Second Skin Theatre
Encyclopedia
Second Skin Theatre was formed by actor/director Andy McQuade
and prize-winning American author William Whitehurst in 2007.
McQuade was one of the co-founders of notorious Act provocateur international
who were renowned for their hard-hitting 'In yer face' style of theatre. Second Skin have so far toured the US to great critical acclaim with Whitehurst's controversial 'Pigeon Man Man Apocalypse' described by The Times
as 'Utterly mesmeric...a fully loaded fifty five minute missile' (show also opened the Belgrade Festival of Mime in 2009) through to a sexually charged and controversial reworking of 'Salome
' - which broke London theatre Pentameters' forty year box office record in January, 2008.
The company has a dedicated team of actors and directors working on various projects, most notably Russian actress, Nika Khitrova http://secondskintheatre.com/new%20site/Nika.htm, Patrick W Doherty and Corin Rhys Jones http://secondskintheatre.com/new%20site/Corin%20Rhys%20Jones.htm.
Recent newcomers to the company include 2009 Fringe Report's 'Best Actor' Laura Pradelska, who was invited to become a full-time principal, alongside New York actor, Bryan Kaplan who is also a member of New York's celebrated New Group Theatre company.
Guest directors in the past have included: Jen McGregor, Kim Moakes and Sam German.
Production Team (correct as of May 2011)
Designer: George Moustakas
Lighting Designer: Anna Sbokou
Costume Designer: Vasiliki Verma
Composer: Sebastian Willan
Graphic Artist: Darren Lacey
Stills Photography: Bobbie Bajwa
Second Skin Theatre have just completed a production of new writing by writers Whitehurst ('Knuckleball') and Graham Farrow ('Stay With Me Till Dawn'), to great critical notices at London's Rosemary Branch Theatre (recently voted 'Best Fringe Theatre' by Fringe Report)
Second Skin's ethos includes '...to challenge and provoke debate; to uncover the darker truths we all carry'. They now have an extensive reportoire of plays and writers, but focus heavily on the work of William Whitehurst whose acclaimed 'Knuckleball' swept the awards at the 2008 San Francisco Fringe Festival.
They are due to take up residency at what has been initially described as 'London's smallest fringe theatre' at an undisclosed location in Hackney. No details have been forthcoming other that the date of september, 2011.
Reviews for Second Skin include:
Knuckleball by William Whitehurst & Stay With Me Till Dawn by Graham Farrow
“Compelling, disturbing and powerful… it feels like Theatre is punching you between the eyes - and that is a remarkable thing to achieve.” REMOTEGOAT - FIVE STARS
“Andy McQuade directs both and a good job he does too -possessed of a grit and determination…a sensitive, engrossing exploration of gender dysphoria” TIME OUT
“Drawing room comedy they are not and, in the close proximity of this always interesting tiny theatre, director Andy McQuade and his splendid casts make them almost too real. These two plays pack a substantial punch… if you like real theatre and not just saccharine entertainment this is a double bill that gives full value” BRITISH THEATRE GUIDE
“ This is fringe theatre at its finest.”
THE MORNING STAR
PIGEON MAN APOCALYPSE By William Whitehurst
“A lean, mean, fully loaded fifty five minute missile…utterly mesmeric.” THE TIMES (London)
“The impressively intense McQuade brings Arthur and other characters in Whitehurst’s script to life with vividness, ease, and, ultimately, a kind of beatific resonance.” AMERICAN THEATREWEB
“The “can’t miss” production.” THE NEW YORK SUN
“McQuade’s powerful performance has given the audience more than enough to break their hearts and make them furious about this pointlessly ruined life.” OFFOFF ONLINE NEW YORK
“McQuade swims in the deep end, sinking us into his character’s inevitable descent into madness, taking us from the womb to the room where it all, for all intents and purposes, ends…you won’t find a more engrossing Fringe show.” PIONEER PRESS
“Andy McQuade does not play Arthur Cork, he transforms completely into his character…Irrepressively disturbing, this irreverent tale holds a broken mirror up to the face of society and touches a topic that is not easily put out into the open. …Pigeon Man Apocalypse is a brilliant play, an outstanding performance and definitely a must-see.” SCENE4 MAGAZINE
SALOME by Oscar Wilde
“Amid themes of lust, desire, religion and S&M, the script stays true to Wilde’s controversial focus on sexual passion while bringing his 19th-century drama sharply up to date…a daring and adventurous production, for which the cast and company are to be commended” CAMDEN NEW JOURNAL
“Andy McQuade…currently wowing audiences with his unbridled and exuberant spin on this mythical tale. This is an ensemble who watch and wait with precision focus, never missing a beat….Above all of this stands Patrick Doherty as Herod. A tour de force performance that to describe him as comical, tragic, desperate and worthy of our deepest sympathy is to go nowhere close…Highly recommended.” MYVILLAGE.COM
“Wilde surely would have approved of this daring production of his most poetic and scandalous play. The beauty of Wilde’s words shine through the eroticism like the jewels in Herod’s secret chamber. The jewel speech is perfectly and movingly delivered by Patrick W Doherty who is an impressive Herod. He is well matched by the very beautiful Nika Khitrova as Salome, an imperious sex kitten who shows her obsession for the prophet Jokanaan (Corin Rhys Jones) with a kind of ice cold passion.” ALINE WAITS (THE HAM & HIGH) writing for REMOTEGOAT
“Nika Khitrova in her final monologue as she descends into despair was also beautifully paced and finally showed the actress as more then just a token sexy young character dressed in leather” REMOTEGOAT
Andy McQuade
Andy McQuade is a British theatre director and writer. Co-founder of defunct Act Provocateur International is now a writer and theatre director, with his own theatre company Second skin theatre which 'promotes new writing and readaptations of classics'....
and prize-winning American author William Whitehurst in 2007.
