Chilling Out Theatre

Nominated

2011-10-25T07:47:00.000-07:00

The set, designed by Rachael Vaughan, has been nominated for an Offie!

"Quietly entertaining, brilliantly original".

2011-10-25T07:30:00.001-07:00

We've been running a week now, and some reviews have started to filter through. My favourite, unsurprisingly, is this one from What's On Stage. Here's another one for the quietly brigade: "Quietly, craftily pleasant, if a little too restrained" from Reviewsgate, and from Exeunt there's a quiet in the opening sentence:

"This is a play for all those who thought old age was all slippers, pipe and quiet nights in front of the TV."

Next time, I'll write a loud play.

An Interview

2011-10-13T09:19:00.001-07:00

There's an interview with me by Rhoda Koenig in this week's Islington Tribune.

The Return of Country Life

2011-09-30T05:45:00.001-07:00

You can't keep a good play down. After all those reviews, we hoped for a transfer, and lo it came to pass. It's playing at the Old Red Lion from October 18th to November 5th. Yes, it ends on bonfire night. If you've seen it, you'll have spotted the coincidence. If you haven't then, come along and spot it yourself. We're delighted to have the same cast, but there's bigger, and perhaps better, set. If you haven't been to the Old Red Lion, believe me when I say it's got probably the best sightlines of any fringe theatre in London.

Come along and enjoy!

Reviews for Country Life

2011-08-22T04:54:00.000-07:00

Here's some of the reviews:

"The dialogue recalls the understated dryness of Alan Bennett..."

"a sharply acid comedy".

"more twists and blind alleys than by the waterways of Venice".

"Everybody must go and see this thoroughly entertaining production. Now".

"Country Life does not have to be dull and life does not end at old age. This is where the fun starts..."

"Un testo decisamente meritevole di aver un seguito nel west end"."

Monday 15th August

2011-08-14T10:41:00.000-07:00

Okay, we're almost off. It's been a great rehearsal period. We got ourselves a particularly experienced cast, which I am delighted with - because you never know! You can find them in all their glory
here.

No mention of the writer, of course, but that's par for the course. The young chap is Paul Blinkhorn. The rest are Marji Campi, and, on the left as we see them, Chris Bearne and on the right, David Forest.

Marji herself needs no introduction. You must have seen her.

I myself am Peter Briffa. Before Country Life I wrote Siren, which you can read about in the previous blogs. But there's also Night of the Fox, from the early days of the internet. Not much about it, but there are occasional sightings.

Country Life

2011-06-09T01:51:00.000-07:00

It's been a while... anyway, we're back. At least, Paul Blinkhorn and Peter Briffa are. Paul's directing my play Country Life at Rada in August. Read more about it here.

So What Did You Think?

2011-02-09T05:58:00.000-08:00

Were you one of the select few who witnessed history in the making? Did you come and see Siren? In spite of the inevitable and occasional stress, most of it self-inflicted, I had a terrific time. All told I feel humbled that so many people contributed so much to my own little play. Even better, we sold out on three out of four nights! Nice not to have gone bankrupt in the process, and it does mean we can come back again some time soon.

If you were one of the people who came, do drop us a line to tell us what you made of it. Peter-at-chillingout dot co dot uk

You know the form.

In the mean time, we will be back. Either with this play again elsewhere, or another one in London.

And it will be sooner than you think. Stay tuned.

Another Review

2011-02-09T05:57:00.001-08:00

Again, another good review, this time at the British Theatre Guide. No stand out quotes, so you'll have to read the whole thing.

Our First Review

2010-08-09T10:41:00.001-07:00

Is here, at the Fringe Report. Pretty favourable, eh? It would be nice if there were one killer sentence we could stick on the poster, but you can't have everything!

Meet the Director.

2010-08-02T02:18:00.000-07:00

Here's an interview with our director, Paul Blinkhorn.

"It's a really fantastic script - a deceptively simple story, told in 11 short scenes, each one six months apart" he explains. It does contain spoilers, so if you're coming to see it, read it afterwards, not now!

Rehearsal Photo 4

2010-08-02T02:17:00.000-07:00

Rehearsal Photo 3

2010-08-02T02:16:00.001-07:00

Rehearsal Photo 2

2010-08-02T02:15:00.001-07:00

Rehearsal Photo 1

2010-08-02T02:13:00.000-07:00

Student Times

2010-06-17T09:25:00.001-07:00

Here's a story about us, in the The Student Times.

The Etcetera Arms

2010-06-17T09:24:00.001-07:00

Their homepage.

Glenn Speers

2010-06-13T02:45:00.000-07:00

Glenn Speers.

Paula Gilbert

2010-06-13T02:21:00.000-07:00

Paula Gilbert.

The Promo Photo

2010-06-13T02:20:00.000-07:00

The Day-Job

2010-06-13T02:18:00.000-07:00

This is my, the writer, Peter Briffa's, dayjob.

The Facebook Group

2010-06-13T02:17:00.000-07:00

Here it is: 111 members so far.

The Press Release

2010-06-13T02:16:00.000-07:00

PRESS RELEASE

Chilling Out Theatre presents

Siren

by Peter Briffa

As Part of the Camden Fringe
Etcetera Theatre, 265 Camden High Street, London, NW1 7BU
7.30 p.m.
August 10-13
All tickets £7.50
Ticket booking 08444 77 1000 or www.camdenfringe.org

Liverpool Street. A man and a woman, alone in a room. An unopened bottle of champagne lies on the table. He stands in the doorframe and hangs up his phone.

Outside, a police car.

A lot can happen in one room in five years.

Warning: not suitable for children

Since his debut production Night of the Fox premiered at the Lilian Baylis, Sadler’s Wells, Peter Briffa has written opinion columns for the Times, the First Post, and a piece of political philosophy for the Civitas think tank, entitled Trust in Me: Politicians and Why we Hate them. In the last four years he has also established himself as one of the leading commentators on reality television for the News of the World.

Director Paul Blinkhorn is a recent graduate of the MA Theatre Directing programme at East 15 Acting School supported through the AHRC. His 2008/2009 theatre production of Stephen Belber’s ‘Tape’ was nominated for Best Production at Buxton Festival Fringe and was subsequently programmed at the Library Theatre Manchester as part of their Re:Play Festival. His awardwinning short film ‘Duty Calls’ has been shown internationally in Canada, France, Germany and Romania.

For further information please contact Peter Briffa on 07967527332 or via press@chillingout.co.uk

For more information on the Camden Fringe please contact Michelle or
Zena at the Etcetera Theatre: 020 7482 4857, or press@camdenfringe.org

The Basics

2010-06-13T02:14:00.000-07:00

We are Chilling Out Theatre, a company founded by Peter Briffa, dedicated to bringing the best contemporary new writing to the stage. i.e. plays written by me.

Our first show is Siren, a one-act play. If this comes off, there will be more.

The director is Paul Blinkhorn, and the cast consists of Paula Gilbert and Glenn Speers.