Perhaps that’s true of many of us not born into a coal mining culture. The damage done to communities by the 1980’s Conservative government and their desire to emasculate the NUM – closing down pits which were no longer profitable – can’t be underestimated. Margaret Thatcher shut 115 during her tenure as prime minister. For many miners and their families, the wounds have never really healed.

Director and choreographer, Gary Clarke examined the cultural devastation of the miners’ strike in his previous show Coal. Is there anything else to say? Sequel Wasteland explores a time when despair turned to euphoria, as the ravaged landscape of post industrial Britain was transformed by the illegal rave culture of the 1990’s. For a brief period, it seemed as though music and dance might save the day.

With virtually no dialogue, Wasteland is a remarkably cogent piece of work, telling this story through a dazzling mix of movement and music. Parsifal James Hurst plays the last miner; we know he’s broken because, when he’s not wildly pin balling around the stage clutching a bottle of beer, he’s slumped in a tatty armchair. The sounds of dripping water in an old mine help underscore his emptiness and lack of purpose.

The action then segues to the early 90’s, as disaffected teens and twenty something’s commandeer abandoned industrial spaces to host illegal dance parties. This heralded the start of a new civil war; there’s a clear symmetry between the picket battles which occurred between the Police and striking miners, and the confrontations between Police and ravers (the 1994 Criminal Justice Act was introduced to curb these sorts of illegal shenanigans).

In his programme notes, Clarke writes: ‘For our generation, the future was very bleak with very little prospect. The rave culture gave many of us the opportunity to escape these grim and grey realities, and into a new world of music and dance where we could express our inner feelings, desires and frustrations. My passion for dance grew from this discovery … it is not my intention to romanticise the illegal rave movement, of course it had its complexities, but it is my intention to understand it, its motivation and to try to capture a pivotal moment in the social history of this country.’

The mid section of the show is basically a twenty minute rave, featuring music by Test Department, Steven Roberts and the KLF (Jimmy Cauty, of the KLF, designed the smiley face riot shields featured in the show). Dancers Robert Anderson, Emily Thompson Smith, Patricia Langa, Jake Evans, and Shelley Eva Haden, display jaw dropping levels of physical control, occasionally teetering on the edge of self destruction. These scenes are simultaneously exhilarating and dangerous to watch.

Rare archive footage brings the era to life, capturing the tragedy of mining’s last days, and the emergence of rave’s roots. Unfortunately, choosing to project these images on heavy black stage curtains is a rare misstep, the brightness and contrast becoming grainy and murky.

What’s most surprising about Wasteland is its emotional charge. It begins and ends with a group of Pit Men singing traditional miner’s songs. The Last Miner has no idea how to save himself, or the son who is drifting into drug addiction. The final dance, as the pair attempt to support one another, is powerful enough to break open a stone-clad heart.

Watching Wasteland in 2023, one’s perception can’t help be coloured by what is happening in this country now, with a spiralling cost of living crisis, and a corrupt, right wing government looking to quash any form of dissent or protest. It’s one of the world’s oldest stories: youth will always rebel against the staid, middle aged, power hungry establishment. In the early 70’s, Northern Soul music and Wigan Casino offered a place to escape from working class drudgery; rage against lack of opportunity fuelled the punk movement. With Wasteland, it’s impossible not to take the side of the ravers. They make a lot of good points.

Maybe it needs to happen again.

Wasteland is at Contact, Manchester from 1-3 February 2023.

The post Wasteland – Gary Clarke Company: Review appeared first on Quays Life.

When it Breaks it Burns tells the extraordinary true story of the high school occupations of 2015 and 2016 in Brazil – when students barricaded themselves inside schools for up to three months protesting spending cuts.

This student activism changed the lives of those involved forever. Now 15 of the participating students are bringing their remarkable story to the stage with Sao Paulo based theatre company, ColetivA Ocupação.

Quays Life talks to former activist and performer, Lilith Cristina and producer Lowri Evans, former Contact Young Company member and artist who lives and works between São Paulo and the UK.

Q: Lowri, what first led you to live and work in Brazil?

