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Go and See scheme: Ade Powell to Rainbow of Desires “I spent from Tuesday 25th to Saturday 29th March meeting, watching, listening to, working with and being enlivened by the man who has informed my practice since the mid 1970s. Augusto Boal, inventor of Theatre of the Oppressed, came to London to facilitate a Rainbow of Desires training course at the National Youth Theatre. The course was co-facilitated by Augusto’s son and Adrian Jackson, Director of Cardboard Citizens, a theatre company based in London which develops Forum with and for homeless people. Augusto is in the running for a Nobel Peace Prize this year. Rainbow of Desires is a body of work, which, along with Forum Theatre, Image Theatre, Newspaper Theatre, Invisible Theatre, Direct Actions and Legislative Theatre, go to make up “The Tree of the Theatre of the Oppressed”1. Rainbow works more on enabling the singular to become plural, enabling the protagonist (and antagonist) in a real situation to draw out his or her desires in a conflict situation and play with these desires. Give them physical form, see how they look, act and sound, interact with them and see if they help or hinder resolution. For me, it was a marvellous week. 40 practitioners attended the course, which was in itself a great opportunity for me to work, experiment, learn and update my practice with a group who share the same commitment to change and therapy through theatre. As Augusto says, we are human and social creatures and therefore political, we can all act, we need to act politically. For my practice, my groups, now and future, the course has grounded me in my beliefs and methodologies. I played with known practices and encountered new ones. Being done to rather than doing to is very refreshing! Playing is good for the soul! Lessons learnt, techniques honed and passion energised, I am now busy working on a Forum piece with Thirty Three and a Third Youth Forum to enable a dialogue around the issues facing young people here in Kent. The piece will be a part of a Youth Conference in Folkestone in mid-July. Many thanks to PANeK Go and See fund for helping with the cost of the course. www.thirtythreeandathird.co.uk 1 Boal, Augusto, 2006, The Aesthetics of the Oppressed, p4 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Report - Edinburgh Festival Visit 9th - 12th August Prior to arriving we had booked seats for some recommended performances and the challenge on arrival was to complete the schedule, filling in with shows which had good reviews and which occupied complementary time slots. This proved a good way of approaching things because the information overload is completely overwhelming. We wanted to attend the Festival for two reasons, firstly to inspire our own practice and secondly in the hope that we might see something which we could transfer to the Swale area where our village hall venues will host a mini rural festival next year. We were disappointed by the first two performances we saw but the standard progressively improved and by the end we felt we had seen a wide range of good and interesting work. Shows seen (in order) The War of the Worlds The performer of this one-man show was a local (south east) artist but the experience of watching this rather bombastic actor speak (and sing) his way through HG Wells’ classic science fiction novel, accompanied by Jeff Wayne’s iconic 70s score, was far from enjoyable. Poorly staged, over-long and lacking any atmosphere. Dybbuk This production was performed in Polish with subtitles. The Dybbuk is based on a Jewish folk myth and tells the story of a young woman and a man who are both possessed by spirits: the bride by an ex-lover and the man by his younger brother who was killed in the holocaust. This production had moments of real, haunting beauty and strangeness but lost its way in terms of the narrative line: it was over-long and ultimately unsatisfying. Lough/Rain Performed by two actors, Lough/Rain is a double bill by two different writers united in a single short play. A couple living by the side of a loch share a brittle relationship which appears to be on the point of break-up. An accident (which may have been a suicide attempt) results in brain damage for the male half of the partnership and he is consigned to a care home where, although conscious, he is catherterised and fed by tubes. The later part of the play movingly explores the changes in the lives of this young couple as the woman is locked into to a regime of difficult daily visits. A well written but slightly disjointed piece with some incredibly strong performances. The Escalator scheme is run by Arts Council England East to provide access to the Festival for artists. This is a really good idea considering the costs of getting to Edinburgh. The New Electric Ballroom A stark production dealing with the lives of three sisters living in a small Irish town. The three women constantly re-enact a story of a teenage sexual betrayal until the youngest sister finds the possibility of escape with a local man. The writing was strong, apart from some long and rather overwritten monologues. There was little action or visual stimulation although there were some brilliant performances and a surprising twist at the end partially redeemed it for us. Terrible