iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Ben Spiller - they / them @mxbenspiller.bsky.social · 23/03/2025

Migration is life, no one is illegal. 🕊

Ben Spiller - they / them @mxbenspiller.bsky.social · 19/03/2025

Lady Bracknell could well be an advisor to Wes Streeting: "Nor do I in any way approve of the modern sympathy with invalids. I consider it morbid. Illness of any kind is hardly a thing to be encouraged in others. Health is the primary duty of life." Ugh. Victorian ableism is alive and well.

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Ben Spiller - they / them @mxbenspiller.bsky.social · 14/03/2025

Repping @1623theatre.bsky.social at @uni-of-warwick.bsky.social today - doing a session with students on setting up and running a theatre company. 🩷🤍🚉

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1623 theatre company @1623theatre.bsky.social · 13/02/2025

Can you help us revive our Queer Lady M show and run a community workshop as part of the LGBTQ+ season at Shakespeare North this spring? We really need your support to make it all happen. www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/queer-lady...

crowdfunder.co.uk

Queer Lady M

With your support, we will bring our LGBTQ+ show and workshop to the Queer Season at Shakespeare North Playhouse.

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Reposted by Ben Spiller - they / them

Jacquelyn Gill @jacquelyngill.bsky.social · 26/02/2025

Hey, artists, in case you were wondering if your work matters: I'm a scientist working on climate change and biodiversity, and I would not be who I am today without The Lorax, The Secret of NIMH, Watership Down, The Last Unicorn, and The X-Files. I know I'm not alone. Thank you for all you do.

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Sarah Brigham @sarahbrigham.bsky.social · 23/02/2025

Catch this beautiful show ! One more week @derbytheatre.bsky.social and then onto Hull Truck, Bolton Octagon and Theatre by the Lake

An image of two men ( George and Lennie) stood on stage against a sunset coloured background. The title Of Mice and men is on it plus lots of stars from reviews

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Ben Spiller - they / them @mxbenspiller.bsky.social · 27/01/2025

In the long and terrible shadow of the unimaginable atrocity that was the Holocaust, please can we all look after each other just that little bit more? Thank you. x

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Ben Spiller - they / them @mxbenspiller.bsky.social · 23/01/2025

"The quality of mercy is not strained; It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven Upon the place beneath." - Portia, The Merchant of Venice #MariannEdgarBudde #Legend

Mariann Edgar Budde stands at a lectern in a pulpit and talks into a microphone. She is a white woman with short grey hair. She wears glasses, a vicar collar, a white shirt with long sleeves, and robes in black and red. Behind her is a stained glass window predominantly in blue. In front of her are white and red flowers among green foliage.

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Ben Spiller - they / them @mxbenspiller.bsky.social · 21/01/2025

Let's fight back with all the good stuff - creativity, community, family, friends, love, hope, generosity, allyship - in the face of this shitshow of bigoted billionaire thuggery. We have each other. Always. x

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Ben Spiller - they / them @mxbenspiller.bsky.social · 09/01/2025

Everyone who continues to make and support theatre at this hugely challenging time - that's everyone, whether you are on 'The List' or not - big up, keep going, and thank you. You are making a positive difference.

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1623 theatre company @1623theatre.bsky.social · 09/01/2025

All performances of The Winter's Tale at @DerbyTheatre.bsky.social have sold out. If you don't have tickets, fear not - we are livestreaming the show on Sat 11th Jan starting at 7pm GMT. There will be two livestreams - one with BSL interpretation, one with captions. youtube.com/playlist?lis...

youtube.com

The Winter's Tale livestream - BSL, captioned - YouTube

Broadcast live from the studio of Derby Theatre, 1623 presents the UK premiere of Tracy Young's gripping new translation of Shakespeare's bold and moving pla...

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Ben Spiller - they / them @mxbenspiller.bsky.social · 04/01/2025

So... the Fri night show has sold out, Sat afternoon is almost sold out, and Sat night has pretty good availability. Book soon, my friends - don't want you to miss it! xx

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Ben Spiller - they / them @mxbenspiller.bsky.social · 03/01/2025

This afternoon, BBC Radio's Ben Jackson interviewed me about 1623 and our new show The Winter's Tale, which plays Derby Theatre soon. Here is our chat, which starts about 12 mins into the programme. I am working on a transcript. www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/... 1/2

bbc.co.uk

Ben Jackson on BBC Radio Derby - 02/01/2025 - BBC Sounds

The latest news, great music and inspirational people to take you through the afternoon.

