunteered with Paines Plough on their three-day instillation event called ‘Come To Where I’m From’. ‘Come To Where I'm From’ was a theatrical tapestry of the UK, woven by writers asking if home is really where the heart is. Since 2010, 100 playwrights from across the UK had returned to their hometowns to write plays about the places that shaped them. At theatres from Bristol to Belfast, Cardiff to Coventry and Nottingham to Newcastle, these plays were performed by the playwrights themselves, travelling home to tell their tale. Now this five-year project culminated with a three-day installation and the launch of a smart phone app. An interactive 3-D map of the UK allowed listeners to hear tales of home from 100 of the UK's finest playwrights, by picking up headphones scattered around the map in various geographical locations. A free-to-download smart phone app also still offers people the chance to hear a playwright's travel guide to Britain. http://www.painesplough.com/current-programme/by-date/come-to-where-im-from http://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whatson/come-to-where-im-from-1000589

I act as Co-Founding Artistic Director of Dogs Of War, an area-specific, London-based company striving to wreak havoc with the traditional conventions of theatre. ‘Area-specific’ is a new form we have created, an extension of traditional site-specific theatre, as we are not focused solely on venue but also the surrounding area. The traditional definition of site-specific theatre is ‘any type of theatrical production designed to be performed at a unique, specially adapted location other than a standard theatre.’ With area-specific, we have widened the meaning of ‘location’ in order to give our productions stronger roots and allow us to work closely with the history and background of areas and communities. By incorporating the rich history surrounding a venue from the earliest points of development, we create unique, one-off theatre productions for the building/area we design it for. With emphasis on area over venue, the focus of our work becomes about community rather than box office. We strive to connect closely to surrounding communities by running workshops, inviting locals in to collaborate with us, and incorporating the interesting stories hidden in the ashes of London’s past. If what we are doing sounds interesting to you, keep up to date through...

A selection of photos from Black Waves Theatre Company's production of 'All Shook Up!' which I directed, stage managed and set designed, working as part of an ensemble with three others (Melissa Steven, Liam Mutch and Megan Smith) to help produce this show. Following the success of BACstage's production of 'Blood Brothers,' myself and the other ensemble members who had worked together on the production reformed and produced this musical for charity under our own company. We once again sold out our three night run, and as a young group of theatre- makers who had only worked together previously on one production, we were hugely proud of ourselves. We donated the entirety of our profit to chariy, which came to over £1000 for Cancer Research UK. We also worked closely with the local youth of our town who were cast in the show, and very much allowed the piece to be process- driven by them. Once again I believe the strengths of working as an ensemble shone through in the performance, and not only was the musical a success but was also huge fun to be a part of. Berwick Advertiser's Review of 'ALL SHOOK UP!' Hip-shaking cast make...

For RIFT’s Shakespeare in Shoreditch Festival which ran from the 1st- 13th of October 2014, aiming to reconnect the Shoreditch that the young Shakespeare lived and worked in with its vibrant 21st century counterpart, I acted as Company Liaison for the companies that had been selected to produce one of 8 new plays commissioned by RIFT. The 8 plays that have been comissioned all take inspiration from various Shakespeare texts and appropriates them into a contemporary setting, provoking the question: How can we contemporise Shakespeare to create innovative, exciting productions in the area where the Bard himself lived and worked? My responsibilities include: Meeting and greeting the companies that had been selected to produce the plays. Organising and setting up the rehearsal rooms in Balfron Tower for their rehearsals. Being the first point of contact for the companies, dealing with their requests and problems, or helping them if something went wrong. Liaising with them concerning rehearsal dates, requirements, charting the progress of their productions and so on. I greatly improved my communication skills and management abilities, as with 8 different theatre companies all rehearsing very intense productions in only 4 weeks, they all had a lot of requirements that...

I helped produce the incredible musical 'Sam & Isla Forever,' a piece of new writing by RJ Wilkinson, the Artistic Director of The Tideline Runners Theatre Company. The musical played from the 31st July- 1st August 2014, with a portion of the overall profit made being donated equally between Help For Heroes and the Poppy Appeal. I am also acting as fight choreographer for the production, ranging from basic stage punches to choreographing large battle scenes. This new musical follows the attempts of lawyer Martin Thackeray to gain pardons for the 306 soldiers shot at dawn for cowardice during WWI. From the creator of the critically acclaimed ‘Human Interest Stories’ and ‘The Words in the Wires,’ The Tideline Runners bring you the incredible love story that is born in The Great War and spans six decades. Set locally in Berwick upon Tweed between 1914 and 1974, and based on stories told by local army veterans, Sam & Isla Forever tells the tale of a boy and a girl torn apart by war, whose story would go on to inspire three lonely souls to aim so impossibly high in the name of justice. Featuring 20 originally composed new songs ranging...

