BGT ENGLISH LANGUAGE THEATRE

The Berliner Grundtheater e.V. (BGT) was founded in Berlin in 1991 and is dedicated to producing a wide range of English-language plays, while integrating players of different nationalities. In addition to playing many seasons in Berlin, the company has also performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and at Anglo-German Festivals in Germany, and is now based permanently in Luxembourg.

The BGT repertoire includes shows by authors as varied as Peter Shaffer, Anthony Minghella, Oscar Wilde and William Shakespeare. The company also produces original scripts, such as adaptations of JANE EYRE (2010), LITTLE WOMEN (2014) and A CHRISTMAS CAROL (2016) and in January 2020 it premiered June Lowery's CHARLES DICKENS, THE BEST OF MEN; THE WORST OF MEN. The company is especially committed to promoting theatre for female actors and writers who are under-represented in the theatre and performance world. Shows like WOLVES ARE COMING FOR YOU (2019), PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK (2018) DAVID'S REDHAIRED DEATH (2020) and THE ROAD TO HUNTSVILLE (2021), WE HAPPY FEW (2021) and most recently DI AND VIV AND ROSE (2022) and our latest show, DAISY PULLS IT OFF ( March 2024) all featured mostly - if not only - women actors as part of the company's policy to put women centre stage.

In addition to our policy of promoting plays by and about women, in recent years the company has also focused on promoting young performers and traineee or aspiring actors who are hoping to work in theatre. It is a co-sponsor of FEST (The FESTIVAL OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE SCHOOL THEATRE) which takes place every second year in Luxembourg (https://www.fest.lu/) and in 2019 started a summer programme giving trainee actors a contract to work on a show. Our recent production of Elo!ise Heger-Hedloy's new play I CAN'T TELL YOU ... BUT YOU FEEL IT, (April 2023) and our up-coming show THE GOOD GUY? by Ferelith Kingston continue these policies.

COMING NEXT

AMARE

a new play by Hanne Siebens

6th - 8th February at 19.30

Drama Studio, Lycée Michel Rodange

30, Bd. Pierre Dupong, L- 1430 Luxembourg,

Tickets € 15.00 (students €10.00) Reservations: bgt.lu.tickets@gmail.com

"Love surrounds us ... even when you don't want it there"

“AMARE” is a new, experimental piece, by Hanne Siebens (final-year Drama Student at the ISL Luxembourg) which looks at the different types of love, as defined by the ancient Greeks. Through a series of short, but interlinked, sketches and monologues we are shown love as represented by a mix of relationships, both now and “then”. We are given short glimpses into the lives of married couples, children and parents, new young love … and love of those who have passed on.

But what happens when a love which looks joyous at the start becomes something dark and obsessive?

Behind it all stands the figure of Cupid both guiding and, seemingly, manipulating these relationships. But can even this “God of Love” control the most potent of human emotions without falling victim to its power?

he BGT Theatre Company is delighted to have the opportunity to present this new and experimental piece of work by a young and promising writer and actress. Helping to develop the text through a series of workshops during the summer of 2024, this is the latest BGT play to put WOMEN CENTRE STAGE and to encourage young, new talent.

With: Kim Birel, Sammy Braun, Bjørn Clasen, Sabrina Fernandez, Adriana Gospodinova, Rewa Jain, Josie Hatch, June Lowery, Gilles Fernandes Mota,

Cailin Reiff, Nina Ruggieri, Natacha Stevenin & Max Wagnitz

Directed by Tony Kingston & Hanne Siebens

With the kind assistance of the Lycée Michel Rodange, Luxembourg

CAST (from left to right)

BACK: Gilles Fernandes Mota, Adriana Gospodinova, June Lowery, Sammy Braun, Bjorn Clasen,

Kim Birel, Sabrina Fernandez

FRONT: Max Wagnitz, Natacha Stevenin, Rewa Jain, Hanne Siebens (writer), Nina Ruggieri, Cailin Reiff

(Missing: Josie Hatch)

RECENTLY PERFORMED

“The Good Guy?”

a new play by

Ferelith Kingston

Winner of the “Special Mention by the Jury” Prize at the Prix Laurence 2023

With Alessandro Stasi, Natacha Stevenin, Josie Hatch and Gilles Fernandes Mota

"INCEL: a person (usually a man) who regards himself or herself as being involuntarily celibate and typically expresses extreme resentment and hostility toward those who are sexually active" (Merriam-Webster Dictionary)

“The Good Guy?” is a new play that explores the impact that enforced gender norms have on young people growing up in the digital age. Online extremism, especially extreme misogyny, has been normalised to the extent that, for many young adults and teens, it has become an invisible background noise. The result a rise in online communities like "incels" (involuntary celibates) and the popularity of figures like Andrew Tate and Jordan Peterson. “The Good Guy?” examines what the real-world impact of this pervasive online rhetoric is, through two voices.

Dylan and Katie are two 20-somethings whose stories are separate but mirror each other.

Dylan, lonely and socially awkward, gets company from the online society around a popular video game. He is led to believe he has found a support group and even friends. But, in reality, he is getting sucked into an almost cult-like belief that women are the root of all his problems.

Katie doesn’t get why feminism “had to be such a big deal”. She discovers “pop feminism” at a TEDTALK and starts to feel that she has a community around her; but as she learns about the reality of extreme misogyny and incel sub-culture she increasingly anxious, fearful and frustrated by the apathy shown by her friends and family.

Their stories unfold in a blend of sometimes comic, sometime tragic scenes and monologues. As the play develops the two stories become more heavily intertwined building towards a potentially explosive climax.

REVIEWS

Luxembourg Times Review

Chronicle.lu Review

FOR INTERVIEWS WITH THE COMPANY, SEE

RTL Interview - Natacha Stevenin & Tony Kingston on The Sam Steen Show

CHRONICLE.LU Article by Otilia Dragan

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE CAST SEE:

THE GOOD GUY? Cast and Crew

MARCH 2024

March 2024

Neimënster, Centre Culturel de Rencontre Abbaye de Neumünster, Luxembourg

Presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals Ltd on behalf of Samuel French Ltd.

A huge hit in London’s west-end in the 1980s, “DAISY PULLS IT OFF” is a comic parody of the popular girls' school adventure stories of the 1930s (especially Enid Blyton’s “Mallory Towers” series), while simulataneously poking fun at the ridiculous pomposity of traditional “British” attitudes at that time.

Daisy Merdith, a poor elementary school girl, wins a scholarship to the elite “Grangewood School for Girls”. She proves talented, dedicated, popular and adventurous. But the vain and elitist Sybil Burlington and her sidekick Monica Smithers dislike her intensely. They fear that having a “common” scholarship girl at the school will ruin the reputation of the school … and they plan to get rid of her.

Meanwhile, the school faces bigger problems. The Beaumont family, who own the building, are facing financial ruin. Their only chance would be to find the legendary lost “Beaumont Treasure”. Daisy and her friend Trixie vow to find the treasure and to save the school – but soon become aware that the mysterious music teacher is also searching for it. What is she planning? And what secret is the reclusive groundsman Mr Thmposon hiding. Whatever is going on, it certainly can’t be good!

Can Daisy find the treasure before anyone else gets to it? Can she escape the evil plots of Sybil and Monica? Can she survive a dangerous cliff-top rescue? And most importantly, can she help Grangewood to win the hockey championship for the first time? To find out, jolly well come along to see it in March 2024!

Daisy Pulls It Off - Chronicle.lu