Found in Dramaturgy: Carl Gough and Tony Evans @ More Than Words

Not Just Saying - Carl Gough and Tony Evans, they are presenting  Found in Translation at the festival on 6th July as part of the More Than Words day.

What was the inspiration for this performance?

Beyond the Border International Storytelling festival has always committed to having BSL interpreters at many of the storytelling performances. In the past this commitment has extended to providing storytelling performances that were delivered by BSL alone, but attendance from the Deaf community has remained at a low level. In order to grow attendance at the festival, Beyond the Border secured some funding to deliver storytelling activities with the Deaf community and promote attendance at the festival.

Previous projects that created Deaf led performances delivered purely through BSL failed to engage hearing audiences, and so Beyond the Border was interested in exploring if a storytelling performance could be developed that would appeal to both hearing and Deaf audiences. The performance could then be used as an introduction to storytelling workshops with Deaf groups with the hope of featuring some of the participants at the festival.

The challenge issued to us (Tony and Carl) was to create something that would attempt to bridge the gap between hearing and Deaf audiences. In its development, we recognised that in traditionally signed storytelling performances, the experience of Deaf audiences was different to that of the hearing audience - that is to say that the experience for Deaf audiences was determined by the BSL interpreter and the experience for hearing audiences was determined by the storyteller. 

We wanted to develop something that brought these two dimensions of the performance together so that both hearing and Deaf audiences could have the same experience. In doing this, we had opportunity to take an audience on a journey, starting with the traditionally separate roles of storyteller and signer until both roles became dependent on each other. We want to be clear that the emphasis of the performance is not necessarily to showcase BSL storytelling - it is instead focussed on equalities, attempting to unify an audience and to encourage participation and understanding of BSL and a wider consideration of communication.

Is performance still a good space for the public discussion of ideas?

The performance provides an opportunity for dialogue on a number of issues and seems to open doors that allow consideration of issues associated with deafness from a different perspective. It should be noted that the performance was only one aspect of the original project -

The workshop element used storytelling approaches to help cultivate confidence in communication between children and their parents. The approach used in this performance is experimental but seems to touch upon something that inspires the people who see it; to date the performance has proved a useful way of triggering discussion, debate and interest. We are keen that such discussion continues for it is through shared perspectives that new opportunities can become known.

How did you become interested in making performance?

Tony has been interpreting (inc performances) for over 25 years, and can often be heard to say, “I’m not an actor.” or “I’m not a performer.”. Through this project, he has nervously added ‘storyteller’ to his CV. Through his experience supporting Beyond The Border to reach a Deaf audience, Tony first viewed this project as a stepping stone. Something to bridge the gap between traditionally interpreted performances and Deaf led performances. 

Little did he know that the workshops would reveal a much bigger purpose for the project.

Carl has been a professional storyteller since 2012. His storytelling path began many years before that with community events and informal education, he just didn’t realise at the time that ‘Storyteller’ was a legitimate job title. Since then he has been involved in many storytelling projects including working with refugees and asylum seekers using storytelling as a tool to help teach English. 

The work with refugees and asylum seekers was certainly a useful foundation for Carl in developing this performance because it encouraged broader consideration of how to communicate a story when language is a potential barrier. Carl’s interest in performance goes beyond entertainment, and is driven by the ability of storytelling to connect people – to each other, to place, to heritage, to culture, and even to self.

Is there any particular approach to the making of the show?

As stated above, the driving principal was about unifying a mixed audience (Deaf and hearing). As there wasn’t a way of enabling a Deaf audience to hear spoken word, the only solution to create a unified experience was to find a way for a hearing audience to better understand signed elements. We believed that sign could convey sufficient meaning so long as hearing audiences were provided with reassurance that their understanding was correct. Once this was established, it could enable an increasingly greater reliance on sign as part of the performance.

We weren’t sure if it was going to work as envisaged but to date, hearing audiences seem very receptive. By the end of the performance we have transitioned sufficiently that the story is ended using sign alone.

Does the show fit with your usual productions?

In a word, no. Although the material has been drawn from Carl’s existing repertoire, it required adaptation to be delivered in this performance. The level of interaction between Tony and Carl is central to the performance and could not be achieved alone. As the performance relies on both Tony and Carl working together (and because of the positive and enthusiastic reactions), Carl and Tony have established ‘Not Just Saying’ to provide a more formal basis upon which to further explore the application of storytelling and BSL (www.notjustsaying.co.uk).

What do you hope that the audience will experience?

