Sofia the Show

For our friends outside of the UK, for example in Norway, Germany and Portugal, you can donate to us in your own currency (EUR, NOK ) rather than GBP. Any financial support will go to this production which we can not make without your help. 

ALL you need is a VISA, MAESTRO, debit or credit card! It's very easy once you click "BACK PROJECT" just follow instructions.

You can help our project by buying vouchers that will give you rewards! Read on the right side the VOUCHERS: for ex. mention your name on our website, free glass of wine, ad space in our program, something for everyone!

Please note that the performances have been cancelled on the 20th and 21st, due to the unexpected visit of Sofia's sister. Given the personal and revealing nature of the piece, Sofia wants to protect her family from it.

However we have added two new dates; the performances dates are now running from the 22nd to the 29th of November.

The project:

"Sofia the Show" is an autobiographical performance with and about Portuguese singer, actor and banker, Sofia Marques. It is a devised piece of theatre, initially created for a theatre stage, and now developed site-responsively in Sofia’s own home.

"Sofia the Show" is the outcome of the first collaboration between performer Sofia Marques and director Marianne Lorentzen. It was started as a MA degree project, performed at Stratford Circus in East London in July 2010.

Based on the strong personal and artistic experience we as practitioners had with this project back then, and our audience expressing that they had been deeply moved and entertained by it, we decided that we wanted to develop the piece, as well as our collaborative practice. Hence, we established Bacalao Performance Company in January 2011.

We did our first company production, "Fado, Fatima and Football", in July 2011, which we have since toured to Lisbon, Portugal. We are now ready to continue our journey with "Sofia the Show", and we hope you will join us.

The reason we are so passionate about this piece is because it is personal and real. It communicates on an authentic level experiences and emotions between performer and audience. And this sense of authenticity, personal connection and intimacy will be enhanced by the fact that we are now developing and performing the piece in the flat where Sofia is living. On 29 October 2011 Sofia moves into her new home, a small flat in Hackney, East London. During the first three weeks of Sofia living in her new home, we will develop, devise and rehearse "Sofia the Show" in the same place, in the same rooms where Sofia sleeps, eats, drinks, watches the tele, pays her bills and dances when no one is watching... Then, you are invited to Sofia’s birthday party, i.e. a week of performances in the end of November.

 

“The audience join Sofia on her birthday as she takes the audience on an extraordinary journey of memory, revelation, dance, song, wine and cigarettes. Listening to Sofia feels like reading a strangers diary, yet the skill of Sofia’s performance puts the audience immediately at ease, desperate to find out even more of this woman’s life. Brave and adventurous, Sofia and director Marianne have created an extraordinarily moving piece that reminds us that theatre exists to disturb as well as entertain.”

(Joseph Dunne, Visiting Theatre Lecturer, on "Sofia the Show – An Autobiographical Half Hour", July 2010)

“An extraordinary and candid piece of autobiographical theatre – a theatrical playful, engaging and accomplished piece of work with a powerful honesty at its heart.”

(Dominic Hingorani, Theatre Lecturer, Director and Writer, on "Sofia the Show – An Autobiographical Half Hour", July 2010)

“Excellent work... I think it will be great as a site-responsive piece. The shifts in tone, live/mediated elements, and darkening of theme are particularly strong.”

(Conan Lawrence, Lecturer in Drama and Site-Specific Performance, on "Sofia the Show – An Autobiographical Half Hour", July 2010)

Why we need your help

With hope (and perhaps naivety) we applied for funding from the Arts Council England for "Sofia the Show". Not surprisingly, considering the harsh cuts in the Arts Council and the fact we are a starting company with no track record, we didn’t get it. This is when we decided to self-fund and produce our own work, to hopefully obtain a self-sustainable status in the future. We hope a time comes when revenue from productions can provide cash-flow to fund new work and contribute to the development of our practice in collaboration with other artists and practitioners.

Thankfully for us "Sofia the Show" was always planned as a small production with a relatively small budget, so with a little help from our friends we will still be able to realise the project. We have already received valuable help and support with film, photography and website, as well as free security and safety consultation from Hackney Met Police and mentoring and supervision from Hackney Council. Bacalao is able to put £200 of own funds into the production. However, we are also faced with certain unavoidable financial costs that we need help to cover, and this is where you come into the picture.

• What your crucial help would contribute to is

• Rehearsal and performance space, i.e. the flat in Hackney that Sofia will be living in while we develop and perform the piece, for which we are paying £1000.

• Marketing (design, printing and distribution), performance licences, insurances and equipment £ 400

• Contingency budget approximately £100.

Any form of contribution will be received with excitement and gratitude. If you want to help us financially you can either buy one of our vouchers, or simply donate a sum of money if you prefer.

For our friends outside of the UK, for example in Norway, Germany and Portugal, you can support us in your own currency rather than GBP. ALL you need is a VISA, debit or credit card! It's very easy once you click BACK PROJECT just follow instructions. However If it is not clear how you do this, let us know and we will make sure you get the adequate instructions.You can give any amount other than the specified!

If you want to help us in other ways you can spread the word about the show and about this campaign, or share this link on social media with your own friends.

And we hope of course that you will come and see the show in London between 19-27 November!

For more information about Bacalao Performance Company, who we are and what we do, please visit our temporary website: http://www.bacalaocompany.com

Here you will also find blogs and updates on the progression of "Sofia the Show"

Thanks.

Sofia & Marianne