A Return

With all the countries have a chief focus on some sort of cup final I thought I had to do something productive to distract me from just watching the clock tick to kick-off! I focus well when I’m writing with a purpose and this blog is as much as settling my nerves as anything! Enjoy…

After what seems like years, I have the privilege to go to live devising sessions. It was so joyful! The whole Squeeze Box team were there and together we used experimental projections, sound and spoken word to create states and begin weaving some of the content into being. A hundred thank yous for Marissa at Cockington Court for allowing us to just play within the historical, culturally rich landscape. The Zoom before (there’ve been many Zoom – all productive, a platform to share ideas, schedule, plan and explore but lacking in so many ways) we plotted on the map the likely locations that projections would work. Basically a large surface area on a big building that is in shadow until the sun goes down – Cockington is full of big buildings that are in shadow – lot’s of hidden and wonderful nooks and crannies to explore. It takes many hours of fascinating exploration to see projections work on every available surface …from the old stables to rickety stairs, hidden rooms and ancient doorways.

+Image description: [Black and white image of back of Hugh’s chair pointing toward a huge projection image of Hugh head just about to swallow something.]

One space we’d overlooked until the first live session was the corn barn – and once found on the day, we didn’t want to leave! It couldn’t have been more ideal – a good size with its own idiosyncrasies (windows, discarded ladder, a proper wood burner and a random sink), the barn was perfect for airflow and enough space to keep distance. In that space (we are eager to return soon) we created magic! Stimulated by everyday footage, elements from Still Suspended and live music and improv, it’s hard to describe in words the emotions that were created in the barn. Once the projection and sound stages were set up, we kept feeding ideas and concepts and they didn’t disappoint…please do check out the Squeeze Box website for some photos and more info. There’s something about being able to change states almost instantly and the repetitiveness being broken up by the way film loops – constantly adding more layers and others disappearing. Having a bold statement like ‘we will pick you’ and exploring how to process against that – how to literally eat those words…

Image description: [Large projection of Hugh’s head sideways with blurred writing falling into his open mouth - flanked by a blue and green version - greenery can be seen out the window at the top.]

Away from Squeeze Box things seem to happening ….did I mention the final – come on England!

There is also a massive shift in how we ‘deal’, ‘live’ maybe ‘survive’ the pandemic.

My own ‘emerging from lockdown restrictions revolution’ is emerging I think and it’s slightly harsh but makes sense in my head so here goes…

I don’t really know where this anger is coming from… I definitely have a lot of worries for the next few months but also I’m hopeful that we will not forget the ‘COVID year’ and what allowed us to navigate it – community, grassroots, creativity and culture…

For the foreseeable future I’m not going to sit in an auditorium with more than 70 audience members unless the theatre piece is a genuine community-based project. I’ve seen some absolutely amazing, awe-inspiring pieces in a theatre venue like the Lyric at TRP but I’ve also seen some…

And I have thought about this a lot, not buying a ticket to a theatre show is kind of a ‘cut off your nose…’ protest. There needs to be money circulating in live arts of course. I’ve always seen it as a theatre making money from these big entertainment audience gathering shows to fund community led and meaningful art. I buy a ticket to the pantomime or an ableist and misogynistic driven piece and that ticket money goes to grassroots. However, our recovery seems focussed on bringing back touring and these big venue houses seem to be retreating even further into this sell as many tickets to whatever the theatre can get in model.

Travelling through Torbay, I see shiny posters for the latest Agatha Christie play or an ‘evening with…’ I just think why isn’t there a promotion for some of DYT inspiring experimental work or a link towards Beyond Face latest piece or an image of the family centred beautiful joy happening at Cockington Court? How come there isn’t a poster showing the vital work of Viv Gordon Company as they look to use creativity and culture to support survivors of child sexual abuse?

All these wonderful projects seem to be drowning in a sea of angry tweets about the royal family or whatever Jose Marinho didn’t say…. And the only image shining down at me in my desperate attempt to cycle up another one of Torquay’s hills is for a piece of work who have their talented performers work for free and which will undoubtably sell out because… well that will be another rant for another day but hopefully you get my point – if indeed there was one to begin with…

There is so much culture out there happening but the support structures above the inspiring community groups is, definitely from first glance, not there.

To save any part of my body being spiked by another part, I’m going to top up money that I haven’t spent on a theatre ticket every month and give that directly to a grass-roots organisation. Just need to work our the average price of a theatre ticket – no actually let’s not go there….

I can’t wait to see a live piece of theatre again and it looks like to opportunity is just around the corner but the uneasy feeling I get after seeing actors/performers on stage singing their hearts out to a tune of Gary Barlow’s latest hits, only to have the princess married off and ableist structures continue to be promoted seems to have been building in the last couple of months.

suppose the simple question is - How are we actually going to recover??