Comments Off on First Acts Confirmed for Laugh Out Loud Festival 2014
Now in its fourth year, the Laugh Out Loud Comedy Festival is back for another groundbreaking, outstanding, hilariously funny, unbelievably sidesplitting, non-stop chortling and descriptively extravagant comedy filled time!
The festival takes place from the 25th January to 7th February 2014 across a multitude of venues in the city of Exeter and features top-billing, award winning comedy acts. In previous years the festival has attracted comedians such as Russell Howard, Jon Richardson, Isy Suttie, Russell Kane and Mark Steel who have all gone on to present and feature in international shows on television and comedy festivals across the globe.
The first acts to be confirmed for the 2014 festival are all high profile performers. Tickets are on sale for Sean Hughes (Perrier award winner, Never Mind The Buzzcocks), Alex Horne (Chortle Award winner, Perrier Award nominee) and Miles Jupp (The Thick of It). Further comedians for the festival will be announced in the coming weeks.
Comments Off on Phoenix gallery artist selected for exciting new project
Following his 2013 Exeter Phoenix exhibition i am algorithm Charlie Tweed has been selected as one of six artists taking part in the R&D phase of Silent Signal, an upcoming project for Animate Projects, supported by The Wellcome Trust.
Silent Signal will delve into how digital communications have evolved to mimic the human body. Artists will explore the artistic responses to a number of intriguing scientific researches, including organisation of the cellular skeleton (cytoskeleton) to trap and dispose of invading pathogens, and an exploration of how viral information is passed and carried throughout a population during the spread of infection.
Comments Off on Can you plan, shoot and edit a film in just 48 hours?
Registration for this year’s 48 Hour Film Challenge is now open.
For the sixth year running Two Short Nights Film Festival invites teams of filmmakers to take part in this inspiring challenge.
Teams must apply by Wed 20 Nov. No previous film experience needed – just a good imagination and a camera.
Films made and delivered within the 48 hours will have the chance to be screened at the opening night of the Two Short Nights Film Festival (12 – 13 Dec) and are eligible for a festival award.
*Teams will be able to register from Mon 28 Oct 2013. Registration closes on Wed 20 Nov 2013
*Teams can be any size.
*Each team must have someone who is over 18 years old.
*Once a team has registered they will be asked to arrive on the evening of Fri 22 Nov at Exeter Phoenix to pick up their assignment brief. More details will be given with the registration confirmation pack, which teams will receive via email within 24 hours of registering.
*Teams must use the inspiration found in the assignment brief to write, shoot and edit a film in 48 hours.
*Teams must submit their completed films by the evening of Sun 24 Nov, 48 hours later.
*Submitted films are judged and the final selection are screened at Two Short Nights Film Festival. All films screened at the festival will be voted for by the festival audience and are eligible for the Audience Choice Award and the Best 48 Hour Film Award.
Comments Off on Max Cahn Voted as the Exeter Contemporary Open Audience Choice Award Winner
Exeter Phoenix is delighted to announce that the Exeter Contemporary Open 2013 Audience Choice Award has been won by Max Cahn.
The prestigious contemporary art exhibition, which opened on Friday 13th September, has seen hundreds of visitors vote for their favourite work. In the end Max Cahn’s work captured the imagination of the public in what was a close count.
Detail from Souvenirs (Oil on Canvas, 2012), Max Cahn
Max Cahn’s paintings tend to depict structures that resemble tables, beds and platforms. A suggestion of the everyday and familiar is stripped right back, at times to the barest point of recognition, easily misconstrued and falling into abstract form. The sense of reality, invited through the use of perspective, light, shadow and form, is resisted and forced apart by agitated, abstracted elements that remind us of the physicality of paint; thick wet on wet impastos that are alive with spontaneous dynamic brush strokes, paint that is sticky and viscous, unpredictable and in a state of constant exploration.
For the artist, these uncanny objects, recognisable yet alien, become platforms for psychological or emotional states that are not exactly autobiographical but are an extension of something personal; offering a dual dimensional experience, lying somewhere between object and hallucinated vision.
Cahn will receive a £200 prize that will be presented by Ali Morrish from Exeter Natural Health Centre who have sponsored this year’s Audience Choice Award.
