Good Saturday morning!
So now sitting on the Terrace once again watching the boats and listening to the pervasive stillness here by the river. This week was spent in a certain reverie, clearing after the special Sunday lunch and turning my attention to the future and the journey I am just embarking upon with Jasmine Street. People have come and gone to my studio this week, and I notice an energy and curiosity in them to understand more about its purpose. Its funny - only in March did the idea emerge in my imagination and with each month and week it has become clearer until here she is in reality!
Much to do still to realise the next immediate project - the ARKA Teatr residency in August. Maciej is working hard at bringing together his Polish contacts in Wroclaw and in London and to enthuse them to get involved. This plus the support of my friends here at the council and other organisations bodes well.
And then there is the solo performance piece I am working on with Tim, which in spite of the intoxicating weekend we still managed to make time to begin. What fun it was! And I am looking forward to working with Ria Knowles on her new solo piece next week too!
So finally my mind now turns to my commission from Polish painter Lech Twardowski. On my recent visit to Wroclaw we sat in the Literatka cafe musing the possibilities of this fusion of painting and acting. Both Lech and I are great fans of the work of Sam Beckett. His take on futility and existentialism speak to us both in different ways. I have yet to fully get a sense of where Lech's fascination with Beckett comes from, but for me its a mix of the Irishness of the playwright and the extreme and uncompromising narratives he gave birth to, that are both painful to see, hugely funny at times and yet always starkly compelling.
I was delighted when Lech invited me to work with him. It was a chance thing - like so much in Poland. Artists and others meet regularly and informally to sit, smoke and drink coffee, talking about an eclectic mix of things. It was at one such gathering on a cold Tuesday that I first met Lech. We got to talking about our work, and he showed me a huge exterior site-specific piece he is making that reminded me in some ways of Stonehenge. This brought me to think about how we might work together to animate the Abbey Ruins in Barking, so saturated in history and dormant.
This was the beginning of our ongoing conversation, mostly in a strange French, as neither of us speaks the other's language. But much of what we say to each other is non-verbal, a kind of image sharing, visceral mostly. He chain smokes and his long grey hair and piercing blue eyes tell of an uncompromising spirit - with the potential to be cruel and outrageous. Often people tell me that I am intense and relentless, sometimes I wish this were not the case - but it is. If this is true of me - then Lech is ten times more so. He talks of brittle exteriors as part of the external fabric of a Polish life. His art says it more eloquently (well the French never will!).
So at the cafe, Lech clears the table unceremoniously of coffee cups and vodka glasses, and unfolds his first tentative scale drawing of his project, soon to be my project. I'll tease you here with a sneak preview - remember its just an idea at this stage! And actually I don't imagine it will make much sense yet. But what it is is a concrete drawing of what might be - the beginning of a conversation. I have to be careful not to jump to conclusions about Lech's vision, its not mine - I am simply a visitor.
We talk long and hard about the single actor that we will employ to perform the Beckett text against his epic background of screens and walls to paint. He dismisses my first few suggestions with a nonchalant wave of his hand - I am a little disappointed, but its clear that he has an image of the actor in his head. So I go quiet as he tells me. It needs to be someone with whom he can develop a live relationship as the two will perform this together. I say - ok, then you and he and I will need to hole ourselves up in a studio for at least a week to explore what this thing is. I have no idea - but that's not unusual. What I do know though with absolute certainty is that the space will energise and animate and we will find our way to what it is. Its wonderful, scary and exciting! I can't wait.
So now sitting on the Terrace once again watching the boats and listening to the pervasive stillness here by the river. This week was spent in a certain reverie, clearing after the special Sunday lunch and turning my attention to the future and the journey I am just embarking upon with Jasmine Street. People have come and gone to my studio this week, and I notice an energy and curiosity in them to understand more about its purpose. Its funny - only in March did the idea emerge in my imagination and with each month and week it has become clearer until here she is in reality!
Much to do still to realise the next immediate project - the ARKA Teatr residency in August. Maciej is working hard at bringing together his Polish contacts in Wroclaw and in London and to enthuse them to get involved. This plus the support of my friends here at the council and other organisations bodes well.
And then there is the solo performance piece I am working on with Tim, which in spite of the intoxicating weekend we still managed to make time to begin. What fun it was! And I am looking forward to working with Ria Knowles on her new solo piece next week too!
So finally my mind now turns to my commission from Polish painter Lech Twardowski. On my recent visit to Wroclaw we sat in the Literatka cafe musing the possibilities of this fusion of painting and acting. Both Lech and I are great fans of the work of Sam Beckett. His take on futility and existentialism speak to us both in different ways. I have yet to fully get a sense of where Lech's fascination with Beckett comes from, but for me its a mix of the Irishness of the playwright and the extreme and uncompromising narratives he gave birth to, that are both painful to see, hugely funny at times and yet always starkly compelling.
We talk long and hard about the single actor that we will employ to perform the Beckett text against his epic background of screens and walls to paint. He dismisses my first few suggestions with a nonchalant wave of his hand - I am a little disappointed, but its clear that he has an image of the actor in his head. So I go quiet as he tells me. It needs to be someone with whom he can develop a live relationship as the two will perform this together. I say - ok, then you and he and I will need to hole ourselves up in a studio for at least a week to explore what this thing is. I have no idea - but that's not unusual. What I do know though with absolute certainty is that the space will energise and animate and we will find our way to what it is. Its wonderful, scary and exciting! I can't wait.
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