working title - AMAZEMENT

Belarus Free Theatre finished their month long residency at Dartington's Space studios with a performance of their work-in-progress last night. (I guess everything honest is a work-in-progress, but it seemed incredibly tight and strongly delivered to me). The tickets were free - free performances being an aspect of the accessibility to the arts this troupe are committed to- and something i appreciate massively- being skint and under-cultured... :-)

The show was AMAZING. Working-titled 'The Third Sex', and performed as 'Merry Christmas Ms Meadows', the play explored and exposed issues around 'trans' and other sexual identities, from a multitude of viewpoints - the script was a mix of  personal experience of the cast and first-hand report from news and other sources.

The cast of 12 covered stories from as many perspectives- stereotypes became human- social norms beastly. The show was a whirlwind (including the best male male duet physical theatre I've have seen in years- superb). Using tabloid shock tactics, poetry, medical description and childhood storytelling alongside prison, fearless romance, courtroom drama, philosophy and Greek myth, this play made sexual 'difference' a shared experience of humankind through a deft multi-cultured weave.  

 In Belarus 'deviation' from sexual / family 'norms' is a punishable offence - challenging this kind of government ruling by portraying alternative views and voices through theatre is one of the reasons the Belarus Free Theatre directors cannot return home, for fear of imprisonment and worse.

The whole performance was in Russian language (with subtitles projected onto the large studio wall backdrop )- a phonically beautiful (fluid, musical) aspect of the performance which reminded me throughout of the essential value of this kind of work- rather than disengaging for a spot of entertainment, this show presented a dynamic, humourous, poignant act of recognition and celebration for those less able to freely express themselves, not only through the complications of their sexual orientation, but through their culture and country. 

This show was made here in 'safe' Britain, but then is toured internationally and imported home or shared via the internet with Belorusians and others-

an apple... self-awareness it's a cost

AMAZING - thanks Ariane Delaunois for the interview you made with the Belarus Free Theatre, thanks Dartington for pushing forward Leonard and Dorothy Elmhirst's legacy of supporting fringe and truly groundbreaking artists,

and thanks Belarus Free Theatre for making such important work.

 

 

getting down to PARTY

I wrote months ago in this blog about a recording mini-mission I took up to London, and the radio show I hoped to craft from the interviews and tunes taken at the party held by SP23 on the MS Stubnitz.

The show I 'envisioned' (a visual metaphor on a blog about noise? hmmmmm) has sat half-made on my hard drive for the last 5 months doing nothing but inspiring me to get on with all other aspects of my life :-).  I always just needed one more interview to tie them all in together ....   A problem with prerecorded material is that the 'work' somehow becomes extra precious- and its essential worth gets complicated in turning it into a 'form' or 'product', and caught up in a kind of perfectionist loop rather than boshing it out live on air and letting it stand up for itself. (this material can definitely stand up for itself.)

This Wednesday evening I finally played out some of the interviews I made at the SP23 party, and some of the music made there too ( glorious life affirming booty shaking boat rocking banging hand-raising audio dynamite- livesets, sweet, deep and fine).  Mr Seany T and I loosely tied the audio together batting some great ideas inspired by the music and interviews around the studio for a hour. We agreed we had very good fun. And there wasn't even cake involved.

Its taken me a few months to get around to broadcasting this- and also to admitting that what I've really been working on putting together is not a show- it is a response to what I got from the SP23 party. I’m not a good interviewer, and purposefully lack the historians' critical eye. I wanted to mark the party with full respect, by partying very hard. The show was never going to be a professional report- I've no formal journalistic stylee-  I didn't want to script a piece of meta-raver narrative...

Saying that, did you know, raving saved my life? More than once?

On the 23^rd of October 2012 SP23 - the name of the resurfacing Spiral Tribe collective - held its 23^rd birthday bash. The party, one of a series of events planned across Europe called 'infoblips', was held aboard the MS stubnitz- docked on Galleons Reach, Woolston Dockyards, in the west end of London.  So -not on British soil- but for the first time in many years, this legendary rave crew, regrouped, was back in the UK as a party, as a celebration.

I wanted to find out about the root of Spiral Tribe, and its route to date, and where its setting it's course now (blazing trails) in these critical times.

