Review – Page 2 – Hannah Nicklin

Last night I finally got to see some of the work coming out of Andy Field’s Forest Fringe. The microfestival at BAC was a vibrant and buzzing combination of short experiences, fuller scripted pieces, sound work, music, installations and intimate performances. Some of the pieces were more ‘finished’, whilst others just setting out on their first period of R&D. The whole event fitted into the nooks and crannies of the BAC building, and filled the spaces in between with live music and discoveries aplenty – one highlight being the items of clothing dotted around, inviting you to take them in exchange for you’re an item of your own, and it story. Like any good festival, there was more than you could see in one night, and each attendee built their own experience.

Pieces I encountered included Search Party’s Growing Old With You, in its early stages of an R&D process investigating how our society is changing with its aging population. The issue was approached on a micro-level in a one to one experience that exposed the performer’s approach to their aging, before asking you to exchange your own story for a small birthday cake. Though this was the ‘newest’ work that I experienced, it was also the one that affected me in the rawest manner. I’m definitely going to be looking to hear about what it grows into.

Mamoru Iriguchi did the best sideways step in heels I’ve seen a man in a dress do, as he held your hand in the dark, asking you to investigate the house you share during a power cut, illuminated only by a head torch (projector affixed to a helmet, projecting a rich animation, which moved with you.)

Tania El Khoury’s Fuzzy asked an audience of up to 5 to act as her and her (absent) partner’s therapist. The piece felt like it was erring on an interesting clash of cultures as seen through the relationship of a Lebanese woman and a man from the Midlands. Though the performance perhaps felt like it was playing to a larger crowd, how we adjust to more intimate performance styles (does a more expressionist approach alienate in a useful or destructive way in intimate performance?) is definitely something that bears investigation.

Charlotte Jarvis’ video installation All American Hero wafted the smell of cold Chinese takeaway and stale popcorn towards you as you slumped on a sofa, watching the video diaries of the world’s first All American Hero. Something between X Factor and the Million Dollar Man, it felt all too plausible.

Throughout the night, I dipped in and out of the Travelling Sounds Library (pictured), which featured the work of Blast Theory, Unlimited Theatre, Duncan Speakman (and more). The library invited you to settle onto a sofa, open up a book, and discover an mp3 player and headphones containing a selection of several phonic experiences lasting from 2-40 minutes. Kaleidoscope by Abigail Conway was a particular highlight for me, a piece that asked if you could change anything about yourself, what would it be?

Finally, I investigated the Waiting Room, where you were able to peruse the emails that scored the process of putting the festival together. Stressed, funny, and often personal, this view into the ‘back channel’ of the event gave the whole evening the feeling of ‘opening up’ rather than ‘presenting’, which fitted perfectly with the fringe ethic.

As promised, here I am blogging about some of the free theatre I’ve been to see. Contributing to the general discussion is probably the least I can do in exchange! So I went to see the REP’s These Four Streets on Friday. The piece was drawn from the events surrounding the riots in Birmingham in 2005 it started out with about 30 writers workshopping the ideas, and turned into 6 female writers working together to fictionalise characters and situations based on verbatim accounts. I think it’s worth noting how rare it would be that 6 female writers could be found in the same place anywhere (which is why it’s made a point of in all of the literature) and I’m intrigued as to whether that was an active choice, or just the way things happened. I did feel a little like possibly at one point someone had gone ‘we are all women, we should be careful this story does not become female centric’, this could be entirely wrong, it is just my impression, (but my impression is worth just as much as the next persons :-)) however I did feel like the male voice was over-compensated for, and in the end, a story that started from a rumoured rape didn’t even begin to tackle the aspect of urban tribe property/belongings (and how women fit into that) and how that relates to belonging to a place, and rather drew its emotional centre from the death of a young boy. This was one of the main problems with the whole thing though- unfinished stories. The piece had 6 actors covering over 30 characters, most of which you saw only once, and at most, twice. Normally a fractured narrative is united by the telling- by the writers voice, however because this series of snapshots was contributed to by 6 writers it needed more than the bookend device of several voices saying ‘these four streets, I live here etc.’.

Having said that, I still think this piece was much better and more interesting than Don John. Don John was the skeleton of a story stretched out for far too long, and far too flabbily (good word). These Four Streets on the other hand was just so much, so many stories, the main problem being that they didn’t have enough of an airing. Not necessarily by doing less, but by looking at things with more depth – asking questions more, of their characters, of the audiences. I think the best compliment I could give the piece is that it really made me want to write a play about the subject material, and it was an important story, that deserved exploration. I was listening to the conversations around me, and it seemed most of the people were local people who hadn’t been to the theatre before, the audience as a whole was probably at least 50% black, and it sounded like a lot of them were there because it was about them. As I left a young girl was crying about a friend who had been killed. This was theatre talking directly to a people about their own lives, which is very basically what I believe theatre should be. It was flawed, but because of all the right reasons.

It was also performed with tact and a lovely light touch (in fact Bharti Patel and Lorna (can’t remember second name) have both worked with Foursight, and Lorna was an actor with the MPhil showcase) and the direction made the most of the difficult structure and storytelling.

So yes, those are my quick thoughts. I’ve got a billion other things to do so I wont do an in depth dissections, but if you have any questions or comments, will be very interested to hear them.

It’s The Hounding of David Oluwale this Friday- a WYP co-production I think, in the main house, so stay tuned for my reaction to that.

Thanks for reading.

Tag: Review

The Forest Fringe Microfestival

These Four Streets