Lowri: I worked with a theatre company from Sao Paulo in 2009 with Contact Young Company. It was a site-specific show called Memoria da Chuva (Memory of the Rain) at Museum of Science and Industry. I felt a big connection with the artists I met and by the end, on the last day of the year, I flew to Brazil for the first time for a holiday. I became involved in a long-distance relationship, became part of a community of artists, learnt Portuguese, got married, made two plays, various performances, split-up with my partner and now I belong there as much as ever.

I love the people, the culture, the fruits, the sun, the art scene, the city. I have amazing friendships there, one of which is with Martha Kiss Perrone, who has directed and performed in Roza (2014-2017) and Revolta Lilith (2018) and directs When It Breaks It Burns.

Q: How has working in Brazil changed your perspective on your life as an artist?

Lowri: It has really opened my eyes, like any new experience it exposes you to other ways of life. As a foreigner you really notice everything, which is quite useful as an artist. Also, being far away gives your home a new perspective. I have learnt so many things from the artists I’ve worked with, i.e. approaches to working in new spaces, ways to connect with other bodies.

Q: When and how did you first hear about ColetivA Ocupação?

Lowri: Through the director Martha. When she heard there were students occupying their high school in 2015, she picked up a camera and ran to join them. She filmed inside the occupations as well as on the streets in the protests. She got to know the young people, and they got to know her.

At that time, we were performing a show called Roza, about Rosa Luxemburg and the current Brazilian political situation. Her words and actions from 100 years ago were as relevant and as contemporary as when she first wrote them and had a lot to do with the protests, against the state, that were happening in response to increases in public transport fares and public education reforms.

As the play reflected on what was happening at the time, the story of the high school protests entered the show. We then toured around those occupied schools. After seeing Roza, the students wanted to tell their story; so Martha began giving workshops, which were beautiful and explosive, and after doing some small scratch performance interventions – one of which Amy Letman of Transform Festival saw when she was in Sao Paulo, and immediately knew this show had to come to the UK – they developed ‘When It Breaks It Burns’ over a year, with Martha directing.

Q: Lillith, can you briefly tell us your story

Lillith: ColetivA Ocupação is a theatre group formed by students, artists, actors, dancers, creators that occupied your schools in November 2015 in protest against a project that will close more that 100 public schools in districts of São Paulo.

The secundarist movement occupied more than 200 public schools for about 3 months. The experience continued in different ways, one of them is the political art and the spectacle ‘When it Breaks it Burns’.

Q: How has the experience changed your view of education and or student student activism?

Lillith: Inside the schools we discovered who we are, the different space in school, found new meanings. And the importance of education from our perspective, in our narrative.

Q: What led to to the story being told on stage?

Lillith: During the experiences of the occupations, the students lived through many things, for example police repression and traumatic silencing of stories.
The show is a way to tell the world about this experience, and for us to elaborate and reflect on our stories.

The high school student (‘secundarist’) movement is the most important in recent times in Brazil.

Q: Why was important to creative an interactive production fusing music, dance and performance?

Lillith: The art, the theatre, is a way of reclaiming space and this is the way we found to tell our story.

Telling our stories we found ourselves in places that had previously been denied to us, and we made people get into places that had been denied to them.

With the music, dance and performance we found our beauty, our liberty, our sexuality, our identity, ancestry, and our presence in the world.

Q: Why is it important to you that UK audiences see this work?

Lillith: We are still discovering what it means to do this show on the other side of the world, as it is our first international travelling and working in a group, making together and telling to the people our stories.

Actually the political context in Brazil is awful, with a Conservative President, the same way you have the Brexit, it´s a complex context.

But when we arrived here, seeing the schools here, that have the other structures, accessibility, and provision. It’s so different from Brazil where the schools are like a prison. So, is very important that British people experience this cultural shock with different contexts.

CONTACT AND TRANSORM PRESENT: COLETIVA OCUPAÇÃO: WHEN IT BREAKS IT BURNS directed by Martha Kiss Peron at Millennium Powerhouse on 8 and 9 May 2019.

When it Breaks It Burns is performed in Portuguese with English surtitles.

Read about the dream-like luminarium heading to Salford Quays.

