Plato's Ghost presents
Mad Cyril and DJ Spinoza
aving it large
The Royal Mile, Edinburgh
4-27 August, 3pm
"I like a bohemian atmosphere"
Following on from DJ Spinoza's award-winning Uncle Vanya In Dub and his legendary sound-clash with Glasgow's finest, Hush (Music Please), Plato's Ghost are proud to present aving it large, a collision of gangster aesthetics and transgressive politics.
In the heart of every person is a battle between the higher and lower instincts. In the space between Spinoza's techno re-imagination of philosophy, and Mad Cyril's feral displeasure, the tensions between cerebral morality and sexual deviance come out to play...
What was the inspiration for this performance?
SPINOZA: I have always been inspired by the potential of art to expose the metaphysics of social performance: the way that clothes, demeanour, speech and even desire is an expression of both construction and instinct. After making Uncle Vanya, I wanted to examine what it meant to use Goffman's ideas about the dramaturgy of everyday life in a performance context.
CYRIL: I wanted to meet some tasty birds in tight skirts.
Is theatre still a good space for the public discussion of ideas?
SPINOZA: Undoubtedly. I know that Cyril enjoyed CHRISTEENE's gig at the CCA, but he was perturbed by the speech that claimed masculinity is dead.
CYRIL: Too right. Nothing wrong with wearing a nice bit of schmutter. Like the ballroom scene in America, where they have all those geezers in suits, playing with 'realness'. I thought, I'll give them some fucking realness.
SPINOZA: What we are interested in is questioning the boundaries. Once you have no religion in the public sphere, is there any wrong or right? We'll be exploring ideas about feminism - and Men's Rights Activism - and whether a new morality is replacing the old.
CYRIL: And I'll be chucking some dustbins through windows. Pinky promise.
How did you become interested in making performance?
SPINOZA: Everything is performance. If we take the definition of dramaturgy that you suggest - making an event in time and space - then walking down the street is theatre. I suppose I have always been making performance - music, even - since I first learnt how to cry.
Was your process typical of the way that you make a performance?
CYRIL: I want to be clear. I am not his MC. And it's not like Alan Partridge and Glen fucking Ponda, either. We have this chat show vibe - I'll be talking to the artists who, when Edinburgh City Council was full of cunts, would upset the press and get all famous for it. But there is no process.
SPINOZA: I'll be dropping some dubstep, maybe a bit of funk. My aim is to expose the appropriation that is inevitable in DJ culture, maybe asking a few questions about whether it's any different from the exploitation of colonialism.
CYRIL: You fucking what?
What do you hope that the audience will experience?
CYRIL: I hope some of them will be experiencing mad love, if you know what I mean.
SPINOZA: A spiritual journey that allows them to reconsider their assumptions about identity.
What strategies did you consider towards shaping this audience experience?
SPINOZA: I am influenced by Kode-9's thoughts on using music as a weapon. That is, not as noise - although I have tried to find 'the brown note' and 'the big whistle' sound. More promoting love through the atmosphere. So it is in the musical choices for me. The way an audience feels music.
CYRIL: I just... what the fuck question is that? Strategies are for taking down rivals. So, I'm going to get people on the show who have good pieces, and do their heads in. That way, less competition.
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