Enjoyment and a good dose of laughter are the starting point. From there we’d hope that people will maybe consider the different ways that we communicate. For hearing audiences we hope they will be surprised at just how much they have come to understand. For Deaf audiences we hope they will come to appreciate that communication is much more than language and we hope everyone finds improved confidence in their interactions.

What strategies did you consider towards shaping this audience experience?

We were not aware of any previous work of this nature, so we didn’t draw upon any pre-conceived ideas. We broke down what was required in order to achieve the final vision and then set to work to build something that would achieve each step. The synergy between Carl and Tony played a significant role as both were able to hold a shared vision and draw upon their relative areas of expertise (and learn a great deal from each other in the process).

The Remarkable Dramaturgy of Robert Desnos: Clare Muireann Murphy and Daniel Morden @ Village Storytelling

Clare Muireann Murphy and Daniel Morden
perform the Remarkable Tale of Robert Desnos on Wednesday 5th July at 7pm, CCA Glasgow. Produced by Adverse Camber.

DANIEL MORDEN:

What was the inspiration for this performance?

I wanted to share a stage with Clare for an hour at a festival last year. I had seen her work and thought it would be fun to trade stories.

Being a great maker of rods for my own back, I suggested, why don't we tell stories about Fate/luck?

She said,

'There's a true story about a surrealist poet in a concentration camp. Could we use that somehow? I have been wanting to tell it for years.'

I said,

'Yeah, great, let's!'

We made the show by email/skype. When we performed it at the festival, it got a standing ovation.

We did it again, and got another standing ovation.

'Hmmm. Maybe we are onto something here.....'

Is performance still a good space for the public discussion of ideas?

*When you hear a story told well it acts like a trojan horse. It sneaks stuff into you without you noticing. It infects you with ideas.

It circumvents the concious mind and goes straight to the heart of you.

*And, in these straitened times, it is cheap! All that's needed is a slient space and a willing audience. I like that low-tech, DIY aspect of it, probably because I am an old punk.

*It is a political act to leave behind netflix and share an experience with others.

How did you become interested in making performance?

When a theatre-in education company transformed my junior school hall into a jungle by saying, ‘We're in a jungle!’

Is there any particular approach to the making of the show?

Clare and I were selfish. We wanted to have fun. We weren't overly worried about the outcome. What was the worst that could happen?. It was going to be a one-off. We figured we'd perform it at the festival, shake hands and go our separate ways. Then a producer picked it up.

Does the show fit with your usual productions?

It is a departure. Never worked with Clare before. She's a hoot!. She makes me raise my game. It is a while since I had this much fun onstage.

What do you hope that the audience will experience?

The show is about the power of stories to change our reality. We hope this story will change the audience's reality. It has changed ours.

I hope the audience will have a cracking night, and emerge from the theatre with sweaty armpits.

What strategies did you consider towards shaping this audience experience?

I don't know how to shape an audience's experience. I wish I did!. Our creative process was more instinctive than that. We made a piece we thought we would enjoy if we were watching it. We told stories we were itching to tell, in a way we thought was exciting. It was a glorious surprise when the audience liked it as much as we did!

CLARE MURPHY

I was raised in performance, my father was an actor, my mother is a poet.  In 2003 I witnessed someone standing still telling stories, and with only this, they transformed my world.  

Storytelling strikes me as something tangibly good, something that quantifiably makes a difference to people's wellbeing, their thoughts, the way they interact with the world. 
Storytelling, when it is good, goes far beyond entertainment into the realm where we, both audience and performer, wrestle with meaning and our place in the world.

I've been at this 11 years now, and my aim is to keep developing as a performer and an artist for the rest of my life.  

International festivals include Fabula Festival Stockholm, Out of the Box Puppetry Festival Singapore, 10 Days in Dublin, Times Cheltenham Literature Festival UK, National Storytelling Festival Jonesborough Tennessee, Ondas de Contas Lisbon and International Storytelling Festival Toronto.

Memories of a Dramaturgy: Saras Feijóo @ CCA

MEMORIES OF A LULLABY

- the need to remember and the wish to forget -

SarasFeijóo

Scotland Premiere of Brighton Fringe Bursary WINNER show at Refugee Festival Scotland!

Memories of a Lullaby – the need to remember and the wish to forget - is a one-woman show about Saras' experience growing up in Venezuela. It draws from multiple true experiences in order to reveal the constant tension between horror and beauty, desperation and hope. This performance explores how socio-political conditions shape us as individuals, while attempting to give a perspective on how reality differs greatly depending on where we are born/raised in the world.

Saras skillfully combines storytelling, physical political theatre and visual art elements to give a full-on, yet tender show by a performer with first-hand experience of the events she portrays. At the end of the show, not only will we have travelled through 25 years of history, but also, a 2meters painting will have been created.

