The Halfway House

(2020)

The Halfway House is an amorphous, makeshift place emerging between two worlds. It is a place simultaneously paralysed by nostalgia and seduced by the unfamiliar. Its residents wander restlessly or remain trapped in loops, struggling to adapt to the constant transformation taking place around them. It is a refuge for the lost and lonely, and a haven for alter egos, deceivers, voyeurs and dreamers. The production invites the audience, in household ‘bubbles’ of up to three people, to accompany a resident of The Halfway House on a series of absurd encounters unfolding in unstable and dreamlike spaces.

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This year 2020 we were resident tutors/artists/designers at The Koppel Project’s experimental campus at the Old Central St Martins (CSM) buildings. We worked with a diverse, intergenerational group of beginners and amateurs from the community to devise site-specific immersive theatre. 

For each project we run community workshops covering performance and dance and - and for this project - lighting and sound design. Our workshops were built towards a final ticketed performance, opened to the public from 21st September to 4th October 2020. 

During the lockdown period we delivered a programme of online devised theatre workshops, site-specific research and documentation of The Old Central St. Martins through a virtual creative workspace called are.na (https://www.are.na/persona-collective/persona-workshops). We were publishing regular short films with soundtracks and narration to enable participants to discover the building from afar.These cinematic prompts were enhanced by a virtual pin-up board of research,

references and mood boards designed to inspire, spark discussion and help participants design characters to inhabit, and scenes to unfold, in Old CSM and their own homes.

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We are currently editing the film of this project for the audience who could not make the show due the current context , for the ones who wanted to know more about the other characters and routes that they didn't have the chance to experience and for the general public who love theatre an want to witness the last memories of this iconic art school in risk of being forgotten, which will be develop into a luxury hotel next year. 

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More information at  http://personacollective.co.uk/

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CAST & CREATORS 
Francesca Costa 
Mélanie Gautier 
Emily George 
Michael Hall 
Valia Katsis 
Tom Kim 
Olga Lagun 
Cameron Lee-Allen 
Georgia Leefe 

Anna Fil 
Charly Monreal 
Sally Plowman 
Daniel Seifu 
Michael Sookhan 
Jean-Charles Wadja 

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PERSONA TEAM

Rocio Ayllon - Artistic Director & Producer
Michael Hall - Assistant Director 
Elina Akhmetova - Choreographer 
Finn Boxer - Sound Designer & Technician 
Karolina Burlikowska - Photographer & Art Director
Satu Streatfield - Lighting Designer & Technician 

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LIGHTING DESIGNERS & TECHNICIANS

Laura Arroyo 
Gaia Crocella 
Steve Lowe 
Luciana Martinez 
Tom Wheeler 
Alice Wilson 

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SET DESIGNERS

Emily George 
Clary Montero 
Alice Wilson 
Emma Wilson 

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PRODUCTION

Emma LD 
Clare McAndrew 
Tom Wheeler 
Alice Wilson 

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GRAPHIC DESIGN & MEDIA

Emily George 
Emma LD 

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CINEMATOGRAPHERS

Finn Boxer

Olga Lagun 

Hamish Nicholson 

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ART INSTALLATIONS

Charly Blackburn 'The Lab' 
Jack Wates 'The Storm Room'

SPONSORS // 

HOST

The Koppel Project 

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LIGHTING 

White Light 
Enliten Architectural Lighting 
Mike Stoane Lighting 
iGuzzini illuminazione 

AUDIO EQUIPMENT 

Orbital Sound Ltd 

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LIGHTING, EFFECTS AND LOGISTICS EQUIPMENT 

Shakespeare’s Globe 

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FILM EQUIPMENT 

Direct Digital 

PROPS

Phoebe BP 

COSTUMES

Putney Theatre Company 

COMMUNITY

Holborn Association 
Dragon Hall