About

Plutôt la Vie’s - A Clean Sweep

Company Profile

Plutôt La Vie is a Scottish touring theatre company producing imaginative, vibrant, entertaining and visually driven performances.

Founded in 2003 through the unique collaboration of Tim Licata and Ian Cameron, Plutôt La Vie has developed a reputation for refreshing and irreverent theatre, the quality of which is recognised by the Creative Scotland, press and audiences alike. The company’s first production, A Clean Sweep (“innovative theatre that defies classification”-The Sunday Times), has toured throughout Scotland as well as England, Ireland and abroad.  We have created outdoor pieces such as Clandestine Clowning for the Serralves Museum’s festival of visual art & music in Portugal and the Byre Theatre’s Inside Out Festival 2009, also Flik Flak – The Story of an Angel and a Demon for the FEET FIRST New Year’s Day celebration on Edinburgh’s high street in 2009.  The company co-produced First You’re Born with the Byre Theatre in 2009. (“…Top of Form – a white-knuckle roller coaster ride into the surreal …a superbly structured and sensitive piece of theatre” The Stage). Our next project, By the Seat of Your Pants has received Touring & Production Funding from Creative Scotland and will be a co-production with Howden Park Centre in Spring 2011.

Plutôt La Vie also provides educational programmes for young people, community groups, professionals and families in educational and community settings.  The Company believes passionately in providing an educational experience that augments our performance work, resulting in an enhanced experience for our audiences, particularly students and young people.  We have an active education and outreach programme which offers unique development and learning opportunities for young people, teachers, training staff and other facilitators, using  techniques of ‘guided discovery’ drawn from our background in creative play, improvisation, visual art and the Feldenkrais Method of Awareness Through Movement.

For full policies on Working With Children and Vulnerable Adults, Equal Opportunities and the Environment please contact Ed – ed@plutotlavie.org.uk

Company History

2002 - Plutôt La Vie founded by Ian Cameron and Tim Licata.

2003 – Awarded Seed Funding from the Scottish Arts Council to develop A Clean Sweep.Residency at Dance Base and support from the Brunton Theatre, Musselburgh.

2004 – Scottish Arts Council funding to develop A Clean Sweep to full production.

A Clean Sweep tours to 22 venues throughout Scotland. Education programme accompanies the production.    

2005 - A Clean Sweep at Dance Base, Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and The Ark, Dublin Fringe Festival, Young Fringe Programme.

2006 - A Clean Sweep tours to Theatre of the World Festival, San Diego State University.  Participation in Imaginate, Bank of Scotland International Children’s International Theatre Festival and Belfast Children’s Festival. First English Tour.

2007 - A Clean Sweep tours to Portugal, Serralves Foundation Festival of Visual Art, Porto. Further touring to Tron Theatre Glasgow, The Byre Theatre St. Andrews, Theatre Royal Bath; the egg,  Regal Theatre Bathgate and the Glasgow Inspiration Festival.  English tour (Dorset, Somerset and Devon). The Scottish Arts Council awards Plutôt La Vie funding for production and touring of First You’re Born. Imaginate Inspiration Fund grant to development a new work for young audiences for 2009.  Residency at Dance Base.  Plutôt La Vie becomes a company limited by guarantee and is granted charitable status by the Office of the Scottish Charity Register (O.S.C.R.).

2008 – Public and professional Clowning workshops. SAC funded New Work Development of By the Seat of Your Pants.  Outdoor Clandestine Clowning for Serralves Festival in Portugal. Negociations for First You’re Born co-production with the Byre Theatre.

2009 - Flik Flak; The Story of an Angel and a Demon for FEET FIRST, Edinburgh Winter Festivals.  First You’re Born co-production with the Byre Theatre, St. Andrews, also toured to Platform in Glasgow and Howden Park Centre, Livingston.  Clandestine Clowning for Byre Theatre Inside Out Festival 2009.

2010 – Co-production with Howden Park Centre to bring By the Seat of Your Pants to a full production for a national tour.

2011 – Awarded Creative Scotland funding for a Highlands and Islands tour of By the Seat of Your Pants May/ June 2012 – to include dates in Portugal at the Serralves Festival and the Imaginate children’s festival.

2011 – Awarded Creative Scotland funding to develop two new works: The Builders, by Line Knutzen, at the Traverse Theatre (presentation – 21st January 2012, Traverse Theatre) and The Architect and the Emperor, exploration and development at Howden Park Centre and Dancebase – presentation – March 31st 2012, Dancebase).

First You’re Born - cast members

Tim Licata – Artistic Director

Tim is a performer, director and teacher.  He has worked with companies such as:  Theatre Sans Frontieres, benchtours, Vienna International Theatre, House of Candles (New York), and Shakespeare Company Berlin.  Tim trained as a performer with Philippe Gaulier and Monika Pagneux in Paris and the Piven Theatre Workshop in Chicago.  From 1998 – 2000 Tim led Clowning workshops and directed a performance of Bertolt Brecht’s play ‘Man is Man’ with Muslim and Serbian youth theatre groups in Bosnis-Hercegovina.  Tim also works for Hearts&Minds, an Edinburgh based arts-in-health organization providing the Clowndoctors and Elderflowers programmes to health care units across Scotland.  He is also a  Feldenkrais Practitioner and teaches Awareness Through Movement at Dance Base in Edinburgh.

Ian Cameron – Artistic Director

Ian is a performer and director in physical theatre, puppetry and masks.  He trained as a visual artist at Central School of Art and Design in London and in theatre with Desmond Jones, Philippe Gaulier and Pierre Byland.  He has performed at the Royal National Theatre and the English National Opera.  As a performer/director/deviser, he has worked with companies including:  Triangle, Quicksilver, Clydebuilt Puppets, the Puppet Lab., Shona Reppe Puppets and Montreal based ‘Theatre Sans Fil.’  Ian also works as a clowndoctor with Hearts&Minds, an arts-in-health organization based in Edinburgh.

Ed Littlewood – Producer

Ed Littlewood trained as a singer at the Royal Academy of Music, specializing in music theatre. After graduating he worked as a singer and actor in numerous productions and in 2000 was working at the Royal Opera House where he became the Access Co-ordinator. He then went on to the Young Vic as Production Administrator in 2006, overseeing the department’s move in to their refurbished theatre. In 2007, he became general manager at The Curve Foundation Dance Company, managing the company’s centenary Scottish tour of The Four Seasons and the Scottish Flute Trio’s tour for FEAT. Ed subsequently worked for Theatre Cryptic until joining Plutôt la Vie in 2010. In 2009 Ed co-founded Young People in the Arts (Scotland), an organisation that brings arts professionals at the outset of their careers in contact with networking events, interviews and panel debates with leading industry figures, and ticket offers to top arts events. Ed has also recently produced Nutshell’s Fringe First winning ‘Allotment’ and is associate producer for Scottish Dance Theatre.

Plutôt la Vie Board Members 2011

With a core company of artistic director and producer, supplemented by freelance specialists, the Board of Directors is the company’s principle decision-maker. The Board will: approve Plutôt la Vie’s overall direction and major policies; support Plutôt la Vie ‘staff’ in these policies; approve budgets and monitor financial activity; ensure the company is operating within the law and with good practice, and act both as Trustees of the registered charity and Board of Directors of the company limited by guarantee. Board members include:

Ben Fletcher-Watson – Chair – Development Manager, Dancebase

Elaine Middleton – Company Secretary – Board Level Senior Manager (retired);

Tim Licata – Artistic Director, Plutôt la Vie;

Ian Cameron – Performer/ Director/ Teacher.

Plutôt la Vie is generously supported by Creative Scotland