The post When it Breaks it Burns – ColetivA Ocupação’s true story of school protests appeared first on Quays Life.

Q: This is the first time Barber Shop Chronicles will be seen by a north west audience, what can they expect?

Emmanuel: “They can expect a lot of dancing and singing, but also a better understanding of the types of conversations between black men – seeing it through the lens of black perspective.

“It’s an extremely vibrant and exuberant show – there are some hard-hitting scenes within the play but also scenes where audiences can have fun and enjoy themselves.

“It’s also a partially interactive show. Pre-show there’s opportunity for audience members to sit in the barber chair and have a haircut – it’s a simulated haircut so there’s nothing to be scared of! There will also be a live DJ which is one of the cast members”.

Q: Can you tell us more about the music?

Emmanuel: “There’s a lot of acapella and four-part harmony singing, with a lot of call and response. These songs punctuate the show, particularly in scene changes. The play is set in 6 cities over the course of a day – London, Lagos, Kampala, Harare, Johannesburg and Accra – the songs that we sing set up the changes into those scenes”.

Q: What is your character like?

Emmanuel: “I play three different characters. Tokunbo who is a strong, proud Nigerian barber with an entrepreneurial mindset who owns his own barber shop in Lagos. I also play Ugandan Paul who is a man that is extremely elegant and flamboyant. He’s married with kids but it’s implied that he could be gay although that is never directly spoken about. This is because of the ramifications of being gay in Uganda – other characters talk about those ramifications around my character without realising they could be talking about him. My final character is Simphiwie who is a South African man who is an alcoholic that’s been estranged from his wife and child for over 20 years. He was abandoned by his father and finds his solace in drink – he struggles to repair his life and holds a lot of pain which is extremely challenging and exciting to play”.

Q: In what ways do you relate to the image of Black masculinity presented in the play?

Emmanuel: “Black masculinity is a very broad term. I imagine people have an idea of black masculinity as someone who is strong all the time. I can only go off my own experiences – when people look at me (I’m 6ft 5 and work out) I get this impression that people assume I have strength all the time. That’s what I like about the play – it investigates the intricacies of black masculinity but also the universal themes within it. The struggles with identity, friendship and fatherhood, all of these themes, no matter where you are or where you’re from are things we hold dear in our hearts”.

Q: Why do you think barber shops encourage such rich and varied discussions?

Emmanuel: “Because they’re discussions that need to be had, and I feel that the play unashamedly delves in to these subjects which some people might not fully understand or have any experience with. The play takes the ideas of these communities further than what we hear on the news which can be quite demonising. The play adds humanity to the characters and the stories that we’re telling. It’s also not wholly essential it comes from a black perspective – these stories are something we’ve all been through. That’s what I love”.

Q: What do you hope people will take from the show?

Emmanuel: “I want them to come and have a good time – theatre should be fun. I’d even like them to get involved if they’re not afraid to get up on stage. I’d just like them to get a better insight into the story we’re trying to get across, and hopefully a better understand of the black male perspective”.

Q: The play leaps from a barber shop in Peckham to Johannesburg, Harare, Kampala, Lagos, and Accra over the course of a single day, what do you think the scene would be like if it stepped into one of the Salford barbers from your youth?

Emmanuel: “Not as relaxed! I think it would be a much more chaotic affair. Salford was very rough in my youth – and I can only speak for myself – but there was a lot of racism around when I was a child. I don’t think because of the nature of the time that the barber shops in Salford were as open for discussion. Nowadays it might be a different story – times have changed a lot, times were different then”.

Q: As a Salfordian, what does it mean to you to perform in this show at the Royal Exchange?

Emmanuel: “I’ve never performed at the Royal Exchange before which is a little sad for me to say but I am extremely excited to be performing there for the first time with this particular show. It’s an important show and the characters are rich. Inua [Ellams] has really captured the essence of the conversations that occur in this environment. And my family get to see it, me in my hometown! Usually I’m away and they can’t always see it so it’s really nice to be in the centre town with the people I know and love coming to see me”. 

Barber Shop Chronicles is at the Royal Exchange Theatre in partnership with Contact from 7 – 23 March 2019.

