Three Terrible Things in 2014 and Three Great things

It's all personal opinion, but I have to say something...

I am slowly going through the past year, trying to remember whether this happened in 2013 or that happened in 2014... and a few things have come up that I need to get off my chest. I'm pairing them with positives, so I don't end up needing additional medication for depression when I read over them...


The Flaming Lips (Terrible) and Slope (Great)


An interesting combination, but the final Untitled production and the collaborative album made by the Last Living Hippies share an interest in iconographies past. But while Laing's study of French poetic love triangles is a merciless deconstruction of macho romanticism, The Flaming Lips have a nostalgic wank over The Beatles.

Admittedly, Laing's collaborators for Slope helped the seriousness: if he had Miley Cyrus on his rolodex instead of Pamela Cater, he would have come up with something as lame as Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, too. But while Wayne Coyne wallowed in the lascivious shallows of psychedelia, Laing used the eroticism of two naked actors to conjure all the awkwardness and thrill of dirty sex, before slamming home a dark critique of alternative culture's roll of fame. 

Self-regarding, lazy and derivative, The Flaming Lips are evidence that while John Lydon is no longer worth a click, his dictum 'never trust a hippy' stands for the ages.

That Producer I met during the Fringe and BHP

It's not just that I enjoy their publications - Laptop Guy is a synthesis of Jack Lothian's clear storytelling and Sha Nazir's increasingly distinctive art - BHP are living up to their mission 'to expand comic culture.' Whether that means getting cos-players to hang out in the CCA during Comic Con (meaning that high art and the performativity of dressing up like Wonder Woman meet, at last), or championing sequential machinics as a valid academic discipline, The Naz, Lothian and Mark B are pushing the boundaries of the old four colour funny books.

That producer, on the other hand, told me that all critics ought to be shot, because they damage the reputation of his restaurants by pointing out their failings. I guess he has the same attitude to those Health and Safety Inspectors who insist that the chef shouldn't add Winner's Sauce to every dish on the menu. I asked him whether I ought to change the label on my business card to 'cheerleader'.

The Eye and Scottish Hip Hop
I am rather hoping that someone will explain why Scottish hip hop is more than just an embarrassing meeting of The Proclaimers and Vanilla Ice... that's fucking scathing, and I have spent the year trying not to be rude about Scottish hip hop but...


I'm not mentioning any particular artists by name, because Scottish hip hop is an emerging art form, and some of the people involved might well be nice people (although I have it on record that at least one rapper acts like a proper arse in the club). However, the main reference point for too much SHH is The Streets and the attempts to adapt Chuck D's proclamation that hip hop can be 'the black CNN' to Caledonia has encouraged lumbering raps that are either naive or confused. 

There is interesting potential in the appropriation of African-American culture by Scottish rappers, but it would be nice if they appropriated the aesthetic values as well as the surface. I'm talking creative use of beats, flow and personality in the voice, production polish - the glitchy tunes and clumsy rhymes might be a dramaturgical choice, but the dramaturgical consequence is... it sounds shit, mate.

The Eye, on the other hand, is the latest work in process by Jack Wrigley, Robbie Thomson and Emilia Weber, and the last vestige of Untitled. Expect something sensual emerging in 2015. 

Slope @ The Citz

Pop-Up Migration Museum

I have doubts about the role of political theatre. Sure, my general sense that politicians have become increasingly disconnected from the rest of the country doesn't help (I mean, I just don't understand the foundation of most Conservative policies or how Nick Clegg can handle the horror of having hobbled his party's electoral hopes for the next generation). And I don't trust any media outlet, after reading Flat Earth News but... I used to believe that political theatre (in the sense of Politics, as in issues) had an important part in public debate.

It's Brecht who switched me onto the idea that the theatrical format contains the danger of presenting events as inevitable - or by exciting and purging emotions, like Aristotle says it does, actually pacifying an audience to accept injustice. Political plays, preaching positions I support, might prevent me from engaging more deeply, and usefully, with actual Politics.

Events like the Feast Your Eyes! cabaret have a political aim - supporting a food bank - but their line-up has no explicitly political acts. Of course, all art has a political edge in so far as it talks about power relationships, but unless Leggy Pee and Charlie are a parody of the relationship between Westminster and Holyrood, I don't see any issues in the routines.

Then again, Snookie Mono does swallow a sword, which does remind me of how it feels when I see the latest Tory opinions on the NHS or disabled people working at less than the minimum wage.

