Tenant Profile: Third Angel
Next in our series profiling our tenants, is Third Angel who moved here 4 years ago from their previous residency at the Crucible. I was enchanted by the performance I went to of The Department of Distractions …. it totally got under my skin: I am constantly being reminded of it by things I see. It’s lovely to have them here at Harland Works.
How would you describe what you do?
Third Angel are theatre makers. We’ve performed all over the world. You could find us in the theatre, but you might find us working out in the streets, or in a gallery, performing in a minibus, or talking to audiences in a tent at a festival. We write, design and produce all of our work. We also do a lot of projects with our local community and young people, helping the next generation to find their voice and make exciting new work.
Why did you create your business?
It's the ideas that have always driven the company. Back in 1995 we wanted to make a show. We wanted to make something full of ambition, something we'd never seen before, something that was more than a theatre show and would reach a lot of people. The result was our first production Testcard. A 72-hour piece in the Workstation in Sheffield, but with film work showing on TVs in shops and supermarkets. Remember this was way before broadcast was imaginable for a company our size, and streaming didn’t exist. We literally had people on bikes couriering video tapes around the city. We loved creating the show and wanted to continue collaborating and thus Third Angel was born.
Where does your ‘Third Angel’ name come from?
It's a double quote, from Mike Leigh's film Naked, which in turn quotes the Book of Revelation. On the Day of Judgment the Seven Seals are broken, and seven angels blow their trumpets, and "when the Third Angel blows hers, wormwood falls from the sky and poisons a third of all the water and a third of all the land", and many people die. And the Russian translation of 'wormwood' is Chernobyl. Apparently some people believe that the Chernobyl disaster was the third seal being broken on the 'Day' of Judgement.
This isn't anything religious for us. In 1995 we were pretty interested in a lot of that apocalypse culture stuff - the installation we made in 1996 called Barcode made reference to all barcodes containing three sixes. We came up with a shortlist of possible names, and in the end we chose Third Angel as a name because we liked the sound of it. And we had to get the poster for Testcard to the printers.
What do you think are some of the defining productions?
Inherited Cities, made with 60 brilliant Sheffield teenagers is one of the shows we are most proud of and brought together the two strands of Third Angel’s work, our productions and our work in communities and with young people.
Where From Here, What I Heard I Heard About the World and Presumption were all great shows for us. They allowed the company to tour the world and meet people from all walks of life.
With The Desire Paths, we love the part the audience play in creating this piece, as we draw a huge map on the ground of the city we are in, and invite the public to rename the streets after their hopes, dreams and ambitions for the future. I really hope in the coming months when we are out of lockdown we can get to do this show again. It really feels like the right piece to bring communities together.
We are also really excited about The Distraction Agents, coming out in April 2021. It’s a brand new project and we have explored a different way of working. It’s a performance puzzle, combining film and a mysterious package sent to you through the post. It will be really good fun.
What do you love about running a small business?
We love the freedom. We love the fact that we can create our own rules about how we do things. Being a small business, you can be more flexible and more reactive to what's going on in the world. We often talk about the Third Angel family and for us that means knowing, investing in and caring about all of our staff and the many freelances we work with. We all enjoy being part of a small ethical arts charity.
What do you like least?
Being an arts charity can mean that often our ambitions, ideas and projects can be far more bountiful than the money we have in the bank. We would love to be able to do more work with our local communities and young people and the amazing emerging talent that we have in the city, but that means having to fundraise and ask people for their generous support.
Any tips for anyone thinking of setting up on their own?
Be passionate about your business because to make it work you are going to have to put a lot of hours in. Know why you are setting up your own business rather than going to work for somebody else. Don't expect any fast returns; often having a small business can mean you're playing the long game. Make sure you go with the right bank from the start, and get a good accountant.
What would you say to anyone else running/setting up a small independent business thinking about getting a unit at Harland Works? What works (or not!) for you being here?
We really love being part of the Harland Works community. After having offices and workshops all over Sheffield in the past 25 years, Harland feels like home. We like to hang out in the courtyard on a summer’s evening and play some table tennis or have a coffee with friends or potential clients in the café. We would definitely encourage anyone thinking about getting a unit to give it a go.
What's your favourite social media platform and how do you feel it works best for you in building a relationship and community with your customers?
That’s impossible, they do such different things! Perhaps we’re most comfortable on Twitter, because our work is more conversation than broadcast; we want audiences to leave with questions, ideas, to carry on talking in the bar after a show, or email us a week later to tell us they’re still thinking about it or debating it with friends. We’ve used Twitter to generate ideas, invite contributions to projects and even create a piece of work in its own right. But the half life of a tweet is short and so Instagram and Facebook give us better reach in terms of promoting shows, or curating long-term projects with multiple contributors (check out #TheDepartmentOfDistractions for our best example of this on Instagram). We’re not ignoring TikTok, but we’re waiting for the right project to do it justice.
How can people find out more about you and what you do?
To find out what’s coming up, and how you can get involved, sign up to our mailing list here https://www.thirdangel.co.uk/#sign-up, and our website will also give you more information about projects past and present, the team, our trustees, how to support us and more.
Images L-R The Desire Paths ph: Joseph Priestley / The Distraction Agents (2021) ph: Brett Champman / Inherited Cities (2018) ph: Joseph Priestley / Presumption (2006) ph: Mark Cohen