Earlier in the exhibition Rachel Busby was selected by judges as the Overall Award Winner with artists Julie Price and Oliver Tirre receiving recognition with Additional Awards. The full exhibition showcasing all nine of the shortlisted artists can be seen in the Phoenix Gallery until Saturday the 2nd November and entry is free.
For more information about the other artists in the exhibition, visit the Exeter Contemporary Open page here >>
Exeter Phoenix is pleased to announce an exciting new sponsorship venture with The Exeter Daily. From 8th October 2013 the Exeter Phoenix auditorium will be renamed as the exeterdaily.co.uk auditorium. The first of its kind for Exeter Phoenix, the naming rights sponsorship will involve a new auditorium sign that will be unveiled on the 8th October. Tickets will also display the new name as well as showing on the Exeter Phoenix website’s event pages.
Exeter Phoenix Director Patrick Cunningham said, ‘It’s a really exciting partnership. The Exeter Daily is a great platform for local news and we’re delighted that they want to work with Exeter Phoenix. As a local charity we are always looking for ways that businesses can support us and sponsorship of this kind is something that can be beneficial for everyone involved.’
The Exeter Daily, an online local news platform, has been going from strength to strength since its launch last year and Marc Astley, the Editorial Director said, ‘Both the Exeter Phoenix and The Exeter Daily are at the heart of the community they serve. This sponsorship deal is a reflection of our joint commitment to collaborate with, and support, local people, local businesses and local organisations.’
The first event to take place in the exeterdaily.co.uk auditorium will be Melanie Wilson and Fuel present Landscape II on the evening of Tuesday 8th October 2013.
Patrick Cunningham (Exeter Phoenix) and Mark Astley (The Exeter Daily)
Comments Off on Melanie Wilson talks about her new performance Landscape II
What is the genesis of your new work, Landscape II?
I was interested in working with film and projection in my new show and how the use of film could combine with sound and language to create an intimate and revealing portrait of three women’s shared experiences. The work continues my interest in female subjectivity and explores the meaning and significance of female inheritance through generations. between children, mothers and grandmothers.
How would you describe what Melanie Wilson makes?
I try to make work that moves an audience deeply and makes it think but tries to do this with delicacy and wit. I make worlds in which an audience can become immersed in and be transported by and try to do this with closely woven strands of sound, language and live performance. It is a very pure and direct sort of theatre and leaves the audience room enough to think for themselves without ever loosing the connection between them and the subject matter.
How did you get into making this kind of work?
I have a great passion for the theatre as a listening, thinking space and I use poetic text and sound to do this. I have always been interested in music and wrote and read a great deal when I was small and growing up. These early interests were brought into focus at Central School of Speech and Drama, where I did the MA in Advanced Theatre Practise and in the years after were forged into the particular artistic practise I have through key collaborations with other artists.
What is Landscape II about?
It is about the power of solitude on women’s identity. It is about the connections that exists or are prevented between women by their experiences in the world. It is about how Landscape shapes our place in the world for good and bad. It is about freedom, resilience and bravery.
Why is the show called Landscape II?
Firstly, because the two main characters are situated in the same landscape, a century apart. Secondly, because photography and portraiture and the attendant themes of looking and being looked at are a key feature of the form of the performance.
How did you become interested in the stories of these three women and across generations?
The story of it was something that came to me whilst spending time in the location of North Devon. I was prompted to include the experience of the thitd character, an Afghan woman, by news events at the time I was writing the piece.
What research did you undertake, if any?
I researched war photography and photographers on the internet and read widely around the political subject matter.
Does Landscape II draw on real life experiences?
It draws upon the real experiences of women in Afghanistan, but these have also been fictionalized to an extent.
If you had to describe the show in a sentence what would that be?
A highly crafted and moving poem of celebration to the complexity, resilience and intelligence of women.
One of the women who features in Landscape II is from Afghanistan. What drew you to this character and this country in particular?
News events that occurred around the time of writing. I began to think about the responsibility that I had as a woman and an artist to think about other women’s experiences and consider them. Even if that meant accepting that these might always be irreconciable and mysterious differences.