So - Feast Your Eyes does not bother me: it encourages the audience to do something (donate food) in exchange for some fun. It's clear and avoids the Brechtian critique that theatre presents a facsimile of life that is, somehow, given power by a passive audience's belief in it.

Here's another event that intrigues me.

UNTITLED PROJECTS presents Pop-Up Migration Museum
Curated by Untitled Projects featuring work by Rachel Thibbotumunuwe and Tawona Sitole.

Untitled Projects are on fire lately - they have got Slope in Glasgay! and Paul Bright is rocking the world on tour. And Tawona Sitole is the poet behind the Seeds of Thought events... a charming and articulate man. The idea of a museum exploring an issue sets the audience in a different position. 

The Glad Cafe
1006a Pollokshaws Road, Shawlands, Glasgow, G41 2HG
26th Oct 2014, 6-8pm

Plus, it is in my local....


Inspired by the diverse cultural populations that make up Scotland today as well as in response to Scotland’s colonial history; artists Rachel Thibbotumunuwe and Tawona Sitole have created an artistic interrogation of colonial and post-colonial migration to Scotland.

Scotland has a loaded colonial history. The nation, and specifically parts of Glasgow, prospered due to its position in the transatlantic slave trade notably the role of Glasgow merchants and plantation owners. Scotland’s role in the British Empire continued in the imperialism of African nations, India and parts of the Caribbean.

The absence of a permanent museum which specifically explores and depicts the Commonwealth diasporas in Scotland was all the more prevalent when the Commonwealth Games took place this summer. This pop-up Migration Museum creates a platform where the artists’ work seeks to foster discussions about creating a more permanent museum or centre of this kind.

Working in close collaboration with the Glasgow Open Museum Resource Centre, the artists have had exclusive access to their collections and have created new work in response to some of the artefacts. The artists’ work will be exhibited with other items from the Glasgow Open Museum’s Collections. There will be Museum assistants on site who will also have a couple of objects which members of the public can examine in more detail.




ABOUT ARTISTS

Rachel Thibbotumunuwe creates artworks and projects that are part of her enquiry into icons of ethnicity and cultural identity, both historic and contemporary. She is fascinated by the history and consequences of photography; its birth at the dawn of industry; subsequent rise of its abundance in mass culture; photography's innate representational quality and our perceptions of it as a medium to create narrative, documentary and referential meanings. 

 As well as working with photography, Rachel also makes short films, installations, audioworks and books.Rachel graduated from Glasgow School of Art's department of Fine Art Photography in 1998 and has exhibited in Scotland, Norway, Japan and Germany.

Tawona Sitole is a Glasgow based writer, poet, storytelling and educator. Since moving to Glasgow from Zimbabwe, Tawona has shared his heritage through using traditional influences such as spoken word and mbira music. 

Tawona is the co-founder of Seeds of Thought non-funded arts group which brings together creative writing, performance, music and art through collaborations with other artists. Tawona has worked with many diverse organisations including Glasgow School of Art, Ankur Productions, The CCA, and the Scottish Book Trust. Tawona is currently the poet in residence at Glasgow Refugee and Migration Network at the University of Glasgow.

Slope @ Tramway

If Rimbaud were alive today, he'd be throwing televisions out of hotel windows.

FEATURE BY GARETH K VILE.

PUBLISHED 15 JULY 2006

Director and designer Stewart Laing has been working on projects at Tramway for nearly ten years, and his latest work, 'Slope', a dramatisation of the love affair between the French poets Rimbaud and Verlaine, is the finale of the summer programme. Beginning with Rimbaud's dramatic arrival in 1870s Paris, and ending with Verlaine's shooting of his lover in Brussels, the play explores the tension and passions of two men in revolt from society, exploring the extremities of sexual, political and literary experience.

Coming from an art school background, and known for his work in opera, Stewart Laing is enthusiastic both about the intimacy of this production and Tramway's approach to theatre. As we sit in the Hidden Gardens at the rear of the building, he explains to me the attraction of Rimbaud's approach to life, the contemporary relevance of the story and the challenges of exploring history on stage.

"Slope is about the four or five years that Rimbaud was involved with Verlaine," he begins. "He arrived in Paris when he was so young, and he had to have certain experiences to make his work. He deliberately pushed to the extremes: alcohol abuse, drug abuse and tortuous relationships fuelled the work."

It seems that poetry is not associated with wild behaviour these days. In what ways does Rimbaud speak to a modern audience?

"Pete Doherty identifies himself as a poet," says Laing by way of example. "He came to prominence as a teenage poet. He went on tour with the British Council to Russia, promoting him as an example of the best of British.

