Call for Cabaret Performances

Drunken Chorus are seeking proposals for a special edition of DRUNKEN NIGHTS alternative cabaret, which will take place as part of a new micro-festival in Goole Victorian Market in Yorkshire (http://questionyourteaspoons.wordpress.com/goole-market-project/).

The festival event is organised by Question your Teaspoons and will feature a range of site-based artists throughout the day. Drunken Chorus will then host a special festive cabaret evening, which will close the event. The micro-festival takes place on Friday 25th November 2011, with the cabaret expected to run from approximately 9.30pm until 11pm

We are looking for around 5 acts / performances, across a range of different art forms – music, comedy, live art, theatre, sideshow, circus, cabaret etc. Whilst the market event is predominantly a festival of site-specific work, Drunken Nights cabaret event is not intended for site-based work. Priority will be given to original and contemporary performance, which has a strong engagement with an audience. It may be new or existing work, and you may also wish to consider the festive nature of the event.

We are looking for a headline band / musician, as well as a headline performance/act, each lasting around 15 to 20 minutes. We are able to offer artist fees for both of these acts.

In addition, we are also looking for a few shorter performances, by emerging / early career artists. These will be unpaid slots, but will provide a platform for new works and works in progress, as well as an opportunity to show the work in front of potential programmers and funders. These pieces should be no more than 10 minutes in length.

Work should be simple and low tech, and be easily adaptable to new spaces. Microphones, PA and some basic lighting will be available. Turnarounds will be very tight so set-up time should be kept to a minimum. Please contact us on the details below if you need to check requirements.

If you are interested in performing please email chris@drunkenchorus.co.uk with the following information, by 9am on 17th October. Late applications will not be considered.

• Up to 300 words describing your work and why it is suitable for Drunken Nights
• A CV/company biog
• Any links to websites / video / images* etc
• Please also state if you are applying as a headline act, or as an unpaid act. If applying as a headline act, please state whether or not you would be willing to perform a shorter version of the work (unpaid) if not selected as a headline.

*If you are attaching images, or other large files, please ensure that the email DOES NOT exceed 3MB

DATES:

Deadline for submissions: 17th October 9am

Artists notified by: 24th October

Event: 25th November

If you have any questions in advance of submitting a proposal, please direct them to Chris Williams, who will be happy to discuss your proposal  – chris@drunkenchorus.co.uk

Stockholm – DAY 3

Hello!
So here we are back in the tiny white box after another day full of Stoff. Chris is so tired he just mentioned a show we saw yesterday and didn’t believe me when I told him it was this afternoon. At festivals days do tend to blur together though don’t they, well this one is no exception.
We walked a bit too far out of our way in search of breakfast this morning and ended up having to get a boat back to somewhere more familiar, which worked out nicely in the end because we got to go on a boat. By the time we got back to the old town we needed more than a coffee and a cinnamon swirl so we had some lunch outside at a lovely restaurant in Gamla Stan’s main square.
We then made our way to the theatre, and watched the shows divided between the Kulterhuset-Horsalen which is the big theatre space where we’re doing our show tomorrow and the KulturhusTaket- a stage on the roof which is an incredible place to be even in between shows, especially when the sun’s out.
We then made our way to another part of the city where the other Stoff venue is, to see Nick Field who we’d met earlier in the week. I’ll let Chris say something about this if he can remember which day of the week it was on (it was definitely tonight).

… …

Yes, it was very definitely tonight – I’m sure of that one! Nick Field was performing The Cosmos, The Cosmetics, for which he already has some glowing reviews under his belt. I’m not often a fan of spoken word performances – I guess sometimes I feel a little bit like I could have read the text in a book and it might have had just as much impact. But with Nick (and I’m sure this is the case with a good number of other spoken word artists out there), his emotion, charisma and authenticity really shine through, and this makes for a believable, humbling and enjoyable experience. The text is full of imagery – the initial words build a clear picture of a young boy riding through the streets of his home village, and we are immediately with him in the story, clinging to every word. No doubt the words that Nick has written would still be interesting, moving, relatable and funny if we read them on a sheet of paper, but what really makes them fly is the intimate, confident and relaxed style in which they are delivered. A thoroughly enjoyable performance, and a great audience too.