There is much work that doesn’t conform to theatre, dance or performance structures. Do you think this haziness alienates audiences?
Work that incorporates multiple art forms should not be labelled hazy. Opera for example is a meeting of music, theatre and dance and no one is in any doubt as to what that constitutes. Audiences should be given the chance to discover truly for themselves whether there is something for them to connect with in new work. Taste is the right of all audiences to discover for themselves.
THE PERFORMANCE TAKES PLACE AT EXETER PHOENIX ON TUE 8 OCT. BUY TICKETS HERE >>
For more information visit www.melaniewilson.org.uk or www.fueltheatre.com
Comments Off on Contemporary Open Winner Announced
An exclusive awards ceremony and exhibition opening at Exeter Phoenix last night saw Rachel Busby announced as the recipient of the prestigious £1000 award for the Exeter Contemporary Open 2013. The Wales based artist said, ‘I didn’t expect it. For me just being part of the Exeter Contemporary Open exhibition was winning. I’m thrilled.’
The Open’s judges – artist and curator Kevin Hunt, independent curators Day + Gluckman and Phoenix gallery curator Matt Burrows all spoke about the difficulty of this year’s decision due to the incredibly high standard of work. Lucy Day explained, ‘One of the things about such a diverse range of practice is that it makes judging nigh on impossible. We did some serious debate, discussion and arguing. All positive because we simply couldn’t choose between a group of people, all of who we would have loved to give the award.’
Winning the award was an emotional moment for Busby who returned to Wales after working in London. She said, ‘I didn’t have feedback. I felt very isolated but it meant the work was very honest. I didn’t know what to expect, what people would make of it.’ Her entry comprised two paintings that present interiors looking out into long dark stormy winter months. ‘Going back to Wales I thought that a lot of my work would be landscapes but it ended up as a lot of interiors. And I think that’s because a lot of time growing up was spent indoors. I wanted to be honest and show that. Not that the work was just about me, but for others who share that experience.’
This year’s Exeter Contemporary Open exhibition is open to the public from 13 September to 2 November. It presents a range of work that, although not chosen to create a theme, seem to create unintended connections and synergies when brought together. Phoenix Gallery curator Matt Burrows said, ‘This year’s exhibition includes strong themes around materiality, surface and functionality. Artworks merge between painting and sculpture, slide from representation into abstraction, from softness to hardness and a sense pervades the show of every day things re-examined in a new light.’
The strength of this year’s competition meant the judges were torn to such an extent that they felt compelled to split the usual Additional Award of £500 into two awards of £250. The winners of the Additional Award were Julie Price and Oliver Tirre. The other artists Malina Busch, Max Cahn, Anne Deeming, Hannah Mooney, Rebecca Ounstead and Charlie Godet Thomas make up an exhibition that Burrows described as, ‘ probably one of the strongest we’ve ever had.’
Now in its eighth year, the Exeter Contemporary Open has become one of the highlights of the South West’s arts calendar. Sponsored by Haines Watts Chartered Accountants, it is providing an important national platform for contemporary visual artists. Ben de Cruz, Managing Partner of the firm said, ‘The exhibition this year is quite amazing and the overall quality of the work continues to grow. Exeter Contemporary Open has become a major art event in the area and we are delighted to continue to be involved in supporting the arts in the South West.’
A further Audience Chioice award, sponsored by Exeter Natural Health Centre and voted for by visitors to the gallery, will be announced on the 21st October.
Comments Off on Exeter Phoenix Digital Bursary Winner Shortlisted for Lumen Prize International Tour
Katy Connor, Exeter Phoenix Digital Bursary Winner 2009, has been shortlisted for the Lumen Prize for her App ‘PURE FLOW’.
PURE FLOW [mobile edition] is a miniature, hand held application for a mobile and global audience; revealing the noise generated between GPS data systems and multiple satellites, 3G networks and Wifi hotspots as a tangible presence in the environment.
The App visualises the instability and fragility of live signals, passing through cloud cover and urban architecture; absorbed by bodies, reflecting off concrete and refracting through glass. Once activated, PURE FLOW reveals these signals as a sliver of fluctuating white noise, responding directly to the movement and immediate environment of the device.
