History of the Project

European Players Theatre Company

The company was originally based in London and established by Cinzia Hardy in 1990.  European Players  was created in 1990 to respond to a request from the Teatro del’Orologio in Rome (“Rome’s best fringe theatre”, Della Couling, The Independent 29/6/1994) for English language theatre productions that would appeal both to Italian school audiences and an adult paying public.

The company was established by Cinzia Hardy in 1990 and was originally based in London.  By 1994 the company’s work changed direction to focus on the production of theatre and performance work through international exchange and co-production. This was achieved by creating conversations between artists from different backgrounds (i.e. theatre, dance, visual arts…etc) and cultures which in turn led to the devising and producing of new theatre performances. This process takes time, usually developing over several years.

European Players new way of working produced a promenade, site specific performance called “If the dead could go shopping what would they buy” in Temple Bar (Dublin’s so-called cultural quarter), Dublin in 1999, a collaboration between Irish and English artists and performers. The year 2000 saw the culmination of a far more ambitious project - The Translations Project - which produced “Translations - Changing Faces: Facing Change” a new play at the District Six Museum in Cape Town and was a collaboration between Irish artists and performers from both sides of the border (i.e. Northern and Southern Ireland) and South African artists and performers working with township communities in Cape Town. At the heart of both these projects was the involvement of local communities in the devising and performance of the theatre pieces.

The benefit of the company’s work to the community is evident in the approach and process undertaken in how projects are devised. Partnership is central to the working methodology and includes a mutually agreed and beneficial partnership with appropriate members of the communities within which we work.

European Players Theatre Company is registered in England
Company No. 2612362
Registered Charity No. 1016172

Directors: Ruth Aldridge, Suzanne Hardy, Paul Herriott and Anne Stephenson

European Players is a company limited by guarantee and a registered charity.

 

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