The Human Zoo Theatre Company presents:
Theatre on the Market
3 – 5 August & 7 – 10 August
Surrey Street Market, Croydon.
Croydon theatre organisation The Human Zoo Theatre Company will present Theatre on The Market in the town centre next week, bringing innovative, fresh and free theatre experiences to Surrey Street.
This exciting venture is supported by Croydon Council’s Cultural Partnership Fund (CPF) and Arts Council England.
Created by Human Zoo’s own devising ensemble, who grew up in and around Croydon, Theatre on The Market will set up shop for six days in August. This follows the council’s £1.1million regeneration of Surrey Street.
Market-goers, families and people on their way through this bustling hub of the community can expect to find the seriously silly, the wonderfully weird and the wilfully wacky across six unique, interactive and immersive theatre events.
Poetry TakeOut
Thursday 3 August – 10am – 5pm
Personalised poetry written for you whilst you shop.
Day at the Races
Friday 4 August – 11am -1pm & 2pm – 4pm
Four posh toffs head to Surrey Street to cheer on their jockeys at the races… Only, their jockeys haven’t shown up. And that’s where you come in.
The Girl Who Fell in Love With The Moon
Saturday 5 August – 11am, 1pm and 3pm – 30-minute performances
Back from international tour to Indonesia, these story-telling stargazers are certain to delight and entertain kids and grown-ups of all ages.
The Puppet Zoo
Thursday 10 August – 10am – 5pm
Create your own zoo animal puppet, and bring it to life in our miniature puppet theatre. All materials provided, the only thing you need to bring is your imagination and perhaps a very loud ROAR!
Messy
Friday 11 August – 11am, 1pm and 3pm – 30-minute performances
Is your bedroom a mess? Your whole house? Your entire life?
Join Human Zoo for this 30-minute outdoor performance, exploring messiness + creativity with music, dance, puppetry, comedy and a huge pile of junk!
Surrey Street Experience
Saturday 12 August – 10am – 5pm
Treasure hunts, resident artists, poets and performers come together in this mystery interactive exhibition, which will be made in response to our time spent on Surrey Street Market… and not before!
The Human Zoo Theatre Company’s artistic director Florence O’Mahony said: “We want to begin to address the notion that the arts is an indulgence, only for those who can afford to buy a ticket. Theatre on The Market is sure to be a fun, creative and joyful snippet of entertainment for anybody (kids or no kids!) who decides to venture down to Surrey Street.”
“Croydon has an amazing summer programme this year and Theatre on the Market is really special. It’s fantastic to have free professional original theatre, performed by a talented local organisation, on our historic street market. We are supporting grassroots groups like The Human Zoo because we want to grow our own talent and invest in culture, putting it at the heart of our borough’s regeneration. I’m delighted to see our arts scene evolving in such a positive way.”
Councillor Timothy Godfrey, cabinet member for culture, leisure and sport
Croydon’s CPF has £100,000 available for arts organisations to bid for. For more information or to apply visit the CPF page on the council website. CPF will accept completed applications to another funder with just a cover sheet to Croydon, reducing the amount of time applicants have to spend writing bids.
For more information visit www.thehumanzootheatrecompany.co.uk/theatre-on-the-market
About the Company:
The Human Zoo Theatre Company are an internationally touring, award-winning, five star theatre company, established in 2013 with an aim to make visually delicious, bold, innovative and entertaining work. They are based at TMRW Hub, right in the heart of Croydon’s growing creative community. Their intention is to make theatre in unusual, non-theatre spaces in Croydon whilst the Fairfield Halls is under development, in order to serve local communities and find new ways of putting the arts on the menu for more of Croydon’s locals. They are also supporting the redevelopment of the Croydon Arts Network, by hosting events for local creatives to come together to strengthen Croydon’s creative community.
By building a ‘Theatre on The Market’, Human Zoo very much hope to reach new audiences, and to begin to address the idea that the arts are only for those who can afford to buy a ticket. Theatre on The Market is sure to be a fun, creative and joyful snippet of entertainment for anybody (kids or no kids!) who decides to venture down to Surrey Street on a sunny (fingers crossed) day this summer.
www.thehumanzootheatrecompany.co.uk/theatre-on-the-market
‘Witty, winsome and inventive… It is rare to find such a generous ensemble as The Human Zoo’.
★★★★ – The Stage
‘Excellent story-tellers… They greet the audience as if they are long lost friends’
★★★★- British Theatre Guide
‘Full fun and mighty seriousness… Highly creative, imaginative geniuses’
✮ ✮ ✮ ✮ ✮ Theatre Eddy’s
Twitter: @HumanZooTheatre
Instagram: @HumanZooTheatre
Facebook: facebook.com/thehumanzootheatrecompany
Email: info@thehumanzootheatrecompany.co.uk
Croydon’s Cultural Partnership Fund
The show is one of eight projects so far to have received funding from the council’s CPF, launched last year to help local grassroots arts and cultural organisations access national funding. Arts organisations can apply for up to 50 per cent of their costs for a project up to a maximum of £10,000, provided the project fits the criteria. The cash is released once they have secured match funding from another source. This pledge puts them in a much stronger position to leverage external funding – for example, it has helped several projects to secure funding from Arts Council England.
