Vanishing Point

theatre company Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perfor ...

was founded in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

in 1999 by Matthew Lenton. Vanishing Point's work has been performed throughout the UK and internationally, at international festivals and venues including

Edinburgh International Festival The Edinburgh International Festival is an annual arts festival in Edinburgh, Scotland, spread over the final three weeks in August. Notable figures from the international world of music (especially european classical music, classical music) and ...

, Buenos Aires International Festival, Santiago A Mil, BOZAR Arts (Brussels),

Théâtre de la Ville (meaning the City Theatre) is one of the two theatres built in the 19th century by Baron Haussmann at Place du Châtelet, Paris, the other being the Théâtre du Châtelet. It is located at 2, place du Châtelet in the 4th arrondissement. Incl ...

(Paris), Stanislavsky Foundation Festival (Moscow), National Theatre of Portugal (Porto) &

Brighton Festival Brighton Festival is a large, annual, curated multi-arts festival in England. It includes music, theatre, dance, circus, art, film, literature, debate, outdoor and family events, and takes place in venues in the city of Brighton and Hove in Engla ...

. The company receives funding from

Creative Scotland Creative Scotland ( gd, Alba Chruthachail ; sco, Creative Scotlan) is the development body for the arts and creative industries in Scotland. Based in Edinburgh, it is an executive non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government. The o ...

, the Nationa
Lottery
and Glasgow City Council. In 2004, it launched Space 11, an initiative aiming to encourage collaboration between young arts organisations in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

, by providing them with office space and workshops in order to enhance business skills and create more time for making work.

History

Formed in 1999 in

by graduates of the

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

, its first production was an adaptation of ''Les Aveugles'' (''The Blind'') by

Maurice Maeterlinck Maurice Polydore Marie Bernard Maeterlinck (29 August 1862 – 6 May 1949), also known as Count (or Comte) Maeterlinck from 1932, was a Belgian playwright, poet, and essayist who was Flemish but wrote in French. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in ...

, performed in total darkness. The piece was performed at

BAC BAC or Bac may refer to: Places * Bac, Rožaje, Bac, a village in Montenegro * Baile Átha Cliath, Irish language name for Dublin city. * Bîc River, aka ''Bâc River'', a Moldovan river * Baç Bridge, bridge in Turkey * Barnes County Municipal A ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

in a season entitled "Playing in the Dark". The company's first major show was in 2004, entitled ''Lost Ones'', a surreal show concerning a man, a murder on a mountain, the little creatures who are smuggling things out of him years later and a void on the other side of the skirting board. ''Lost Ones'' went on to tour internationally. Recent work includes ''The Destroyed Room'' (2016), ''The Beautiful Cosmos of

Ivor Cutler Ivor Cutler (born Isadore Cutler, 15 January 1923 – 3 March 2006) was a Scottish poet, singer, musician, songwriter, artist and humorist. He became known for his regular performances on BBC radio, and in particular his numerous sessions record ...

'' (2014), a co-production with the

National Theatre of Scotland The National Theatre of Scotland, established in 2006, is the national theatre company of Scotland. The company has no theatre building of its own; instead it tours work to theatres, village halls, schools and site-specific locations, both at h ...

in association with Eden Court, ''Wonderland'' (2012), a co-production with Napoli Teatro Festival Italia, Tramway (Glasgow) and Eden Court (Inverness); ''Saturday Night'' (2011), a co-production with Teatro Naçional São João, São Luiz Teatro Municipal, Centro Cultural Vila Flor and Tramway; '' The Beggar’s Opera'' (2009), a co-production with

Royal Lyceum Theatre The Royal Lyceum Theatre is a 658-seat theatre in the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, named after the Theatre Royal Lyceum and English Opera House, the residence at the time of legendary Shakespearean actor Henry Irving. It was built in 1883 by a ...

and Belgrade Theatre in association with Tramway; ''Interiors'' (2009), a co‐production with Napoli Teatro Festival Italia, Teatro Stabile di Napoli,

Traverse Theatre The Traverse Theatre is a theatre in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was founded in 1963 by John Calder, John Malcolm, Jim Haynes and Richard Demarco. The Traverse Theatre company commissions and develops new plays or adaptations from contemporary p ...

in association with

Lyric Hammersmith The Lyric Theatre, also known as the Lyric Hammersmith, is a theatre on Lyric Square, off King Street, Hammersmith, London.

and

Tron Theatre The Tron Theatre is located in the corner of Trongate and Chisholm Street, in what was formerly the Tron Kirk which had started as the Collegiate Church of Our Lady and St. Anne in the Trongate area of Glasgow, Scotland. The Tron Steeple still ...

, developed with the support of the National Theatre Studio (London); ''Little Otik'' (2008), a co‐production with the

, in association with the

Citizens Theatre The Citizens Theatre, in what was the Royal Princess's Theatre, is the creation of James Bridie and is based in Glasgow, Scotland as a principal producing theatre. The theatre includes a 500-seat Main Auditorium, and has also included various ...