Its a strange thing to party with underground legends who continue unabashed to instigate culture. SP23 are intent on taking progressive arts n music even further still- no resting on laurels, no back-in-the-day static (though there was plenty of birthday-party style reuniting between good old friends going on). I left that party with a strongly renewed feeling the party itself, unfathomable, urgent, is still definitely on. A great vibe at a party is like a baton getting passed or a high five-?

I never attended a Spiral Tribe rave (I was a few years young) but the vibe and the influence of the late 80's early 90's underground parties is British cultural history: not just for raving's direct effect on governmental policy- the Criminal Justice Bill's fearsome primrose-coloured anti-gathering legislation- but for the inspiration and taste of freedom that those parties seeded in the minds and hearts of the generations taking part.

Situations where more than 2 people meet and socialise whilst enjoying "sounds wholly or predominantly characterised by the emission of a succession of repetitive beats" have now become a highstreet norm. But a international collective  including an radical street-art design magazine, a emerging digital co-operative commoners' organisation, and 2 generations of highest quality beats and visuals producers hosting parties in the UK is not so frequent. The LSD Magazine and the Commoner's Fayre Network are two SP23 projects pushing underground creativity and community back into the mainstream. Both are FREE.  FREE is one of the most provocative ideas humans have to play with.

Legendary largess aside, Spiral Tribe was a collective that threw open doors / no doors parties- as a way of exploring / exploding freedom- freedom to congregate together, freedom to use resources and share ideas, freedom from the tyrannies of hegemony.  Simple- work together to forge a way of life centred around action and celebration- DIY-  no one is right to tell how it should be done. By testing boundaries by riding right over the line between un-do-able and done- by making and claiming the rights to live without restrictions, to roam, to rave, to raise and wave the flag of 'what the fuck is stopping us being here now together- because being here together is the best part of begin here at all' . The beats are very sweet, and the heat generated by moving in a convoy, on to any dance floor, is enough to melt cultural icebergs and re-energise visions and hopes and possibilities- making what- a dream- honed across the world in a thousand communities- into a shared reality - this is how we do...

And SP23 is doing it again- next Friday at the Village Underground, London. It's ticketed-  priced to cover costs- and it will be worth every penny-  :-)))

(The birthday party Infoblip on MS Stubnitz  showcased a amazing venue. The ship is steel grey and beautiful- in a techno robust way- metal, bent economic iron buttressed hull like a submarine's ballroom. The ship is itself the feature. Stubnitz entered British waters for the first time as a venue for the London Pleasure Gardens – sailing up to dock in the metropolis' east end, bringing a fresh attitude to what a venue can be in 2012 - a 1960's Russian fishing ship- the harvester of the fleet- refit to provide stage, dance and exhibition space, bars and a chill out areas, and a deck for surveying the lights of the city spread out all around and reflected in the black water. Hosting continuous performance and happenings wherever it sails, and a weekly radio show!!!, at 800 foot long, with a crew of around 25, the MS Stubnitz is a real cultural ark.)

ZHYVE Belarus!

Last night I made the first broadcast in Radio Radio's new series-  a set of interviews- surprises, completions and new beginnings.

"THE RADIO RADIO SHOW potentially !!! this evenings' studio company includes members of the Belarus Free Theatre, http://www.belarusfreetheatre.com/ ,  the poet/ playwright Peter Oswald, and actress / catalyst Josephine Larson, company directors of the Abyss Theatre Company http://www.the-abyss.co.uk/aboutus.html and Mark Harrison, AKA Stray Wayward, writer and rave consultant for the SP23 crew (AKA Spiral Tribe), and initiator of the Commoner's Fayre project http://sp23.org/commoners-fayre/ .... a total treat for the creative ears : thought provoking, imagination revving, community developing, culture instigating- new takes on great traditions..."

It didn't work out as above, but it was magic.

I had been trying to organize an interview with the Belarus Free Theatre. This amazing theatre troop are in exile from their home country. Estranged from family and friends in Belarus, and fearing for their safety( BFT collaborators, families and friends have been disappeared, imprisoned, tortured) they now tour and devise theatre around the world protesting against their government's dictatorship- the last official dictatorship in Europe, which stifles free speech, free movement and free congregation through a brute rule and the denial of creativity or questioning. The BFT championed Belarusian expressive arts and education through their campaigning and their dynamic, committed and front line underground performances, and now continue that work abroad.

