Blog of pAct theatre

I Spy With My Little…

pacttheatre — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 04:42:45 +0000

Aye Aye! Dave & I have taken to playing this game in the dark, when it’s impossible to see anything but the familiar made strange or images conjured from mutual memory. In his snoring absence I’ll play it with you. W. Not window. Wan…no, wait a minute, W.T. Wandering…Ah! Walthamstow. Yes! Which particular Walthamstow thing? Walthamstow Thing? No. Track? No. Tapestry. Yes, you win. And so do I because today I’ll endeavour to track down the artwork on the Trail inspired by Mr Perry’s opus as well as revisiting the Bees Knees quilts which I saw but briefly on Sunday when we held competing badge making bees in the environs of LLoyd Park. Their stitching was enjoyably quirky, with a great deal of love, interesting cultural references & personal expression put into it. I look forward to seeing it in more detail.

Also in the dark (and is it as crazy as the game?) I’m imagining a quilted representation of the monologues from my script of ‘Keeping Abreast’. It works in my head. As did all the other night-inspired works of genius that bask unfinished in reality. But this time I could persuade the possessors of nifty digits (Sue Higgins! I spy you!) to stitch 9 for every 1 of mine. (A stitch in 9 saves time)

I had planned to visit other Trail sites in regular forays from my portacabin in Hoe St but I only managed to leave my sick bed yesterday, and then merely in a brave search for medicine in the form of whiskey, Not guessing that Viv & co would have such a good selection of single malts, I headed for the Rose & Crown hoping to see a plinth performance as I sipped my linctus. The plinth was bare but I saw the best use a man could make of wood in the form of a painted shed by Adam Graff. It was equally as brilliant as anything Mr Perry could do.

The malts to one side (over here, please!), the R & C was a good choice as it’s packed choca with a deluxe selection of artwork, presenting a good range of quality photos, sculpture and painting. Plus some odd painting/sculpture hybrids about sleep/dreams which were appropriately disturbing.

So now, back to my dreams…to fantasise an embroidery or embroider a fantastic plot to steal a shed…

One Flu over the Cuckoo’s Nest

pacttheatre — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 13:42:15 +0000

There were only a few spots of rain on our first E17 Arts Trail outing, despite little Anna’s claims that it was ‘chucking it down’, and we basked in the warm glow of appreciation from our visitors (even the 2 young scallies who nicked our melons-mollified by our sharing a pineapple with them) yet I’m sitting in bed suffering from flu symptoms. I’m not allowed to whinge (after rashly stating that anyone who whines when ill had an unhappy childhood ) so must coax my feeble, leaden hands to lift a pen or needle to finish my unfinished oeuvre.

Passers-by were treated to the sight of a walking gazebo on Saturday as we relocated from the green outside the museum to the garden just behind it. We’ll be pitching there next weekend too as we didn’t even get the time to offer free melon, such was the steady stream of visitors (sorry, Lauren, I kept forgetting to get them to sign our book). Plus the Parkies have let us clutter up their coffee area with our bits till next Saturday.

We had two art workshops delivered by Anna’s mum Sue Higgins (nifty textiles) and Kate Hardy (an import from Bow doing paper masks) both of whom kept a gaggle of kids of all nations happy as we talked to their mums. Some of the kids left their artwork so we could add it to our display.

At 3pm we invited people to join us for a picnic (in the middle of Sue’s workshop on Sunday- they just didn’t want to stop sewing) and made a bit of a fuss (pretentiously called a performance) as we doled out the goodies: cupcakes courtesy of Hardy & Scott, melons courtesy of Spitalfields traders. Tim Smith modelled eyeball/ boob balloons as well as making lumps appear and disappear to stun onlookers.

Can we count Roan Allen as our biggest fan? Or was it the buttercream that enticed him? He came back for more two days running, having already staged his meditative/amusing man chair sculpture nearby. He was also a guinea pig in my fortune telling with ice cubes- a surprisingly effective insight into looking at people’s lives and dregs.

I had conversations ranging from the price of tea, to the Blitz, to health stories. I particularly want to record one woman’s experience of losing her invitation to screening twice- was it subconscious? I find it easy to engage visitors one to one or to keep a bunch of kids entertained, but having to explain the artwork to a big group of cyclists or walkers is daunting! I hope I didn’t waffle too much. Maybe that’s why the sore throat developed…

Loudly Sing ‘Cuckoo!’

pacttheatre — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 12:00:51 +0000

September is acomin’ in…And, as long as the drizzle doesn’t persist we’ll be sewing beads and swigging mead (non alcoholic!) and springing a new wooden wind-break to create a temporary hall of mirrors in Walthamstow’s Lloyd Park, near the iconic William Morris Gallery, during the weekends of the award winning E17 Arts Trail. We’ll also be hosting art workshops from 1-3 and a picnic from 3pm which will include performance, pies and surprises. JOIN US! For these shows we’ll be combining successful elements of previous shows & adding some ‘experimental’ stuff…CUCKOO!