If Katy’s work is chosen as one of the top 50 entries, it will be showcased around the world as part of The Lumen Prize international tour; including New York, Hong Kong and London on its travels. There are also five cash prizes for the winners.
The Lumen Prize is an international award that celebrates the very best fine art created digitally. The competition and global exhibition are aimed at a growing, global public that is increasingly interested in art created with the latest technology.
The top 50 shortlist will be announced on 1 October. Good luck Katy!
Also, The Lumen Online Gallery is now open to vote for the People’s Choice Award, which will also be included on the international tour.
A festival that take arts and performance out of traditional venues, and into unexpected indoor and outdoor locations across the city.
As part of the festival Blind Ditch presents This City’s Centre 3. Here, Now, the third part of a new digital triptych for Exeter. Here, Now is a participatory performance event using live video streaming from people’s homes and the streets outside them, a performance made in collaboration with local associate artists and city centre residents. Gather at the front of St Stephen’s House on Catherine St to be welcomed into the ‘heart of Exeter’, and find out more about what This City’s Centre is made of. To find out more or book your place at this one-off performance click here >>
There is also the opportunity for people to watch and interact with the performance remotely via the Live Stream link on This City’s Centre website.
Other events appearing around the city include pop up appearances by Exeter’s favourite clown troup La Navet Bete, who will be performing excerpts from their new extended show Once Upon A Time In A Western, in the build up to it’s premiere at Exeter Phoenix later this September. More information and booking information for the premiere can be found here >>
Finally, Exeter Phoenix is proud to be part of a collaborative project with Spacex and CCANW, which brings an exhibition of recent works by artist Theo Simpson out into the streets of Exeter. More information on the exhibition can be found here >>
Comments Off on Full house for Exeter Skate & BMX Night
Exeter Phoenix saw a full house for the launch of DUGTOWN, a retrospective on the Exeter Skate and BMX scene over the last 30 years.
Skaters, BMX-ers and film fans flocked to view photos and new locally produced films reflecting on the rich skate park culture in the city. Tim Ruck, organizer and owner of The Boarding House said, “Last night was great. It was brilliant to see the auditorium full! Thanks to Death, and Paul Foster who’s work on skateparks, comps and videos have been a massive part of how great the scene in Exeter has been through the years.”
The DUGTOWN exhibition is up for a month ON THE CORRIDOR LEADING UP TO THE MEIDA CENTRE at Exeter Phoenix, and one of the new films can be seen in the Imaginary Lounge: Monday to Friday from 10am – 5pm.
Comments Off on Lonnie Liston Smith CD Give-away This Bank Holiday Weekend
Cosmic Funk & Spiritual Sounds: The Best of The Flying Dutchman Years is a deluxe overview of Lonnie Liston Smith’s career with the famous Flying Dutchman label, mastered directly from the original tapes.
Buy a ticket for Lonnie’s upcoming gig at Exeter Phoenix, at any point during this bank holiday weekend, and you’ll be in the running to win a copy of this deluxe CD.
We’ve got 10 copies to give away, and as long as your ticket is booked between 12pm, Fri 23 Aug and 12pm, Tues 27 Aug, you’ll be entered into the prizedraw. Winners will be contacted on Wed 28 Aug. CDs can be collected in person at Exeter Phoenix prior to or on the night of the event.
Lonnie Liston Smith
Sat 31 Aug | Doors 8pm | £15 | Standing
One of contemporary music’s most versatile musicians comes to Exeter Phoenix.
‘Catch this living legend whenever and however you can’. SOUL CULTURE
Each single booking (not each ticket) results in one entry into the prizedraw. Only bookings made through Exeter Phoenix will be valid. Bookings made via our website, on the phone, or at our box office counter (ie all booking methods) are valid. Only bookings made between 12pm Friday 23rd August and 12pm Tuesday 27th Aug will be accepted into the prizedraw. Subject to availability.
Comments Off on Hope you enjoyed Big Screen In The Park 2013, we did!
We’re pleased to announce that Big Screen In The Park 2013 was our most successful to date, with a record number of visitors, one of our best film line-ups ever, and clear skies (well… for the most part anyway).
