Bram Gieben has performed poetry across Scotland as a solo performer and as part of Chemical Poets since 2005. In 2015, this culminated in him winning the title of Scottish Slam Champion. In 2010, the Chemical Poets took our show Twenty Tentacle to the Edinburgh Fringe. Bram returned the following year with a solo show, Neuromonster. He is working on a new solo show, which will début at the 2015 Edinburgh Fringe.
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The FringeWhat inspired this production: did you begin with an idea or a script or an object?
I guess you could say I started with several ideas - the show is made up of short stories, rap songs and poems, some of which have been performed before, others not. What I found was that once these 'objects' were on the page of a script, their pace and shape changed, and became part of something new and different - that ended up being the show. The theme - an exploration of nihilism, and an attempt to escape from it - is absolutely present in the original 'objects.' It was the only theme it made sense for me to explore - existential terror, and various coping mechanisms.
Why bring your work to Edinburgh?
Well, I grew up there, so it's near. I have a network of friends and collaborators there, many of whom are involved in SHIFT/ as well. Mainly though, I wanted to bring my show to Edinburgh first because Summerhall very kindly gave us the opportunity to stage it there, an opportunity we might have struggled to find elsewhere. It's a rare example of a major Fringe partner putting some faith in local performers. Hopefully we won't let them down!
What can the audience expect to see and feel - or even think - of your production?
I hope these poems, stories and songs will get them to ask existential questions of themselves - why am I here? What is the purpose of life? How does one avoid suffering, and should it be avoided? I also hope to provide some answers to these questions. Nihilism is a dark theme to start exploring, but I try to offer some chinks of light and hope. For me the solution to existential dread has always been cosmic awe, so I hope the audience get to experience a little bit of both - terror and wonder.
The Dramaturgy Questions
How would you explain the relevance - or otherwise - of dramaturgy within your work?
As I said above, the thing that surprised me most while writing the show was how different the pre-existing poems and stories seemed to want to change shape and pace once they were on the page all together. There's something about the dramatic structure implicit in an hour-long show.. the peaks and troughs, the highs and lows, sort of suggest themselves while you are performing. So that process of writing, rehearsing, revising, tightening, re-writing and rehearsing again has been great fun, and completely central to how the show has developed. People who might have seen me perform one of the pieces separately might be surprised at how much has changed.
What particular traditions and influences would you acknowledge on your work - have any particular artists, or genres inspired you and do you see yourself within their tradition?
The beat generation continue to be a huge inspiration - one of the poems in the show is a homage to Alan Ginsberg's Howl, sanctioned by the estate of the great man himself. The themes of the show are heavily indebted to Nietzsche, Schopenhauer, Camus, John Gray and Thomas Ligotti.
On the performance side of things, this year I have been really
inspired by one-man performances from Chris Thorpe ('Confirmation') and Christopher Brett-Bailey ('This Is How We Die'). Inspired by these shows, I wanted to create something that felt muscular, utterly singular, and intense. A loaded dialogue between performer and audience, in a way... I want to use my show to infect people with ideas. I am trying to picture myself as a disease vector for nihilistic thoughts, and then an inoculating needle.
Do you have a particular process of making that you could describe - where it begins, how you develop it, and whether there is any collaboration in the process?
Not much in the way of collaboration, in terms of the writing - but the rehearsal process, and the feedback I got from my fellow SHIFT/ers was invaluable. So the performance was a case of trial and error, informed by detailed feedback. Some of the music was made collaboratively - there are drone pieces in there which have elements co-written by a musician I work with called Partisan, and some mandolin samples from a producer called Mild Maynyrd. The pre-made elements of the tracks for the show were also mastered by Asthmatic Astronaut of Black Lantern Music.
What do you feel the role of the audience is, in terms of making the meaning of your work?
I suppose their role is to examine these existential questions about suffering and existence, which I am posing quite directly at some points, and more cryptically at others. My show is quite heavily didactic - it is unapologetically polemical, with some of the language taking the shape of political speeches, rhetoric, and loaded satire. So their reaction is somewhat dictated to them, if they are sympathetic to my bleak world-view... otherwise, they are free to react with disgust. Perhaps they will find that it is all a bleak and monstrous tapestry with no meaning. Perhaps they can just enjoy the imagery in the writing, and the music... I hope it means something to them, anyway.
Are there any questions that you feel I have missed out that would help me to understand how dramaturgy works for you?
I am, undoubtedly, an enthusiastic amateur at the dramaturgy part of this - but having written traditional scripts, short stories, and three minute performance poems before, I can say that this script is different. It was developed through performance. It has been road-tested and it is rugged. I am new to the process of creation-through-repetition-and-feedback... and I have absolutely loved experiencing it. I think this is the strongest work I've ever done. Why haven't I been working like this for years?!
Do you have a particular process of making that you could describe - where it begins, how you develop it, and whether there is any collaboration in the process?
Not much in the way of collaboration, in terms of the writing - but the rehearsal process, and the feedback I got from my fellow SHIFT/ers was invaluable. So the performance was a case of trial and error, informed by detailed feedback. Some of the music was made collaboratively - there are drone pieces in there which have elements co-written by a musician I work with called Partisan, and some mandolin samples from a producer called Mild Maynyrd. The pre-made elements of the tracks for the show were also mastered by Asthmatic Astronaut of Black Lantern Music.
What do you feel the role of the audience is, in terms of making the meaning of your work?
I suppose their role is to examine these existential questions about suffering and existence, which I am posing quite directly at some points, and more cryptically at others. My show is quite heavily didactic - it is unapologetically polemical, with some of the language taking the shape of political speeches, rhetoric, and loaded satire. So their reaction is somewhat dictated to them, if they are sympathetic to my bleak world-view... otherwise, they are free to react with disgust. Perhaps they will find that it is all a bleak and monstrous tapestry with no meaning. Perhaps they can just enjoy the imagery in the writing, and the music... I hope it means something to them, anyway.
Are there any questions that you feel I have missed out that would help me to understand how dramaturgy works for you?
I am, undoubtedly, an enthusiastic amateur at the dramaturgy part of this - but having written traditional scripts, short stories, and three minute performance poems before, I can say that this script is different. It was developed through performance. It has been road-tested and it is rugged. I am new to the process of creation-through-repetition-and-feedback... and I have absolutely loved experiencing it. I think this is the strongest work I've ever done. Why haven't I been working like this for years?!
Between 2009 and 2011 under the name Texture, Bram recorded the Neuroleptica Trilogy of EPs, featuring collaborations with Morphamish, Asthmatic Astronaut, dustmotes, Monkeytribe, Krowne and Harlequinade, among others. The EPs were remastered and re-released in 2012. In 2007, he released Future Proof with long-term collaborator Morphamish, under the name Double Helix. Bram is currently working on new music with his band DUST, new solo tracks as Texture, and a collab with US rapper p.WRECKS as Power Hungry Liars.
In 2009, he helped set up the label Black Lantern Music, releasing music by more than thirty artists from Scotland and worldwide. In 2011 he released the self-produced album Sigil Kids on Aural Sects, following it up in 2012 with Sigil Kids II - Thrown Room. Bram regularly performs live and puts on shows, and has played the Kelburn Music Festival's Viewpoint Sessions, the Wickerman Festival and at gigs throughout the UK. In 2011, he recorded a live session for the BBC Radio 1 Introducing.... New Music: Scotland show. Black Lantern hosts a fortnightly show on Future Music FM - Bram co-hosts with Asthmatic Astronaut on alternating fortnights.
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