“The piece has the ability to touch audiences deeply” Tim Licata – Plutot la Vie Artistic Director

What was the inspiration for this performance?

                                      

To be able to share my personal story which I had to hide within myself for so long. I could not hold anymore the pain inside myself created by the tension between the terror I experienced while living in Venezuela: the sound of gunshots I could hear every night, the corruption I witnessed, the ever-present fear that death was around the corner; alongside the beauty of the land I come from, my family, my friends and the constant sun!

For many years, I was unable to talk openly about these experiences, even with my closest friends. However, two years ago I felt the need to open it all up, and felt ready to share it with others. I wanted to create something beautiful from my memories and to share them from an honest place.

At first it was a personal show, but soon it became universal, touching the experiences of many people around the world currently undergoing similar situations.

Memories of a Lullaby – the need to remember and the wish to forget - not only - has allowed me to understand more about the unimaginable situation that people in Venezuela are experiencing but also, it is giving me the opportunity to inform audiences about it.

Throughout the piece, I combine three art forms: storytelling, physical theatre and visual arts, as I am creating a large scale painting during the show. Bringing many different colours and emotions into one place, I realised that this show started because I wanted to share and heal my own past experiences about my upbringing but now, I feel I have become the bottle that has crossed many waters, walked many soils and this show is the message contained inside it.

How did you go about gathering the team for it?

I have been working on this show for the last two years, and have gathered an exceptional team, joining my process in its different stages of development of the show:

Firstly, I worked with: Yael Karavan, director/creative advisor - The Karavan Ensemble. I met Yael couple of years ago in Edinburgh. That time, I was working on a little piece with two other artists and Yael came to mentor us for one day. I really liked her way of working and her thinking so few weeks later I emailed her with this project and she was happy to join me as my director/creative advisor.

She has really helped me to bring out these experiences from my past, exploring the material I have inside in order to create these piece. She has also been very respectful to the material as well as my vision for the show and its message.

Then, Gavin Taylor, composer/musician join in. I have worked with Gavin previously on my other solo show Blooming Surprise - a story about loneliness, hope and love. I really enjoyed working with him so I invited him to create a very special bespoke track for one of the most important parts of the piece.

I have also reconnected with my ex-classmate a talented feminist philosopher Marelis Loreto Amoretti who has written philosophical articles for me about Venezuelan situation but also about certain subjects I was exploring: they helped me understand more myself as well as the fact that, to some extent, I am the result of a rotten society. 

This process has made us very close now and I feel, her words have become a very important part on the understanding of Venezuela’s current difficult situation.

Luis Perez Valero, Venezuelan composer/musician, has been the last artist to join the team! He has created a very powerful sound track that I use in the most significant moments of the show.

How did you become interested in making performance?

                                  

I always had a passion for the arts!

In fact, I asked my mum the other day if I always was an artist… “does painting on the walls count?” she said.

Since I was 8 years old, I remember sitting with my grandmother either knitting, or making some crafts, or I would be drawing.

At 16, I was studying philosophy at Central University of Venezuela. When I was 18, I took a break to go and study Fashion Design: I graduated cum laude and soon became the fashion designer at Indiani – a Venezuelan label – while running my own label Bjaki. When I became fashion teacher at the institute I graduated from, I came back to finish my Philosophy studies at the university.

I was 25 years old when I saw my first ever theatre clown show!!! Con las Alas Despiertas (With Awaken Wings) by Victor Stivelman. I still remember it.

I was sitting in the first row, “glued” to the seat and totally terrified when the theatre clown artist came towards the audience… I was thinking “not me please, not me!!!!”

At the end of the show, I thought: “I want to be a theatre clown artist!”. I loved the depth, beauty, honesty, transparency and playfulness of the piece.

At the time, I was writing my philosophy dissertation based on Beatrice Longuenesse's book: Kant and the Capacity to Judge. I was still working on my small clothes label Bjaki. However, I join a clown workshop with Victor Stivelman, the theatre clown deviser, performer and director of Con las Alas Despiertas and after few weeks of training I created my first solo-clown piece as well as a duet with a lovely clown called Leonardo Sivira. We performed at Clownerias – an event with pieces created during Victor's workshops.

After performing at that event, I left everything behind to become a theatre clown artist. Three months later, I was part of a theatre clown group premiering our show Lapsus: Deslices Extra-ordinarious at the Aleph in Pasto, Colombia and touring it as part of International Theatre Festival at Cali, Popayan and Pasto.

I now also work with physical/visual theatre, storytelling, dance, immersive installations as well as continuing with my visual art practice.

