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Events

Two men look at the camera with the man on the left side resting his head on the shoulder of the taller man on the right.

Photos from the Bond 31 Launch Party

By | Events

The stage: Bond 31. The questions: hard. Karaoke: painful, as per. But didn’t we have a good time!

You might have already seen our failures, but don’t fret, we still managed to capture some of your beautiful mugs having a blast at our Launch Party last Friday. Fortunately some our our attendees must have grown up back in’t day and knew their way around a disposable camera.

Officially marking the opening of our spaces for hire and our new and improved theatre library, we were delighted to finally have bodies in the space that we want people to make use of so badly.

Thank you to everyone who came down to have a look at the new HQ, especially those of you who spent some time writing down suggestions for what you would like to see take place at Bond 31 in the future. Hopefully we will be able to bring some of your ideas to life soon.

Until then, how does another quiz sound? We’ve heard you like those. A lot.

The Middle Child quiz is going to become a quarterly feature here at Bond 31 and we’ll be coming back at you this autumn to do the whole thing again. More details to come.

Photos from Out Loud: Casino

By | Artist Development, Events

Last month we took over Humber Street Gallery, along with Silent Uproar, for three nights for the return of Out Loud, our scratch programme for new writers.

This time we presented a script-in-hand sharing of Casino by Larner Wallace-Taylor, a play about the impact of northern soul in Wigan during the 1970s.

Thank you so much to everybody who turned out to support Larner and contributed so generously to the post-show discussions. Every night was a treat!

Photos by Anete Sooda.

A white woman with long dark hair, in lilac dungarees, yellow jumper, gold party hat and pink cape makes a superhero pose, against blue background with white clouds and text that says "There Should Be Unicorns"

There Should Be Unicorns to open in Hull

By | Events, News, Shows, Uncategorised
A white woman with long dark hair, in lilac dungarees, yellow jumper, gold party hat and pink cape makes a superhero pose, against blue background with white clouds and text that says

Flutter your capes and zhuzh up your rainbows – we have a new show coming to town!

There Should Be Unicorns is a hip hop family musical coming to Stage @ The Dock in Hull from 7-8 May, made in association with Beats Bus.

Join 11-year-old Jasmine on an adventure to make the world a better place, powered only by her imagination and a belief in unicorns.

Come dressed as the superhero version of yourself and help Jasmine take on the bullies, villains and ideas that shape the world around her.

There Should Be Unicorns is inspired by the story of Beats Bus co-founder, Steve Arnott, who was the subject of Sean McAllister’s 2018 documentary, A Northern Soul.

Steve stars as Jasmine’s dad, alongside Beats Bus co-founder Kobby Taylor, who you may also recognise from The Canary and the Crow and The Little Mermaid.

In the show Jasmine’s dad inspires her to rebel against the pressure to conform and put herself first as she gets ready to move to senior school.

We’d love to see families from across Hull turn out in fancy dress to support Jasmine in her quest and free face painting will be available all weekend, from Fantastic Faces.

A Black man applauds a white boy on a microphone. In the background lots of children watch.

Kobby Taylor leading a Beats Bus workshop

Free tickets, available 30 March

Free tickets have been made possible thanks to the support of Wykeland Group, Without Walls and Freedom Festival Arts Trust.

They go on-sale through the Middle Child website at 12 noon, Wednesday 30 March.

For the first time at a Middle Child show we are providing integrated audio description in all performances, alongside BSL interpretation on Sunday 8 May.

The venue also opens an hour before the show and you’re welcome to bring in food from the many independent shops and cafes around the Fruit Market.

There Should Be Unicorns premieres in Hull, before heading on a national tour of outdoor festivals, including a return to Freedom Festival, so come join us for a kick-ass opening weekend!

There Should Be Unicorns is supported by Wykeland Group, Without Walls, Freedom Festival Arts Trust, Hull City Council, Foyle Foundation and Garfield Weston.

Fantastic Faces logo
Surrealist collage of two female burlesque characters sat amongst blue and turquoise flowers, butterflies and dragonflies

Middle Child return to the stage with a summer cabaret in Hull

By | Events, News, Shows
Surrealist collage of two female burlesque characters sat amongst blue and turquoise flowers, butterflies and dragonflies

After more than a year away from the stage we make our long-awaited return with a brand new cabaret, celebrating connection and togetherness, as part of Absolutely Cultured’s Creative Hull festival in July.

we used to be closer than this features songs by writers Natasha Brown, Angelo Irving, Tabby Lamb, Jay Mitra, RashDash, Leo Skilbeck, Kobby Taylor and Tom Wells, with original live music by James Frewer.

Performed outdoors under the sun in Queen’s Gardens, audiences will be seated cabaret style, around socially distanced tables of four people, with a limited capacity of 100 per show.

we used to be closer than this runs from 16-18 July and pay what you can tickets, for all performances, are now on sale through Absolutely Cultured.

Alongside our first live performance in 18 months, budding songwriters can also take part in our free Writing Songs for the Stage workshops, on Saturday 17 and Sunday 18 July, as part of the festival.

Bring along a piece of writing – be it a play, a piece of poetry, or anything in between – and work with our musicians and composers to create an original song, that will be set to live music.

  • See the Absolutely Cultured website for more information about Creative Hull.

we used to be closer than this is supported by Absolutely Cultured, Arts Council England and the Cultural Recovery Fund.

A night-time light show projected on the Ferens Gallery in Hull, with blue text that says 'We Are Hull'

We’re hosting the City Arts Forum in February

By | Artist Development, Events, News
Join Hull City Council’s Arts Development Team for their next online City Arts Forum, hosted by Middle Child.

We’re hosting the next City Arts Forum on Thursday 4 February (2-4pm) and would love for artists in Hull to join us, with all of our core team in attendance.

Paul Holloway, arts and culture manager at Hull City Council, will chair the meeting, which is an opportunity for artists, arts organisations, and anyone interested in the arts in Hull, to share work, thoughts, ideas and updates.

It’s also an opportunity to ask any questions you may have, to the council and wider artistic community

Registration is free but you must book in advance via Eventbrite. A link to join the discussion will then be sent out 24 hours before the event.

If you would like to discuss an issue, please send your agenda items to cityartsenquiries@hullcc.gov.uk by Monday 1 February.

Out Loud scratch night heads to Freedom Festival

By | Artist Development, Events

Middle Child and Silent Uproar are delighted to announce the four writers who have been selected for the Freedom Festival edition of Out Loud, our scratch night for Hull playwrights.

Niall Ransome and Hannah Scorer will both have excerpts of their work brought to life in one-off video recordings, to be made available on the Freedom Festival website next weekend.

Niall Ransome’s Alligators is about a young girl living on a council estate who is caught trying to steal who an old woman’s house and is sentenced to look after her a few times a week.

Hannah Scorer’s Can We Be Friends? is about a five-year-old who wants to meet her dad and takes matters (and her mum’s phone) into her own hands.

See these exciting new pieces of work-in-progress on the Freedom Festival website from 4-6 September.

Out Loud is kindly supported by the Split Infinitive Trust