Once again, a big thank you to our fantastic sponsors, Pyne & Lyon Property Consultants and Kitsons Solicitors. Another big thank you to our media partners Radio Exe, Exeter Life, and The Big Issue, and finally, the biggest thank you of all goes to you, the people of Exeter and beyond, for coming along to enjoy and support this truly wonderful event.
Exeter Phoenix has announced an exciting new season of programmed events for September to December 2013. New exhibitions, performances, comedy, music, classes and courses mean there is plenty to inspire, enjoy and embrace.
Highlights include big name music acts such as Tim Burgess (lead singer of The Charlatans), The Magic Numbers performing their first ever acoustic tour, modern folk duo Turin Brakes and classic bands Big Country and The Damned. As well Exeter Phoenix welcomes American blues legend Eric Bibb and the highly rated American 10-piece The Youngblood Brass Band. Furthermore, this year’s Acoustica Festival presents over 60 alt-folk and Americana acts across seven stages during a two-day festival in early September.
A particularly strong performance lineup has major coups with Carol Ann Duffy, Britain’s first female Poet Laureate sharing her work, and international theatre innovators Forced Entertainment bringing their new show Tomorrow’s Parties. Warhorse author Michael Morpurgo talks about his work as Theatre Alibi present an adaptation of I Believe in Unicorns, a family show based on another of Michael’s books. High energy, Devon-based, clown troupe Le Navet Bête will be premiering their eagerly anticipated new show Once Upon A Time In A Western and the captivating Quirk Theatre return with Treasure Island, a family show at Christmas time. The usual blend of cutting edge comedy including Robin Ince, Simon Munnery, Mark Thomas and many more, means the autumn programme is packed full of high quality, innovative shows.
Art enthusiasts will be delighted to know that nine fantastic artists have been shortlisted for the eighth Exeter Contemporary Open (Sep-Nov) in what promises to be a diverse and stimulating exhibition. The Overall Award winner will be announced mid-September and the Audience’s Choice Award bestowed in October. Following this will be Kit Poulson’s intriguing After The Enlightenment, mixing paintings with a parallel set of short fictions.
The Two Short Nights Film Festival returns packed full of screenings, seminars and industry insight. Coupled with the unbelievable 48 Hour Film Challenge, which involves making a short film in just two days, this distinctive festival is perfect for film fans. Autumn’s Monday night film lineup screens work by prestigious directors including Blue Jasmine, Woody Allen’s follow up to Midnight in Paris, Richard Curtis’ About Time starring Rachel McAdams and Bill Nighy, and The Bling Ring by the Oscar award winning Sofia Coppola. A host of classes, courses and workshops will be taking place throughout this period. New skills in digital, art and performing can be accessed for families and people of all ages.
Finally, Exeter Phoenix is going for something completely different this New Year’s Eve as they present Dr. Phoenix’s Spectacula Fantastica, a party full of themed rooms, fancy dress, live music, DJs, entertainers and performers.
Have a listen to our playlist of upcoming gigs this autumn:
Comments Off on Two Short Nights Film Festival wants your films!
Two Short Nights is calling for filmmakers to submit their short films for this year’s film festival.
Two Short Nights film festival celebrates and promotes short film and the people who make them. Now in its 12th year the festival has featured thousands of short films from all over the world and this year’s festival will include the premier of six Exeter Phoenix Digital Short Film commissions as well as the 48 Hour film challenge, workshops and BAFTA screenings.
Entries are invited from Monday 29th July. All films accepted for Two Short Nights will be automatically nominated for the ‘Two Short Nights Audience Award’ and will be screened at the festival on 12 – 13 December 2013.
DETAILS:
Films must be no longer than 15 minutes
Films must be sent as either:
A viewable, password protected link (e.g. Vimeo)
(Or)
DVD as a QuickTime files.
FILMS MUST BE SENT TO:
Two Short Nights, Exeter Phoenix, Bradninch Place, Gandy Street , Exeter, EX4 3LS
(Or)
If submitting as a viewable link,
Email a completed form to Digital@exeterphoenix.org.uk
Exeter Phoenix’s first Crowd Funded Short film commission launches Monday 15 July.