Additionally, I have created CloWnStePPinG – a hub to further the understanding, promotion and development of theatre clown as an art.

Was your process typical of the way that you make a performance?

                                  

Yes, and no.

Yes, because I always make performance based on my own experiences, beliefs and knowledge.

No, because, perhaps, this is the first time I invited a director to help me shape my show from the very beginning stages. It is also the first time I work with a philosopher!

However, I can intuitively, say that my approach to create anything changes in every moment. As my good friend will say so accurately in his latest book: “those who live fully constantly change, they are never the same”.

What do you hope that the audience will experience?

                                       

Hope! To be able to appreciate a reality that many in the world experience daily and yet, continue to move forward.

For me that Hope - to some extent - resides in art and that has helped me to heal some deep wounds, allowing me to speak my truth through my work.

As well as that, this show - in itself- would be the hope at the end of the tunnel that possibly the Venezuelan people cannot yet see... and for our audiences, it would hopefully be an eye opener to this unimaginably tough reality.

Do you see your work within any particular tradition?

Possibly part of experimental multidisciplinary theatre. 

What Saras has to say about the show:

During the show, I talk about my family, my friends, the sun warming my skin, the time I was kidnapped by corrupt police, the dead body I saw through my bathroom window when I was 8. Emphasizing the constant battle between the memories I wish to remember and the ones I feel the need to forget. I recreate the beauty of the landscapes, the lively Latin rhythms while at the same time the deaths that can occur from simply using a mobile phone in public places. Reminiscing my lullabies made out of gunshots through the nights. 

There is an exploration of Venezuela's unimaginable situation nowadays: the lack of food, medicines supplies and the constant and never-ending fear and struggles they experience daily.

“The combination of visual art and spoken and visual narrative helped vividly to created a strong, multi-layered powerful and moving picture of your own life experience” Simon Hart – Manipulate Festival Director. 

Refugee Festival Scotland

After each show there will be a Q&A session and Silent Auction of the Painting with some of the proceeds to go to a Refugee Charity.

Venue: Scottish Storytelling Centre
43-45 High St, Edinburgh EH1 1SR
Time: 19:30 

Running Time: 110min -including Q&A and silent auction
Dates: 15th & 16th June.


Venue: Borders Book Festival
Harmony House/St. Marys Rd, Melrose TD6 9LJ
Time: 19:30
Dates: 17th June.


Venue: CCA
350 Sauchiehall St, Glasgow G2 3JD
Time: 18:30
Dates: 19th June.

Buzzcut in the CCA!

My voice is a bit distance, but you can hear the important chat!



Next up from BUZZCUT is our England tour of mini-fests called ‘Let England Shake’ and ALSO a monthly double bill of performances at the CCA, Glasgow called DOUBLE THRILLS!

COMING UP IN ‘DOUBLE THRILLS’:

Wednesday 11th May, 7pm – Steven Anderson // Hunt and Darton TICKETS

Wednesday 22nd June, 7pm – Ultimate Dancer // Ira Brand TICKETS

Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/1690759144524869/



COMING UP IN ‘LET ENGLAND SHAKE’:

Starting at Camden People’s Theatre on Sunday 15th May! w/ Steven Anderson + Craig Manson! Part of A Nation’s Theatre TICKETS

https://www.facebook.com/events/596317947192919/permalink/601764519981595/

Clockwork Dramaturgy: Katrice Horsley @ CCA

Clockwork
A 90 minute show that explores the corsetry of social constructs upon the human form. Meet the Wordsmiths who each night chant their words of power and enchant our dreams as a consequence. Meet Nousha, a young girl who experiences sound in a different way to others and meet Edna, a woman so old she has a pubic comb-over but who knows the importance of belly laughter in our development as human beings.

What was the inspiration for this performance
My main inspiration was working with young people who saw themselves as lacking due to the social narratives that exist with regards to beauty, success and status. I wanted to do something to redress. One of the main themes in my work as a narrative consultant is to do with becoming the narrator of your own life. This performance is very much about that. 

Also I have a form of synaesthesia, that I thought would be interesting to include. The last inspiration was all of the older woman who were around to help shape me into the woman I am now. This show is very much a celebration of their ribald humour and infinite wisdom.

How did you go about gathering the team for it?
There is not team - just me.

How did you become interested in making performance?
I was looking a lot at Rabelaisian humour and linking that to the Goddess Baubo - I wanted to explore what that means to us as a connection point in a world where we are supposed to be ‘sophisticated,’ and how that was seen as better than crudity.


