S01 E04 - Deborah Pakkar-Hull (Blah Blah Blah Theatre Company)
Episode 04 - Deborah Pakkar-Hull (Blah Blah Blah Theatre Company)
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I was joined by Deborah Pakkar-Hull, Artistic Director of Blah Blah Blah Theatre Company, Leeds. ( https://www.blahs.co.uk/ )
' Theatre Company Blah Blah Blah has 34 years’ experience creating high-quality participatory theatre with and for children and young people, their parents/carers and teachers. We work with multi-skilled artists and award-winning writers to explore stories that are complex, engaging and have contemporary relevance; performing in schools, theatres, community settings and museums.'
The Blahs company statement is 'Exploring Stories, not Just Telling Them!'. I was fortunate enough to speak with Deborah and unpick the companies process when creating work for Theatres, Schools and Communities. We discussed their most recent performance 'The Vultures' Song', which is available to watch here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2CbApty2xs . Deborah spoke about the need for Theatre Companies to develop regional and national partnerships, collaborating with schools, community organisations and establishing city-wide cultural partners. The Blahs plan to launch two new projects in 2021 'Stirring up The Past' and 'Gorilla Gardening' information about which can be found via their website https://www.blahs.co.uk/ .
Thank you Deborah for your time.
Blah Blah Blah links:
Website - https://www.blahs.co.uk/
Twitter - @theatreblahs
Deborah’s Bio:
Deborah Pakkar-Hull has over 25 years’ experience creating drama projects and theatre
performances. She has held three Artistic Director roles: from 2007 to 2012 at The Play
House, a resident children’s theatre company at the Birmingham Rep; 2014 on the York
Mystery Plays, an outdoor community theatre event performed on wagons; and from 2014 to
present day at Theatre Company Blah Blah Blah (the Blahs), a well-respected theatre
company specialising in work for children and young people based in Leeds.
She has directed over 20 shows for young audiences in school, theatre and community
settings and has devised and directed original, site-specific work in heritage venues,
including Birmingham’s Museum of the Jewellery Quarter. Deborah’s most recent work as a
Director was The Vultures’ Song, written by Mike Kenny and short listed as the Best Play for
Young Audiences by the Writer’s Guild of Great Britain. Deborah is currently developing a
performance that will take place at the Leeds Discovery Centre; a storage facility housing
over a million historical artefacts.
Deborah currently combines her role at the Blahs with freelance work. This includes working
as a Higher Education associate, most recently teaching applied theatre and drama
education modules at Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts and at Leeds Beckett University.
She also works as a drama education specialist, with professional experience in this field
including working as a teaching practitioner on the Royal Society of the Arts’ Performing
Pedagogy project and as a regular facilitator on National Drama’s Primary Drama Initiative.
Deborah has worked internationally, touring Theatre in Education performances to schools
in Hong Kong; supporting teachers and students in Nigeria to create dramas exploring
health and wellbeing; and conducting R&D in Delhi. She has a Masters in Drama and
Theatre Education from the University of Warwick and is a Fellow of the Higher Education
Academy. She has published several articles and chapters on her work.
Applied Theatre Podcast:
Twitter - @Apptheatrepod
Email - appliedtheatrepodcast@gmail.com
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