Ferment Fortnight Preview | House of Blakewell

Ferment Fortnight kicks off its biannual explosion of work-in-progress and scratch performances from 26 Jan. Here House of Blakewell give us an inside look into the world of Thor and Loki. Catch it at the Wardrobe Theatre on the festival's opening night.

Tell us a bit about yourself and how you got involved with Ferment
We’re Harry and Alice aka House of Blakewell - we’re a duo that make alternative musical theatre with a strong comedy-cabaret flavour. Harry is from Salisbury and Alice trained in Bristol, but strangely we never performed in the South West until now, so we were really excited to be included in the Ferment Fortnight programme. It’s such a great opportunity for us to share our work with an audience while we’re still in the process of making it.

How would you describe your latest show in the Ferment Fortnight?
It’s loosely based on the Norse gods Thor and Loki, as described in the Eddas (collections of myths written by Icelandic poets in the Middle Ages.) It’s about the two characters and their attempts to prevent the day of Ragnarok - the end of the world - but really it’s about destiny, choice, friendship and embracing change, in order to create a better world. With tap dancing Vikings.

What do you expect audiences will take away from your piece?
Hopefully they’ll leave with a smile on their face, humming the tunes!

What’s been the biggest challenge/most exciting moment so far?
We normally work as a duo, but in this show we have a cast of five. It was initially slightly intimidating allowing other people into our creative process, but the first time we had the full company in a kick line singing in four-part harmony was amazingly joyous!

What are you looking forward to most this Fortnight?
We’re really thrilled to be performing at the Wardrobe Theatre - it’s a space we’ve wanted to visit for ages. The programme also looks amazing - performing straight after us is Annie Siddons with her show Dennis of Penge, which we’re really looking forward to.

Ferment Fortnight takes place at The Wardrobe Theatre 26-28 Jan before returning to Bristol Old Vic 31 Jan-2 Feb. For more info and to book tickets, click here.