McQuade was one of the co-founders of notorious Act provocateur international
Act provocateur international
Act Provocateur International was the resident theatre company at the Lion & Unicorn in Kentish Townuntil 2008. A Fringe theatre, most productions run between two and four weeks. The company has taken productions to various theatre festivals around the world, including eleven visits to the...
who were renowned for their hard-hitting 'In yer face' style of theatre. Second Skin have so far toured the US to great critical acclaim with Whitehurst's controversial 'Pigeon Man Man Apocalypse' described by The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
as 'Utterly mesmeric...a fully loaded fifty five minute missile' (show also opened the Belgrade Festival of Mime in 2009) through to a sexually charged and controversial reworking of 'Salome
Salome
Salome , the Daughter of Herodias , is known from the New Testament...
' - which broke London theatre Pentameters' forty year box office record in January, 2008.
The company has a dedicated team of actors and directors working on various projects, most notably Russian actress, Nika Khitrova http://secondskintheatre.com/new%20site/Nika.htm, Patrick W Doherty and Corin Rhys Jones http://secondskintheatre.com/new%20site/Corin%20Rhys%20Jones.htm.
Recent newcomers to the company include 2009 Fringe Report's 'Best Actor' Laura Pradelska, who was invited to become a full-time principal, alongside New York actor, Bryan Kaplan who is also a member of New York's celebrated New Group Theatre company.
Guest directors in the past have included: Jen McGregor, Kim Moakes and Sam German.
Production Team (correct as of May 2011)
Designer: George Moustakas
Lighting Designer: Anna Sbokou
Costume Designer: Vasiliki Verma
Composer: Sebastian Willan
Graphic Artist: Darren Lacey
Stills Photography: Bobbie Bajwa
Second Skin Theatre have just completed a production of new writing by writers Whitehurst ('Knuckleball') and Graham Farrow ('Stay With Me Till Dawn'), to great critical notices at London's Rosemary Branch Theatre (recently voted 'Best Fringe Theatre' by Fringe Report)
Second Skin's ethos includes '...to challenge and provoke debate; to uncover the darker truths we all carry'. They now have an extensive reportoire of plays and writers, but focus heavily on the work of William Whitehurst whose acclaimed 'Knuckleball' swept the awards at the 2008 San Francisco Fringe Festival.
They are due to take up residency at what has been initially described as 'London's smallest fringe theatre' at an undisclosed location in Hackney. No details have been forthcoming other that the date of september, 2011.
Reviews for Second Skin include:
Knuckleball by William Whitehurst & Stay With Me Till Dawn by Graham Farrow
“Compelling, disturbing and powerful… it feels like Theatre is punching you between the eyes - and that is a remarkable thing to achieve.” REMOTEGOAT - FIVE STARS
“Andy McQuade directs both and a good job he does too -possessed of a grit and determination…a sensitive, engrossing exploration of gender dysphoria” TIME OUT
“Drawing room comedy they are not and, in the close proximity of this always interesting tiny theatre, director Andy McQuade and his splendid casts make them almost too real. These two plays pack a substantial punch… if you like real theatre and not just saccharine entertainment this is a double bill that gives full value” BRITISH THEATRE GUIDE
“ This is fringe theatre at its finest.”
THE MORNING STAR
PIGEON MAN APOCALYPSE By William Whitehurst
“A lean, mean, fully loaded fifty five minute missile…utterly mesmeric.” THE TIMES (London)
“The impressively intense McQuade brings Arthur and other characters in Whitehurst’s script to life with vividness, ease, and, ultimately, a kind of beatific resonance.” AMERICAN THEATREWEB
“The “can’t miss” production.” THE NEW YORK SUN
“McQuade’s powerful performance has given the audience more than enough to break their hearts and make them furious about this pointlessly ruined life.” OFFOFF ONLINE NEW YORK
“McQuade swims in the deep end, sinking us into his character’s inevitable descent into madness, taking us from the womb to the room where it all, for all intents and purposes, ends…you won’t find a more engrossing Fringe show.” PIONEER PRESS
“Andy McQuade does not play Arthur Cork, he transforms completely into his character…Irrepressively disturbing, this irreverent tale holds a broken mirror up to the face of society and touches a topic that is not easily put out into the open. …Pigeon Man Apocalypse is a brilliant play, an outstanding performance and definitely a must-see.” SCENE4 MAGAZINE
SALOME by Oscar Wilde
“Amid themes of lust, desire, religion and S&M, the script stays true to Wilde’s controversial focus on sexual passion while bringing his 19th-century drama sharply up to date…a daring and adventurous production, for which the cast and company are to be commended” CAMDEN NEW JOURNAL
“Andy McQuade…currently wowing audiences with his unbridled and exuberant spin on this mythical tale. This is an ensemble who watch and wait with precision focus, never missing a beat….Above all of this stands Patrick Doherty as Herod. A tour de force performance that to describe him as comical, tragic, desperate and worthy of our deepest sympathy is to go nowhere close…Highly recommended.” MYVILLAGE.COM
“Wilde surely would have approved of this daring production of his most poetic and scandalous play. The beauty of Wilde’s words shine through the eroticism like the jewels in Herod’s secret chamber. The jewel speech is perfectly and movingly delivered by Patrick W Doherty who is an impressive Herod. He is well matched by the very beautiful Nika Khitrova as Salome, an imperious sex kitten who shows her obsession for the prophet Jokanaan (Corin Rhys Jones) with a kind of ice cold passion.” ALINE WAITS (THE HAM & HIGH) writing for REMOTEGOAT
“Nika Khitrova in her final monologue as she descends into despair was also beautifully paced and finally showed the actress as more then just a token sexy young character dressed in leather” REMOTEGOAT