If it's hard to do

9 Billion Miles From Home 

video still by Christopher Hall

We presented 9 Billion Miles From Home in Scarborough earlier this month - a slightly reworked version from the original production we presented 18 months ago at Chelsea Theatre and Leeds Met Studio Theatre.

The way in which 9 Billion Miles starts is slightly unusual from a Front of House point of view.  One strand of the work is preoccupied with attempting to draw a perfect circle - perfect mathematically, but also strong aesthetically - in a number of ways, both by hand and by foot.  The opening task of the performance is for Gillian and I to create a 3 metre diameter circle on the floor, in talcum powder, using bakers' dusting cups, whilst attached to each other through a simple pulley system.  This pulley system means that neither of us can move around the space without the cooperation of the other.

Whilst making the show we were discussing the making of this circle as a task to be done as part of the set up.  I said: Getting this circle precise is going to be really difficult.  Gill said a great thing: If it's going to be really hard to do, we should be doing it in front of the audience.

So that's what we do - but as it takes almost an hour, we start the task 40 minutes ahead of advertised start time, and the doors open about ten minutes later.  The audience are invited in to see this set up, which is part of the ritual of the performance.  The show 'starts' with the last 5 - 10 minutes of this task; with a completion, of sorts.

In Scarborough we had an after show discussion, and we were asked some astute and interesting questions, one of which was about how important it is to us that Gillian and I do that original set up task ourselves;  i.e. could we get some help with the talcum powder job, start a bit later, and just let the audience in with 10 minutes to go?  This is something we did talk about at some point, partly in relation to the question of whether or not we could take this piece to the Edinburgh Fringe (where it is usual to pay for your venue by the hour).  

I think we knew the answer before we were asked, but being asked it certainly crystalised it for me.  And that answer is that it is essential that we do it ourselves.  It is part of the performance, even if ten minutes of it happens behind closed doors.  The audience need to have been able to see, if they arrived early enough, that we did this first task ourselves.  That this is something that the two of us, a woman and a man, have done.  It informs all that follows.

So, if you're coming to Colchester Arts Centre or Norden Farm in Maidenhead this week, feel free to turn up a bit early.

The Home Straight

After a year of touring that has taken us to Italy, Portugal, Germany, Russia, England, Eire, Spain, Armenia and Belgium, it's great to be finishing the year with three weeks of performances in the UK.

Presumption opens tomorrow for a three week run at Southwark Playhouse.  There's a nice preview on Lyn Gardner's blog on the Guardian website:

It's a wonderful example of a show in which form and content are perfectly matched, as it dissects the relationship of a thirtysomething couple who are long past that time when they can't keep their hands off each other and have built a life of shared memories and shared furniture.

They have an 'airline style' pricing system at Southwark, so if you're coming along it's worth booking in advance as you're more likely to get a cheaper ticket...

The Lad Lit Project at Pazz Festival

It is a different project in a different city / country every week for most of this autumn. Two weeks ago was The Lad Lit Project at the new Pazz Festival in Oldenburg. A excellent festival, particularly for a first incarnation, and a great time had by all.

The shows went well, and you can see clips and hear me talking about the work here.

[update, June 2009 - now embeded above, hopefully]

We weren't there for as long as we would have liked, so didn't get to see that much work. I really enjoyed Theatre Replacement's Wee Tube project - one of those simple ideas that manages to be much more than the sum of its parts - due in no small way to the performances - and a really nice way of working with found text. You can hear them talking about the project here.

Postcards from the Road - Yerevan

We took Presumption to High Fest in Armenia for two nights earlier this month.  Perhaps the trickiest get in we've had, but great support and hard work from the theatre crew, the festival staff and the touring team meant we were ready (just) on time and had two great shows.

Oh, and it was Lucy & Chris' 50th performance of the show together.  Congratulations all round...

Green room chess.

All new set.

The view from the table.

A Man Amid The Wreckage

 Christopher Hall, Third Angel's Associate Artist (Film and Video), and I have a writing and drawing project running at the moment,  A Man Amid The Wreckage.  This weekend we'll be attempting to produce the first episode of our debut graphic novel, live in the Millennium Gallery, Sheffield.

There's more information here.

Postcards From the Road - Derby

We presented a revived and (as is the way at the moment) slightly revised version of The Lad Lit Project at Déda in Derby last week.  It was a particularly gratifying booking because Stephen Munn, the Director of Déda, had originally programmed The Lad Lit Project in to Quay Arts on the Isle of Wight as part of the original tour in 2005.  Having moved on to Derby he got in touch to find out if the show was still in repertoire.

It was a pleasure to be back there (we were last there in 2001 with the first version of Believe The Worst), with a stress free get in (thanks Mark, thanks Martin), and a warm and appreciative audience.  And then we went to The Flower Pot.  Was there ever a more appropriate pub for an after show drink?

That's the lounge.  This is the back room:

A great pub - live music upstairs, no jukebox downstairs, good food (order at the kitchen door) and well kept beer and wine.  Customers good mix of ages, too.

Next stop for The Lad Lit Project is the Pazz Festival in Oldenburg, 23 & 24 October.

Ghost Writing For Performance: The Lad Lit Project

A great couple of days at the Writing Encounters symposium in York this weekend.  It felt more like a performance festival than a conference, with some inspirational presentations, notably Barbara Campbell talking about her extraordinary 1001 Nights Cast project.

I gave a performance/paper exploring the idea of The Lad Lit Project as an act of Ghost Writing - moving, I realise, from a literary genre to literary practice.  Here's an extract elaborating on that:

After seeing the show my friend and colleague Annie says: “What I like about it most is that I can see the ghosts of the other men on stage - the men who aren’t in it.”

My first guess is that she means the performers who aren’t in the show.  But on further reflection, I think she is also referring to the men who’s stories are told, but who aren’t physically present.  The men who inhabit the empty chairs lined across the stage.  The men who the audience are invited to imagine themselves in the position of.

This puts in my mind the idea that I am a ghostwriter for these men.  I interviewed A. and then retold his story in much the same way as a ghostwriter would when researching an ‘auto’biography.  So in one sense, I am his theatrical ghostwriter.

But I didn’t go to him for his story.  I went looking for our shared stories.  I knew I wanted this particular chapter, a chapter about being excluded.  I didn’t know it would be his.

The paper felt like it went well (giving the audience beer as they come in obviously helps in this respect), and got some really good feedback.  So I'm looking forward to presenting the whole show later this week at Déda (formerly Derby Dance) and next month at the Pazz Festival in Oldenburg.