Visitors to the May Fair at Riverhouse Arts Centre, in Walton-on-Thames, on Monday 2 May, are encouraged to step back in time to the roaring 1920s by producing a short silent movie.
The activity is part of a new performance project by Elmbridge-based Quick Fix Theatre that’s designed to pay homage to the borough’s pioneers of early cinema.
It’s around 90 years since production of the last silent film “wrapped” at the Nettlefold Studios – formerly Hepworth Studios – in Walton-on-Thames, Elmbridge. The studios and surrounding area played a lead role in the birth of the British film industry. These days, however, the borough’s cinematic history tends to be eclipsed by Shepperton, Ealing or Pinewood Studios.
Quick Fix Theatre, a group of volunteer actors who specialise in giving high-energy performances in public spaces across the borough, hope to change this by inspiring the community to produce and share silent movies based on their fast-paced, high-energy, silent movie-style performances.
The actors want audiences to use the power of the filmmaking tools and apps, which many have on their smartphones, to add captions and effects to create a short silent movie to keep the borough’s filmmaking heritage alive.
This project is being funded by the Robert Phillips Charity and the RC Sherriff Trust, two local charities that support arts development in Elmbridge.
For the latest information, times and venues, check out https://www.facebook.com/quickfixtheatre or Twitter: @QuickFixTheatre.