concepts, writing, performance making…
Am thrilled to present a small video from the launch of the Oops Festival in Åben Dans, Roskilde in November. The many inspirations linger on as we venture into planing the first edition of the festival. We are looking to develop the festival in an organic and innovative way. Such joy to discover where ever we go people have ideas and suggestions for the work.
See the video here: Oops Launch 2017
Video by: Kaleigh Howland & Emma Galasso
November 18th saw the launch of our new 10 year venture: The Oops Festival. A celebration of failing and f*ck-ups through performances, music, events and workshops in the brilliant town of Roskilde. It was a day of inspirational talks and captivating performances, beautiful music and a wonderful, engaged audience. We are buzzing and full of ideas for the festival that is to take place on November 16. 17. & 18th 2018. Joy!
Performances by: Janne Saarakkala (FIN), Sofie Lebech (DK) and Jakob Bro (DK)
Talks by: Thomas Vigild (DK), Keith Gumery (UK), Layla Torres Mollerup/ TeaterKUNST (DK), Rui Laing & Rebecca Ribbing/ Museum of Failures (SE), Thomas Aaby Berdal/ I Will Cook For Food (DK), Oleg Koefoed (DK)
Supported by The Danish Arts Council and DJBFA
Photos: Meagan Roderique / @mroderique
Was thrilled to be invited to contribute to the Pafos 2017 Mouttalos event – celebrating past and present life in the old Turkish quarter of the city. Our audio walk – The Quiet Village – took people into the area through a number of sound chapters. It was great meeting locals, ex-pats and students and hearing their experiences!
The audio walk can be heard here:
The Quiet Village
Arranged by: Angela Petrou & Maria Hadjisoteriou from Nicosia University.
Supported by the Danish Arts Council.
One of the sunnier moments of this Summer came with the joy of starting work on our Normal Cake, Please performance with a workshop in Copenhagen. We spend 10 days rediscovering our characters weaknesses and strengths, collaborating with the wonderful ARA dance company and consulting with our brilliant consultants; Pilvi, Thomas, Sofie and Paula.
The work opened up many questions around our topic – freedom in 2018. The conclusion of the workshop is already evident: The three protagonists are very stuck in their own views of the world – and hate the idea of sharing a cake.
Plenty of challenges to look forward to!
Supported by: KKN, APCF and the State Culture Capital Foundation of Latvia.
A very pleasant surprise arrived in my inbox at the end of last year. The community play group: Frederikssund Vikingespil were interested in staging two plays I wrote for them in 2005 and 2006 as part of a trilogy about the first three Danish kings.
At the time this was a great challenge for me – and brave of the organisers – as I was an urban, British female with no other connection to the vikings apart from probably being invaded by them as some point in history.
I decided to focus on different power structures and the challenges of keeping together a young nation – in addition to being very curious of the women’s roles in the Viking community. Was thrilled to read that one reviewer drew parallels to global political events and the Bush administration when seeing Harald Blåtand.
Frederikssund Vikingspil is a community of 300 vikings, who perform outdoor shows each summer. The plays are staged in their specially built arena that seats 1000 people in the woods – it’s a great family event!
Am very honoured they wanted to revisit my plays and look forward to see the 2017 version. Harald Blåtand is performing 23rd June – July 16.
This April the Uneasy Listening duo were thrilled to have a residency at the inspiring Kimonos Art Center in Pafos. By suggestion of the Culture Capital Pafos 2017 we were to explore the old Turkish area of Mouttalos, which currently is undergoing serious renovation. The task of making a sound piece about a place with such a complex embedded history proved to be a challenge – it’s easy to fall into dramatic traps about war and refugees – and in doing so fall for artistic clichés. We ended up relating to the quiet of this area that seemed to evolve into a melancholic silence after spending time there. The four artists running Kimonos artistic heaven were amazing hosts, and organised a very honest and moving presentation of our work on April 11th. The response was very fruitful, and the piece is something we are keen to develop.
This year I’ve been asked by the progressive and internationally minded Teater Republique in Copenhagen to assist talented, Berlin-based director; Lydia Bunk in putting together a text for her version of The Odyssey! Homer’s amazing epic is as relevant as ever, as we explore the role of the soldiers returning from war. Today, in the last century or 2000 years ago – it’s a long and perilous journey to free yourself of the horrors and really arrive home.
From my particular position in the world – partly living on the divided island of Cyprus – this is a great and exciting challenge. Very happy to be part of this project!
