Matthew Austin's Blog

It’s 2009 and it’s lunchtime on the first day back at work. I’ve emptied my inbox and made some lists (which basically just gave me a fast heart because of all the things I have to do…)

Here are some things that I’m doing over the next few weeks:

1. Driving Theory Test this Wednesday. I don’t really know the Highway Code
2. Devoted and Disgruntled this weekend in London.  This is the annual theatre Open Space event, facilitated by Phelim McDermott of Improbable.  It’s quite an inspiring way to start the new year as it suddenly makes things seem possible rather than difficult
3. I’m working with New International Encounter, the theatre company behind The End of Everything Ever, on a marketing consultancy
4. Seeing Xavier Leroy at Sadler’s Wells in a couple of weeks

I was going to post some kind of cultural new year’s resolutions here, but haven’t got round to it. So that’s one resolution broken already…

Oh, and I’m also eventually going to migrate all the work stuff on here over to my new site www.matthew-austin.co.uk (still massively under construction).

Hey hey hey,

You can now follow Mayfest on Twitter.  Go here: www.twitter.com/mayfestbristol

So. Yeah. Great.

Am I the only person in the UK that thinks it is rubbish?

Our call out for next year’s Mayfest….

CALL FOR ARTISTS – MAYFEST 2009

BRISTOL-BASED ARTIST SHOWCASE AND MAYFEST MARKET
3 – 4 MAY 2009

Next year’s Mayfest is now planned for the 1st – 16th May, and to jump-start the festival we are planning to take over Bristol Old Vic with a jam-packed two-day local artist showcase.
This is a platform event designed to present a broad programme of work which celebrates and promotes the richness and variety of Bristol’s performance community in a high-profile and playful context.

There are a number of different spaces available, and we are happy to consider work at various stages of development from early ideas to finished pieces, although production and tech time will be limited, so please bear this in mind when proposing work.

Alongside the live programme, we are also planning to hold a ‘Mayfest Market’.  Whether you’re performing at the showcase or not, we want as many artists and companies as possible to pitch stalls in the foyer of Bristol Old Vic (harking back many years to when the building was a fruit-and-veg market!).  You can decorate your stall, promote your work, shamelessly plug future events and generally introduce new audiences, promoters and producers to your work.  In fact, you can use your stall for whatever you want, as long as it’s imaginative and legal. And once the showcase is done, we’d love you to leave your stalls in situ throughout the festival.  It’ll be like Albert Square – only without Pat Butcher.

So if you’re interested in being involved in the showcase, please send a brief proposal (500 words max) with an overview of your creative practice and an idea of what sort of tech support/space you would need to info@mayfestbristol.co.uk. If you are proposing a performance, please also indicate if you would be interested in having a pitch at the market, and any ideas of what you would like to do with your stall. There will be setting-up time on Saturday 2nd May during the day, so please make sure you are available over this time.

We are also interested to hear from people who are not proposing a performance but who would like to be involved in the event either by having a stall or through some other ingenious way which you’re welcome to propose to us.

It is our intention to be as inclusive as possible for this showcase event but unfortunately there is limited space and so we cannot guarantee to accommodate everyone. Please note this is an unpaid opportunity.

PLUS
There are also a couple of potential slots for more full-scale finished work. So if you are a theatre-maker currently based in Bristol or the South West and you have a finished show you would like to propose for the Mayfest programme, please email Kate Yedigaroff on kate@mayfestbristol.co.uk. Please note that priority will be given to work that has not been seen in Bristol before.

Deadline 5pm Monday 22 December.

Mayfest is produced in collaboration with Bristol Old Vic.
www.mayfestbristol.co.uk

Saw a little gem yesterday at the Lyric Hammersmith.  Fevered Sleep’s Brilliant (that’s the name of the show, not my opinion of it).

Billed as a show for 3 and up (staying clear of that dreadful “for everyone aged 3 to 93!” tag which marketing departments seem to be fond of), it was a delightful, intelligent, beautiful piece of work about a girl who goes into a dream world where she can play with twinkly lights and disco balls and a stag who plays the violin. He was nice. He had a looping pedal as well.

Little kids. In theatre. Gorgeous. They were chatting and telling the actor to “GO TO BED!” or “TOUCH THE MOON!” with joyful abandon. All hands in the air and wide eyes and open mouths.

And it struck me that this was an experimental show for kids - little people who don’t really care about narrative, they just like the pretty things.  And they ‘get’ whatever story is in there anyway - they understand it’s a dream - they understand that dreams don’t really make sense, and they love it.  And I loved it too. Theatre for 3 year olds which wasn’t patronizing or in primary colours - gets my vote.

Now election fever is dying down, I guess Mr Obama has to cope with the massive weight of expectation currently bearing down on his shoulders.  Lucky him - he’s got his job cut out.

We can all breathe sign of relief and return to our normal lives.

So here I am, in Bristol on a rainy Monday, uploading things to Flickr, updating my Myspace, and looking forward to a few things in the next week or two.

