Welcome back to our Offbeat Spotlight series. Over the next few days we're highlighting all the strange and wonderful things that the Offbeat Festival has to offer. The Offbeat Festival runs from the 9th-15th of September, and is a collaboration between The Old Fire Station, Oxford Playhouse, New Theatre and Gloucester Green Market. In addition to a multitude of shows, there are also workshops, and exhibition, late night events including a poetry slam, comedy scratch night, and listening party, and more.
Here, we catch up Nathan Peter Grassi, a founding member of the long-running Troika Theatre company, about the company's new documentary short, Troika: Recollections. Featuring both professional and amatuer actors, the film is a celebration of the power of theatre to unite. The screening on Saturday night will be followed by a chance to chat with and meet other members of the Oxford theatre scene. Read on to find out more.
Daily Information: Hi Nathan, thanks for taking the time to talk with us today. First up, how would you describe Troika Theatre to someone unfamiliar??
Nathan Peter Grassi: Troika Theatre (established in 2010) is a local theatre company that draws on the wealth of talents of local Oxford amateur and professional actors and theatre makers committed to producing entertaining and engaging theatre. Our focus is bringing clarity to texts without compromising the simple elements of storytelling.
DI: What was the process and inspiration behind Troika: Recollections?
NPG: In 2022, we (Nathan Peter Grassi and Rachel Veniard) began talking about “what’s next” after a long break from staging productions (due to happy reasons like new children but also less happy ones, like a pandemic). What kept cropping up, though, was how we missed working with our regular group of actors and hearing their stories and memories of working in local Oxford theatre – both amateur and professional. Rachel had the idea of capturing and recording some of these stories in an audio format – as a kind of oral history.
It was around this time that Offbeat opened their applications for supported artists for the 2023 festival; this seemed like a great opportunity to take our idea one step further by filming these interviews and bringing people back together—many of the actors hadn’t seen each other for a number of years. We enlisted Everybody Panic—a local filmmaking duo—applied to the Festival and received seed funding to make our idea a reality.
To ensure spontaneity, we didn’t tell any actors who would be there on the day of filming, so when you see them enter the space, the surprise and joy is real!
DI: Tell me more about the format of the evening?
NPG: After we give a brief welcome and introduction to the company, we’ll screen the documentary (which is about 20 minutes). After that, we’ll invite the audience to take some prompt from a lucky dip which will hopefully inspire their own recollections about theatre (either being onstage, backstage or in the audience). We don’t want to call it homework but we hope the conversations about theatre in Oxford will continue on after the documentary has finished and the festival has come to an end!
DI: What, in your opinion, makes the Oxford theatre scene special?
NPG: There are so many talented and enthusiastic people in this city – people of all ages, backgrounds and experiences who have stories to tell and many want to contribute (or are contributing) to the vibrant scene. Venues like the OFS and festivals like Offbeat really make this possible too and keep the scene buzzing. Troika Theatre has always felt that anyone can make theatre – whether you’re a trained professional or someone who has a 9 to 5 job in accounting. Theatre is for everyone!
DI: After Offbeat, what's next for you?
NPG: Good question! The last time we got talking about “what’s next” we ended up making a documentary. I guess we’ll just have to keep talking and see what crops up? Follow our Instagram to stay in the loop.
DI: Finally, please describe Troika: Recollections in three words.
NPG: Timely, heart-warming, delightful
Troika Recollections is on at the Old Fire Station, on Sat 14th Sep, 5pm. For more info and to book tickets, click here.