August Augmentation

pacttheatre — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 09:03:12 +0000

Like jam on scones the word about us is spreading and curious creatures are tasting bits then tap dancing messages to their friends who are buzzing and tugging excitedly at the hem of our table cloth. We’ve been invited to exhibit at more festivals so we’re adding a few more ‘gigs’ in August. (Priory Park on the 7th to start with- visit us!). We’re also continuing to be creative as more inspiration hits us like water from a Super Soaker: A textile hanging; a poetry box; a corner of mirrors. Margaret is knitting a mountain of cupcakes so we must find a way to display them- perhaps we can sell them from a tray like an Odeon usherette, or velcro them to one of Veronica’s aprons. Masses of cup cakes but no bras as yet…

Melon Munching

pacttheatre — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 22:30:28 +0000

Dare we call Keeping Abreast a success? After 2/3 outings and many a melon slice munched we have lots of positive comments, extra cup cakes knitted, new artwork added as well as sun tans and sore throats developed. (And a video of a very dodgy ‘fashion show’ – which will now be filed under performance art.) Thanks to all the artists, helpers and visitors who made our weekend…who made our weekend! (Sunday’s music at the Sheepwalk party & the Luna Lounge was pretty good too)

Hellenic Bridal Gown Laden with Bills

pacttheatre — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 23:16:41 +0000

was one of the artworks displayed in the tenty gazebo thing named the OO2 Mammarium which had its first outing at the Forest Gate Festival where I bought a clock made from a CD called ‘OO Heaven’ which seemed auspicious. Phew! If you’re breathless after reading that sentence you should’ve seen us on Saturday carrying the Hellenic Bridal Gown Laden with Bills. We don’t have the room or strength to display all of the artworks so they’ll have to wait their turn- although I’ll have to create a catalogue to remind us of what we’ve got. While I was away last week at a fantastic Arvon course I challenged myself to write an enigmatic title for each piece using only 6 words- hence the title of this blog. After I’d amused myself to the point of smugness coming up with such things as ‘A Hug of Felted Milk Ducts’ and ‘Trauma Soup of Disrupted DNA Strands’, I realised I should have used 8 or 9 words to signify the ratio 1:8 so I’ve started again…but this time it will have the theme of a spa treatments menu. (Although I like my reasoning, I wonder why I can’t simply write some labels with title & artist on them. There’s still so much to do and so little time! And now I have to fix ‘Pink Fluffy Spacecraft Heading for Nebula, Mr Spock Advising’ and ‘Halter Neck Top of Lymph Nodes and Beaded Reminders’ as well as design and make T Shirts that grumpy teens will deign to wear on the OO2 Catwalk…

Cherry Picking

pacttheatre — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 23:24:17 +0000

The aforementioned cherry tree (see blog entry from the days when the world was cold)is now tossing its cherries at the wind willy nilly so, come the weekend, I shall be gathering my cherries while I may…and hopefully before the birds.

In October I shall also be cherry picking artworks for an exhibition at Stratford Circus. Now, I’m not fussed about the state of my cherries, enjoying the bruised, battered and partially pecked as much as the pristine; similarly I love less than perfect art if it’s been made with love, purpose or madness. Unfortunately the space at the Circus isn’t suitable for everything that might be created for ‘Keeping Abreast’ due to Health & Efficiency as well as Safety issues. It’d be a Good Idea for any artist who wants to create something for the show to have a look at the spaces- there are nooks and crannies as well as large airy ones- and consider the hows and wheres of hanging. Plus- oh, that should be a BIG PLUS- the Circus has all sorts of techy wizardry so that things I don’t understand can be done in ways I don’t understand that make me go ooh. Worth looking at if you’re a Media Merlin & would like to project projections as part of the project. Pip pip!

Harum Scarum Protocol

pacttheatre — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 22:14:40 +0000

It’s late.

Late 1969 and I’m in the Chelsea Arts Club drinking and swopping tales, with sparkling young things and their ambitious mentors, of farout projects funded by noble sheiks…

Ah no, but close: the Phoenix Arts Club 2010. Here I was thinking I had my finger on the proverbial and there’s this basement joint eluding my digit near Soho where you can find out where’s it’s at (Not in my wrist, obviously) and meet the movers n groovers of the very near future and the London Fringe. So that’s where I was yesterday sharing stories, skills and sandwiches (courtesy of a cancelled meeting at the Town Hall). We can now look forward to our performances being broadcast over the radio waves as well as additional artworks involving mammograms and slivers of silver.

Ooh I feel we should install a bubble lamp and light show somehow.

I’m also looking forward to seeing and/or wearing a mesh halterneck delineated by bejewelled lymph nodes; agitprop aprons; a burdened bridal gown.

Contracts are going out to secure these gems soon, very soon.

Great Knits

pacttheatre — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 23:03:10 +0000

These puns really are getting puny. Stop me, someone! I’ll justify this one by anecdotalising (good verb! why haven’t the Yanks invented it already?) about my drop-in visit to the knitting & sewing circle at the Hornbeam Cafe where, not only did I bump into Sue Higgins, one of our artists (effervescing with a spume of ideas) but I also met other women willing to contribute,(knitted cupcakes and prostheses swopped for patterns) as well as gathering some personal stories, amid the clatter of chatter, crockery and knitting needles. So full of visual imagery was I that I came home & started cartooning, Kate Sullivan, our genuine cartoonist & film director, will be directed to make one of her 3D wonders there

Other news: we’ve written funding applications and are appealing (we hope) to high flying entrepreneurs with Asian connections…more later.

The OO2 Mammarium

pacttheatre — Fri, 28 May 2010 10:44:43 +0000

We’re having a series of meetings to thrash out the shape of the shows in the (about to be named oo2 or Mammarium) tents. All artists’ proposals should be to us by June 1st.

I’ve collected resources to be turned into art: saris, mammograms, blue plastic gloves, silicone breasts. (where do you find unwanted implants? Apart from Jordan’s EBay site? My secret1)The falsies and the film look like jelly fish- so there’s another theme.

At the NAEDI (pronounced needy?) conference yesterday I learnt more about the importance of early detection of cancers and also about the latest non-invasive treatments (which are too expensive in these times of financial constraint…better to let a patient lie abed pumped cheaply full of drugs than to be seared by surgical lasers)

Too much inspiration! I better get cracking with my contribution!