"In terms of rock music, Patti Smith was obsessed with Rimbaud. Jim Morrison from the Doors, David Bowie and indeed Pete all quote Rimbaud as a champion - not only in terms of the work but the rock and roll lifestyle. If he were alive today, he'd be throwing televisions out of hotel windows."

Tramway is promoting 'Slope' as adult entertainment. At the heart of the play is a homosexual relationship which would be controversial even today: "When he met Rimbaud, Verlaine was married and his wife was pregnant. Then these two men started having an affair and ran away to London, exploring the seamier side of life. Even now people would sit up and listen.

"They lived together as a married couple. They shared one room. They were incredibly forward thinking, in terms of modern gay life. But they were always worried about what people in Paris thought about them. Verlaine would write letters to his wife, saying 'we are just studying here'. Then you read the poems and they are all about men's arseholes and cocks.

"But they were not 'gay men'. If any modern label could be fitted to them they were both bisexual: they were seeing women at the same time that they were lovers. You can't contextualise them as 'out and proud' in terms of Victorian society."

Is it possible to understand a nineteenth century love affair in terms of modern attitudes?

"Well, we are not trying to do something historically accurate - the language isn't," says Laing. "This isn't 'authentic' in that sense, but adapted to be interesting to people today: rather it is suggestive. There is a Victorian framework.

"Homosexuality was still a medical condition. The word 'homosexual' was a medical description of a disorder. They were interested in everything that life had to offer, anything subversive: politically, artistically, lifestyle and sexuality. It is difficult to think how radical two men living together would be in that time."

The social pressures on the couple eventually led to their break-up. Laing explains that "Rimbaud is doing it as an experiment: what is outside this box that we call society. He was academically very gifted. For Verlaine, Rimbaud represented anarchy, his wife comfort. He could never embrace the anarchy alone. Whether it was through alcoholic delusion or not, his idea was that the three of them could live together and bring up his kid. That was his fantasy.

"Both Rimbaud and Verlaine's wife told him that he was insane. They were in something that they couldn't get out of."

Laing has a very clear vision of his protagonist's passions and addictive behaviours. 'Slope' looks at the chaos that Rimbaud caused, in a period of rapid social change. It is both a domestic drama - about a love triangle and the pull of different desires - and a meditation on the process of artistic creation.

Cain's Book

Alexander Trocchi is one of those cult authors - never quite reaching the mainstream, but beloved and well-respected. Cain's Book  is one of those cult books - like Valis - which is seen as a grand statement of intent, embodying both Trocchi's philosophy and a bold, unflinching examination of human nature and society. He stares at his own heroin addiction, ponders the sanctity of work in a mechanised society, and recalls episodes from his childhood.

Untitled Projects, of whom we sing
Use the words like a piece of string
Pulled out long
The intent strong
Less of a play, more a whole 'nother thing

Alexander Trocchi is one of those cult authors - never quite reaching the mainstream, but beloved and well-respected. Cain's Book  is one of those cult books - like Valis - which is seen as a grand statement of intent, embodying both Trocchi's philosophy and a bold, unflinching examination of human nature and society. He stares at his own heroin addiction, ponders the sanctity of work in a mechanised society, and recalls episodes from his childhood.

Untitled Projects, of whom we sing
Use the words like a piece of string
Pulled out long
The intent strong
Less of a play, more a whole 'nother thing

At their best, they are ecstatic
The focus thoughtful and emphatic
Cerebral or dry
The meaning so wry
Fits in the box labelled post-dramatic

Alexander Trocchi is one of those cult authors - never quite reaching the mainstream, but beloved and well-Cain's Book  is one of those cult books - like Valis - which is seen as a grand statement of intent, embodying both Trocchi's philosophy and a bold, unflinching examination of human nature and society. He stares at his own heroin addiction, ponders the sanctity of work in a mechanised society, and recalls episodes from his childhood.
respected.


Three performers play Trocchi's alter-ego, Joe Necchi. Episodes of maternal love jostle with scenes from the New York drug scene. One time, children are dressed as Necchi's junkie circle, in a series of photographs set a voice-over (the drugs replaced by coca-cola bottles and their highness signified by sunglasses. It's sweet and cute).

