a call out

May 9, 2012

I’m looking for a musician.

I’m beginning to work on something new, and I need a musical collaborator. At the moment the project is called The Many Apologies of Pecos Bill. Part of the inspiration is the Texas Tall Tale of Pecos Bill, which is about the “greatest cowboy of all time”. Basically, he did lots of amazing things. Things like lasso-ing a tornado (he used a rattlesnake for a lasso, by the way) and shooting every star out of the sky (except for the Lone Star of Texas, that is). But one of the most interesting parts of the story is to do with his love for Slue-Foot Sue, who rode a giant catfish down the Rio Grande River.

With this project I’m using Pecos Bill as a starting point, combined with autobiographical material about myself growing up and living in Texas. I’m exploring tall tales; the use of exaggeration to tell a bigger truth. I’m exploring landscape and images of physical land and how it relates to the feeling you get for a place. I’m looking at what it means to be from a place and how that place can take on a mythical, larger-than-life quality when you leave it. And how I’m not a very Texan Texan.

I’m exploring these things with storytelling, a pico projector (which I’ve used before in pieces like this one and this one), and music. I’m looking to collaborate with a musician both in the development of the piece and live onstage in performance.

Here’s what I think I’m looking for:

  • someone who plays an instrument and has an interest in music with an American country flavour. This isn’t strictly country music, though could be. I’m thinking guitar, banjo, harmonica, bass. Something that can speak to the essence and the flavour of Texas, though if your music is electronic, for instance, and could be used to speak to that, I’d love to hear from you.
  • someone who is able to make original music, either background/soundtrack music or soundscape, individual songs or both.
  • not necessarily someone who has theatre/performance experience. It’s more important that you are a musician. But you should be up for working in a theatre/performance context.
  • someone who is definitely available 25th-29th September, when the piece will be performed at The Yard.

Here’s what I can offer you:

  • a genuine collaboration. A lot of the piece will be determined by who I end up working with. It’s a project I care about, and I want you to care about it too and have a real influence on what it becomes.
  • I’ll be upfront: I’m looking to secure funding for this project, so the hope and intention is that everyone involved will be paid, but at the moment this isn’t guaranteed. The project won’t begin rehearsing until sometime in July or August, by which point I will know for sure, but right now I’m looking to meet people who are interested in the project.
  • The project is part of the second season at The Yard in Hackney Wick. By working on a Yard project you will become part of the Yard Ensemble, a community of over 100 theatre-makers, directors, musicians, actors, designers and other artists who are showing work there this year. It’s a brilliant, supportive community to be a part of where there are opportunities to make contact and share work.

The aim is for this project to eventually have a long life beyond the Yard, but in the first instance I’m looking for someone to collaborate with for the Yard performances in September.

Here are a few stylistic references for what I’ve been thinking up to this point. It’s not hard and fast, but it will give you an idea of where I’m at with it:

Phillip Roebuck

16 Horsepower

Explosions in the Sky

If you’re a musician and you’re interested, please get in touch by email – gwohead@gmail.com. Tell me a little about yourself and include any links to your music. We can meet for a coffee and I’ll tell you more about the project and I can find out more about you. Or if you’re interested, but want to see my work first, I’m doing a showing of a piece called I like the way you wear your hair this coming Monday the 14th, 7.30pm at The Yard. More information and tickets here.

I’m massively excited about this project and I’m really looking forward to collaborating with someone awesome.

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Ausform prep notes

April 11, 2012

I wrote a quick blog post for the fantastic folks at Ausform ahead of performing in Bristol next week, originally posted here and reposted below. A few thoughts about autobiographical material and where I’m at.

I’ve just taken I like the way you wear your hair back into the studio after a bit of a break, which has been totally refreshing. It’s an autobiographical piece, so it’s a story that I’m very close to, but it’s nice to keep looking at that story in different ways and to keep challenging my familiarity with it. Something that consistently surprises me about working with autobiographical material is how much it can change and grow. Like any memory, you look back at a life event through the filter of who you are at the present moment, so each time I perform I like the way you wear your hair, I have to visit the piece with the freshness of the present. It’s a constant back and forth negotiation with the 16-year-old me and the (now) 29-year-old me, which I feel is really the heart of the piece. Hopefully in some small way it will let each person in the audience visit his or her teenage self.

The other thing that has been exciting for me is playing with the pico projector. I use the projector in a deliberately lo-fi way, which feels right for the piece, but it’s exciting for me to communicate a story with its help. It allows me to overlay traces of memory onto the space and to invite the audience into the story in a way that lets the piece adapt to the physical architecture of the space.

I was a total super-geek when I was 16 (baby fat, glasses and dyed orange hair didn’t do me any favours), and the show is about me pursuing a girl I liked (and I mean liked), so revisiting that memory and sharing the details with a roomful of people is always good for a few laughs, gasps and cringes.

