Power of Invention

Lockdown and the closure of Birmingham museums meant a nine month postponement for this site-specific production about Matthew Boulton’s ground-breaking Lunar Society. We reconfigured the show as an outdoor production in the gardens of Soho House in Birmingham, to make it covid secure.  Click ‘continue reading’ or scroll down for older posts about the show.

The show that almost went wrong

What could possibly go wrong, quipped our unflappable producer Julia as she signed up to her duties on Power of Invention back in 2019. Turns out, pretty much anything. The original plan was for a promenade show inside Soho House where the audience would meander through the house and encounter the industrial giants of the

Theatre is back!

Postponed from last year due to the pandemic, rehearsals are now underway for BOLDtext Playwright’s latest site-specific show, Power of Invention, celebrating Birmingham’s Lunar Society – with a wonderful all-female cast, stage manager and director.   The RSC’s Katy Stephens is joined by Adaya Henry, Itasha James and Simran Kular, with direction from Janet Steel, stage

Power

MATTHEW BOULTON (1718-1809) was Birmingham’s foremost entrepreneur and industrialist, best known for his partnership with James Watt in developing steam engine technology, heralding a technological revolution in 18th century England.  In fact, Boulton was far more than this. His combination of engineering know-how, entrepreneurial ambition and an ability to inspire the brightest minds to collaborate,

Fire girl

I knew I wanted to write a servant character who worked for the Boultons at Soho House, for our upcoming new show Power of Invention (July 30th & 31st, August 7th 2021).  But where my Fire Girl came from, I don’t know.  Was it having my chimney swept last autumn; or setting up a makeshift fire pit on