The JINGAH Project is a modern musical by Duncan Townsend and Chloé Charody. It is a spectacular collaboration between musicians, circus performers, puppeteers and theatre designers. City Arts have been supporting the artists to bring the show to the people and communities of Nottingham.
Connecting with the Community
On Saturday 18th September, we invited families supported by Nottingham & Notts Refugee Forum to a day of workshops in the City Arts garden. They met JINGAH co-creator Duncan Townsend, who taught them the theme song for the show.
After, they worked with artist Bryony McCrombie Smith. Bryony has designed hand-held puppets for the show. The families made their own puppets using recycled materials. This workshop was designed to connect them to JINGAH’s central theme of environmental sustainability. We look forward to welcoming more families from the Refugee Forum to see JINGAH showcased on 26th September.
On Friday 24th September, we will be visiting Oak Field School, for children with special educational needs. The young people at Oak Field will see a pop-up preview of the performance. More about that in my next blog…
Performance Preparation at The Space
The JINGAH Project rehearsals have begun at Squire Performing Arts Centre (The Space). The centre is a versatile, creative space for performing art. It is based at and run by Nottingham Girls’ High School. As part of the JINGAH Project, an aerial rig has been installed at the theatre.
The JINGAH Project’s artists and musicians have now arrived in Nottingham, flying in from across Europe. We are delighted to have them here. At times over this last year, this has felt like an impossible challenge!
The elements of the show are coming together. The set has been installed. It is designed by recent graduate Ella Barraclough. Initially working with Anouk Hufschmid Hirschbuehl, Ella is now the lead artist. She is supported by a team of volunteers from Nottingham Trent University. The support of Trent’s Theatre Design Department has been brilliant. Big thanks to Helen, Sean and Toti for their help.
We are delighted to welcome our ‘Minis’ into the cast. These are children and young people from The Dance Studio, near City Arts in Hockley, who auditioned to be part of JINGAH. They are rehearsing hard, coming to The Space after school to work with choreographer Sophie Duncan.