I’ve also been taking myself back to 1998 in Mesquite, Texas, which has involved listening to a lot of Paula Cole, Savage Garden and Da Brat.

I’m very much looking forward to sharing I like the way you wear your hair later this month.

I’ll be performing I like the way you wear your hair next week at The Basement, Brighton on the 18th and The Cube, Bristol (as part of Ausform Platform) on the 20th.

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I like the way you go on a mini-tour

March 28, 2012

So: I’m going on a wee Spring Mini-Tour with I like the way you wear your hair. I’m super-excited about this because it means I’ll get to try it out in lots of different kinds of places. Since it uses some projection and light-play and very much depends on the architecture of the room in which it’s performed, I’m looking forward to seeing how the piece changes according to where it is.

Over the next few weeks I’ll be taking it back into the studio for some poking, prodding and shaping up, then I’ll be continuing to grow the piece by performing it at these places:

Brighton
18th April @ 7.30pm
The Basement
as part of a double bill with Superbard
£8 (£6)
book tickets

Bristol
20th April, 7pm
The Cube Cinema
as part of Ausform Platform
£5
book tickets 

London
NOTE DATE ALTERATION
7th 14th May, 7.30pm
The Yard, Hackney Wick
book tickets

Barnstaple, North Devon
21st-24th June
as part of Barnstaple Fringe Theatre Festival
more details TBC

Do come along, it’ll be fun.

And thanks to the following for support in the development of the piece:

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Starting Blocks

March 16, 2012

For the past few weeks I’ve been working on a new performance idea as part of Starting Blocks with Camden People’s Theatre, which culminates in a work-in-progress showing as part of Sprint Festival on Sunday 25th March, 7pm. Come if you fancy it. Get your tickets here for a fiver.

As a work-in-progress night, expect roughness and experimentation with a few exciting artists. And get booking for Sprint—lots of great work on.

Here’s a little teaser of my piece:

My Feet Are Killing Me

Greg has worn women’s clothes four times; two parties, one special occasion and once for fun. In this performance, he shares these true stories (and the accompanying outfits) in an exploration of what it means for a straight Texan male to cross-dress. Contains dancing, high heels and short shorts.

images by Rod Farry

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The first batch

February 25, 2012

Thursday was the very first Homebrewed. I couldn’t have been more pleased with how it went. There was such a lovely, generous, friendly atmosphere, and the stories were by turns hilarious, epic, mysterious and moving. And what a lovely audience!

I intended to thoroughly document the evening with film and photography, but I was a little scatterbrained on the night, so was only able to snap a few shots. The first half of the event consisted of a pair of stories about big experiences:

Ryan Millar told a story called Dancing for Office, chronicling the time he ran for Vancouver City Council as part of the Dance Party Party (the highlight of which was the Dance Party Party Party).

Tiffany Charrington‘s story was called Fissure, about a performance pilgrimage in the Yorkshire Dales. It was a tale of epic landscapes and the singular paths we make through them. And about the people who accompany you along the way.

Catriona James kicked off the second half—consisting of family stories—with a tale called A Yellow Dragon Robe. Part family portrait, part ghost story.

Stephen Connery-Brown finished off the evening with Cheaper by the Dozen, a story about parents, fertility and pressure-cooked sultanas.

After the stories we all hung around LXV Books browsing, mingling and drinking wine.

Also in attendance was the lovely Vera Chok (she of saltpeter), who took some great shots of the night:

Big thanks to Ryan, Tiff, Cat and Stephen—all super-talented storytellers and an absolute pleasure to work with. And thank you to Sebastian Sandys, proprietor of LXV Books, for helping us make Homebrewed happen. If you have ideas for happenings in the bookshop, get in touch with Seb—his generosity abounds.

Look out for Batch 2 of Homebrewed in the near future. Ideas are already marinating. And get in contact if you’ve got a true tale to tell.

Last—but not least—thank you to everyone who came down to the bookshop to hear stories.

If you missed it, you missed out. There’s always next time.

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in residency

February 22, 2012

I recently picked up I like the way you wear your hair for back-to-back development residencies at BAC and The Basement. It’s an autobiographical piece about being a teenager and the safety of your bedroom. It was an absolute gift to have two weeks set aside to be an artist; to write, pace, stick post-its on the wall, drink coffee and talk to the walls. The piece grew in every way due to the attention and the feedback of the generous audiences who came to see the scratch showings. Thanks, BAC and The Basement.

I’m very pleased to say I’ll be performing the piece at The Basement in Brighton as part of a double bill (along with Superbard) Wednesday 18th April. Look here for tickets and the full Spring 2012 Programme. And watch out for some more exciting announcements very soon regarding upcoming outings for the piece in London and beyond.

