I reckon that looks really rather good. It’s 2-8 July at AE Harris and MAC and, if memory serves, tickets tend to sell out so don’t hang about too long if you’re thinking of booking.

• Ping! Which involves table tennis players and a string quartet. It was at Warwick Arts Centre recently and seemed to go down well
• Five Triple Rings, which seems to involve incorporating sport and maths into bell-ringing
• The Voyage, Stan’s Cafe’s “playful opera for a voice, a double bass and eight recorders”
• A screening of Twenty Seven Heavens

The full timetable of events is here and tickets are £6 max.

In a world where nothing seems real, everything’s a distraction and actions no longer matter, a young woman sets out on a preposterous mission – to change things for the better…

I missed Jane Packman Company’s last thing but heard lots of good reports about it. This latest, called A Thousand Shards of Glass (at AE Harris from 21-23 March) also looks interesting. Plus, if you go on Wednesday 21 March you get a bonus performance by Tassos Stevens from Coney – he’s good too.

Note: a mention of the West Midlands Theatre Awards 2012. You saw it there first.

I Like Theatre was prompted by Ian Craddock at Old Joint Stock Theatre from an initial idea and Pledge Card from James Yarker at Stan’s Cafe / @ A E Harris.

It’s taken me a few years to finally get round to going to Pilot. I’m not sure whether to kick myself for missing so many or pat myself on the back for finally making it along (what the heck, it’s the end of the week so I’ll go for the latter).

There was a packed audience (extra chairs had to be fetched twice), a great atmosphere and some good (and as yet unfinished) work on show from Little Earthquake, Hamfisted!, LouDeemY Productions, Heart of the Anchor, Alex Brockie and Rebekka Platt.

I have to admit to being a bit surprised by how many people had turned out for it, and not just in light of recent events around the city centre. From what I could make out the audience was a mixed and supportive crowd of fellow performers, friends/family and theatre fans. Folks from Friction Arts, Fierce Festival, the RSC and Women & Theatre (among other organisations) were there too.

Pilot, by the way is a chance for:

a host of theatre companies from the West Midlands region and beyond to share with you their latest artistic doings in an early form. There is a mix of experienced and novice companies, addressing a broad spectrum of ideas, using a wide range of approaches and in the vast expanses of @ A E Harris, there is the chance for a couple of pieces to stretch themselves out

It was good and I’ll be going again.

The idea with these things is to introduce next year’s artists to Birmingham and vice versa. There are a few Fierce stalwarts and returning names in the 2011-2012 caravan but plenty of new faces too. Because I’m too lazy to type them all out and too impatient to wait for them to appear online, here’s the list of names:

I arrived in time to have a bit of a natter with some people, watch some archery (BE Festival‘s Miguel winning the competition there) and see a balloon-festooned woman dosed up on sleeping pills who had quite literally danced until she’d dropped. The usual kind of Fierce thing then.

I should probably have got down a bit earlier to catch some more stuff but that’s the problem with these ‘4pm til late’ things – it’s hard to tell when to turn up to catch the action. Still, there was plenty on display around the venue. I particularly liked the look of what Ron Athey will be cooking up – something to do with automatic writing.

In conclusion: Excellent and I’m looking forward to seeing how some of the embryonic ideas presented will turn out in 9 months time.

The event is open to anyone working in the broad area of Theatre within the West Midlands. Open Space is a fun and highly efficient means of addressing issues of concern to individuals within a community. Back in November 2009 the original version of this event galvanized a lot of discussion and even significant ACTION. It is anticipated this sequel will be at least as good

There’s a letter here (PDF) which explains more and has details for signing up.

The last event, mentioned in the blurb, is pretty thoroughly documented on this website.

This time, as well as the main programme at AE Harris, the MAC will be used for a launch party, some shows for children and some work-in-progress.

The press release I received included this plea:

Anyone interested in getting involved in any way with BE FESTIVAL should visit the website www.befestival.org or e-mail info@befestival.org. The deadline for artists’ applications is 29 April.

Tickets will be £10 per night, or £35 for a four day festival pass but I don’t think they’re on sale quite yet. Or, if you volunteer to host a visiting artist, you get a freebie. Can’t say fairer than that.