Was your process typical of the way that you make a performance?
I call myself a percolator - I have one little idea/concept float up from the depths of my unconscious and into my imagination - I put it onto the the shore of possible working island - then I wait and another idea floats, and I place it on the the shore, and another and another, until I start to piece the fragments into whole structure. Then I start to add the poetry, the links, the sensual language.

What do you hope that the audience will experience?
I want them to feel. I want them to resonate with the plight of the characters, to laugh, to feel despair, to recognise themselves within it all, to start to question how they came to believe what they think is true about themselves.

What strategies did you consider towards shaping this audience experience?
I wanted an emotional palette to work with. Quite often, if you have laughter you can then plunge deeper into despair, people know they will come up for air so they are willing to plunge fully in with you.

Do you see your work within any particular tradition?
There are 3 very traditional stories within the main frame narrative, so I would see this piece as traditional storytelling.

Once called the 'soul-diva' of storytelling, Katrice is a captivating performer who has a range of specific one-woman shows as well as a repertoire of over 300 traditional stories from all across the globe.

In her performances she enjoys taking people out of their comfort zones - just for a while - before returning them into the safety of being an audience member again!

Some of her work can challenge assumptions made about fairy tales - you will never look at Beauty and the Beast in the same way again! She has performed around the U.K. and overseas in theatres, schools, Literature Festivals and National Parks.

Four Chambers of Dramaturgy: Cat Gerrard and Tim Ralphs @ Village Storytelling

Village Storytelling / Cat Gerrard, Tim Ralphs

VSF16: Four Chambers of the Heart

Thu 24 March 2016

7pm, £10 (£8), Theatre

Ages: 14+ accompanied by an adult

The Village Storytelling Festival

Tue 22 March — Sat 26 March 2016

The heart has its own strange and wonderful ways. Some are well known: the regular beat of your everyday love stories, tales told so often their patterns becomes ingrained in the imagination. But the heart has other rhythms - it sends some down paths that have been kept secret by society, by collectors of stories, by the subjects of these complicated loves. 

Storytellers Cat Gerrard and Tim Ralphs are pilgrims on these hidden pathways to passion and heartache. Listen as these wordsmiths bring you an evening of exquisite lesser-known tales from around the world that will make your heart thump, break, beat and flutter.



What was the inspiration for this performance?
Cat Gerrard and Tim Ralphs both say:
The Four Chambers of the Heart began as a conversation about our sense that traditional storytelling - the telling of myths, legends, folktales - was profoundly heteronormative - and that this lead to an omission in content and themes. We were telling stories that did not reflect the diversity in our audiences or our identities and this left us with a sense of injustice. 

We're often saying that traditional storytelling has to reflect the needs of society today, and The Four Chambers became a project to radically expand the shared repertoire and to put queer themes front and centre in our work.

How did you become interested in making performance?
Cat: As a child I was entranced by theatre and art, from a performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream I saw at the age of 7

which made me fall off my seat, crying with laughter, to the puppets and stories in Jim Henson's The Storyteller. I started making performance at school and continued, fitting it around my studies until I decided to put it at the centre of my life. 

I tried to do other things but creating is a vocation and I couldn't really do anything else. More here: 

Tim: As a child, I was taken to lots of folk festivals and fell deeply in love with storytelling as an art-form. I started my first storytelling club in my school library. My interest in performance is born of a love of stories as something shared, created between teller and listener, and a passionate love of traditional material. 

Was your process typical of the way you make performance?
Cat: I don't have a typical process in any piece that I make so this is typical in being atypical! Working with Tim in a first collaboration means we are finding our own way of working together and our own process. 

How I make performance depends so much on who I'm making it with and what it is that we are/ I am making. The few things that always feature for me though are: play and improvisation; construction; reflection; and going into and staying in the unknown for as long as possible.

What do you hope that the audience with experience?
Cat and Tim: We're both fascinated by ritual, and we'll be looking for ways for the audience to participate in the show. Our hope is that our audience will be delighted with these stories, that they'll feel a sense of opening up - both internally and externally- and that they'll touch a sense of wonder.

Quick Comment! Cock and Bull @ CCA

Once upon a time, I called Fish and Game a 'live-art super-group' because their cast for Otter Pie included many of the then active performers in the Glaswegian contemporary scene. I think that this slogan could now be applied to the trio who will be rocking the CCA with Cock and Bull.

Nick Green: she was in Otter Pie, then went on to do Trilogy, a determined feminist series that celebrated non-sexual nudity, swiped at Norman Mailer and explored contemporary feminism from a personal (is political, natch) perspective.

Laura Bradshaw: another star from Trilogy and Otter Pie, her recent work with Murray Wason not only makes me jealous of people of who can maintain a mature, loving relationship but has a strong environmental consciousness.