First up, Encounters, which is happening at Watershed and Arnolfini this week.  This always seems to pass me by, so I’m making a concerted effort this year, and am going to the Opening Highlights tomorrow evening.  It’s a pretty big festival now, and their brochure is like the telephone directory. It’s so heavy in fact that I dropped mine on St James Barton roundabout whilst cycling home the other week, so it’s a goner.

Also this week, two exhibitions at Arnolfini are opening… Supertoys: On Play, Affective Machines and Object Relations, and The Cover of A Book is the Beginning of a Journey, which includes performances by The Performance Re-enactment Society (Paul Clarke, Clare Thornton, and fellow Residence member Tom Marshman).

And finally, I’m also at the end of series one of The Wire.  Now I know what everyone’s been banging on about for so long…

Over and out.

Barack Obama by Koolhats in Santa Fe (from Flickr)

Alice Walker on expectations, responsibilities and a new reality that is almost more than the heart can bear.

Nov. 5, 2008

Dear Brother Obama,

You have no idea, really, of how profound this moment is for us. Us being the black people of the Southern United States. You think you know, because you are thoughtful, and you have studied our history. But seeing you deliver the torch so many others before you carried, year after year, decade after decade, century after century, only to be struck down before igniting the flame of justice and of law, is almost more than the heart can bear. And yet, this observation is not intended to burden you, for you are of a different time, and, indeed, because of all the relay runners before you, North America is a different place. It is really only to say: Well done. We knew, through all the generations, that you were with us, in us, the best of the spirit of Africa and of the Americas. Knowing this, that you would actually appear, someday, was part of our strength. Seeing you take your rightful place, based solely on your wisdom, stamina and character, is a balm for the weary warriors of hope, previously only sung about.

I would advise you to remember that you did not create the disaster that the world is experiencing, and you alone are not responsible for bringing the world back to balance. A primary responsibility that you do have, however, is to cultivate happiness in your own life. To make a schedule that permits sufficient time of rest and play with your gorgeous wife and lovely daughters. And so on. One gathers that your family is large. We are used to seeing men in the White House soon become juiceless and as white-haired as the building; we notice their wives and children looking strained and stressed. They soon have smiles so lacking in joy that they remind us of scissors. This is no way to lead. Nor does your family deserve this fate. One way of thinking about all this is: It is so bad now that there is no excuse not to relax. From your happy, relaxed state, you can model real success, which is all that so many people in the world really want. They may buy endless cars and houses and furs and gobble up all the attention and space they can manage, or barely manage, but this is because it is not yet clear to them that success is truly an inside job. That it is within the reach of almost everyone.

I would further advise you not to take on other people’s enemies. Most damage that others do to us is out of fear, humiliation and pain. Those feelings occur in all of us, not just in those of us who profess a certain religious or racial devotion. We must learn actually not to have enemies, but only confused adversaries who are ourselves in disguise. It is understood by all that you are commander in chief of the United States and are sworn to protect our beloved country; this we understand, completely. However, as my mother used to say, quoting a Bible with which I often fought, “hate the sin, but love the sinner.” There must be no more crushing of whole communities, no more torture, no more dehumanizing as a means of ruling a people’s spirit. This has already happened to people of color, poor people, women, children. We see where this leads, where it has led.

A good model of how to “work with the enemy” internally is presented by the Dalai Lama, in his endless caretaking of his soul as he confronts the Chinese government that invaded Tibet. Because, finally, it is the soul that must be preserved, if one is to remain a credible leader. All else might be lost; but when the soul dies, the connection to earth, to peoples, to animals, to rivers, to mountain ranges, purple and majestic, also dies. And your smile, with which we watch you do gracious battle with unjust characterizations, distortions and lies, is that expression of healthy self-worth, spirit and soul, that, kept happy and free and relaxed, can find an answering smile in all of us, lighting our way, and brightening the world.

We are the ones we have been waiting for.

In Peace and Joy,
Alice Walker

It’s quite brilliant how election fever has gripped. It’s all over Facebook today - I think all my friends, most of whom are based in the UK are feeling nervous, excited, tense as everyone over the pond goes to vote.  Meanwhile, I’m trying to work, but keep checking this page on the BBC website…

I was in New York last week, and whilst I failed to bring back an Obama poster or badge, I did get a few snaps of from the streets. I’m feeling nervous about tomorrow; nervous and frustrated that as a Brit, there’s nothing I can do to feel like I’ve ‘done my bit’.  Anyway, here are the photos…

Lone Twin are coming to the ICIA in Bath on Saturday 1 November. If you loved their show Alice Bell when it came to Arnolfini a couple of years ago, you’ll love this too. They’re a very special company.

Click the links for further info…

That’s quite a long title.

