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Thank you

Beats North has been a proper adventure for Company TSU and Curious Monkey over the last two years. A Massive thank you to all those who have made it possible, with their creativity, passion and commitment. 

Also to those who have supported us in the project: Arts Council England, Northern Stage, Musinc, The Empty Space, Arc Stockton Arts Centre, Middlesbrough Council, Fuel - through their Cove Park Residencies supported by the Jerwood Charitable Foundation.

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Photos By Mark Slater

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Arts news and reviews by young writers in the North

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Al’s rocking out as we’re into week 2 of rehearsals... 

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Monkey and Jade back together and plans are underway for Beats North

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our lovely new poster by Jamie Wisdom www.jamiewisdom.com 

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Beats North at Jabberwocky Market 3rd October 1pm

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Beats North Autumn Tour Dates

24th September – The Garage, Norwich – BOOK HERE

25th September – The Continental, Preston –BOOK HERE

27th September – WORKSHOP – Festival of Thrift

29th, 30th September + 1st October - Northern Stage, Newcastle – BOOK HERE

3rd October – Jabberwocky Market, Darlington – BOOK HERE

4th October – Customs House, South Shields – BOOK HERE

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Links

If you’d like to find out more about Afnan, check our these links 

http://www.youtube.com/user/Afnanuk www.soundcloud.com/afnanprince www.facebook.com/afnanprinceofficial

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Introducing Afnan Prince, who will play Al in this year’s tour of Beats North. 

‘Afnan PrinceAfnan Prince is a gifted singer/song writer/musician/actor/model to emerge from the North East of England. Afnan’s unflagging passion for music has given him the ability and propensity to recognise connection between talent, technique, persistence and success.

Afnan Prince has a unique voice with a great soul and incredible vocal range. One of Afnan’s songs “She” made him win the regional final of the songwriting competition UK in April 2015 and was also used by ITV on a show called Diamond Geezers & Gold Dealers. BBC introducing NE show has also shown their continued support by playing Afnan’s songs on regular basis.  Afnan’s vocal/lyrical gift enabled him to navigate the renowned avenues of England’s music scene and he continues to qualify as an artist to perform acts that lead to reputation.In addition to fronting Electro/Acoustic/Alt/Rock/Pop bands Afnan also performed with acts like the Electric Six, the Gallows and Mike Peters as a solo artist at some prestigious music venues of England such as the O2 Academy Islington, O2 Academy Newcastle, The Sage, The Cluny and the Leeds Festival.Afnan has toured Germany with International Magic Tenors and has made several appearances on main stream British Television. Afnan Prince was a finalist in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s ITV show Superstar alongside industry legends, superstars, and up-and-coming innovators.Afnan’s versatility as an artist allows him to straddle multiple styles and genres and his creative delivery of songs makes both melodic and rhythmic alterations to suit his style

As an actor, Afnan has first class BA Hons degree with award from Northumbria University UK. He also received additional training by attending Broadway Artists Alliance Winter Workshop in New York and was lucky to get performance and vocal training from:

Donna Soto-Morettini (casting director and performance coach for Andrew Lloyd Webber and BBC TV)

Yvie Burnett (world renowned vocal coach)

Greame Danby (operatic base with English National Opera), Valerie Reid (mezzo soprano opera singer), Leontine Hass (artistic director and vocal coach at Associated Studios London).

Afnan has acted in several theatre plays, Pantomimes and  BBC/ITV shows. As a model, Afnan has some big commercials, photo shoots and cat walks to his credit and his modelling career continues to reach newer heights. Afnan’s overall talent beautifully reveals his emotional side and he wonderfully translates those emotions into a heart touching truth. Creating music and translating it into other art forms is an inner necessity that continues to take creative leaps in Afnan’s work.’

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Beats North is BACK!

One year on from the Roundabout in Summerhall, Summer Streets and Sunderland Stages, Beats North is back, with a new tour for Autumn 2015. This September / October we will be visiting The Garage Norwich, The Continental Preston, Northern Stage Newcastle, Jabberwocky Market Darlington and Customs House South Shields. For more info and tickets visit Company TSU’s website

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Amy G on summerhall.tv

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Beats North Review

Beats North at the Roundabout, Summerhall

Three excellent performances are central to this well-constructed, well-balanced piece.  The two acting performances from Assad Zaman and Tom Booth, while they reveal separate stories, intertwine in the stage business and mutual voicing of offstage characters.  Mariam Rezaei orchestrates the show live onstage with a mixture of turntablism and sampling which is fundamental to the integration of the performances and is technically perfect.  The combination generates moments of power, humour and delicacy, allowing the stories to unfold in a framework which offers support and contrast, and which provides both an agency in the drama and an intimate, sometimes teasing commentary.

The twin narratives are coming-of-age stories.  Both actors create the differing vulnerabilities of their characters’ age-groups with aching precision: the gap between about-14 and about-18 must be the one of the biggest social gaps in human lives, especially for boys and especially when Tom Booth’s Jack is a relative innocent and Assad Zaman’s Al is quite worldly – increasingly so as the piece progresses.

The play is about the formation of masculine identity, explicitly about the role played by music in this process but also about the role of others, particularly fathers but also peers.  The social construction of maleness is presented here as resistance to traditional brutalising for the most part, emphasising negotiation and reconciliation as each character is formed and performed.  Nothing po-faced about the production, though: these abstract topics are addressed with tenderness and a beautiful lightness of touch by the director, Amy Golding.  There is an important audio-visual refrain referring to puppetry throughout which serves to highlight the impulsions and discontinuities that little boys are made of.  The stories switch back and forth in alternating timelines, throwing thematic rather than dramatic light on each other.  Golding’s sure direction is also apparent in the onstage but off-story interplay between all three performers, enabling Rezaei’s choral function and drawing the audience into a number of good visual gags. 

It is heartening to see young companies tackling the big issues – and there’s none bigger than culture and identity – with such verve and ingenuity.  Five stars from me.

Alexander Laing

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Lovely Review in the Scotsman for BEATS NORTH! 

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Beats North has been nominated for the Brighton Fringe Award for Excellence at the Edinburgh Fringe!! 

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Beats North review in The List

A touching theatre double-bill that reminds of the power of music at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe

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