While alone in the studio (OBVIOUSLY between serious artistic thinking about THE WORK), I played around with some images from the piece with my camera and a mirror. Look:

More images here if you’re into that kind of thing.

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Homebrewed

January 30, 2012

I’ve been pulling together a new project for a little while now, and today I’m pleased to announce Homebrewed, a night of true stories. 4 people telling 10-minute tales.

I’ve been really interested lately in true stories and what makes them compelling, what can make them theatrical and why I love hearing them so much. I’ve been obsessed with The Moth and Risk! for awhile. Listening to those podcasts and hearing people tell true stories has made me laugh out loud, shed a little tear or make cringey faces on public transportation many times. So I thought it would be awesome to organise a night where a bunch of people got together and heard some brilliant people tell true stories.

I’ve been to a few other true storytelling events in London, and found that while they were very nice, they weren’t quite what I saw in my head. Some of them felt a little stagey, at some it felt like the storytellers were verging a little too far into Performing and self-promotion for my liking, and at some I just didn’t feel very welcome.

The aim of Homebrewed is to build an evening out of those awesome nights at the pub where you have a few too many pints and start telling stories. You divulge things, you have a laugh and learn a little about other people. I want to give us all an excuse to have one of those nights. Homebrewed is relaxed, supportive and friendly. And importantly it will never take place in a traditional performance space.

Here’s the vital info:

When: Thursday, 23rd February (18.30 for drinks, 19.00 event starts)
Where: LXV Books on Roman Road.
Tickets: Buy one secondhand book in the shop that evening and that will admit you to Homebrewed.

I’m pleased to announce the terrific people telling true stories at Homebrewed:

Anne Langford
Ryan Millar
Tiffany Charrington
Stephen Connery-Brown.

Please do come out and support them, it will be all kinds of awesome. RVSP on Facebook here or just show up on the night.

One more thing. Why is it called Homebrewed, you ask? Well, it’s for a few reasons. The first one is that the word implies a sense of DIY; of cobbling something together and concocting something with a few ingredients and a little elbow grease, but also taking care to mix things just how you want them and making it with a little of yourself thrown in. That’s how stories at Homebrewed should be.

The other thing is that my dad used to brew beer with his friends when I was a kid (there was a very fizzy root beer option for my sister and me), and they would have these nights where they would work on the upcoming batch while drinking the previous one. Everyone would sit around the kitchen table laughing and telling stories, and when I think of what I want for the feel of Homebrewed, that’s it.

Hope you can make it.

 

EDIT: Catriona James will now be joining us to tell a true tale. LUCKY YOU.

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she’s pretty cool

January 6, 2012

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walking down Main St

January 3, 2012

I was in Arcola, Illinois for Christmas. Arcola is famous for things like a precision lawn mower drill team (the Lawn Rangers), an Amish theme park and the Hippie Memorial.

I took a walk down Main St and saw some things. Here they are.

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LASD

December 18, 2011

I just want to get some thoughts down here about Live Art Speed Date and one-to-one performance before I lose them.

Live Art Speed Date is basically a night where audience members shuffle around to loads of artists spread all around the building for 4-minute one-to-one encounters. I had a great experience doing The Backseat of My Car (and other safe places) this weekend at STK. It’s a one-to-one performance in a car, and involves a bit of storytelling where the audience member becomes someone in the story.

It was my first experience on the artist end of a one-to-one piece, and I learned loads from it—from STK, from the other artists involved and from my audience members—but there are two major things that I want to make sure to carry forward. I don’t know that they’re necessarily universal Things about one-to-ones, but they apply to the way I’d like to work carrying forward:

1. Take care of your audience member. In the one-to-one context—moreso than in a more conventional theatre set up or any kind of performance where there’s a performer performing to a group—it became apparent to me what a responsibility it is for the artist to take care of the audience member. You can lead them to uncomfortable places and the experience doesn’t necessarily have to be just frothy and frivolous (though that’s fun too), but you have to recognize that they are brave in stepping into an unknown encounter where you’re in charge. I had lovely, amazing, generous audience members most of the time, and I want to make sure, going forward, that I’m prepared to reward them for taking chances in the context of the performance.

2. It’s ok for performances to be gentle. I had a nice chat with another artist about how it can be difficult—when other people are doing amazing, thrilling, colourful, loud performances—to feel that it’s ok to be gentle, quiet or melancholic, and that can be enough. It’s nice to have different textures and styles, and they’re all important.

I had some very lovely/funny/uncomfortable moments with my audience members, and I was genuinely astounded by the generosity of some people, giving themselves up and coming with me for four minutes. Looking forward to discovering more about how one-to-one performance can work.

Thanks to STK for letting me do it.

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