Dartington welcomed the company to take a month long free residency at Space, the set of studios where Soundart Radio is based (we've the tiny DIY radio broom cupboard stuck on the side of the giant well resourced professional standard studio complex).

I had some email contact with Natalia Kaliada, the BFT artistic director, during their month residency at Dartington, hoping to arrange a interview for radio. So many questions I wanted to ask- but I was nervous- the energy of the company when I saw them at Space was focused, electric. I was wary of interrupting their intensive devising and rehearsal schedule, and my ignorance of Belarusian politics and the history of theatre struck me as really glaring, and kinda insulting to a group working so hard with so much on the line.

I approached two amazing Devon based theatre makers- Josephine Larsen and Peter Oswald of the Abyss Theatre Company. They agreed they would come to Soundart and take part in the interview - with many years theatre making between them, both Josephine and Peter 'speak' theatre fluently- and I know, from their performances in Abyss and the scripts Peter writes, that their work is also fearless, provocative, heartfelt and humane.

Then Natalia emailed me on Wednesday morning to say the Belarus Free Theatre was in London on urgent business- they would not be available for interview. I was kind of relieved- I'm not sure what I would have said to Natalia, other than – “Here are Soundart Radio's airwaves, use them like your own please! Share your story with us.”

Peter and Josephine decided to come to the studio anyway, and we listened to Natalia speaking on a TedX Talk about Belarus Free Theatres' experiences, and their hopes for their countries' future.

Peter, Josephine and I spoke in the studio afterward, about theatre as a censored medium, the power of words and the stage, and the difficulties facing the arts through both political control and lack of funding. 
Theatre and poetry (and radio) can highlight and make accessible contentious or taboo'd issues. Bringing attention to themes usually kept quiet or denied allows movement towards solutions.  New ideas arise. The play of creativity and celebration in stoking change and cultural development is well recognised as part of a dynamic society. The Belarus Free Theatre staged 'underground secret and illegal productions' because the artists felt access to creative experimental platforms to be essential to the wellbeing of the Belarusian people. We are so fortunate to live in a culture that promotes the idea 'the arts are for all.'   

I have known Peter for 2 years, and his theatre work with Josephine for longer than that. I wanted to welcome them to the Soundart Radio studio not only because of their specialism in theatre, and natural sympathy towards the Belarus Free Theatre-  but because The Abyss is 'theatre in residence', and Peter a Patron, of the South Devon Arts Centre being built on Totnes industrial estate/ this establishment will house not only The Abyss Theatre Company and the Studio Lounge venue, but the newly licensed Totnes FM community radio.

We spoke about the Abyss Theatre Company's upcoming show- a performance of Peter's 'seven hander' play Lucifer Saved, a surreal spectacle, full of dark/enlightening poetry and circus, being staged 10 times over three weeks later in April as part of the extravaganza of word and performance at the Bike Shed Theatre in Exeter, and coming to Totnes in early June for the grand opening of the South Devon Arts Centre.

The strange concurrence of two rural community radio stations  broadcasting within a mile of each other is really unusual. Somewhere along the line, I'd heard whispers of station competition and territorial attitudes which caused me concern- like there could be a good radio and a wrong radio, or that a certain way of broadcasting was better, or more wholesome than another.   Sat in the Soundart Radio studio, eating chocolate and talking about theatre over the airwaves, we concluded competition and territoriality undermined the potential of both radical theatre and progressive radio. :-) 

Should the opportunity to interview the Belarus Free Theatre come again, I will not be shy to ask, and should it be possible to bring Peter and Josephine into that room, I'll do my best to do so- why? Because this is the kind of theatre we need, and its also the kind of radio.

So - Zhyve Belarus!

Zhyve Theatre!

Zhyve RADIO!

ZHYVE BELARUS!!!!!

tickets to see the Belarus Free Theatre showing a work in progress, this MONDAY are available FREE here


con·cur·rence  (kn-kûrns, -kr-)

n.

1. Simultaneous occurrence; coincidence.

2. Cooperation, as of agents, circumstances, or events.

3. Agreement in opinion.