Rosana Cade: did Sister across the nation and challenged audiences, part of the Buzzcut team, provocateur and feminist artist. 

Back in the day, Cock and Bull's aggressive culling of Conservative speeches was a natural fit for The Arches. This manifestation is part of ArtCOP, which is a response to the climate change conference. So it has added immediacy and new words from our pals in government.

Green has a bit of a track record in Green issues. The remix of Cock and Bull suits her style and interests. Cade did this cool stomping dance in Sister, so you know she'll be tough. Bradshaw is unafraid of questioning audiences, so expect dynamism and excitement.

It's unlikely that they will be finding much positive in Dave's rhetoric. But since The Guardian is having a big orgasm over Benn's oratory, it's good to know that some artists are up for ripping out the words and exposing shallow bombast.

SQIFF: Something Positive

I'm sitting out front of the CCA in the 'parklet' with Sam Kenyon. I am only talking to him because I respect his opinion and really like him: I had previously intended to boycott him because he didn't come in to see Pasolini's Theorem. Sam is being reasonable, and pointing out that the word 'queer' is all about the fluidity of meaning, while I am moaning that it is being appropriated by the mainstream. I think we are both right, although I am being conservative and wanting to hang onto an idea of queer that belongs to Jarman, Bikini Kill and the 1990s.

What makes us old once made us young.

Sam also programmed the selection of more experimental films - films that I regard as being more queer because their formal aspects (which some people might call bad editing, rejecting the gloss of contemporary cinema) offer the kind of retinal shudder that I dig. They are not easy to watch, allude rather than display, and juxtapose images in a way that reflects intersectionality. 

There has been a lovely atmosphere in the CCA during SQIFF. I shy away from conversations about political matters in public (except for with Sam, who gets the full-frontal Vile jabber), but the building has been full of people who care about art as a medium for discussion. Diane Torr did her banana dance on the Friday night, and where there are bananas, there is fun.

The range of films has been great - not least because Pasolini got a slot, and I got to see some difficult 'feminist pornography' (which I did not enjoy, either in the feminist or pornographic sense). Like Arika's exploration of the Ballroom scene, SQIFF gave me plenty of food for thought, ready to be half-baked by me into opinion. 

Sam is always a great deal more thoughtful than I am, but I like to think we share a sensibility. Both the tough art films and the big blockbuster are valuable to us, and the possibility of conversation combats the misery of catching rotten art. 

Neil Butler @ Ian Smith Festival CCA 2015

And so my next guest, Neil Butler, is someone that I have known for a while: when I worked on The Skinny, he was one of my neighbours in The Briggait. I know that he is always up to something intriguing... actually, I am not quite sure how to introduce him... so, Neil... can I let you introduce yourself?

Neil:
Hi Gareth - my background is as an artist and performer but most of my work is around creating events and commissioning artists through my company UZ Arts thats based at the Briggait.

Gareth:
Once again, my knowledge has come up short. It's lucky you are here to help me out. I am going to start off with my sneaky dramaturgy questions first: do you think that it is a relevant thing for me to ask you about? What does it mean to you?

Neil:
Not a lot-I rarely work with dramaturgs.

Gareth:
Another great question from Vile. Moving swiftly on -  I know that you worked with Ian quite often... am I right in thinking that he was involved in your reasons for being in Scotland?

Neil:
Ian was my closest friend. We met when we were students. I was organising a contemporary art festival with Roger Ely with a lot of performance and live art (People Show, Lumiere and Son IOU, Lol Coxhill +++) and promoting bands like the Clash, the Damned, Souxie and Psychic TV. 

Ian got involved in the Festival and when I set up the Zap Club he helped build it and became the MC. We performed a lot together making performance art, music and an an art /cabaret act called the Wild Wigglers. 

Then in 1988 I was invited to Glasgow to create festivals and events to prepare Glasgow for European City of Culture in 1990. Ian worked on the festival and then ran away to join Archaos Circus for a few years before coming back to set up Mischief. From then on we worked on many projects together developing them through 'hothouses' or residencies and presenting them through one off events (crashing a space ship into Kings Street Car Park for the Millennium) or in the festivals I was involved in.

Gareth:
I've banged on about Ian's influence on me - but what would you say is his quality that you enjoyed the most?

Neil:
A huge influence. Ian was incredibly inventive, producing remarkable and utterly unique ideas that commented on the world he saw. His work was often comic but also serious and insightful. He was always generous in his relationship with other artists. He had a real rapport and affection for the public too. And with all that incredible imagination he was utterly businesslike in the way he managed his company and a very traditional pipe and slippers kind of Dad at home- although he didn’t smoke a pipe but liked to pose with one occasionally


Gareth: 
What are you doing as part of the Festival? What can we expect from you over the weekend?

