Beyond Face presents
Bigger Than Lyrics
Bigger than Lyrics is a visual concept album, but it’s not all about the music. You’ll get to read the lyrics but what you will see, well, that’s bigger than the words themselves. During this performance, we’ll be sharing 6 tracks, because the album is unfinished… for now. This will be the first sharing of this show-in-development.
Bigger than Lyrics has stemmed from Beyond Face’s Double A-Side project funded by the Genesis Kickstart Fund and is supported using public funding from the National Lottery through Arts Council England. This project brings together performers from the South West and Creatives from London, engaging in conversations around how our environment and location impacts the work we make.
Beyond Face CIC is a South West-based theatre company founded in 2015. Their vision is to lead the South West into becoming a recognised region that amplifies and celebrates Global Majority people in the arts and cultural sector. They do this through creating productions, an artist development programme, creative offers for young people and Regional Voices, a space for people who yet don’t see themselves as artists but have stories to tell. Beyond Face’s productions have toured regionally and nationally and their future work aims to continue to bring focus to the region.
Bigger than Lyrics is a production in development. The performance has developed from the Double A-Side project which brought together artists from the South West and artists from London, with the notion of a Double A-Side, where one side isn’t greater than the other.
On Thursday 16th March the cast and some of the creative team will join host Malcolm Richards in a conversation about themes within the show and about how our environments influence the work that we make.
Alix Harris
Director / Writer
Alix Harris is the founder, Artistic Director and CEO of Beyond Face. Outside of Beyond Face Alix is a writer, director and dramaturg. Alix has recently directed The Honeyman by Tyrone Huggins for Exeter Northcott, previous directing credits include, Contact Theatre, Manchester & assistant directing for the Barbican Theatre Plymouth and Theatre Royal Plymouth. In 2019/20 Alix was a Headlong Origins Director. Alix has a track record of working internationally and is passionate about what we can learn and appreciate from one another through international collaborations. Alix currently directs all of Beyond Face’s productions. She has written 2,000 stories for our 2019 production and is co-writing Snapshots and Bigger than Lyrics. Alix is a board member for Indra Congress and advisory board member for Doorstep Arts, Impossible Producing and Exeter Culture.
Helen Bovey
Producer
Helen Bovey is an established Devon-based producer and theatre-maker who graduated from East 15 Acting School in 2013 before relocating back to Devon to focus on producing and instigating her own projects. Helen has been producing for Beyond Face since 2017 and, in her time as Executive Producer, has overseen several productions including The Elephant in the Room (2020), 2000 Stories (2019), Alright Petal? (2019) and Who’s Looking Back at You? (2018), alongside projects for Young People, Artists and Regional Voices. As a theatre-maker, Helen’s specialism is in making work with and for children and young people, and she is founder and Artistic Director of Above Bounds Theatre, creating high quality work for under 11s, which tours across the UK. Helen worked as Producer (Artist Development) for the Exeter Northcott Theatre and previous producing credits include for the Theatre Royal Plymouth and The Narwhal Ensemble, and as a theatre practitioner for companies including the Barbican Theatre Plymouth and Theatre Royal Plymouth. Helen is a Board member at Villages in Action and Stuff and Nonsense Theatre Company.
Yami "Rowdy" Löfvenberg
Movement Director
Yami “Rowdy” Löfvenberg is a multidisciplinary artist, a movement and theatre director, working at the intersection of dance, theatre and cross-arts. Between making her own work, Yami mentors, educates and delivers workshops. She is a lecturer in Hip-Hop and Vernacular Dances at Trinity Laban Dance Conservatoire. A British Council and Arts Council England recipient, Howard Davies Emerging Directors Grant Recipient, One Dance UK DAD Trailblazer Fellow, Marion North Recipient, and a Talawa Make Artist. She was part of the choreographic team for the 2012 Olympics Opening Ceremony (NHS Section) and is a member of the internationally acclaimed performance collective Hot Brown Honey.
Movement Director credits include; Bird &Bees (Theatre Centre/Sheffield Theatre), The UK Drill project (Barbican), Roundabout 22 ( Paine’s Plough), The Concrete Jungle book ( The pleasance ), Kabul goes Pop (Brixton House), Human Nurture (Theatre Centre/Sheffield Theatre, Athena (The Yard Theatre), Notes on Grief (Manchester International Festival), Rare Earth Mettle & Living Newspaper (Royal court), Fuck You Pay Me (Bunker), Breakin’ Convention (Sadler’s Wells), Talawa TYPT (Hackney Showrooms), Boat (BAC).
Director credits include; Fierce Flow (Hippodrome Birmingham), Kind of Woman (Camden People’s), Afroabelhas (Roundhouse/British Council/ Tempo Festival (Brazil).
Assistant Director/Choreographer credits include; Hive City Legacy (Roundhouse, Home, Millennium), Hive City Legacy; Dublin ( Dublin fringe )
Xana
Sound Designer
Xana is a freestyle live loop musician, sound artist, vibrational sound designer, archival audio producer/researcher, scratch DJ, installation artist, poet and theatre maker. Xana also deconstructs words to make improvisational performances and composes scores for film through Xana’s genres: Orchestral Noise, Ancestors Revenge and Thicc Bass. Xana is a music science and technology lead at music research label Inventing Waves, where they develop accessible sound systems for spaces, research in architectural acoustics, sound ecology and is a sound arts and tech facilitator.