Untitled Projects, of whom we sing
Use the words like a piece of string
Pulled out long
The intent strong
Less of a play, more a whole 'nother thing

At their best, they are ecstatic
The focus thoughtful and emphatic
Cerebral or dry
The meaning so wry
Fits in the box labelled post-dramatic

They aren't afraid to repeat the lines
Revisit the same scene several times
Dancers appear
Audiences leer
Emotion hides behind sardonic signs

He stares at his own heroin addiction, ponders the sanctity of work in a mechanised society, and recalls episodes from his childhood. Three performers play Trocchi's alter-ego, Joe Necchi. Episodes of maternal love jostle with scenes from the New York drug scene.

One time, children are dressed as Necchi's junkie circle, in a series of photographs set a voice-over (the drugs replaced by coca-cola bottles and their highness signified by sunglasses. It's sweet and cute). Slight shifts in emphasis read and reread the meanings - Necchi's desperation to escape addiction building and building as the years waste away.


Untitled Projects, of whom we sing
Use the words like a piece of string
Pulled out long
The intent strong
Less of a play, more a whole 'nother thing

At their best, they are ecstatic
The focus thoughtful and emphatic
Cerebral or dry
The meaning so wry
Fits in the box labelled post-dramatic

They aren't afraid to repeat the lines
Revisit the same scene several times
Dancers appear
Audiences leer
Emotion hides behind sardonic signs

Part three begins with a cunning twist
Guitar, bass drums in a sonic fist
The Smack Wizards rage
Music takes the stage
And anger's added to the stage

Cain's Book  is one of those cult books - like Valis - which is seen as a grand statement of intent, embodying both Trocchi's philosophy and a bold, unflinching examination of human nature and society. Although Alan McKendrick's adaptation uses film, audio, dance - alongside a gentle, story-telling style adaptation of the source text, it emphasises the dull ennui of the junkies life, using repetition and long, languid longueurs.

Trocchi's irritation at straight aside comes through both his introverted monologues and tales of his pals. The treacherous alliances of the subculture are pitched against the threat of the man. The melancholic ending slides easily from a moving memory of maternal love into a sing-along about the rising river of shit that engulfs us all.

Untitled Projects, of whom we sing
Use the words like a piece of string
Pulled out long
The intent strong
Less of a play, more a whole 'nother thing

At their best, they are ecstatic
The focus thoughtful and emphatic
Cerebral or dry
The meaning so wry
Fits in the box labelled post-dramatic

They aren't afraid to repeat the lines
Revisit the same scene several times
Dancers appear
Audiences leer
Emotion hides behind sardonic signs

Part three begins with a cunning twist
Guitar, bass drums in a sonic fist
The Smack Wizards rage
Music takes the stage
And anger's added to the stage

Ross Mann, Lou Pendergrast, Ian Hanmore
Play in turns the man who likes to score
Horse, LSD, dope
distrust, boredom, hope
Deserve the shouts from the crowd 'encore.'


Three performers play Trocchi's alter-ego, Joe Necchi. Episodes of maternal love jostle with scenes from the New York drug scene. The methodology - carefully placing each element in its own segment, so video follows acting follows dance follows Smack Wizard mini-gig - encourages a meditative, reflective reception.

I remember the first time that I saw post-dramatic theatre. I didn't really understand but I have learnt... not to the privilege emotional impact over the possibilities offered for thinking about... sliding away...

Originally Printed in The Skinny: Slope as an action based on Grotowski

'From this radically slanted perspective, they look down on the actors as if watching animals in a ring, or like medical students watching an operation ((also, this detached, downward viewing gives the action a sense of moral transgression)'

Jerzy Grotowski, Towards a Poor Theatre

Now I know where Stewart Laing got the idea to have Slope performed in a little box above which we watched...

If Rimbaud were alive today, he'd be throwing televisions out of hotel windows.
FEATURE BY GARETH K VILE.
PUBLISHED 15 JULY 2006



Director and designer Stewart Laing has been working on projects at Tramway for nearly ten years, and his latest work, 'Slope', a dramatisation of the love affair between the French poets Rimbaud and Verlaine, is the finale of the summer programme. Beginning with Rimbaud's dramatic arrival in 1870s Paris, and ending with Verlaine's shooting of his lover in Brussels, the play explores the tension and passions of two men in revolt from society, exploring the extremities of sexual, political and literary experience.




Coming from an art school background, and known for his work in opera, Stewart Laing is enthusiastic both about the intimacy of this production and Tramway's approach to theatre. As we sit in the Hidden Gardens at the rear of the building, he explains to me the attraction of Rimbaud's approach to life, the contemporary relevance of the story and the challenges of exploring history on stage.




