Huge congrats to Lady Lykez who has been awarded Best Book/Lyrics at the Black British Theatre Awards for her work on Kiss Marry Kill.
On 6 & 7 September we premiered A Ballad of Thamesmead: a brand new commission for Greenwich + Docklands International Festival. We had set up shop (literally - we were based in a former bed shop) for a month leading up to the performances. Over 800 people joined us in the town centre over the two nights - it was truly magical.
The limited edition Kiss Marry Kill programme playtext is available to buy from The National Theatre bookshop.
We're delighted that Kiss Marry Kill has been nominated for five Off West End Awards.
Lead Performance in a play - Dauda Ladejobi
Lead Performance in a play - Graham Mackay-Bruce
Set Design - Sophie Neil
Lighting Design - Joshua Gadsby
Director - Daphna Attias & Terry O'Donovan
It is with huge sadness that we share the news of the passing of one of our dearly loved trustees Gareth James. Gareth was so positive, optimistic and lived for experiencing culture.
We are thrilled to announce Odds On has won the 2024 Silver Anthem Award in the Digital and Innovative Experience Category. The Anthem Awards honour the purpose & mission-driven work of people, companies and organisations worldwide. Winners this year included Kevin Bacon, Matt Damon and Selma Blair. A huge thank you to everyone who voted for the project to be seen by the judges.
We’re recruiting three dedicated Trustees to join our Board of Directors.
We’re looking for people who would be able to feed into our Access Development, Digital Development and Participation work.
For more information and details on how to apply, you can read about being a Dante or Die Trustee here, and the Large Print Trustee Pack here.
Five years ago, we began working on a project about an unexpected love story in a British prison. Fast-forward to 2023 and we've just finished two creative training programmes that we have developed alongside the creation of the new production, Kiss Marry Kill.
We are so proud that our first narrative film, Odds On, has won the Digital Content Award at Arts Council England's Digital Culture Awards 2023.
We launched our new podcast series late last year, and in this latest journal entry Co-Artistic Director Daphna Attias chats about it, touching on what she's learnt through the process of making it, the social aspect to Dante or Die's work and what advice she'd give her younger self...
We're really proud to have been nominated for The Stage Awards with our first ever narrative film.
Odds On has been shortlisted for the Digital Project of the Year!
If you haven't experienced the interactive short film, you can do so for free right now HERE.
You can read more about The Stage Awards and the other two brilliant projects that have been shortlisted here.
We've made a podcast! Click here to listen to Daphna and Terry chat with the people who've collaborated with us over the last 16 years as we've made shows in swimming pools, changing rooms, self-storage units, hotel rooms, mobile phones and beyond...
We are delighted to welcome Katherine Webb to the Date or Die team as our new producer. Katherine joins us from Theatre Deli where for the last four years she has supported emerging artists and produced numerous festivals.
Where did the idea come from? Co-Artistic Director Terry O'Donovan and Producer Sophie Ignatieff share the story behind our new interactive short film, Odds On.
Dante or Die artists Lucy Dear and Fiona Watson recently facilitated a project in Lithuania as part of Namas Nr X Festival - here's what they got up to.
We are thrilled to announce that Odds On won Best Interactive Film at International Media Festival of Wales 2022. We are honoured to receive this award as we continue to create digital work.
Odds On is available to watch with optional audio description and embedded captions.
WATCH ODDS ON WITH AUDIO DESCRIPTION
This month we're putting the spotlight on our Participation Producer, Lucy Dear. Lucy manages and delivers our work with communities, most notably leading the facilitation of our Lived Experience Creative Advisory Group in the making of Odds On. She describes her process of working with communities in this months blog.
Our first interactive short film is available to stream for free now!
★★★★ "Odds On is an exemplar of the way online theatre has developed in the past few years." - The Guardian
WATCH NOW: For the best viewing experience we recommend watching Odds On on a computer connected to WiFi.
CONTENT WARNING This film contains gambling (live play, images, sounds & slot simulation) which may be very triggering to people with a gambling addiction or who are in recovery. A support pack which will follow the film will provide access to support organisations and further information. If slot machine simulation will be triggering to you, please contact us on admin@danteordie.com and we will send you a non-interactive version.
In June we hosted a panel discussion to launch Odds On titled 'Behind the screen - how online gambling lives amongst us'.
This blog is an edited version of the in-person event, featuring insightful discussion from our panellists:
Dave Hollingsworth, Residential Treatment Manager for Gordon Moody, the UK’s leading dedicated charity, supporting people with gambling addiction.
Rob Davies, Guardian columnist, and author of Jackpot, How Gambling conquered Britain
Fiona Watson, plays Felicity in Odds On
Jade Vallis, Lived Experience Creative Advisory Group
Owen Baily, Lived Experience Creative Advisory Group
Hosted by Dante or Die's Trustee Ranjit Atwal
On July 13th, we'll be hosting an online watch party & panel discussion with The Lowry, which you can join from home.
