Archive for the ‘Stan’s Cafe’ Category

…a glimpse at the end of the world…and the show. With the making process now completed the week ended with selected Revelations (….or Apocalypto depending on which version of the six Bibles we’ve been referring to in the show’s research). It’s been a furious finale to rehearsals in the newly acquisitioned ‘Australia’ room of the Stan’s […]


A date for the diary: Just as soon as current show The Cardinals has returned from its premiere in Montpellier, Stan’s Cafe will be reprising The Cleansing of Constance Brown @AEHarris, in Birmingham. Craig has edited a new showreel from Joseph Potts’s documentation of March 2008 – the last time the show appeared in the […]


rehearsal pics

23Jan11

A link to Graeme Braidwood‘s images from friday’s rehearsal at Stan’s Cafe. Set and trimmings of The Cardinals were later hidden away in readiness for the night’s post-Christmas Theatre party, lest over-excitable funsters start monkeying around on the steel-frame in ecclestiastical-wear. A top night was had with impressive turnout: Heat generated through DJ Jakester’s mix […]


Since Stan’s Cafe’s first creation almost 20 years ago, we’ve been going to the Fancy Silk Store in the Bullring for bits ‘n pieces of costume and set dressing. Here you will find a treasure trove, jam-packed onto 4 floors – which assaults the visual and the haptic. It’s the kind of place that makes […]


Here’s a glimpse into the rehearsal room at AEHarris for Stan’s Cafe’s current opus, The Cardinals, which will premiere at Domaine d’O, Montpellier on the 8th Feb. After a fortnight’s  pre-Christmas R&D, 4th performer Alia Alzougbi has been recruited for the role of the ‘stage manager’. Thankfully, the space is gradually warming up after a […]


a flayed Maze

19Nov10

Oh, mystery, where art thou? For those with delicate stomachs look away now. Apropos to my previous missive, here’s a picture of the aforementioned Harry Trow harvesting organs from the trusty old beast. This kind of ghoulish image should probably be reserved for some specialist publication and it might seem undignified of me to show The Black […]


Today sees the end of an era, the passing of a great friend: But there’ll be no blaze of glory, no pomp nor fireworks. The Black Maze will limp with wounded tail-lift to the Leyland DAF hospital on Neachells Lane and there, (no doubt with the very hammer and pliers that were used to fit […]


apollo steps

08Nov10

It’s a lunar month since the Stan’s Cafe team returned from simultaneously delivering 3 works in the fantastic setting of the Domaine d’O, Montpellier – but here is a belated posting from an intense week in which I was personally battling fatigue and chronic toothache. Veteran Stanworks The Black Maze and It’s Your Film, (both pioneering examples of […]


This Mark Titchner creation has appeared on City Billboards this month, courtesy of Eastside Projects. It’s a rallying call for grim times. A pervasive air of resignation over the 30% Arts spending cuts may yet turn to indignation, alarm and who knows, action, once the impact is truly felt – provoking a new fervour of […]


Further reflections on the drive down to Montpellier, as reported on the Stan’s Cafe website.