Archive for the 'Uncategorized' Category

I, itinerant

18Mar10

I moved house this weekend.
A rough trawl through the years puts this latest (rented) abode as my 24th place of residence; a fact I find faintly worrysome. This particular move was physically and emotionally knackering. No sooner had I dumped all my stuff, unsorted, into the house I now share with Johnny HamFisted, I was [...]


Shelf Life

26Feb10

Belfast
Queen’s Uni
On top of the stacks
In the old, abandoned Library.
The information has been carted off,
But ghosts are still present.


I’m born, raised and currently resident in a part of SW Birmingham that has been dominated by two huge manufactories – Rover and Cadbury’s. In fact my dad worked at both Longbridge and Bournville factories. Three years ago, while I was delivering a Creative Partnerships programme (‘creativity in teaching & learning’ – schools projects in Frankley, a [...]


The new year brings a fresh impetus to investigate and savour the latest cultural delights of my City. In-between more present shopping for BoyWonderNo.1 (*9 today*) I reached out for nourishments freely available in galleries. The latest IKON exhibition Shocked Into Abstraction by Matias Faldbakken left me non-plussed, however. I resisted the need to read up artist [...]


02.01.2010 As the bliss-bubbles of the Christmastide ebb away, I face up to the prospect of a new year that has been trumpeted in by Captain Skint on his Frugal-horn. At the chime of midnight I was too busy having fun to hear his clarion call beneath a cacophony of TV fireworks: anticipating a reprisal [...]


Part of the thrill, and challenge, of making a devised show is that you discover the rules as you proceed. A methodology emerges as the material gets made. Having a pre-defined formula would make for a more efficient process but I choose to adopt a more open, playful approach – knowing that accidents will yield [...]


This week I led my first sessions with current 2nd year Theatre students at Bristol University, as part of this year’s Performance 2 Unit. As with last year’s Relâche, I find I’m working with a fiercely intelligent, attentive and feisty group of young people whose talent and bearing will no doubt propel them to bright futures. [...]


Antigone

30Sep09

Though an ancient and beautiful city, my prior knowledge of Montpellier was restricted to its reputation as bastion of the architectural postmodern. I wandered from the old town into the Antigone district to check out what looks on the map like a St.Peter’s Sq. gone mad. (link)
As a statement in Civic ambition (nay aggrandisement) it [...]


Montpellier

28Sep09

The Cleansing of Constance Brown opens tonight in the elegant surroundings of the Domaine d’O, Montpellier.
Director Christopher Crimes specialises in the development and establishing of new venues/programmes. He first booked Stan for a European version of the rice at the impressive Theatre le Quai, in Angers, 2 years ago. Here in Montpellier he is rewriting [...]


I find myself having conversations about how lucky I am / one is to have work happening in these tricksy times. Maintaining a flexibility to work and working patterns is probably the key; theatre-making teaches you to have to respond to eventualities, survive on your wits, make do on the leanest means. Arts organisations can [...]