I successfully applied to be on the Creative Board of the Almeida Theatre, a group of six young people aged 18 - 25 who over the course of a year will develop the producing and artistic programming skills needed to work in the creative industries. We will be given support and mentoring from the Almeida Theatre team, and will work together over the course of the year to: Produce one-off events, performances and fundraisers for Young Friends of the Almeida. Produce and commission a programme of young people’s performances and activity. Attend producing, marketing, fundraising and programming workshops. Attend theatre-making master-classes. Attend Almeida Theatre and Almeida Projects events. Achieve an Arts Award Qualification. Take on extra paid opportunities where available. I have worked with the Almeida previously on their ‘Shake It Out’ project with the Young Friends, and this is what let me to apply for this incredible opportunity. I hope to also look for opportunities to direct and produce, and I am greatly looking forward to working with other passionate and like-minded young people to bring a great year of work to the Almeida.

This workshop was an active exploration of the Donmar’s production of HENRY IV by Phyllida Lloyd, and gave me the chance to approach the text, to explore the themes of the play, and to gain a greater insight into how the production was developed in rehearsals. We explored questions such as ‘why are single-gender Shakespeare plays so popular?’ As well as looking into the idea of men’s relationship to space, and how generally women feel like they need to apologise for the space they occupy, which they shouldn’t have to. This is demonstrated in the physicality of the actresses in Henry IV, who externalise characteristics of male movements/ positions. We also had interesting discussions about the themes of falsehood, honour and intelligence, devising and creating short improvisations around these ideas. The workshop gave me valuable insight into contemporary Shakespeare productions, not just performed in a classical way, but also with modernised language and concepts. It revealed to me just how much can be done with Shakespeare in a unique and interesting way, and gave me a solid understanding on how to approach contemporising Shakespeare.

RIFT were commissioned to curate a corridor in the Faraday Royal Institution for a Channel 4 conference called 'Promax', focusing on the Future of Storytelling. This took place during the days of the 31st of October and the 1st of November 2014. We also had a £150 budget for actor's rate, costume, hair and make-up ect. The concept we used in terms of the corridor was that it was part of a Grand Exhibition of time travellers. Some of the inspiration and research included time travel, early broadcasting, Victoriana, body parts, inventions, cabinets of curiosities and more. As part of the project, myself and Martha Rumney of 'Dogs Of War Theatre' created the character of Frankenstein's Creature, employing Joanne Wells as our hair/ costume/ make-up artist, as well as employing Riley Madincea to write us a few monologues for the actor (Callum Cameron). Frankenstein's Creatute inhabited the space and interacted with the conference attendees over the two days, using the monologues and structured improvisation to convey a wider stoty/ concept. The concept was as follows: 'There is a Time Station , which has monitored humanity from the dawn of time and chartered their progress and evolution. It is made...

Following the sell-out overnight run of Shakespeare’s Macbeth during the summer of 2014, RIFT explore Shakespeare’s most interpretable and intriguing characters – the weird sisters. I acted as Assistant Producer to a production that took place in the gallery of the Witches and Wicked Bodies exhibition in the British Museum and also at Rich Mix. Using extracts of text from Macbeth and also some new writing from Thomas McMullan ( Macbeth ), the 3 Witches interacted with the paintings and artwork displayed in the exhibition, recounting fictional stories of the images and other objects. We also used 15 audience plants to interact with the audience and support the atmosphere of the piece, creating soundscapes with their bodies to add another layer to the performance. http://www.britishmuseum.org/whats_on/events_calendar/event_detail.aspx?eventId=1758&title=The+Weird+Sisters+with+RIFT+theatre+company&eventType=Performance   http://blog.britishmuseum.org/2014/10/23/the-weird-sisters/

Fernanda Prata as well as Sarah Dowling (Frances Grey), one of the performers in Punchdrunk’s current production, led me in a full day’s practical workshop on the set of ‘The Drowned Man.’ We predominantly explored one of the key concepts that Punchdrunk live by: The relation of the performer to the space. Punchdrunk tend to use professional dancers in their shows as opposed to trained actors, as they are innately more in-tune with their surroundings and know how to tell a story using their bodies and movement, as opposed to relying on a text. We were shown how to approach using this method of physical exploration as opposed to constantly focusing on text, and were also given an intricate insight into how Punchdrunk work as a company, including how they begin devising a piece by using a key text, normally an epic or classic story, and how they devise ways of expressing feelings within the play using physicality as opposed to adapting lines. We were also intensely trained on utilising our bodies and our peripheral vision, as with the nature of Punchdrunk’s work being immersive on a phenomenal scale, the performers have to be fully aware of who and...