Those are the two things I’m doing on Friday night.  1927 are at the Tobacco Factory this week with Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, which I haven’t seen, but by all accounts is rather smashing, so I’m off on Friday.  And then after that, it’s the Arctic Circle single launch.  Here are the details:

Qu Junktions presents
Arctic Circle + Munch Munch
with Katapulto + Illegal Seagull DJs
at Bristol County Sports Club
Fri 10th Oct 2008 / 7.30pm / £6 adv from Bristol ticket shop, Here Shop, 20th century flicks/ £7 on door

This is a show of pleasures rad, rare, guilty and racy.

Arctic Circle do it in a big but humble/jumble blaze of glory. They refresh the spirit with their cultish brand of DIY. They helped put the night together to celebrate the release of their new 7-incher out on Stitch Stitch records, a double A-side featuring ‘Prancing Pearl’ and ‘Mothers Ruin’ – both typically upbeat AC tracks. Munch Munch mess with songs in a delicious twin drum, freeform way. They have been touring mad this summer, proving a hit at indie, dance, prank and part nights. Take stock. Katapulto proves that off kilter keyboards are central to this night - he is singular madcap fun. Eccentronica indeed. Illegal Seagull bind it all together or just let it all hang out.

The Special Guests are about to start working on a new show, called Something Got a Hold of Me.  We’re going to be rehearsing for the next three weeks and then showing the piece to an invited audience in Bristol.

We’re also trying a new way of working. Our work has always been devised collaboratively and democratically, which means we often ended up with long, long discussions over tiny quibbles with what we were making, and the work sometimes, not always, but sometimes suffered because of that. It meant that we ended up with a lack of clarity over what we were trying to say, to achieve with each piece. So when we wrapped up Nightfall, our most ambitious and longest project to date, we realised we needed to make some changes.

So this new show, the first (and possibly only - we’re going to see where we end up) incarnation of which we’re making this October, is going to be led for the first time by an outside eye, a director, a leader, whatever you want to call it. We’re hoping that this will bring a clarity to the work and enable us to make work faster and more efficiently.

So anyway, we spent last week exploring some ideas associated with religious cults. We’re interested in power, the mis-use of power and charisma and the reasons why people become drawn in to these often tragic social orders. We’re also interested in society’s reaction and means of dealing with cults and how that complicates our idea of being free. We’ve been especially interested in Waco and Jonestown as two differing examples of how cults work.

We start rehearsals proper in the next couple of weeks and will be showing the results of our work on Friday 17 October at Bristol Old Vic. If you would like to attend, drop an email to matthew@thespecialguests.co.uk and we’ll add you to the list.

We’ll also be using the showing as a mini-fundraiser for the company, so do bring along any spare change. Any donations gratefully received.

—–
The Special Guests
Something Got a Hold of Me
“It’s all right, I’ll watch it on TV”

Something Got a Hold of Me is a performance about religious cults, charismatic leaders, power, persuasion, weakness and how everyone is really just looking for something, a little something to make them happy. Let The Special Guests become masters of your destiny.

The Special Guests are Arnolfini Associate Artists and members of residence.org.uk

Listen, I know it’s been a little Tobacco Factory heavy round here lately, but that’s cos there’s nowt on anywhere else in Bristol, and they have rather packed it in this season…  So, without further ado…

I’m off to see NIE’s The End of Everything Ever on Thursday night.  This was a bit of a hit at Edinburgh last year, and so I’m chuffed that Bristol is going to get a chance to ogle it.

Co-produced by The Junction in Cambridge and on a little tour of the UK, this multi-lingual show uses live music and loads of other stuff to tell the story of Kindertransport, and the dark days of the 20th Century.

I’m also off to see a work-in-progress of Analogue’s new show Beacy Head at the Pleasance in London on Wednesday.

And I’m going to Ikea on Friday.  What a week.

PS. Click the Ikea link - it’s mildy amusing.

Sheesh.  A mini-festival explosion is about to hit Bristol tonight.

Igfest, the interesting games festival, starts this evening with Journey to the Middle of the Night and then a whole weekend of games, long and short.  Igfest collides with the Bristol Festival, a kind of late-summer Ashton Court-in-the-city.  This new community festival has bands and all sorts and the dubious titles ‘Brizzolfest’ and ‘Rave-on-Avon’. And then next weekend is the Bristol Do - an outdoor street theatre extravaganza organised by Bristol City Council, which happens all over Portland Square.

I’ve just finished designing a flyer for the Tobacco Factory’s upcoming Bodyworks season and their Sunday night theatre shows.  It’s included in the post below, but here are the shows and links to the Tobacco Factory’s website:

Monday 29 September
Asian Arts Agency
Right or Wrong by Dipisha Patel

Tuesday 30 September
Iskandar Dance & Hilal Dance Companies double bill
El Saqiyeh/El Mizan

Wednesday 1 October
Trestle in collaboration with Increpacion Danza
Lola - The Life of Lola Montez: A true story of passion and pain

Also check out Roughhouse Theatre, Nunkie Theatre Company and Asian Arts Agency, who are all presenting Sunday shows at the Tobacco Factory.

Sunday shows

Bodyworks