Neil:
I’m there to enjoy Ian's work and the event that Angie created. I am also performing in the Death Cabaret. A reworking of a piece that Ian enjoyed -now called “Getting Slated”. Its a performance lecture during which I create an installation around near death experiences and the artists who have influenced me - including of course with Ian!



Gareth:
Cool: are you going to nip into my office for a drink over the weekend? I have absinthe...

Neil:
Delighted - it makes the heart grow fonder.

Gareth:
In terms of the work you do, is their any particular inspiration or tradition that you would say connects with your work?

Neil:
I include about 20 artists that have influenced or intrigued me in Getting Slated from Duchamps to Beuys and Richter but I probably first got involved with art because of John Lennon and Yoko Ono and reading about Guy Dubord and the Situationist International when I was growing up. I’m sure they pushed me towards performance art and experimental work and the avant-garde, if people still use that expression.

Gareth: 
And what about Ian's work? Where does he fit in?

Neil:
We shared a delight in myth making and encouraging artists and the public to invent their own realities. Ian inspired that and practised it throughout his career- "gently warping the underlay of the fabric of society…"

Gareth:
I've got one of my abscesses today - don't ask where - so I might be a bit cloudy. Can you do my job for me, and tell me what questions I ought to be asking, if any? I want to go a good job of this but... well, you know me, so I might as well stop the professional act...


Neil:
(Stunned silence)

The Festival of Ian Smith: A Dramatugical Chat Show with Pauline Goldsmith

Gareth: 

Good evening and welcome to the Vile Arts. I am delighted to be joined tonight by Pauline Goldsmith, the star of... well, frankly, you seem to be in about half the plays I see in Glasgow. What was that last thing I saw you in? was it at the Tron?
Pauline:
Well the most recent thing I was performing in,  involved a piece with an artist, a bunch of anaesthetists, and  some medical computerized mannequins in an operating table at Larbet hospital. Like robotic patients that can blink and breathe and talk.  

The audience were in scrubs so you could well have been that dashing fellow in the paper mask and gloves. But yes my theatrical last venture in the  Tron was a quare farce involving his holiness Grant Smeaton, his eminence Raymond Burke, the Catholic Clergy and Strathclyde Police. In that order. We worship at the altar of Joe Orton, Dave Allen and Fanny Craddock...i was recently back there in a cat gimp mask purring with Derek Mc Luckie at the Glasgow comedy festival but that's another story...

Gareth:
Of course! I really ought to get some researchers, or use the internet for research and not just... anyway. So am I right in thinking that you are offering part of your signature work as part of the Ian Smith celebration?

Pauline:
Yep its time to get the shroud out and start polishing my coffin. Doing a wee bit from Bright Colours Only. I've had to be refitted for the wooden suit, I'm not the Slimsea girl i once was.


Gareth: 
I think I first saw it in The Arches - would that be right? I wasn't even a critic then... I was a Latin teacher. Bur this show - where did it begin for you- was there a particular moment, or object, or idea, that inspired you?

Pauline:
A couple of moments...Standing behind my Nanny's coffin getting a dirty look from my  relative from across the water because i was laughing and chatting in the cortege. Sitting in Paisley in a waiting room outside the crematorium silently queing to use the coffee machine and wondering why i had come across the water. A dream where i was getting into my coffin even though i wasn't dead because i didn't want to upset my guests. They had travelled a long way and were expecting a good send off apparently. So i made a speech to them and then i woke up.  

Gareth: 
Great stuff. I am delighted that you are part of the festival - I love it when stuff is in the CCA, because it is right next to my office! Do you fancy getting a free cup of tea over the weekend? Think of it as a small return for doing this interview. Some people might know that Ian Smith was very important to me as an artist - settle down at the back there. Can't a critic be an artist?
Er-
Don't answer that... answer this instead. How did you get to know Mr Smith? Did you ever get up to Mischief with him. so to speak?

Pauline:
I knew Ian Smith not to say hello to. Im quite shy somehow even though in other ways I'm not -  I never really knew Ian. Only admiring him from a far.  I loved his work so much and was probably too scared to say hello to him. I used to nod to him but i'm sorry i never really spoke to him. I saw him a few times before he died and nearly said hello but didn't.  