Host Familie, directed by award winning Devon-based filmmaker Tom Austin is aiming to raise £2000 for his Exeter Phoenix Short Film commission. Each year Exeter Phoenix supports and commissions up to 6 short films. This is the first commission of its kind by Exeter Phoenix, which demands the filmmaker raises a large portion of the funds themselves through the online crowdfunding platform, crowdfunder.co.uk.
The film, Host Familie, is a dark comedy about Karl Dreher, a German undergraduate who hopes to work in the German automotive industry. He comes to the English Riviera to improve his English and is lodged with the dysfunctional Robinson family. Each one of them seems to be lacking something in their life and they hope that Karl can fill that gap.
By showing support for the project and pledging some much needed money backers could be rewarded with perks such as limited edition art work, a personal choice of vinyl records from the director himself and VIP tickets to the premiere screening.
Phil Geraghty, Crowdfunder MD, said: ‘It’s great to see an independent film maker crowdfunding his latest idea. It’s also fantastic to see Exeter Phoenix supporting Tom with his idea, we are all about bringing project owners and communities together and this is a great example of this.’
Exeter Phoenix are offering £500 towards Tom Austin’s campaign and Jonas Hawkins, Exeter Phoenix Digital Manager, said ‘We are excited and very proud to be pushing our filmmakers in to new territories and we looking forward to seeing how this platform can take filmmakers a step further.’
Shooting will take place this August and the finished film will be premiered at Two Short Nights film festival 2013 in December.
Comments Off on Artists Selected for Exeter Contemporary Open
The shortlisted artists have just been announced for the South West’s foremost contemporary art competition. As the only Devon-based competition that is open to artists from across the country and indeed the world, this year’s Exeter Contemporary Open promises to bring together a vibrant mix of disciplines and styles.
Now in its eighth year and attracting thousands of visitors every time, this exhibition, highlighting some of the best new talent, has established itself as one of the most exciting events in the South West’s cultural calendar.
Hundreds of submissions including some from as far away as Spain, the USA and even Japan have been considered by this year’s panel; independent curator Day + Gluckman, artist and curator Kevin Hunt, and Matt Burrows, Exeter Phoenix’s Gallery Curator, who said:
‘There was a fantastic response to this year’s call out and the selection panel had a grueling task to reach our final selection. The overall standard of entries was very high and we were extremely impressed by the breadth and scope of engaged, contemporary practice submitted.’
The nine selected artists are: Rachel Busby, Malina Busch, Max Cahn, Anne Deeming, Hannah Mooney, Rebecca Ounstead, Julie Price, Oliver Tirre, Charlie Godet Thomas.
The Overall winner will be announced at a private launch reception on Thursday 12th September, hosted by Exeter Phoenix and the event’s main sponsors, Haines Watts Chartered Accountants. The winner will receive a prize of £1000 and an Additional Award of £500 will also be presented. Visitors to the exhibition will have the chance to select their favourite work and the artist with the most votes at the end of the exhibition will be presented with the Audience Choice Award of £200, kindly sponsored by Exeter Natural Health Centre.
We’re big fans of this culture journal for the South West, so we want to help spread the word about their kickstarter campaign to fund the next issue.
Nom de Strip started its life as a small zine hand delivered to venues in Plymouth two years ago. The idea was to create a space for lots of people to share, discover, write and talk about all of the great things happening in the region in a way that was meaningful to everyone, not just those who work in the arts.
Since that first issue, Nom de Strip has grown into a journal about arts and culture in the South West, which has established itself as a key voice for contemporary arts and culture in the region.
The creators of Nom de Strip, William and Pamela, are now at the stage where they want to make it bigger and better, so that more people can enjoy and benefit from it. They have applied for Arts Council funding to help them do this, and they find out whether they have been successful in August. In the meantime, rather than sit and twiddle their thumbs for two months, they want you to help them make their next issue.
Watch the video below, and find out what you can do to help by clicking here >>
This summer we have some excellent live music ranging from a local band tipped to make it big, The Computers, to the American living legend, Lonnie Liston Smith; whilst soul, disco, and funky house tunes get the party started on our terrace bar.