Also, I’d like to quickly mention Discredited Dentistry by Joseph Tepperman from the USA. This took place on the rooftop stage and was a catalogue of the possible stories behind thirty-two statues from a Canadian sculpture garden. The performance demonstrated great use of audio cassette recordings – and I do love to see a cassette player in show!

… …

Oh is that what that was? Anyway, time for us to go to bed. We have to be at the theatre nice and early tomorrow so we’re ready for when we get called in to do our tech. The show is at 6, so we’ll have all day to get nice and nervous. Thank you for reading!

Lots of love,

DC
x

Stockholm – DAY 2

We’ve just arrived back at the apartment after another long day of performances, sightseeing, eating and drinking. Plans are in place for a little rehearsal tomorrow morning in our very small flat, which will take some considerable imagination and inventiveness as the stage we’ll be performing on is around 20 times the size of this place! But I’m sure we’ll manage. For now it’s time to take a quick look back at day 2 of STOFF. So, Nicki, tell us a little bit about today – I’m sure you’re dying to tell everyone about my marriage…

… …

CHRIS GOT MARRIED TODAY! It was beautiful. As soon as we sat down on the wooden bench up on the roof of the Kulturhuset for “Perhaps, perhaps, quizas” by Gabriela Munoz from Mexico, I just had this overwhelming feeling that he was going to get ‘picked on’ and low and behold, she started looking for her husband. It was a beautifully performed clown piece that claims to be ‘playing with the idea of loneliness, waiting and hoping for the right man’. Well, she got lucky tonight, and so did Chris. Prompting him with only her magnetically expressive face, they tied the knot in front of an audience from all around the world. Unfortunately, it ended in divorce and toilet roll.
We’ve seen a lot of work today. We knew this was going to happen so made sure we took the time to have a substantial meal after the mistake we made last night, which I do not want to speak about ever again. I went Swedish and had some bloody meatballs didn’t I, they came with mash and lingenberries. Delicious. Yes, I did just find a way to talk about food.
Chris, without making you describe everything we’ve seen today.. What has stood out for you? Did you notice any reoccurring themes? 

… …

Well, I’ve enjoyed what we’ve seen today – even the forced marriage, which was actually great fun! As you’ve mentioned we’ve enjoyed some delicious Swedish food too, all of which was excellent.

I think what has stood out for me today has been the number of references, influences and nods to  horror movies. It might be just my obsession with the genre, and was perhaps largely unintentional, but so many moments in today’s shows echoed fragments of various horror films… 

Las Hojas Rojas by Alazart had a haunting live soundtrack, mixed with desolate landscapes and dream-like movement sequences. On top of this, there’s something about the Spanish language that always takes me back to horror – perhaps that’s just from watching one too many Guillermo del Toro movies!? The section in which the Spanish performer spoke and danced, with an isolated sun-soaked landscape projected against the back of the stage, very much reminded me of a film called King of the Hill. Not understanding the language really heightened the isolation and ‘otherness’.

The narrative within Geranium Theatre’s Princess reminded me very much of The Others and also of The Orphanage. And the use of animal masks in Nada es Vacio by Amira Ramirez Salgado had echoes of The Wicker Man, with projected fields of corn reminiscent of M. Knight Shyamalan’s Signs.

Even the final piece, At Home, with it’s flickering lamp, reversed narrative structure and dark undertones had a touch of the horror genre about it.

A lot of the shows today used projected text and rolling credits, as well as filmic soundtracks, suspense and tension. As a horror fan this really gave me something to get my teeth into. All in all, a great day of performance.

… …

Well, he’s getting his Fright Fest fix from Stockholm so thats good. He’s just shoved the laptop in my face without leaving me a question to answer so I’m going to conclude. We’ve had a great day of mental stimulation and even more walking around a beautiful city, what a pleasure. Plenty more to see tomorrow and one sleep closer to our show. Thank you for reading our blog!

Big hug to you,

DC x

Stockholm – DAY 1

Hello from Stockholm!

I know Chris promised you all a blog a day, but we didn’t consider the difficulty we might have arranging wireless, so here is the last 2 days worth of blogs in one conversation as we sit on a big white bed in our tiny but lovely apartment after the first evening of STOFF.

