QExtraQExtra Beautiful Hour Festival
VariousSix nights of elucidation, experimentation and entertainment
The QExtra Beautiful Hour festival is a further development in our ongoing mission to find new worlds and ways for new writing to thrive. 12 QExtra associate writers, directors, musicians and actors have been given an hour each across six nights to create a theatrical experience that is both beautiful and undeniable.
Audiences are encouraged to attend as many hours as possible and engage with this festival of visions and voices and be as involved as possible. Let the act of watching be as important as that of performance. Both are beautiful attempts at creating new sensations and sharing experience.
This is not just a week of plays, music and poetry. It is a creative laboratory in which we all can now savour each slide.
From new plays by Julian Smith, BH Fraser, David Hovatter, Deborah Sherwell, Anayis N. Der Hakopian, Isabel del Rio, and Martin Choules, to a tribute to Peter Gould and new work and music from The Pitshanger Poets and the Fleeting the range of styles and approaches each make their stand for undeniabilty; the test of all art which resists taste as we all continue to search for the beauty within.
Info
Runs from Mon 21 to Sat 26 July in The Studio, starting at 7:30pm.
Tickets are just £5 on the door for each night.
Monday 21 July
BEAUTIFUL HOUR 1: A Feast of Tender Hearts & x A Sprite for Spoilage x
Anayis N. Der Hakopian brings two new short poetic plays, exploring
the depths of heartache and bodily change, set in shadowed caves full
of jarred hearts, to the landscape of decaying bodies that find
themselves in the in-between of the rotting soil and passing darks of
the soul stream.
A Feast of Tender Hearts follows an
affection-stung boy searching for the hearteater to take away the ache
of his rejected heart, a beat that keeps endlessly loving the
surrounding buds at first sight glances. In the exchange, he converses
on the value of loving to the one who consumes it, in all its broken and
greedy pieces.
Written and Directed by Anayis N. Der Hakopian
Anayis N. Der Hakopian as Janan
Lloyd Lovell as Aziz
x
A Sprite for Spoilage x festers with a fey named Nimble, a trickster
who picks the best of spoils for his spelling and crafted hand-threading
parts in sacrifices and needed vision. That is until one, formed in the
molting and spoiling bodies, revives with a sudden intake of breath in
front of Nimble’s curious eyes for refiguring.
Written and Directed by Anayis N. Der Hakopian
Sam Hegedus as Nimble
Louis Jaffa as Abel
BEAUTIFUL HOUR 2: A Good Girl
Written by Debbie Sherwell
Directed by Clare Cooper
Performed by: Carol Fullilove, Catherine Luff, Harry Roebuck and Hannah Victory.
A Good Girl is a story of generational dysfunctional, and follows
the chaotic lives of Janet, Rita, Connie and Matt; who have to navigate
traumatic events, family feuds and heartache.
Tuesday 22 July
BEAUTIFUL HOUR 3: The Adventures of Georges Remi
Written by David Hovatter
In 1959, Georges Remi had a difficult year. An illicit affair caused turbulence in his marriage, and he was trying to draw Tin Tin in Tibet. This piece explores the personal challenges that Remi faced.
BEAUTIFUL HOUR 4: Take Pains, Be Perfect, Dance
Written by Julian Smith
Loosely based on Jean Genet's "The Maids", the play explores the relationship between two sisters in a brutal household.
Tea dances, roleplay, Theolonius Monk and dishonest truths.
Wednesday 23 July
BEAUTIFUL HOUR 5: 60 Goulden Moments
Goulden Moments celebrates the creativity and storytelling of Peter
Gould, a writer, director, filmmaker and journalist who was a
long-standing member of Questors and an important contributor to the new
writing community. Peter, who was also a founder of the Ealing Film
Festival, died unexpectedly earlier this year.
Curated and
presented by Peter’s family, this hour showcases some of Peter’s writing
and directing across stage, screen, and audio. It features three short
pieces he wrote and produced for Questors — two short films and an audio
play — offering an insight into his creative approach. The programme
will also include a few words from his family about his life and
writing, along with a short reading from another of his plays, not yet
staged, which will be performed by his children.
The programme includes four short works that reflect Peter’s range as a writer and director:
Blue Eyes, The Intruder, Divine Intervention, and a scene from War Zone.
BEAUTIFUL HOUR 6: The More Things Change
Written by Martin Choules
It’s 1937 in a crumbling English mansion, and young Vivienne returns from Soviet Russia with new ideals, new matryoshka dolls, and a revolutionary boyfriend. Whatever will her mother say? A comedy of manners and class struggle for all, be you bourgeoisie and proletariat.
Thursday 24 July
BEAUTIFUL HOUR 7: George Orwell: Scenes From My Life
Devised and directed by Guy Smith
Performed by Mark Stratford (Macready, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde)
BEAUTIFUL HOUR 8: One and Only
Written by Isabel del Rio
Performed by Catherine Luff and Katie Russell
Directed by Harry Roebuck
Are they two women, or are they the two halves of the same woman? Should
we become one with ourselves when making major life decisions, or can
we continue to live in two minds? The play explores the themes of love
and loss, and how the experience of motherhood can tear us apart.
Friday 25 July
BEAUTIFUL (half) HOUR 9: The David Erdos Enterprise
David Erdos delivers poetic selections to the sources of his own
inspirations. In his brief slot, additional minutes from another
singular hour will be devoted to those he has found both beautiful and
undeniable in his own life and work.
BEAUTIFUL HOUR (and a half) 10: Ssweeet
Written by Benjie Fraser
A protest about a new airport has catastrophic consequences
Saturday 26 July
BEAUTIFUL HOUR 11: Pitshanger Poets Perform
BEAUTIFUL HOUR 12 (and a half): The Fleeting Return
The Fleeting are a Folk Rock duo, formed in 2023 by Matthew Saldanha and Jakub Watrobski. They are gearing up to release their debut album later this year. Tonight they are playing to celebrate the release of the album's first single - "Canine Faith" - which is written from the perspective of an abandoned dog, who maintains the belief that he will see his owner again. The song is about the purity of animals, and how animals rely on human compassion.
They will play all of the songs from the impending album, along with some of their previous releases, and other as-yet unreleased material.
