Theatre News

Major arts project at Portsmouth’s Gunwharf Quays

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25 October 2011

According to the dictionary, a depth charge is a device which sinks submarines. But the intriguingly-named Wet Picnic theatre company has something altogether more constructive in mind with its Depth Charge at Portsmouth’s Gunwharf Quays. This part of the former naval dockyards will be the location for a major site-specific series of artistic events from November through to April 2012, and perhaps beyond.

Arts Council England has coughed up £36,000.00 from its open-application funding programme. Other partners include Portsmouth’s Theatre Royal and the University of Portsmouth, which is providing £10,000.000 from its creative cultural education programme to help finance the schools’ workshops.

Wet Picnic, which operates from two main centres – the Point Theatre in Eastleigh and Le Forneau Creation Centre across the English Channel in Brittany – plan a three-layered audience hub – people who have booked for the whole theatrical, historical and artistic experience; those who will be drawn in through viewing the various installations and interacting with strategically-placed performers; and casual shopper and other visitors who come across the whole thing almost by chance.

From the initial community and schools workshops through to the finished total production, the whole experience will be documented in the Log Room. This will house a mixture of historical research and people’s responses, including work by local writers and schools. It will be a living programme for the piece as well as functioning as an interactive performance area.