Rideau!
You may have noticed that we’ve been a little quiet here lately. The reason why, is that we have taken the difficult but necessary decision to close Theatre Sans Accents.
After nearly 7 years of activity, we’ve come to the conclusion that in the current economic crisis we’re living in and with the deep uncertainty that the arts industry is experiencing right now, it is no longer sustainable to keep TSA going, at least not in the way it was built or intended to.
When i set up Theatre Sans Accents at the end of 2015/beginning of 2016, I wanted to create my own work as a result of the lack of representation and opportunities for diverse and bilingual performers. I wanted to share my ways of working, to demystify language learning, to develop new innovative ways to communicate beyond language and cultural boundaries, to collaborate with other like-minded artists and give ourselves more space and voice on the Scottish theatre scene.
All these goals, I am incredibly proud and grateful that I have (to a certain extent) managed to achieve them.
Theatre Sans Accents, it’s been:
- 100s of community and school workshops teaching French and English (EAL) through drama to children and adults.
- 6 am-dram productions of LA TROUPE
- 5 children French Drama holiday camps
- 1 Edinburgh Multilingual Stories Festival (EMSF) with Bilingualism Matters
- 1 Creative Edinburgh Collaboration Award
- 1 award-winning mini web series ARTS IN TONGUES
- 12 participations to festivals (Fringe, International, Innovative Learning Week, Arts Across Learning)
- 5 funded (private+public) productions and works in progress: Where Are You?, Danger Duvall: Space/Time Adventurer, Les Doigts, KNOTS, Lost in Translation: A Bilingual Journey.
- unquantifiable invaluable collaborations with talented artists (can’t tag everyone without becoming spam I’m afraid)
I want to particularly thank Marcus Bazley who was at the inception of the company, Thomas Durham whose designs brought the whole concept to life, and EPAD and Bilingualism Matters who helped TSA take its first steps in the industry.
Throughout the years,TSA was mostly managed on my own, a one woman band, juggling tasks and responsibilities, it’s been my baby and it’s a well known fact that it takes a village to raise a kid so it would have never stood for so long without the help of other artists and contributors, you know who you are so thank you to have believed in my dream with me.
Although the curtains fall on Theatre Sans Accents, this is not entirely goodbye. Even though, this is the end of TSA’s journey, it’s only the beginning of another one and I’m already working on something very exciting behind the scenes to share with you in 2023 so as I said, this is no farewell to the theatre industry, quite the opposite. I’ve learnt so much with Theatre Sans Accents and I’m intending to put all this experience to good use, to bigger and better use…
Merci,
Marion
x