Infants Slightly derivative of Shock-headed Peter but not quite as dark. The multi-talented cast used music, physical theatre, puppetry and object manipulation to tell a series of cautionary tales for children. Some lovely, imaginative moments, strong design and good use of music. ‘The Bird’ and ‘The Bee’ THE BIRD: An ensemble piece which featured a strong performance by Tom Ferguson as the son of a Russian prostitute who becomes disconnected from society and turns into a random killer. Supporting performances were very poor and the writing was uneven although the subject matter was original. THE BEE: This was a stronger storyline than The Bird, examining possible reasons for high teenage suicide rates in areas such as Bridgend. However, the production shared the same cast and once again there were some weak performances. The Bee focused on the story of a teenage girl who becomes a focus for internet attention when her brother is killed in a road accident. The piece explores how untimely death can be romanticised and mythologised through tribute internet sites, conferring celebrity status on the dead person and their living relatives. Architecting An all-Amercan cast performed this epic piece which drew parallels between the reconstruction of the South after the abolition of slavery and the reconstruction/regeneration of New Orleans after the floods. Although the play was probably a little too long and lacked structure, it had fantastic pace, excellent performances and some acute observations about American politics. Lost in the Wind A show about a man who wanders into a bizarre fantasy world. Using mime, physical theatre techniques and stage effects, the piece was effective at times. Techniques were strong but the characterisation was rather weak and the action was not always as clear as it could have been. Crocosmia Absolutely brilliant, inventive and original piece, performed by three young actors, about a lovable, eccentric liberal middle class family struck by tragedy. Having introduced the audience to family rituals, childhood games, bedtimes and celebrations, the atmosphere is abruptly shattered by the death of both parents, uprooting the three children and placing them first in the care of social services then with prospective foster parents. Fantastic ensemble performances, ingenious object manipulation and puppetry - this was the highlight of the festival for us. -------------------------------------- We found our trip to Edinburgh to be a very useful, inspirational and enjoyable experience and came away with some strong impressions of excellent work. We particularly enjoyed the productions which combined spoken word with physical theatre/puppetry and we were also impressed by the talent of the some of the actors. However, we were shocked to notice how little the companies and audiences reflected multicultural Britain in that the huge majority were white European and middle class. We are hopeful that we will be able to introduce one of the companies to our mini-festival in the Swale area, and we know that the opportunity to see interesting new work will help us with our own practice. Claudia Leaf - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Report for the Panek on recent trip to APAM TOTALTHEATRE Introduction The World Famous Biding Time Finding a mentor Total Theatre Development To conclude This report covers the main focus of my trip to Adelaide but I also had many informal conversations that may prove to be valuable in the future. Pippa Bailey - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Go and See Scheme: Luci Napleton to British Dance Edition 08 30th January – 2nd February 2008 An opportunity to attend the British Dance Edition in Liverpool this year to network and see some of the most cutting edge dance companies that are currently performing in the UK was really inspiring. It not only highlighted the repertoire that is currently being performed around the UK and the most popular dance styles used today but also showed the added equipment that is used to enhance the choreographic content. Some of this exciting dance work could be programmed into Kent by commissioning dance artists or local dance companies to work on collaborative projects with other dance companies and artists. Schools could be encouraged to bring outside dance companies to work with their students to enhance their learning, skills and knowledge of dance and what can be created. The British Dance Edition presented work from 36 companies from the whole of the UK for the first time and with a range of cutting edge dance companies to new and old with aesthetically challenging and visually exciting performances. Opportunities for people working in the dance field to network and socialise proved very valuable and contact was made with the following people: The full programme was over 4 days and included the main performance programme with debate, conversation and a trade fair. Incorporated in viewing new dance works and networking, Merseyside Dance Initiative (MDI) organised a chance to view a little of the city and a ferry trip across the Mersey to coincide with a performance at Pacific Road. Please contact cathy@panek.org.uk if you would like to see Luci’s full report including reviews and contact details for : Wired Aerial Theatre - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Go and See Scheme: Brigitte Orasinski and Lisa Oulton (Strange Cargo) to Larger Than Life conference 29th October 2007 This was the best conference by far, very inspiring, lots of people who actually devise and produce large events - unusual and very very informative. It was also hugely helpful in pointing us towards OPP2, having taken part in the outreach session involved with social networking and sites like flickr and Myspace, it made us realise that these areas were missing in our marketing and that these platforms would be perfect for the way we like to work with participants. Consequently we put together an online marketing programme for Other Peoples Photographs involving My Space and Wikipedia and devised OPP2 which will be a social networking site for Folkestone allowing everyone to create their own OPP map of the town and to continue adding to the pictures we have! We launch on the 14th June (2008)! So thank you very much for supporting my place at this conference it was very worthwhile. Brigitte and Lisa attended four sessions: · Introduction to the conference from Helen Marriage and Nicky Webb (Directors of Artichoke, responsible for The Sultan’s Elephant, London, May 2006) who spoke about the specific importance of using contacts and building very specific relationships in order to deliver large-scale ambitious projects. • Logistics with speakers: Alan Jakobi, Trevor Jenner, Tim Owen facilitated by Kate Tyndall • The Live Experience V’s The Remote Experience with Jon Gisby, Fiona Morris facilitated by David Aukin • Making an Impact: Three Stories of Large Scale Productions with Mark Fisher; Michael Morris and Stephen Powell A full report is available from cathy@panek.org.uk. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - The World Famous meet Terrafolk in Slovenia Arriving in Ljubljana airport at 4.30 in the evening, we were met by Kate, the surprisingly Australian bass player with the Slovenian band Terrafolk, and driven to a ‘secret’ rendezvous by the side of the motorway. There we met Bojan (classical accordion player and heavy metal drummer), Danijel (guitarist and composer) and Graeme (the band’s manager). Having shaken off the secret police, we continued the journey to a shabby breeze-block students union bar, near the Italian border. Before the gig, we talked briefly about our new show. Full Circle is about change and interconnection, about people and their environment. Dreamt up by Mandy Dike, it centres around a huge tree image, animated and transformed with light, fire and fireworks, around which cluster four 6metre high flowery ‘pods’ each containing a musician. Working with a live band is a new departure for The World Famous - Terrafolk had been recommended for the role; we got hold of a cd, loved the music and talked to their manager. Terrafolk are on the way up; big in London, massive in Edinburgh, they’re currently touring European capitals playing with the Slovenian National Orchestra. But the gig we saw was old school – a sweaty hall with 200 students and a lot of lager. The band rocked – incredibly talented musicians with an eclectic mix of musical styles, from folk to classical, klezmer to thrash metal. We began to understand how different this show would be to anything we had made before. A long drive back to Ljubljana after the show, a sound night’s sleep, mulled wine in the snow, lunch with Bojan and his family and we were back in Stanstead airport barely 24 hours after we left – Full Circle. And so it started, with a helping hand from PANeK. InSitu, a consortium of European festivals have now joined the party with a major contribution towards developing the show, and we’re set to premiere in Falkirk in May, with half a dozen potential UK shows in the summer. Theatre of the Small (Sonia and James Frost) on … The Summer School was a genuinely life changing experience: our creative work is evolving as a result and we are now embracing digital media, creating our own short films and using cameras in art workshops with young people. Piece by piece we are also purchasing equipment and aim to create an animation suite in our working space. The Forkbeard Fantasy Summer School was a valuable experience. We tried many inventive techniques such as live interaction with film, scratch film, human pixilation, stop-motion animation, and explored the possibilities of film projection. We were also introduced to professional digital production software such as Final Cut Pro, I-Stop Motion and Logic. Most of these techniques were new to us and were presented in an accessible way; we were not overburdened with technical information but were given support and the space to experiment. As a result we now have the confidence to try new technology without a preconceived notion of the result, thus our artistic ideas no longer feel limited by our technical knowledge. In the second part of the week we concentrated on our own self-directed project and produced an animation ‘The Cabinet of Curiosities’ which we presented to the group as a performance installation. This final animation will be developed into part of a larger installation, and may also appear in the background of one of our stage shows. In terms of organisation the Summer School was managed in an efficient and professional way. We received good