April 13, 2012 by katie
Some photos from our first research trip to Lightwoods Park, Sandwell. We’ll be developing a new work for this bandstand later in the year.
April 1, 2012 by katie
Our UK Tour of Avon Calling continues. The next few weeks we’ll in the Oxford area with Oxford Playhouse (all shows sold out). Have a look at all our upcoming dates here.
And have a peek at the review of Avon Calling in The Guardian here.
Or check out the feature about the show in The Independent here.
March 16, 2012 by katie
Avon Calling hits the big smoke this weekend and next, and there are just a couple of performances left to book if you’re very quick.
The show has been picking up some great press and online attention. Check out our review on A Younger Theatre’s website and The Guardian’s Theatre Blog on our Press Page.
This weekend’s shows are part of CPT’s Sprint Festival, and next weekend we’re being hosted by artsdepot. Click here for further info and links to book.
February 21, 2012 by katie
Last weekend saw the start of our 2012 Tour of Avon Calling, kicking off in some considerable style in homes near to The Lowry, Salford.
The tour continues from March, heading to London (CPT’s Sprint Festival & artsdepot), Oxford Playhouse, Harrogate Theatre, and ending at Wales Millenium Centre’s Blysh Festival in July.
Further dates & locations in May & June are also about to be announced.
February 14, 2012 by katie
Two great actor/devisers helped Katie and I in the afternoon to begin to play with the instructional side of the piece. Gareth Nicholls and Lucy Ellinson listened, in turn, to both the male and female sides of the story – we also gave them specific, physical instructions to carry out.
Watching from a distance, we were able to see at which points the two participants interacted and where they were disconnected from each other. Afterwards we quizzed Gareth and Lucy on their experiences. They both expressed a greater desire to connect with the other participant. Currently we have not created many opportunities for interaction. The actors felt as though they were very much in their own world however there were a couple of ‘tingly’ moments as Gareth called them. He liked watching Lucy walk away from him at the very end of the male story. How do we make this ‘tingly’ for the female side of the story though? There is lots more to play with here and having physical bodies there really helps us with this.
We spent some time having a go at different actions which the two participants could do around the bandstand. A bit of eye contact and subtle flirting through the railings is a particular favourite. Anytime the two participants come closer together, the energy is raised and the stories really seem to take off. So some real potential to create powerful moments in these interactions.
The trick will be connecting the text with the actions in each story and then connecting the two stories with each other as well as the two different sets of actions. Sorry, did I hear someone say, ‘Well The Other Way Works always does like a challenge? Us? Nah!
February 13, 2012 by katie
A day trip to Wolverhampton had me stopping off at the local Archives in the beautiful Molineux Hotel Building. I spent hours going through past copies of The Express and Star to see if there were any adverts or articles about the bandstand in West Park.
I was trying to work out if concerts were happening there in 1946 or if they had been abandoned due to some kind of post war cut backs. I knew the bandstand had gone into disrepair during the second half of the twentieth century but I wasn’t sure when this began. I had to stay focused – much as I wanted to read about all local gossip of 1940s Wolverhampton and find out who had been scamming who, I was determined to find out something about the bandstand.
Eventually I stumbled on some adverts for concerts that were taking place on the bandstand in July and August. Various, mostly military bands from around the country would play on Sunday afternoons and evenings. You had to pay 3 shillings to get into the enclosure for music and dancing. I was really excited to discover these adverts as so far the stories depend on entertainment having taken place on the bandstands in that year. we would have been pretty stuck if we found out music and dancing was off the menu in 1946.
The Willenhall Siver Prize Band
In the archives I also discovered a short, experimental film made about West Park. There are various voices where people talk about their experiences of the park. It was interesting to hear that even in recent times, some people take refuge in the park because of racism or abuse experienced by going into town. A few older voices talked about dancing around the bandstand on wooden platforms which were built over the fields. A good specific detail which I’ll use in the stories to help embed them in the location.
January 27, 2012 by katie
Bandstand Development Blog – Old photos and things I am thinking about… – by Katherine Maxwell-Cook
We are currently making two new Bandstand Audio Experiences for the bandstand in West Park, Wolverhampton. We are working with our commissioning partners Black Country Touring to develop and promote these new works.