BOOK YOUR TICKET HERE for the screening introduced by our Co-Artistic Director, Terry O'Donovan followed by an all female panel discussion: The Female Gambler: How is online gambling affecting women across the UK
The fascinating panel includes Stacey Goodwin, author of “The Girl Gambler’, Nadine Ashworth, Operations Manager at support organisation GamFam & a member of Odds On‘s Lived Experience Creative Advisory Group, Wendy Knight, who also has lived experience & is active within Gamblers Anonymous, Harp Edwards, Residential Treatment Manager at Gordon Moody; and Fiona Watson, who plays the film’s protagonist. It will be hosted by Ciara Leeming, a photographer and writer based in Manchester who has regularly worked for Big Issue North magazine and the Guardian as a journalist.
We’re very sad to announce that our incredible producer, Sophie Ignatieff, will be leaving us at the end of the summer.
We’re now on the hunt for a permanent, full-time producer to work with us as we tour our new interactive film, make our first podcast and develop our next large-scale site based production.
Have a look at the job pack and see if it might be right for you.
Closing date for applications is Tuesday, 2nd August
This month we're spotlighting our Artistic Associate, Fiona Watson. Fiona plays Felicity, the protagonist in our new interactive short film Odds On. Fiona shares what it was like to perform to animated characters, her favourite line from the film and what she's learnt about online gambling harm in the process.
We are thrilled to announce our 2021 production Skin Hunger has won the OFFIES 2022 IDEA Performance award for Rachel-leah Hosker, Oseloka Obi & Terry O'Donovan's beautiful performances.
This month the spotlight is on two of the Odds On creative team: John Brannoch, Animation Director and Editor and Christopher Jeffers, Director of Photography. They share what it's like to work with a theatre company on a film, how to animate underwater characters & top tips for filmmakers.
Over 9 days of rehearsals, filming and voice over sessions, we measured our environmental impact, minimised new purchases and reduced waste. Find out about our efforts to work sustainably in this blog post.
This month we're spotlighting our Producer Sophie Ignatieff. She shares her top tips for touring theatre, the challenges of producing both digital and live productions, and whether there is such a thing as an 'average day for a Producer', in this months blog.
This new short documentary is a collaboration between Dante or Die and award-winning film-maker Pinny Grylls. It is available to stream now.
We’re recruiting two dedicated Trustees to join our board of directors. We are particularly interested in receiving applications from people who have previously been underrepresented in the arts. For more information and details on how to apply please read this Job Pack.
This month we're spotlighting Co-Artistic Director Daphna Attias. She shares her most challenging site to stage a show, moving from theatre to film and what an average day looks like as an Artistic Director.
New for 2022 we're putting the spotlight on the Dante or Die team. Each month we'll share an interview with different members of our team. Find out what an average day as an Artistic Director is like in our first interview with Terry O'Donovan.
We're thrilled to be included in such illustrious company as Tim Crouch, James Graham & Tarek Iskander, in Caridad Svich's fascinating new book of conversations with global theatre makers published by Methuen Drama.
Skin Hunger, the show, is available to stream here. You can also buy the book here.
Delighted to announce we've been nominated for a Prix Europa Digital Media 2021 award for our video podcast User Not Found, commissioned by The Space & funded by Arts Council England.
This beautifully produced book includes all three scripts and forewords by writers Ann Akinjirin, Tim Crouch and Sonia Hughes. Plus colour photographs of the installation and reflections from Dante or Die’s Artistic Directors, the creative team and neuroscientist Professor Francis McGlone.
We're so pleased that Skin Hunger has been nominated for two Offies Awards: Best Production and Best Performance in the Offies IDEA category which celebrates innovative/devised/experiential/atypical work. Thanks to the team at Offies for celebrating the production.
Odds On is a new digital production that submerges you into the world of Pearls of Fortune - a garish, underwater online gambling site. We are experimenting with creative technologists Marmelo, and engaging with local problem gambling communities in Salford, Kent & Reading, to create an episodic, online theatrical experience.
In June we finished 72 performances of our new production, Skin Hunger. What a joy to meet audiences one-on-one in this unique performance installation.
Between January and June 2021 we've been blown away by the creativity of young people in Lancaster and Kent that we've had the pleasure to work with. At The Dukes, Lancaster we devised a short film, in partnership with Raindance the largest independent film festival. The young arts activists that took part created a film inspired by the theme of protest.
We have published the playscript of User Not Found, which includes imagery from Marmelo's app design. We're really proud of it - and you can buy a copy directly from the brilliant publishers Bloomsbury as part of the Oberon Modern Classics Collection.