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Ben Spiller - they / them @mxbenspiller.bsky.social · 01/01/2025

Tonight's EastEnders was written by my pal Kev. So proud of him. X

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Ben Spiller - they / them @mxbenspiller.bsky.social · 28/12/2024

Lots to be grateful for this year, including these highlights: 🙏🏼 working with Jenny Sealey on Romeo and Juliet for Graeae at Shakespeare North 🙏🏼 teaching Shakespeare and contemporary practice at Northants University 🙏🏼 co-directing Winter's Tale with Sophie Stone for 1623 and Play On Shakespeare

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Reposted by Ben Spiller - they / them

1623 theatre company @1623theatre.bsky.social · 25/12/2024

Merry Christmas! With love from everyone at 1623. 💖✨️

A collage of photos by Jay Nandha of our current show - The Winter's Tale. The photos show the diverse cast wearing modern clothes, and paper crowns on their heads. The set is a tower block of flats and a caravan. Featuring Elliot Webster-Mockett as Polixenes, Donna Mullings as Hermione, Wambui Hardcastle as Mamillius, Karen Spicer as Emilia, and Oliver Tunstall as Leontes. Set and costume design by Nikki Charlesworth. Lighting design by Sam Osborne.

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Ben Spiller - they / them @mxbenspiller.bsky.social · 25/12/2024

I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas from the bottom of my heart, while wearing a red and white jester hat with bells. 💖✨️

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Ben Spiller - they / them @mxbenspiller.bsky.social · 21/12/2024

Just finished reading Lemn Sissay's My Name Is Why - painful yet full of hope, this deeply moving memoir speaks truth to power from a place of total integrity. Stunning work.

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Ben Spiller - they / them @mxbenspiller.bsky.social · 18/12/2024

I watched a film called Wicked today and - much to my surprise - really enjoyed it. Funny, moving and ultimately exhilarating. Strong political messages too. Loved it. #Popular #DefyingGravity #NooneMournsTheWicked 💚🩷

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Ben Spiller - they / them @mxbenspiller.bsky.social · 01/12/2024

Calling all theatre reviewers in the Midlands...... Would you like a couple of tickets for 1623 theatre company's The Winter's Tale in Leicester or Derby this season? We would love to welcome you to the show and discover what you thought and felt about it in your review. 1/2

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Ben Spiller - they / them @mxbenspiller.bsky.social · 14/09/2024

Romeo has slipped into my French lesson! ☀️ "Look, love, what envious streaks Do lace the severing clouds in yonder east. Night's candles are burnt out, and jocund day Stands tiptoe on the misty mountain tops. I must be gone and live, or stay and die."

A screen shot from Duolingo. To the left - a drawing of a young white man with a blond quiff wearing a blue top. To the right, a speech bubble with French text inside - le soleil se lève, je dois partir. Below, text in English - The sun is rising I have to leave.

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Ben Spiller - they / them @mxbenspiller.bsky.social · 05/09/2024

Tee hee - I am in a taxi and the driver has hiccups. 🤭

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Ben Spiller - they / them @mxbenspiller.bsky.social · 04/09/2024

Super stoked to be starting a new job next month: associate lecturer in performance studies at Northampton University.

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Ben Spiller - they / them @mxbenspiller.bsky.social · 30/08/2024

Did you pick up on the news about the protestors at the Globe today? A campaign group called Stop the Arts... a mickey take, surely?? Hilarious placards included: * S*d off Shakespeare! * Enuff with the ruff! * Shakespeare is so 1616! 😆😆😆

A group of people in purple clothes including balaclavas stand outside the entrance to the Globe theatre and hold up pieces of cardboard with slogans on them.

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Ben Spiller - they / them @mxbenspiller.bsky.social · 24/08/2024

Jenny Sealey - artist, activist, campaigner, collaborator, communicator, director, enabler, leader, motivator, provider, supporter, trailblazer. One of our very best. Thank goodness for Jenny Sealey and her world-changing work. X

Jenny stands in a room and faces to the right. She wears sunglasses on her head and holds up her fists with thumbs out.

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Ben Spiller - they / them @mxbenspiller.bsky.social · 19/08/2024

On this day in 1936, fascists in Spain killed poet and playwright Federico García Lorca, whose works I adore. His body has never been found.

A young man with olive skin and short curly black hair wears a suit and sits on a chair while resting his jaw on his hand.

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Ben Spiller - they / them @mxbenspiller.bsky.social · 19/08/2024

I love Mproduction time2show for many reasons, one of them being that they are the only carnival troupe in the region to have crowned a queer, as well as the traditional king and queen. Big up to troupe leader Maria, carnival queer Sam, and the whole team. 🌈🎊✨️

A brown person smiles and dances along a road. They wear a head dress with white and pink feathers, a white and pink top, white feathers on their arms, white knee length shorts, black boots with pink laces, and big rainbow wings.

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Ben Spiller - they / them @mxbenspiller.bsky.social · 19/08/2024

Hello. Ben here. Currently getting ready to direct this: www.1623theatre.co.uk/the-winters-tale. How about you? #Theatre #Shakespeare

Snow falls from a gloomy sky. A tower block of flats. Bare trees. A sign says Sicilia Court. Graffiti - Truth Will Out.

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