So Chris, write something about the launch of the festival.

Walking up to Kulturhuset (Sweden’s ‘cultural epicentre’, and the hub of the festival) was pretty mind-blowing. It’s an impressive and imposing building of glass and neon, with an ultra realistic sculpture of a girl scaling the front of it – a little alarming at first glance. This was our first impression of the venue and of the festival, and much excitement was brewing. Inside the complimentary drinks were flowing, music blaring, and some weird and wonderful performance interventions breaking out all over the building. We met a few people, had a few drinks and saw a great range of acts. And that was all just in the opening evening – so much more to come!!

Nicki, tell us about your favourite part of tonight.

Arriving at the launch after spending the day exploring the beautiful city of Stockholm, and suddenly feeling part of a really exciting festival. Seeing how many people are also part of it almost shocked me a bit, I hadn’t really imagined how many companies/artists would be here and experiencing everybody gathered together for the first time felt really exciting, especially with a glass of wine that we didn’t have to pay a million pounds for. I know he didn’t ask for a second favourite part but I have to mention the coconut chocolate ball thing I had for breakfast. I don’t know what it was but it was squidgy, delicious, and a much better choice than Chris’s chocolate NO-chips muffin.

Chris, what are your first impressions of Stockholm?

Well, apart from the expense of everything, which I think you’ve covered…   It’s a really beautiful city – diverse, alive, relaxed, cultured, green, happy and incredibly picturesque. For the first part of today we just wandered around some different parts of the city centre, and I think we felt really at home here. Although we’ve really only just arrived, and we’re still finding the best places to eat, hang out, drink, shop etc, it already feels like a lovely place to spend time. So every second we get in-between performances to walk around and enjoy our surroundings promises to be as much of a treat as seeing all of the great work. I can’t wait for the rest of the week.

Do you want to wrap it up Nicki?

Yes. Thank you for reading our first blog! We need to rest our tired legs and Chris needs his beauty sleep.

Night night! x

DC

A suitcase full of STOFF!

We’re heading down to London tomorrow, ready to fly out to Stockholm on Tuesday. Tech and props just about packed now. Can’t quite believe how much has squeezed into this small case…

 

Festoon of lights

12 Energy Saving lightbulbs

Behringer XENYX 1204 Audio Mixing Desk

Microphone

Box of matches

One DI Unit for guitar/sound desk

3x XLR cables

3x UK to Euro mains adapter

Microphone table stand (in three parts)

2x Bunches red artificial flowers

Johnson’s Baby Powder (200g)

LX Tape

Gaffa Tape

Instruction manuals

Tea-lights, with holder

Various miscellaneous audio cables

A plastic tumbler and three plastic wine glasses

One pack of Garnier face-wipes

656 (approx.) red rose petals (fabric)

One pair of grey trousers, a white shirt and a vintage leather tie

(Don’t forget to check back every day this week, for festival updates and photos…)

A sneak peak…

By way of a sneak preview of the new show, All Ancient Seas and Dark Wells, here are a few rehearsal images. The show will premiere next week, 27th August 2011, at STOFF (Stockholm Fringe Fest) in Sweden…

We’ll be keeping a daily festival blog during our time in Stockholm. Check back here from Monday onwards for daily ramblings and photos from STOFF!!

All images courtesy of Tamsin Drury / hAb

a glimmer of a show (as seen through dusty air)

Last night we performed our very first showing of All Ancient Seas and Dark Wells. Part of Flare International Festival of New Theatre in Manchester, this was a short preview of what we’re working on right now – a sort of ‘this is what we have so far’ kind of gig. In a way it was only a work-in-progress, but at the same time we tried very hard to shape it into a piece that could stand-alone, sitting neatly within the context of the festival. And by that, I guess I mean we wanted it to have some structure – a beginning, a middle and an end – hinting at what the final performance might look like.

It’s always hard showing work before it’s finished, especially trying to squeeze lots of ideas and ‘tasters’ for an hour long show into just 20-minutes. This was made even more challenging because the rest of the work at Flare is finished – much of it has toured quite extensively already, or else has been a long time in the making and is ready to face its public.