A production I stage managed as part of Queen Mary Theatre Company's New Writer's Festival.  A collaboration of audio, film and theatre, " ...And Other Bitter Things " discovers the tiny moments, the insignificance of each passing breath and a way to escape the harrowing vastness of the universe. A pessimist ic disregard of human interaction and a love of the destructive beauty of infinity. Moments come and go, a train presents salvation, and a hand knitted jumper is the greatest act of love. 2 people in love with themselves. A city over run by foxes. A boy in danger of floating away. “ ... And Other Bitter Things ” is a non-narrative portrayal of the fine line between love, hate and violence, that will hollow out your gut and leave you breathless and empty. Produced and created by  Splutter Theatre. Written and Directed by Benedict Hudson

A modernisation of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream I was in as Theseus (Lord Hawthorn) and Flute the Bellows Mender (Mechanical). Set in the late 60's, this version of Shakespeare’s play is free from fairies and magic,  but rich in psychedelic drugs, music and nauseating intoxication, where many characters get tangled up in the bohemian allure of the commune. Meanwhile, the Mechanicals are rehearsing for the community play down at the Donkey's Head pub, and getting into all sorts of mischeif.

An absurdist production I stage managed for Queen Mary Theatre Company's New Writer's Festival.

The musical by Willy Russell in which I played the lead, Mr Briggs. The musical is about students from an inner-city school in Liverpool who go on a trip to Conwy Castle in Wales. Mrs Kay teaches a class of illiterate pupils, called the "Progress Class". At the very last minute, the disciplinarian Deputy Headteacher, Mr Briggs, also joins. Using complex film, lighting, and with a minimalist set choreographed to create many different environments, this innovative and moving production reflected what life was and is currently like for less fortunate children in today's crippling education system.

Performance of 'Epitasis', following an alternate ending of Shakespeare's classic 'Romeo and Juliet', where the two young lovers escape Verona. A production by Queen Mary Theatre Company as part of the New Writer's Festival that I stage managed.

A production I stage managed and set designed as part of Queen Mary Theatre Company's New Writer's Festival. The show was set in the world of a child's den, however as the characters grow and age, the den still, sadly, remains unchanged. 

I took part in a three-hour workshop with Lecoq trained Rhum and Clay focused on creating theatre that is cinematic: taking the visual trickery of cinema and putting it on stage. I learnt a lot about how to tell stories through mime and gesture, and experimented with creating the illusion of many different characters and spaces with just my body and voice. I was then further challenged to collaborate and devise as an ensemble using this difficult form of theatre, however through experimentation, failure, and taking risks, my group ended up making a series of tableaus telling the story of The Lion King, which we were hugely proud of. This workshop really helped me learn a bit more about my own physical style and how my body works and moves, which is extremely useful for when I continue to run physical workshops and rehearsals for productions. I feel I am also now able to understand how other people’s bodies move and stretch more easily than previously, as Rhum and Clay showed us what to pick up on to see how strong an actor is physically.

I took part in an intensive workshop that looked at the dynamics of movement, with influence from the training of Jacques Lecoq’s theatrical principle ‘toute bouge’ (everything moves). With Clout I explored intense movement and character creation, using the elements of nature (Earth, Air, Fire and Water) to observe how they can be channelled into a performer’s physicality. Using these elements, different materials, colours and movement, I was able to further my abilities in character development and choral work. I also greatly improved my skills in collaboration and improvisation, as we improvised multiple scenes using the physical abilities we were taught. We also looked at an Aspirin tablet dissolving in water, baking paper scrunched up and attempting to regain its shape, and the way jelly moves when disturbed. Choosing one of these objects, we sought to recreate them in an absurdist manner, utilising Lecoq principles, and devised a short piece with our small groups. Clout Theatre are a Lecoq-trained physical theatre ensemble with members from Russia, France, Turkey and Scotland, who strive to make physically bold theatre for an international audience. Using absurd humour, violence, mess and visual poetry, the work casts an irreverent eye on the human condition...

CELL I took part in a workshop with members of Smoking Apples Puppet Company and Little Cauliflower Puppet Company, in which we explored the strict disciplines of controlling a puppet and how closely precise details must be paid attention to. I was given the chance to learn some basic puppetry skills as well as how to bring objects to life on stage, however I believe the most valuable skill I developed was being able to build character non-verbally and examining the role of the puppeteer as a performer. The entire workshop was fascinating, from creating our own basic puppets using tea towels and a mug as the head, in order to explore basic principles of movement and focus, to experimenting with the puppets both companies have used/ are using in their shows. I also greatly strengthened my collaborative skills, as with one puppeteer working on the feet, another on the arms and a final on the head, it is extremely difficult to find an understanding of when to move and how to move in accordance with each other. With three of us working tirelessly to make our puppet come to life, we soon fell in to a comfortable means...

Over two intensive days I collaborated with RIFT and Gruff Theatre on their 2014 immersive production of MACBETH, set in Balfron Tower and a disused underground car park. We explored many different styles of physical theatre and storytelling, and with RIFT specifically experimented with many Commedia Dell'arte archetypal characters that were being used in the production. This piece of theatre was set over one day, from dusk ‘till dawn, with the audience sleeping overnight in various areas of the venue, like a fever-dream that leaves you questioning ideas of space and status; dystopia and utopia; waking and sleeping. I gained many skills in working as an ensemble, as we devised a short piece of theatre over these two days in groups to use as a potential basis for the production. I also gained a greater knowledge of immersive, site specific theatre and the nature of the form.