; ''Subway'' (2007), a co-production with

in association with

Lyric Hammersmith The Lyric Theatre, also known as the Lyric Hammersmith, is a theatre on Lyric Square, off King Street, Hammersmith, London.

, and ''Lost Ones'' (2005 & 2006).

Company

Matthew Lenton founded Vanishing Point Theatre Company in 1999, and since then has directed or co-directed all of the company’s productions. Artistic Director - Matthew Lenton
Executive Producer - Severine Wyper
Administrative Producer - Eleanor Scott
Associate Producer - Gillian Garrity Artistic Associates - Elicia Daly, Kai Fischer, Sandy Grierson, Pauline Goldsmith & Damir Todorovic
International Distributor - Aldo Grompone Board of Directors - Gillian McCormack (Chair), Victoria Beesley, Trent Kim, Ramesh Meyyappan, Francis McKee, Harriet Mould, Judith Patrickson & Mark Thomson.

Productions

*''The Destroyed Room'' *''Striptease / Out At Sea'' *''Tomorrow'' *''The Beautiful Cosmos of Ivor Cutler'' *''Wonderland'' *''Saturday Night'' *''

The Beggar's Opera ''The Beggar's Opera'' is a ballad opera in three acts written in 1728 by John Gay with music arranged by Johann Christoph Pepusch. It is one of the watershed plays in Augustan drama and is the only example of the once thriving genre of satiri ...

'' *''Interiors'' *''

Little Otik ''Little Otik'' ( cs, Otesánek), also known as ''Greedy Guts'', is a 2000 Czech surreal dark comedy horror film by Jan Švankmajer and Eva Švankmajerová. Based on the folktale Otesánek by Karel Jaromír Erben, the film is a comedic live ac ...

'' *''Subway'', 'a dystopian science fiction thriller' *''Home Hindrance'' *''Lost Ones'' *''Mancub'', adapted from the novel ''The Flight of the Cassowary'' by John LeVert *''

Invisible Man ''Invisible Man'' is a novel by Ralph Ellison, published by Random House in 1952. It addresses many of the social and intellectual issues faced by African Americans in the early twentieth century, including black nationalism, the relationship b ...

'' *''A Brief History of Time'', based upon Stephen Hawking's

book A book is a medium for recording information in the form of writing or images, typically composed of many pages (made of papyrus, parchment, vellum, or paper) bound together and protected by a cover. The technical term for this physi ...

*''Stars Beneath The Sea'', based upon Trevor Norton's book *''

Last Stand A last stand is a military situation in which a body of troops holds a defensive position in the face of overwhelming and virtually insurmountable odds. Troops may make a last stand due to a sense of duty; because they are defending a tactic ...

'' *''Glimpse'' *''Blackout'' *''The Sightless''

Awards

* Critics Awards for Theatre in Scotland (CATS) ::''Lost Ones'', 2004, Best Technical Presentation, Best Design ::''Mancub'', 2005, Best Children's Show ::''Subway'', 2007, Best Music ::''Interiors'', 2009, Best Ensemble ::''Interiors'', 2009, Matthew Lenton, Best Director ::''Interiors'', 2009, Best Production *

Scotsman Fringe First Awards The Scots ( sco, Scots Fowk; gd, Albannaich) are an ethnic group and nation native to Scotland. Historically, they emerged in the early Middle Ages from an amalgamation of two Celtic-speaking peoples, the Picts and Gaels, who founded t ...

::''Subway'', 2007 *

Total Theatre Awards Total may refer to: Mathematics * Total, the summation of a set of numbers * Total order, a partial order without incomparable pairs * Total relation, which may also mean ** connected relation (a binary relation in which any two elements are compa ...

::''Subway'', 2007, Best Original Work by a Collective/EnsembleShortlist 2007
Total Theatre

Space 11

Since September 2004 Vanishing Point has been running a Shared Resources Project with support from Scottish Arts Council Lottery and Glasgow City Council. The first four companies to benefit from this initiative were ek Performance (Pamela Carter), Fire Exit Limited (David Leddy), Random Accomplice (led by Julie Brown and Johnny McKnight) and Vox Motus (led by Jamie Harrison and Candice Edmunds). The company has since worked with Stammer Productions (led by Colette Sadler), Never Did Nothing (led by Nick Underwood), Company Chordelia (led by Kally Lloyd-Jones), Glas(s) Performance (led by Tashi Gore and Jess Thorpe) and SeenUnSeen (led by Neil Doherty). This project provides these companies with comprehensive office resources, and a creative environment in which experience, advice and information can be shared by all companies involved. Since December 2006, a consultancy program has been initiated and incorporated into the scheme with Di Robson from DREAM. This allows companies to focus on specific areas of need and benefit from the expertise of an individual advisor.

References

External links

* {{authority control Theatre companies in Scotland