All Ancient Seas… was scheduled as the last performance of the evening at Contact Theatre, after a fairly full day of shows. In the evening we watched two very strong pieces of work, by The Sleepwalk Collective and a smith - both very interesting shows by accomplished and charismatic performers. And then it was our turn to take the stage, with our unfinished and raw piece of work, that we ourselves are still trying to understand and make sense of. Thankfully the technology played ball, and Nicki and I remembered the text  and the movements (or at least versions of them). The audience were incredibly warm and friendly and the feedback in the bar was supportive and very kind. I guess the most important thing was that both of us enjoyed performing it so much. It’s been a long time since I came off stage feeling exhilarated like that – due, in the main part, to the difficult subject matter of the last two or three shows I’ve worked on (dealing with horror, or with failure, can be a real strain on a performer’s morale).

We have a long way to go with this work – about 7 weeks until the premiere in Stockholm. But we’re excited, and energized by the experience of last night. It was by no means perfect and there were moments that maybe didn’t work so well, but we have 20-minutes of material to build on now. For me, this is what makes work-in-progress showings and previews so valuable. They act as vital stepping stones in a process that allow artists to try ideas out, rather than making work in a dark studio for months on end completely unaware of how an audience will affect the material – how the presence of the live spectator can change the way you make sense of what your doing on stage. So many moments in the show have been completely turned on there head for us, simply by the reaction of last night’s audience. We’ve found ourselves thinking or saying ‘who’d have thought that bit would have been so funny?’ or ‘we didn’t expect that line to strike such a nerve’.

Already Flare has become a vital part of making this work. With many more discussions and shows to see and experience this week, there is no doubt in the extraordinary value of such festivals as a means of supporting artists and shaping the cultural landscape of the UK, Europe and  beyond.

 

(If you’re interested in saying some exciting new work this week head over to the Flare Festival website and see whats going on)

ch.. ch.. ch.. ch.. changes!

I recently made a huge decision.  A decision that will change my life.

I feel excited, liberated, and unbelievably positive about the future.

But I also feel nervous, insecure, apprehensive and, I’ll be honest, a bit scared.

There have been a handful of people in my life that made me realise that this is a risk I need to take. A leap of faith that it is too important not to make. But I guess, now that the decision is made, and the deed is done, I need a little reassurance – reassurance that sometimes in life you just have to follow your heart. So I asked a few Twitter folk for their help and support, by way of a few words about their stories of life changes (past, present and future)… In the customary 140 characters of course…

Walking out on my life age 48 to do the BA I couldn’t do as a single teen mum in the 70′s?

i had a sun, bout da biggest change u can go thru i think speakin from personal experience

Taking over the responsibility for raising my son, almost exactly a year ago. The most profund and rewarding job I’ve had.

I’m taking a sabatical! have done a TEFL course and am hoping to be away from June-Christmas, feels pretty massive right now!

A trip I had 2 go on changed my outlook so I immediately booked another trip when I got home.it was the 1st thing I’d ever booked jst for me

I left a well paid job Painting & Decorating to pursue my artistic dreams. Now I’m poor and in loads of debt. Much happier and better person

There have been people that I got too close to because it was completely safe to, which then made it not safe. I wish I could change that.

Quitting my job, without knowing how or when I will earn any money again, in hope that I will no longer be held back and unhappy.

Leaping from useless student to man acting at the Roundhouse, freelancing PR for major brands, applying to artistic direct major theatres.

Working in office for reg hrs due to having a child & then went back to study tech theatre which’s original career choice now she’s 18.

I could feel another abusive episode on the way, air before the storm. I took my 2-year old and left, didn’t come back ’til he’d moved out.

(So what’s your big life change? What’s the biggest risk you ever took, wish you had taken, or hope to have the strength to take in the future? I could do with some moral support on this one, so please do share. And later on, when the dust is settled and the time is right, I’ll tell you all about mine…)

…
Contributors so far: @Ayrgael, @SCHIZAFLOW, @iangooleknew,  @elekinchinsmith, @alikichapple, @Nickie_Holford, @Acorn_Theatre, @IndivisibleUK, @Nickihobday

photo shoot (down some back alley in Manchester)

As you might already know, I’m about to begin working on a new show, in collaboration with Nicki Hobday. The show is called All Ancient Seas and Dark Wells, and we’re going to be showing a little work-in-progress at Flare International Festival of New Theatre over in Manchester at the beginning of July. We’re very much looking forward to this new ‘double-act’ and what we might have to offer.