Xana has also been nominated twice for an Offie (Blood Knot, 2019) and (The P Word, 2022).
Erin Guan
Designer
Erin Guan is a London-based scenographer and interactive installation artist from China. She has a strong interest in interdisciplinary theatre and performance making and she works across installations, plays, musicals, dance, digital theatre, devised theatre. Her work spans across intercultural performances and minority voices. Her digital artwork specialises in Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality experiences. Her recent theatre projects include The Apology (New Earth Theatre x Arcola Theatre), A Gig for Ghost (Forty Five North x Soho Theatre Upstairs), school touring Pressure Drop (Immediate Theatre), immersive technology promenade performance Unchain Me (Dreamthinkspeak x Brighton Festival), Prayer for the Hungry Ghost (Barbican Open Lab), Symbiont (Caged Bird Theatre x The Vault), Foxes (Defibrillator Theatre x Theatre 503), touring musical Tokyo Rose (Burnt Lemon Theatre), both immersive game theatre Talk and The House Never Wins (Kill The Cat Theatre), Freedom Hi, Asian Pirate Musical (PaperGang Theatre), and web design for audio tour The Letters Project (Gate Theatre). Her recent TV work include East Mode S2 with Nigel Ng (Comedy Central x Channel 5).
Nathan Benjamin
Lighting Design Consultant/Technical Stage Manager
Nathan is a South-West based freelance lighting designer and technician working predominantly in theatre, dance, and musical theatre. Working also as the Performing Arts Technical Manager for the Marjon Arts Centre at Plymouth Marjon University, Nathan has designed a variety of shows from Shakespeare to full-scale musicals. He trained as an actor at The Actor’s Wheel training company before moving into Technical Theatre, training in-the-industry at the Barbican Theatre, Plymouth. Previous designs include Medea (The Wheel – Cygnet Theatre), Legally Blonde (The Actor’s Wheel – Quad Theatre), 2000 Stories (Beyond Face – Theatre Royal, Plymouth), The City (The Actor’s Wheel – Quad Theatre) The Snowbeast (Scratchworks Theatre – National tour), Why the Whales Came (BYMT – Theatre Royal, Plymouth), Krampus (The Wheel – Barbican Theatre, Plymouth).
Tim Norman
Production Manager/Stage Manager
Tim is a South West based Stage and Production Manager with experience working across Theatre, TV, live events and outdoor events. Tim is passionate about community led theatre and has worked across a variety of community projects including mass participation events, co-created and promenade performances. Most recently Tim has worked as a stage manager for Green Space Dark Skies (BBC Countryfile) and is really excited to be working with Beyond Face on Bigger Than Lyrics.
Aisha Ali
Vocal Consultant
Aisha’s a Non Binary, Queer, South Asian, Vocal Artist, Improviser, Composer, Inclusion and Cultural Producer, Workshop Facilitator and Artistic Director of Kiota: A Collective of BPOC (Black and People Of Colour) Creatives in Bristol. Trained in the Arts of Fooling and Vocal Improv, their compositions contain vocal harmonies, interesting beats and layers of foley instruments. They are passionate about where Art meets Activism and particularly involved in anti-racist work.
@aishaaliartist
www.aishaalimusic.com
Tasha Hylton
Artwork Photography
Tasha is a Bristol based photographer who enjoys working with and exploring subjects that are around connection and can have an uplifting element with her captures. She enjoys exploring topics around culture and identity through visuals her way by creating eye-catching environmental portraits and studio style images, working with brands, artists and on her own personal projects.
www.tashahylton.com
@tasha.h_photos
Kemi Coker
Performer
Antonia Kemi Coker is a performer with over 25 years experience working nationally and internationally in regional and West End theatre, TV film and Radio as well as in Young People’s theatre, Forum Theatre, Street Theatre, site-specific theatre. Kemi has worked on numerous projects with Chuck Mike’s Collective artists. Her recent work include a Jack Daniels advert filmed in the Ukraine and the theatre company Wake The Beasts project which deals with health care professionals experiences during covid.
Shiquerra Robertson
Performer
Shiquerra Robertson is a Bristol-based performer and a proud regular collaborator with Beyond Face. Soon after graduating Bath Spa University with her First Class Degree in Acting, she started working with local South-West based theatre companies, such as Beyond Face (2000 Stories, The Elephant in the Room & All One Way), Ramshacklicious, The Invisible Circus and The Naturals Theatre Co. Her animated heightened physicality, drive for devising, rhythm, and openness to play is apparent throughout her work. She is also a member of local Maracatu drumming group Afon Sistema, and has a close working relationship with Bath Carnival. In addition, Shiquerra co-runs her own theatre company, 7or8, who are motivated to make witty and resonant work, films or theatre, usually utilising spoken word, physicality and musicality to echo society and create a weird world. Shiquerra is interested in bringing performance into unconventional spaces to interact with a range of audiences, including performing installations in shopping centre shops, walk about acts in the streets, and balconies at festivals. She has also recently joined Shade Cartel, a local diverse dance performance collective.
Corinne Walker
Performer
Corinne Walker is an actor, writer, director and producer based in Bristol. An East 15 Acting School graduate, she has worked extensively with Beyond Face as an actor including in All One Way (2022), Alright Petal (2019) and Who’s Looking Back at You? (2018). She was also the sole performer in Offie-nominated Illusions of Liberty (Kings Head Theatre). Other acting credits include Three Kings (Travelling Light Theatre Company).
Barnfield Theatre