Ach I think he would understand - seemingly he was a bit shy at times himself. A genius. Unique and very funny. I do hope I won't make that mistake again.  One of my favourite Mischievous memories is the very  incorrect piece of a violent drunken  Irish wedding. With Stevie Cooper's  (Clyde) fabulous Norn Irish accent. It still makes me gasp with laughter when i think of it. True anarchy and poetry. Other pieces like the Heaven and Hell thing, the Bull one - i never know the names - the one with all the Saints - all fabulous - but that Irish rabble is seared into my unconscious!

Gareth: 
Since you've doing this show for a while, what kind of audience responses have you had?

The most powerful response is that after the show people want to tell me their own death stories. The show acts like a wake and folk want to talk about their own moments. I love that so much. I feel useful at last. Some audiences laugh a lot - others cry. I remember a show i did where i was very  hung over and the emotion tipped too much in to an unbearable place. The venue was very rural and the cortège ended with peacocks screeching to this wet rainy silence. 

A lady came out and kinda shouted at me: " What are you doing? You've really upset people? You've really upset people. Why are you doing this?" And then in Dublin old ladies turned up with cakes and snuff. In Derry they wouldn't take the whiskey because they were off it for lent. And in Belfast I couldn't get the show started because the mourners were gabbing so much. Some people sleep through it. Comfy couch and whiskey. Even the critics...they need their sleep.

Gareth: 
Okay! Now onto the serious bit of the show. It's the dramaturgy database. After a word from our sponsors.

Gareth: 
Welcome back. Now, Pauline. You've read my comic: is dramaturgy relevant to you at all?

Pauline:
I must say I think that the conscious  intellect must be got to fuck in the crucial stages of creativity. Intellect is the enemy of the creative process in the initial stages. Vomiting of the unconcious must not be interupted by the need to keep the carpet clean - in the initial stages. The brain has its part to  play later but it must be kept out so that terrible mistakes can be made and wonderful accidents of the unconscious come through. So for me dramaturgy is all in the timing and the ego, brain and intellect must know their place and get out of the way of instinct. 

Once the jigsaw of vomit is complete, we can let these buggers back in the room. I am no expert however. My house is filled with sporadic vomit  - and no plays. i must ask a dramaturg to visit. How much do they cost? I worked with dramaturg and writer Nicola McCartney on my Johnnie Ringo Bingo show and actually found it hugely helpful. I  guess its a bit like a film maker needs the editor. Not simply the chopping and changing but little things like where to put the rain, what rhythms work where, what we don't need to say. She helped me sift through the vomit to find the sweetcorn. 

The last sentence is an example of why we need dramaturgs. Otherwise we just write the first piece of nonsense we we think of. This interview would be great if a dramaturg did a bit of work on it...


Gareth: 
Does it manifest itself in any particular process? Are you all about the script? The improvisation? How do you go about making stuff?

Pauline:
I do a little bit of everything but ultimately i have a complicated attention span - so i do bursts of impro, stream of concousness writing and more focused writing. I put myself in the headlights of what ever it is i'm thinking about - so for example i spent a lot of Bright Colours Only prep sitting or lying in a coffin (sometimes with the lid on). i also collect or steal things people say or do - im not an imaginator at all. I just pick up things folk do and say. Then i play with the pieces and order. I get my pals in and they influence me too so i have lots of cooks but I like the broth.

I work with different artists and companies collaboratively - especially Vanishing Point. Mat Lenton mixes up the creative vomiting with simultaneous dramaturgy. So in Tomorrow, for example, there was a  constant tension between the brain (in this case Pamela Carter as dramaturg ) and the improvisational heart (the cast) and this morphs and blurs with Mat ultimately balancing the soul of the work. But i think what is important here is the roles bleed into each other and conflict of mind and instinct is part of the process. Pamela also has a heart...

Gareth: 
And is their any tradition, any particular influences on you? Who would you like to be compared to?

Pauline:
People I work with and live around hugely influence me. I am the sum of all my collaborators - whether they are artists, friends, or bystanders.  As a kid I loved  Laurel and Hardy, as an adult  Charlie Chaplin. I hope to be compared to someone very mediocre or evil  as then i will win the comparison. 

Actually if i had to pick one person, whose work i admire and would love to find the voice in me like he has - it would be David McSavage. A theatrical comic performer from Dublin whose Savage Eye is genius. Beckett meets Kenny Everett on Irish mescaline. Actually thats wrong. There are no words. Analysis is nonsense. Go watch him. 

Gareth: 
Well, that's been great talking to you. Before we go - you know how I don't do research and just say stuff off the top of my head? I ought to ask whether there are any questions that I ought to have asked about how dramaturgy works for you? 

Pauline:
No. I think its best if we just drew a line under this and moved on to the next moment. Our work is done here. You've been Vile. I've been a  Pauline. Goodnight. xxx