I’m Katherine Maxwell-Cook, and I’ll be writing the story and the text for the experiences. One will be for a solo listener/participant/audience member, and one will be written for a pair to experience together.
by katie
Bandstand is a collection of digital audio performances for Bandstands from The Other Way Works.
The audio performances are located in the landscape, and can be discovered and experienced using your smartphone’s GPS in conjunction with our Bandstand App.
We are currently developing this platform, and will be creating three new pieces of site-specific content for Bandstands in the Black Country, West Midlands in collaboration with Black Country Touring. We will publish the App through the Apple and Android App Stores along with this new content in Summer 2013.
We are seeking further commissioning partnerships with Festivals, Venues and Promoters to extend and develop this digital platform in 2013-2015, through the commissioning of site-specific content for Bandstands around the UK and beyond.
WHAT
The Bandstand App represents a new way to experience Theatre.
With the App running on a smartphone (iPhone/Android), users will discover interactive content when they come within a short distance of real-world Bandstands in parks across the country. These well-loved historic features once centres of music and live performance are now often empty and deserted. This App reinvigorates these spaces, filling them with memories and images, in the form of new performances.
Bandstand is a location-based app that feeds off inbuilt maps and uses the built-in GPS sensor and compass in iPhone and Android smartphones. Bandstand locations will be logged in a database and integrated with Google maps.
WHY
It’s so sad to see these spaces empty and deserted, when once they were the hubs of entertainment, music and dancing.
They are also irresistible empty stages, in almost every park up and down the country, and beyond. Its exciting to start filling them with memories, images, and new performances.
THE EXPERIENCE
Immerse yourself in a site-specific theatre experience every time you visit a Bandstand in your local park. With a solo or two-person option, just plug in your headphones and get ready to experience a new way of seeing. Ideal to be experienced alone on a quiet Saturday, or with the buzz of other participants as part of a festival or event.
Solo version: The beautifully scored soundtrack will draw you into an imagined world filled with ghosts of the past and chance meetings yet to happen. Let your imagination be led by the meeting of the real location and the stories and sounds that you hear in your headphones. And if you’re feeling brave, accept the invitation to take to the stage and breathe new life into this forgotten performance site.
Two-person version: Make your own piece of theatre for each other on and around the Bandstand. Its a lyrical story of love and loss, with a few laughs thrown in, and a sprinkling of old-time dancing. You are cast as both actor and audience member. The soundtrack will prompt you to make small actions. In turn your partner will perform their own part, augmented by the soundtrack in your headphones which will make sense of their actions and create drama, tension and hilarity for the two of you.
ARTISTS INVOLVED
Katie Day – Will lead the project as concept designer and director
Katherine Maxwell-Cook – Writer and researcher
Mark Day – Composer and sound designer/engineer
App Developer – We are working with Bristol-based Calvium’s locative media design tools AppFurnace to develop the iPhone/Android Application, and as technical designers to publish the App through the Apple and Android App stores.
by katie
We have created a proto-type Bandstand App, which can be downloaded for iPhones below (iOS4 or above).
The App is designed to be used on location at the Bandstand in Cannon Hill Park in Birmingham (the story strongly references the actual location), but the audio can be experienced anywhere by pressing the ‘EXPERIENCE NOW’ button if you’d like to try it out.
How to get the Bandstand Non Geographic App on your iPhone
Get with QR Code (Barcode)
The easiest way to get your Test Version is with its QR code, below.
Step 1: Download & Install Calvium Player. It’s a free app.
Step 2: Load Calvium Player, and click the + icon.
Step 3: Click ‘Scan & Add’ and scan the QR code. Your Test Version will start downloading automatically.
Step 4: When it has downloaded, tap the entry in the list and press PLAY.
Get with URL
Step 1: Download & Install Calvium Player. It’s a free app.
Step 2: Load Calvium Player, and click the + icon.
Step 3: Type in the URL http://the.appfurnace.com/test/gG1BD/ and hit download.
Step 4: When it has downloaded, tap the entry in the list and press PLAY.
No iPhone?
If you don’t have an iPhone, you can listen to or download the mp3:
Download the audio
iPod users can download the podcast:
iTunes
