Biscuit & Coffee Tour Dates

To fill your chosen theatre with the rich dark aroma of coffee beans and intrigue call Alex on +64 21 345784 or email alex@flaxworks.com




THE START OF IT ALL…BEAN THERE DONE THAT!

If it's possible to get drunk on coffee we did, one afternoon, talking about how great it would be to just get on the road and tour a show. We had a coffee, tossed some ideas around, had another coffee, talked some more and in a hyper-active state agreed that we should write and tour a show about a character who drank far too much coffee, and thus Biscuit & Coffee and Flaxworks was born.

With no touring experience, no contacts and no real idea about what we were doing we bought a van off the side of the road for $400.00, booked some venues and hit the road.

We performed in cafés so tiny Alex was almost sitting on the patrons knees, we played a 600 seat abandoned movie theatre in a town with a population of 200 and rural community halls where the blackouts were compromised by the moonlight shining through the holes in the walls. We played an exclusive tourist restaurant where we were the cheapest thing on the menu and a tiny rural community on the night of a major rugby final where the eleven ushers outnumbered the audience. We learned not to rely on door sales in places where it might snow – in the summer. One night in the middle of winter in the middle of nowhere the van broke down and rolled to a stop outside a lonely motel with a disturbing similarity to the one in Psycho. We've slept in the van, at the homes of kindly audience members and a derelict nurses home reminiscent of the abandoned Hotel from The Shining. We had an entire boarding school at our disposal one long weekend when the accommodation in the town we were playing in was completely sold out due to the National Junior Highland Dancing Championships, and of course, countless backpackers and pubs in varying states of repair and hygiene.

But we have survived to tell the tale and four years later with a growing repertoire of shows and thousands of miles on the clock, we wouldn't change a thing. We sold the van for $406.00 (a profit of two coffees!), bought a bigger one and continue to tour further and further afield. We have since performed Biscuit & Coffee, (which has been called everything from Coffee & Biscuits to Tea and Cookies by various media throughout the country) and our second show Murder by Chocolate over 160 times in over 60 venues throughout New Zealand to critical and audience acclaim and are more than ready to take our quirky tales to the international stage.



FLAXWORKS
Flaxworks is the creative partnership of Alex Ellis and Phil Ormsby, and is a theatre company committed to produce an extensive portfolio of New Zealand works over the coming years. Accessible theatre, with a distinctive kiwi flavour, that can be toured to both rural centres and cities. Flaxworks is a professional theatre company committed to producing new and original New Zealand work and to develop this reputation both nationally and internationally.
Flaxworks was formed in 2005 to successfully produce and tour their first production, a solo comedy called Biscuit & Coffee, written by Phil Ormsby and performed by Alex Ellis. Biscuit & Coffee, the quirky tale of a woman surrounded by coffee-obsessive’s and conspiracies, successfully toured New Zealand playing everywhere from cafes to movie theatres and from community halls to professional theatres.
Flaxworks followed Biscuit & Coffee with Murder by Chocolate, a comedy murder mystery which, building on the success of its predecessor toured New Zealand with even greater success and returned to many of the same theatres throughout the country. Murder by Chocolate helped build Flaxworks’ reputation as an innovative and hard working theatre company which toured from New Zealand’s metropolitan centres to our most remote rural communities.
This process is in keeping with Flaxworks’ philosophy of bringing theatre to people who may rarely experience it and building a regular and extensive audience in the process.
Both shows have enjoyed over 160 performances in 60 venues nationwide and both continue to be performed - Murder by Chocolate played Melbourne’s La Mama Theatre garnering excellent reviews and delighting audiences at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival 2009 and Biscuit and Coffee travelled back to the South Island for its third season in four years in July 2009. 2009 also saw the premiere of Flaxworks latest production Carol & Nev which will start its Nationwide Tour in February 2010 as part of The Bay of Islands Arts Festival.
As well as performing on stage, Phil in Murder by Chocolate and Carol & Nev and Alex in all three shows they are also responsible for all production aspects of Flaxworks. Phil has written Biscuit & Coffee, Murder by Chocolate and Carol & Nev and is also responsible for the technical and construction aspects of Flaxworks productions. Alex is producer and publicist, organising and publicising National tours as well as one off performances and seasons in New Zealand and Australia. 
‘dynamic Flaxworks duo… Alex Ellis and Phil Ormsby have talent to burn’ - Lumiere