"Slope is about the four or five years that Rimbaud was involved with Verlaine," he begins. "He arrived in Paris when he was so young, and he had to have certain experiences to make his work. He deliberately pushed to the extremes: alcohol abuse, drug abuse and tortuous relationships fuelled the work."




It seems that poetry is not associated with wild behaviour these days. In what ways does Rimbaud speak to a modern audience?




"Pete Doherty identifies himself as a poet," says Laing by way of example. "He came to prominence as a teenage poet. He went on tour with the British Council to Russia, promoting him as an example of the best of British.




"In terms of rock music, Patti Smith was obsessed with Rimbaud. Jim Morrison from the Doors, David Bowie and indeed Pete all quote Rimbaud as a champion - not only in terms of the work but the rock and roll lifestyle. If he were alive today, he'd be throwing televisions out of hotel windows."




Tramway is promoting 'Slope' as adult entertainment. At the heart of the play is a homosexual relationship which would be controversial even today: "When he met Rimbaud, Verlaine was married and his wife was pregnant. Then these two men started having an affair and ran away to London, exploring the seamier side of life. Even now people would sit up and listen.




"They lived together as a married couple. They shared one room. They were incredibly forward thinking, in terms of modern gay life. But they were always worried about what people in Paris thought about them. Verlaine would write letters to his wife, saying 'we are just studying here'. Then you read the poems and they are all about men's arseholes and cocks.




"But they were not 'gay men'. If any modern label could be fitted to them they were both bisexual: they were seeing women at the same time that they were lovers. You can't contextualise them as 'out and proud' in terms of Victorian society."




Is it possible to understand a nineteenth century love affair in terms of modern attitudes?




"Well, we are not trying to do something historically accurate - the language isn't," says Laing. "This isn't 'authentic' in that sense, but adapted to be interesting to people today: rather it is suggestive. There is a Victorian framework.




"Homosexuality was still a medical condition. The word 'homosexual' was a medical description of a disorder. They were interested in everything that life had to offer, anything subversive: politically, artistically, lifestyle and sexuality. It is difficult to think how radical two men living together would be in that time."




The social pressures on the couple eventually led to their break-up. Laing explains that "Rimbaud is doing it as an experiment: what is outside this box that we call society. He was academically very gifted. For Verlaine, Rimbaud represented anarchy, his wife comfort. He could never embrace the anarchy alone. Whether it was through alcoholic delusion or not, his idea was that the three of them could live together and bring up his kid. That was his fantasy.




"Both Rimbaud and Verlaine's wife told him that he was insane. They were in something that they couldn't get out of."




Laing has a very clear vision of his protagonist's passions and addictive behaviours. 'Slope' looks at the chaos that Rimbaud caused, in a period of rapid social change. It is both a domestic drama - about a love triangle and the pull of different desires - and a meditation on the process of artistic creation.

Cain's Book

Good afternoon and welcome to The VileArts' Dark Poetry recommendations. The respected Untitled Projects are bringing a theatrical interpretation of Cain's Book to The Arches, which will be one for lovers of beat and beaten poetry, a trawl through the world of a heroin addict, who happens to be a writer. We go over to Mr Criticulous, speaking live from the collective unconscious, for further details.

"Bit of a disorientating one, this. Cain's Book is a rare thing: a beat novel written by a Glaswegian. Author Trocchi was a bit more hardcore than most of the American beats, although Burroughs was a fan, lending a very Scottish edge to the whole 'wild for life' schtick of Kerouac and pals."

"Thank you, Criticulous. I hear that Patti Smith is a fan of the novel."

"Patti Smith is a fan of anything vaguely associated with the beat brand, so we can discount that support. It's fair to say that her appreciation of the beats tends to ignore any ugliness. And Trocchi is best understood as being closer to Burroughs than Smith. In many ways, Cain's Book  is the ultimate expression of the blown out, self-destructive impulse within the bohemian culture."

"I hear they've got a good name on directorial duties?"

"No surprise there: Untitled Projects is Stewart Laing's baby, and he won't let his name gets besmirched. We've got Alan McKendrick (Finished With Engines, Violence Was Offered) at the helm, no mean writer himself. I think this adaptation will show how Cain connects with the sort of theatre Sarah Kane would later discover."

"That is a personal opinion, right?"

"Based on the evidence, yes. Bleak humour, drug abuse, bits of philosophy. What's not to love?"

"Having seen the state of your house are a weekend of that, I suggest sticking to the play..."

The Arches, Glasgow

25 & 26 Feb, 7.30pm

27 Feb*, 7.45pm