December 17, 2012 by katie
After a long break from working on the project (due to my maternity leave) Katherine and I were back out in West Park, Wolverhampton testing the newly recorded version of our Bandstand audio theatre piece.
Obviously it ended up being December when we got onto outdoor testing again, and it was a seriously chilly day. But undeterred we each tried out both parts (man & woman) of the two-person experience, paying special attention to the timings – checking that listeners/participants will have enough time to enact their instructed movements (e.g. walking around the bandstand) before receiving their next instruction.
We were pleasantly surprised at how close it already was to being right, but there are still lots and lots of tweeks to timings, instructions, placement of text within the soundscape etc. Katherine and I have sent our notes to Mark Day, who is creating the soundscapes for the pieces, and he is now polishing these up and adding more in the way of music and atmosphere to compliment the storytelling and instructions.
In order to help Mark visualise what the audience will be doing, and as a way to record timings I took a few useful but utterly dull videos of Katherine walking between certain points. They do however give you a few clues about what the audience members will be doing as part of the experience. Here they are for your viewing pleasure .. (it really does look cold doesn’t it?!)
July 28, 2012 by katie
Work is underway on our current project – Bandstand.
Bandstand is a series of audio theatre experiences designed to be enjoyed in situ on a bandstand.
Check out the Bandstand microsite for blogs and updates about the project.
June 21, 2012 by katie
We’re nearly at the end of our Spring/Summer UK tour of Avon Calling, with just one more city remaining. We’ll be in Cardiff with the
Wales Millenium Centre as part of their Blysh Festival from 6-8 July 2012.
Unusually, on the Sunday they are selling tickets to individuals for shows that they are hosting themselves, so you could still see it even if you don’t live in Cardiff yourself or can’t get a gang together.
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.