Jenny Eclair is back after a sell-out show last year and Antara, which mixes contemporary Bollywood dance with world music and urban poetry, is set to be a beautifully moving performance.
We can’t wait for Big Screen in the Park, Exeter’s outdoor cinema event which will screen The Goonies (get your truffle shuffle ready!), Skyfall, Life of Pi and The Great Gatsby under the stars. Plus there’s an extraordinary exhibition, examining the relationship between new technologies and social control from artist Charlie Tweed.
All of this, plus a wide range of courses and workshops for adults and children, means there’s normally something to do in our bustling venue in the heart of the city.
We look forward to seeing you soon!
All at Exeter Phoenix
(Check out our summer playlist below for a taste of all the gigs we’re putting on throughout July and August…)
Playwright Natalie McGrath discusses Oxygen and Dreadnought South West
This summer Dreadnought South West will be delivering a major arts and heritage project celebrating the centenary of The Great 1913 Suffrage Pilgrimage. As part of this project, a specially commissioned play, Oxygen, by Natalie McGrath will go on tour from Lands End to London, following the route of the original pilgrimage, one hundred years ago. In the run up to the Exeter leg of the tour, Belinda Dillon spoke to Natalie about the project.
How did the project begin?
In 2008 I saw a copy of a photo of a group of women holding a banner that read ‘National Union of Women’s Suffrage Society Land’s End to London’, and immediately I thought that there was a story to be told there.
I started to have conversations with people, and found a book by Kathryn Bradley called Friends and Visitors, which is a history of women’s suffrage campaigns in Cornwall, published by the Hypatia Trust. As my research continued, I discovered more about the pilgrimage, and that the women had stopped in all these places across a South West route to rally and recruit people to support the votes for women campaign.
Piecing the dots together, I thought that it would be exciting to do a Cornish tour with Cornish actors – so many of whom are specialists in going on tour and performing indoors and outdoors, that kind of lifestyle – and some of whom I had been lucky enough to work with through the Hall for Cornwall’s Responses project, which is where I began to learn my craft as a writer. I then I got busy trying to build a career.
My first professional play Metal Remains in 2008, was produced by Theatre West in Bristol, and subsequently shortlisted for the Meyer Whitworth Award. In 2011, Coasting was produced by Bristol Old Vic, after an intense and incredibly supportive development time through their Literary department and Ferment programme. I really started to understand something more about my craft as a writer. These things take time. I also worked with the Brewhouse Theatre on Rift as part of the Cultural Olympiad in 2012. Still very much learning. Always learning!
But I knew the picture of those women who walked in 1913 was a big thing, and so I kept it at the back of my mind, not ever really letting go of it. Not losing sight of the image. But not knowing what I might do.
So how did you transform it from that single image into the multi-date tour that it is now?
I wrote to the Hypatia Trust and they invited me to become a fellow. This enabled me to go and stay on retreat with them and it was here that I really started to research and develop my ideas around the project. My conversation with Melissa Hardie MBE had begun and was inspiring.
So I then invited a director to come on board: Josie Sutcliffe, who was previously head of theatre at Dartington, and has a great track record of working on new plays by women; she is also a Greenham stalwart, and therefore has a sense of the women’s movement. I knew that a project like this would be more than just a job, that people involved would have to buy into the ethos. To have a real engagement with the material. Josie has also trained at the Berliner Ensemble and her understanding and experience in Epic theatre became a critical part of the development of the play Oxygen. I became even more inspired.
We talked it through with cultural managers Sue Kay and Mary Schwarz, who agreed that it would be a fantastic idea to run a tour 100 years later, and that it should cover the whole region. Not just the initially proposed Cornish leg of it. Mary and Sue really helped us find a vision through an R & D stage, for what became not just a touring theatre show in the making, but a project with a wider reach and resonance. Dreadnought South West became the original name for the project and it has stayed with us. There are arts and heritage waymarkers projects and short land journeys all across the region now. Amazing.
You mentioned the ‘ethos’ of the project being an important aspect…
Although at first we didn’t know whether we had a theatre tour or a commemorative walk, what we realised very quickly was that we were moving towards launching an organisation – Dreadnought South West Association – to champion women’s voices and stories in the region, and to encourage the development of women artists and makers.