The post Emmanuel Ighodaro on the UK tour of Barber Shop Chronicles appeared first on Quays Life.

Can you tell us a bit about The Forest of Forgotten Discos?
It’s a fun, quirky and full of love show for ages 5 and up. Red has run away to the Forest where she meets some runaway teddy bears and their naughty computer-generated friend Alexa, from the Amazon.

What inspired your ideas for the show?
A few things. One: I lived on a rough estate surrounded by woods growing up in Skem, so I was always making up stories about what would happen if I ran away to the Woods. Two: a lot of the schools I’ve worked in, in the last few years, have got ‘Forest School’ now where they teach kids by taking them into the woods and letting them just be. Which is brilliant.

Do you see any of yourself in the character of Red?
Yes. She’s pretty feisty and cocky but underneath she’s got a lot of stuff going on. She’s scared of a lot of things but has to build a bravado to get through the day.

Is it an interactive experience?
It’s not an interactive show like a Choose Your Own Adventure Book, but it’s not the kind of show where you are sat in the dark being ignored. The audience are cast as runaway teddy bears and if you want to sit right in the action you can, and if you want to sit with other people who don’t want to be in on the action you can too, there’ll be games that involve the audience. For adults who’ll get this reference, think more ‘Vic Reeves Big Night Out’ for kids than ‘Cinderella’.

What’s your first memory of disco?
Trying to dance with Susan Matthews to ‘The Bart Man’ but being rebuffed – I even had my knock-off Naff Naff top on.

If you stumbled on the forest of forgotten discos what song would you dance to and why?
‘Shake it Off’ by Taylor Swift because it helps you to accept yourself and not worry about people who are gonna hate. Everyone should have the freedom to feel good about themselves and not be bullied for supposed flaws.

Did you really drink champagne out of your glittery leg?
It seemed the obvious thing to do. I had my leg off in 2013 and toured a comedy show soon after called, ‘Some People Have Too Many Legs’. In it I did drink champagne out of my leg, but more interesting for me was, during the amputation scene we had bubble machines and dancing unicorns as a dream sequence.

What do you think is the biggest misconception about accessible theatre?
The biggest misconception is that it’s just for disabled audiences. This idea that you have one version the show for audiences and one version that you just put on once for disabled audiences. If that’s the best for certain groups that’s cool, but it gets more interesting when you try to integrate the access into the show itself and think about this before you even put pen to paper. It means that you can communicate in words, sign, visual storytelling – making different areas for different people in the audience. All of this goes together to make a much richer show; this is how society should work.

How have you integrated sign-language into the show?
Red, the main character, has got a deaf mate in school, so Red already knows some sign language and is used to just communicating in a way that is very visual, big hand gestures, and there’s a bear in the Forest, Bear Minimum, who is wise and wears a tabard (always respect a bear in a tabard!). As such everyone knows a bit of sign language and Red is upfront about stuff she doesn’t get. Alexa is always sneaking about and she fills in the gaps when someone isn’t signing. The show is creatively signed, as is the way with younger theatre groups now, but we’re gonna have a few shows signed in the old-fashioned way too in case there are audiences who are happier communicating that way.

What is the one thing you would like to see happen to improve accessibility in the arts?
We need more opportunities for writers, actors, and directors whose stories are barely ever told. So, I mean accessibility in the wider sense – working class artists, refugee artists, disabled and D/deaf artists, BAME, LGBTQ+ artists. We need people to tell their own stories, when we see our own problems and real lives acted out we feel more valid – like our lives matter. It’s knowing that society values you and your story. It gives people self-esteem and when people have self-esteem it makes every interaction easier and more authentic. And for the people who don’t know those stories, it means we can gain understanding without the embarrassment of being scared of what to ask. It means we can all calm down a bit about some of the things society is stressing out about and start being people with each other.

The Forest of Forgotten Discos written by Jackie Hagan and presented by Contact Theatre is at Hope Mill theatre from 11-23 Dec 2018.

The post Jackie Hagan is dreaming big and breaking down barriers to accessible theatre appeared first on Quays Life.