Short Shrifts Review Round-Up

Short Shrifts is currently showing at the Tobacco Factory Theatre: The Brewery till Sat 7 July

“The players combine poetry, music, drama and movement in performances that embrace the realms between the forms…The energy emanating from the actors on stage is remarkable, and their enthusiasm reaches right out to include the audience – during many of the scenes you feel part of the production… ...with a couple of chairs or a bit of cloth we are transported to many different places – some funny, some poignant and some gruesome! The evening passes by in a flash, surely a sign of a good show! I would recommend going to see this production - or should I say these productions – see what you make of them.”
**** Whatsonstage.com - read full review here

“Full of spontaneity and humour.”
Guide2Bristol - read full review here


“Funny and authentic.”
The Guardian

“Carefully observed energy and pace ... clear, beautifully pitched.”
The Public Reviews

“Bizarre and often beautiful. The writing is superb, both real and surreal: clever, lyrical, and often savagely funny.” “Despite the disparity, these pieces hold together through an enchanting discordancy: however absurd or baffling the situation there's always a thread of uneasy but palpable connection with human feelings of frustration and longing, hope and disappointment. I absolutely loved the cadence of language and the theatricality of form in this boundary-pushing writing, and the actors ~ Josephine Larsen, musician Nemo Jones and the writer himself ~ are stunningly good.”
Crysee Morrison, Plays International - read full review here

Working With Tim Supple

We are excited to announce that the internationally renowned director Tim Supple is working with us as Advisory Director. Tim was Artistic Director of the Young Vic and worked there with Ted Hughes among many others. His production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, with Indian actors, was a world-wide hit not long ago. Tim worked with us for three days in February, and will work with us again in April.

Confirmed 2012 Dates for Short Shrifts

Falmouth University - 28th April (with Alice)

Stroud Festival - 26th May (with Alice)

Bodmin Moor Poet’s Festival – 2nd June (with Alice)

Tobacco Factory Theatre, Bristol - 26th June until 7th July

Bay Theatre, Weymouth - 18th August

Welcoming Nemo Jones

Attention Seekers are excited to announce that we have been joined by musician/actor Nemo Jones. We say a fond farewell to Martin, who has left to pursue a career as a man of the sea. Nemo has performed with various bands, including Faithless, and brings to the Attention Seekers a new dark tone of the underworld. Nemo’s main instrument is the guitar, and he will weave into our shows his percussion, radio interference and shamanic dancing.

A Look Back at Short Shrifts in Berlin and Soho

Our runs at the English Theatre Berlin and the Soho Theatre, London, in October and November 2011, were well-received by large audiences, and both theatres have asked us back next year for longer runs. Watch this space for specific dates. Here are some excerpts from a review and off-the-record remarks by some reviewers…

The Neue Deutschland wrote (translation by Josephine Larsen and Priscilla Be):
“It would be hard for one to copy the transformational skills of the British actress Josephine Larsen. These Short Shrifts are extremely entertaining, often captivatingly comic. Attention Seekers do indeed succeed in totally captivating our attention.”

We asked Donald Hutera, drama critic of The Times, to write a few words; he wrote:
“Short, punchy, cabaret-style theatrical sketches that in tone or subject matter can be satirical, sober or surreal, sometimes all at once.

Charlie Godrey-Faussett, formerly a drama critic with Time Out, wrote:
“A series of bizarre and highly articulate insights into relationships of varying disfunctionality. The acts combine cabaret, drama, music and poetry into an evening that is often funny, brilliantly written, sad and undeniably different.”

Attention Seekers will be giving workshops and a performance of Short Shrifts, at South Devon College, on Tuesday 22nd November 2011 and at Falmouth College, January 2012.

Presenting Short Shrifts

Attention Seekers are currently working on our latest production, SHORT SHRIFTS.

Short Shrfits are a series of 12 beautiful, grotesque and comic short plays written by Peter Oswald. In an evening of absurd encounters, we enter a surreal, ever twisting world where a female spy is interviewed, an out-of-control dummy vents spleen at her ventriloquist, a middle-class dinner for cannibals goes wrong and a bull fight occurs in an office.

With a repertoire of more than thirty short plays, the poetry of Alice Oswald, the cabaret skills of Josephine Larsen and the improvisational genius of Martin Holland, the company presents a show that is constantly evolving.

“Our most surprising and inventive playwright” Theatre Record

Attention Seekers will be performing Short Shrifts:

Soho Theatre, London
Wed 02 – Sat 05 Nov, 8pm
020 7478 0100

English Theatre, Berlin
Tue 11 - Sat 15 Oct, 8pm

New Social Networking Accounts

There are a whole raft of new ways for people to interact and engage with Attention Seekers thanks to our newly revamped social media pages. Just click these links below to start sharing!

AS Twitter

AS Facebook

AS Flickr

Introducing Our New Logo

Alongside our new website, Attention Seekers would like to show you all for the first time our fantastic new logo, courtesy of Farrows Creative and the wonderful Bristol-based illustrator Hannah Broadway. We love it!