The Arts Council-funded project, Dreadnought South West, has become about using your voice, and that could be young women and young men seeing us use our voices through the development of this project, grasping the notion of how important it is to have a voice.
We’re not a political party, but we are engaging with the core politics and values of the women’s suffrage movement, demanding to be heard. The reason that women wanted the vote, needed the vote, was because they saw three core values that needed addressing – to end child poverty, to stop the slave trade, and to stop sweated labour, on behalf of men and women – and were not being addressed in parliament. When we discovered that those were the founding principles of the suffrage campaign, we realised how close we are to those things today, and that they raise many questions on our society.
How does the play, Oxygen, fit into the project?
Oxygen is the lifeblood that runs through it, and will be performed at most of the stopping places along the original route. There isn’t a theatre show in every place, but there will be episodes, fragments and parts of the show in public spaces. The pilgrimage was organised by law-abiding suffragists as another face of the campaign votes for women, to the heightened militancy of the suffragettes.
At the heart of Oxygen is the notion of how differently people campaign for the same cause. We’re not performing an historical re-enactment, although I am trying to infuse stories from the pilgrimage into the story. During the development phase, what Josie and I first talked about was created something that could play indoors and out, so I chose to attempt to work in the epic form, and from this we shaped a vision for the play.
There are unusual shifts between episodes, so there’s not a smooth narrative arc, and that sense of disruption resonates with what the women did, as they disrupted the status quo. The form lends itself to content. So we might have a scene with a militant ‘newsy’ then move to a personal scene, then an imagined scene between Mrs Fawcett and Mrs Pankhurst. The disruption of expectation keeps us on our toes, and we want it to be exciting, to capture the spirit of the times. I hope that it’s a show that can appeal to as many people as possible. I always had in my mind that it would have broad appeal and yet still touch upon these incredible issues that are still relevant to us in our contemporary world.
And the project has inspired individuals and organisations to remember the pilgrimage in their own way…
There are talks and debates going on all over the region, as well as commemorative land journeys to celebrate the courage and spirit of those women, who put one foot in front of the other to march for what was important to them. Funding permitting, we are also hoping to establish an online museum of suffrage objects from the region, which will create a lasting legacy and educational resource. So many people across the region have initiated their own responses and projects. Their generosity and enthusiasm for the project has been incredible.
And what sort of legacy might result from Dreadnought South West?
One thing that materialised for me is that this was not just a one-off project – as difficult as that was to articulate and conceive, and to raise the funds – but I wondered if a platform was emerging for women artists to have a voice to engage, in terms of the relationship between arts and heritage, where that will sit, how might they have a conversation and how might they celebrate women’s stories and women’s voices, across communities. That’s the most simple way I can articulate it. That would be the future I’d like it to have, to continue to explore that notion of celebrating women’s voices.
Oxygen is on tour 19 June-20 July 2013. Click here for a full venue listing and to buy tickets.
Oxygen comes to Rougemont Gardens in Exeter on Thu 4 Jul. Buy your tickets here.
Comments Off on Big Screen In The Park Returns For 2017
Exeter’s largest outdoor cinema returns to Northernhay Gardens for 2017. This year’s Big Screen In the Park line up will treat locals and holidaymakers to cult classics, family favourites and new releases over seven summer evenings.
Visitors are welcome bring blankets and picnics, but can also upgrade to a deck chair or prebook a feast for two, with a specially prepared picnic basket packed full of breads, cheeses, pickles, charcuterie and other nibbles, served up with crisp white wine / locally-sourced fruit juice to round off the perfect evening.
Adding to the festival feel, there will be an excellent selection of food and drink including wares from Flaming Good Pizza, Candyfloss Kids and Chococo, a fully stocked bar and the original and best Bikecaffe.
Big Screen In The Park 2017 is supported by Princesshay Exeter, Exeter BID, Tarquins Gin and St Austell Brewery.
Tickets on sale now!
This website uses cookies to improve user experience. By accepting, you consent to our cookies in accordance with our cookie policy. Learn more, including how to manage your cookie settings in our privacy policy
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