clear information before the event, we were met on arrival and placed in comfortable accommodation in beautiful surroundings and with excellent facilities. Altogether, we felt very well fed and looked after. The Summer School also provided a good networking opportunity; we met many like-minded people, some of whom we will be contacting regarding future festivals and proposed projects. We are very grateful to PANEK for enabling us to take part in this hugely enjoyable and innovative experience. Insite Dance … on Vincent Dance “… the concept of live music within this performance excites me tremendously and I believe this was one of the main features of the performance which struck a chord with us as a company. We, also, choose to incorporate other aspects, if not all the arts, within our performances and to watch another company do this with such brilliance was inspiring and unforgettable. Broken Chords has definitely motivated me with my own choreography for Insite Dance’s new project on relocation and I can’t wait to start exploring new ideas.” “As a performer who strives to bring a sense of drama to dance performance, I found this production very exciting and moving. The production fused various disciplines such as live music, contemporary dance and even bordered on performance art at times with a tragic-comic section based on attempting suicide. Accidental Collective … on the National Review of Live Art, Glasgow “Accidental Collective received funding through PANeK's Go and See scheeme, and the whole company travelled up to Glasgow on the 9th of February to attend the National Review of Live Art at Tramway. As an emerging creative think-tank focused on performance, live art and media we felt that this was an important experience for us. Thanks to our visit we were able to gain a sense of the current climate of the performance and live art scene. More importantly, it triggered some very interesting creative discussions amongst us: how do performance and live artists differ in their approach? how do we as a young company position ourselves within these categories? how does our background in theatre affect our practice? This opportunity, which gave us time to reflect and be able to ask these questions, was extremely important for us and our artistic development. We feel that schemes such as this should certainly be encouraged as they enrich artistic practice." … and on support for mentoring from Richard Kingdom (now programmer at the Bluecoat Arts Centre, Liverpool) Tina Carter, Expressive Feat Productions … on Circus Futures “A unique two day event for people who want to play a role in the development of contemporary circus in the UK.” Executive Producer, Verena Cornwall, invited me to be on the Steering Group of the Circus Futures Conference, to show my short film EVERYDAY LANGUAGE and to give a talk on some of the apparent barriers facing artists working with contemporary circus today. It was a privilege to be a part of this unique event that brought together “promoters from venues and festivals, practitioners, local authority art officers, agents and circus proprietors". The chance to show some of my own work was a double-edged opportunity. Having spent the past six months researching work that utilised aerial for specifically metaphorical and political purposes in my triptych ULTERIOR MOTIVES I was a little nervous about showing a third of this work out of context; would it stand alone as a short aerial film or would the pace of it be too slow for an audience who had come to see ‘circus’? Whatever the outcome, with the research head on my shoulders, I was able to accept the challenge and await the comments. Fortunately the applause was generous and as expected there were mixed views on the work: “this isn’t circus” was heard from one area whilst healthy discussions on the “detail and quality” of the work took place elsewhere. It was also an exciting opportunity to see a lot of work being created by peers in the industry at the three independently curated showcases – one in a traditional big top, another in a theatre and the third in one of the UK’s circus schools, Circomedia. Where bookers and agents would be able to view the work in terms of how they could best appropriate it in their circles, the artists amongst us were able to view it also in terms of our own work: what were other artists creating? What were people talking most about? What struck a chord with the audiences? What were they struggling to appreciate? And what resonance did this then bear on our own work? As a result of attending the conference, of networking and showing the work, positive things have occurred: Yoram Carmeli, Israeli Professor of Anthropology, and Circus Historian invited me to write a piece for his book which is due to be published next year; Martin Sutherland, director of Newbury Corn Exchange has agreed to host a showcase of my work in September 2007; and Rachel Clare who is commissioning a circus season at the newly opened Roundhouse Theatre in London has suggested showing my film as part of a season of short aerial and circus films. I would therefore like to thank Cathy Westbrook for informing me of the grant opportunity that covered my travel and accommodation expenses, and to PANeK for agreeing to fund it." |
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