Yesterday we had a little photo shoot (down some back alley of Manchester) with a fantastic photographer called Nathan McDowell. Nicki and I are absolutely dreadful with photos, and always hate seeing images of ourselves. But Nathan has done an absolutely brilliant job, and we’re really happy with this one. So this is our first publicity image for the new show. What do you all reckon??

Comments please…

Flare Festival…

As some of you may already have noticed, Drunken Chorus are on the line up for Flare International Festival of New Theatre, which takes place in Manchester, 4th-9th July. We are very excited to have been invited to the festival, and we will be presenting a work-in-progress showing for one of the two new projects  that I’ve mentioned recently. It will be a collaboration between myself and Nicki Hobday of Trace Theatre, and we hope to develop the piece later in the year, after we show the work at Flare. Here’s a little taster of what to expect, in the form of some show copy:

All Ancient Seas and Dark Wells

Raucous, yet quiet… Epic, yet tiny… Full of bright lights, yet haunted by shadows… A dark, sexy, seedy foray into a world of wandering souls and deep rhythms. Drunken Chorus recreate the highs and lows of the jazz genre; the seediness of an underground club, the smell of brass, the taste of whiskey on the rocks, the transient, spontaneous, ephemeral nature of Jazz and the Beat movement.

Yes, I know, we’re not giving much away, but we haven’t decided on a whole lot yet. We’ll be making the work very quickly and intensively for Flare, so all we’re doing at the moment is sourcing ideas and making some very rough plans as to how the piece might work.

As we’re thinking and talking about the show, I keep coming across things that interest me – things that take me by surprise and shift the way I’m thinking about the work. As I imagine is the case for most artists, it is the unexpected things in our everyday lives that often influence our work the most. For example, whilst walking round the local market on a day of research for another project (more on that later), I stumbled across a stall selling a few old second-hand records. A few days days earlier I’d seen Pina 3D, the new film by Wim Wenders about Pina Bausch and Tanztheater Wuppertal. There was some mention of Bausch believing that props and set act as obstacles for the performers to overcome. I imagine jazz records covering the stage (which is perhaps too much of a logistical nightmare) – acting as our obstacles, like all that chalk back in Lost & Found. I had a quick route around the records and found a few jazz ones – Duke Ellington, Willie ‘The Lion’ Smith, Glenn Miller. I bought them, and immediately took them home, excited to listen to them and imagine what images might accompany them in the new show, but then I realised I don’t have a record player! So I had to listen on a combination of YouTube and Spotify, picking out the tracks from the listings on the back of the sleeve.

Recently I’ve had this tune in my head, without being sure where I’ve heard it. I’ve been imagining it in the show, perhaps with a slow dance – a long drawn-out kind of slow dance. I’d been wishing I could find it, having tried to hum it into an iPhone app that tells you the names of songs (that didn’t work). I began playing tracks from the Glenn Miller album on YoutTube, and then suddenly there it was, Moonlight Serenade – the tune that had been stuck in my head all this time. All at once, images of the show began to fill my head as I listened – some beautiful, some dark, others simply impossible.

Thinking about this show I’m always either thinking of text or movement. I guess that sounds like quite an obvious thing to say. But I think what I mean is that there’s a certain double-act at work in my thoughts, of two performers, but also the separate acts of speaking and of dancing. I keep imagining that there will often be one performer chatting with the audience, whilst the other just dances, as if in a trance, or else too drunk to notice the audience. Perhaps it’s a need for movement – like we need to keep dancing to the jazz rhythm, like a flame that we mustn’t let die. And I have to keep reminding myself that we’re not dancers, that we’re not going to make a dance piece. But then I keep drifting back to Pina Bausch, and those resonating words at the end film:

‘Dance…

Dance…

Otherwise we are lost…’

[There’ll be more news on All Ancient Seas and Dark Wells soon. And as for the other project - well you’ll just have to wait a little bit longer to find out about that!!!]