One week to go...

One week to go until everything goes a bit pink at the Centre. The bespoke ice-cream flavours have been ordered, the posters are going up and everyone here is getting just a tiny bit excited.

So, what's first up? It's And the Birds Fell from the Sky by Il Pixel Rosso. This is a new project by Silvia Mercuriali and Simon Wilkinson. You might recognise Mercuriali's name from Rotozaza's amazing one-on-one autoteatro experience Etiquette, which was at the Centre a couple of years ago.

In And the Birds... you become a character at the heart of the story. You're wearing video googles, and through the use of simple technology, you're taken on an anarchic, dreamy and dangerous joyride.

Mercuriali and Wilkinson describe it as an 'immersive' performance, which is something of a buzz-word in contemporary performance at the moment. Audience as participant, performer, shaper of what takes place. It's quite liberating, sometimes a bit scary, and whilst 'interactive' performance is nothing new - people have been 'participating' in experimental performance since the 1960s - it's heartening to see more people engaging with it, from big-budget Punchdrunk shows to tiny encounters at BAC's One-on-One Festival.

So if you're used to just sitting in the dark in a comfy seat watching, but have always been a little bit curious then Blysh is exactly what you need. Here's a little taster:

Trailer - And the Birds Fell from the Sky from Simon Wilkinson on Vimeo.

Blysh Blogging

Hello.

Matthew here - I'm sneaking onto this blog to spread some Blysh love over the next few weeks. Feels a bit naughty - like I'm gatecrashing a party. You see, I'm not a producer at Wales Millennium Centre, I just pop up here every now and then. It's a bit like moonlighting. My usual habitat is over the water in Bristol, where I'm one half of the Artistic Directorship of Mayfest with Kate Yedigaroff.

But right now, I'm working on spreading the word about Blysh, Wales Millennium Centre's rather fabulous festival of cabaret, carnival and music. It's been growing exponentially since 2009 when it burst onto the Weston Studio stage, and now it takes up almost the whole of July in various locations in and around the centre.

So, over the next few weeks I'll be posting some videos, interviews, reviews and photos of many of the artists taking part in this year's festival. So keep it here for the lowdown on all things Blysh.

...and rumour has it that there will be some special Blysh ice cream flavours. What more could you ask for...?

South Africa and back

Cape Town Opera National Tour 2011
My diary

Thursday 12th May
I arrived at 8am and went straight to my hotel. Matthew Wild from Cape Town Opera picked me up at 11.30 and we went to visit Artscape and the CTO headquarters. Artscape is the main theatre in Cape Town and home to several arts organisations. http://www.artscape.co.za/
Lunch with Matthew, Michael Williams (CTO Managing Director) and Albert Horne (CTO chorus master and conductor).
I then went to observe the rehearsals for the tour. The project consists of an hour’s worth of workshops (a crash course to opera) with audience interaction (my role with the project), followed by intensive workshops with the students split into their singing part (tenor, mezzo, soprano and bass / baritone) and then finally a mini performance of the opera Don Pasquale. The whole project supports the work of The South African Schools Choral Eisteddfod (SASCE).
The singers are Owen Metsileng, Lukhanyo Moyakhe, Siphamandla Yakupa, Monde Masimi, Arline Japhta, Nonhlanhla Yende and the accompanist is Esté Visser.
In the evening I went to the Baxter Theatre (http://www.baxter.co.za ) on the Cape Town University campus to watch ReWind – a cantata for voice tape and testimony on the truth and reconciliation commission.
Friday 13th May
In the morning I walked to the centre of Cape Town to have a quick look around. I found a Wimpy and a Woolworths so it’s nice to see them still going strong!
I then traveled with the singers to a township about 50 minutes from Cape Town for dress rehearsal / test run of the workshop and performance. It was my first real experience of a township and it wasn’t as shocking as I thought it might be. I think that’s because we have seen so many images on TV we are aware of what it’s like. It is still hard to believe that people live like this but I’m now more aware of the country’s history and reasons surrounding this.
In the evening I went to Artscape to watch Jesus Christ Superstar. I’ve never seen the musical before and I have to admit it’s not the best I’ve ever seen but it’s got some good numbers in it.
Saturday 14th May
Today was the first big drive – 507km from Cape Town to Beaufort West.
On the drive I saw my first wildlife – 3 baboons at the side of the road!
Sunday 15th May
Second big drive today – Beaufort West to De Aar (276km). The landscape is very different from the first drive, much less mountainous and a lot vaster. I saw another monkey, not a baboon this time, a small grey monkey. I also saw some meerkats and a plague of locus!
Monday 16th May
Today was the first official workshop and performance in De Aar. There were about 67 pupils and this time some of the pupils were able to show us their individual singing skills, which were quite good.
We then drove from De Aar to Kimberly. Kimberly is a nice looking town and much livelier than De Aar!
Tuesday 17th May
The workshop today was for about 100 really eager pupils in Kimberly. It was at a lovely school hall and the staff were so great, giving us tea and telling us how much they appreciated us being there.
After the gallery we went to the Big Hole, a man made hole created during the Kimberly diamond rush. It was a really fascinating history of the rush and the area.
Wednesday 18th May
Another big journey – 497km drive from Kimberly to Johannesburg. We didn’t do a lot apart from drive today so not a lot to report.
Thursday 19th May
Workshop at a school in Kempton Park, Johannesburg today.
Matthew and I then drove to Pretoria, about 45 minutes from Joburg, to visit the Brooklyn Theatre, which is a privately run 400 seat theatre. It’s in a really lovely setting and an amazing venture that operates with no government support. http://www.brooklyntheatre.co.za
After a quick visit to see the theatre’s music shop in Brooklyn Mall we then travelled to the Casta Diva hotel where the singers were giving a concert that night with Opera South Africa.
Friday 20th May
Today I was with Matthew and Albert Horne auditioning for Mandela’s for Act 2 of Mandela Trilogy. They were mostly musical theatre performers and we saw 2 or 3 potentials.
After that we went to Constitution Hill where the Constitution Court is. It’s built on the old fort and prison where a lot of political prisoners were held during the apartheid. Walking into some of the cells in the women’s prison was very moving. The court is a fantastically designed building what has been very respectfully built, re-using bricks and stair wells from the former prison. http://www.constitutionhill.org.za
Saturday 21st May
My last day in South Africa! I can’t believe it’s over already. We left our guest house and travelled to the Apartheid Museum on the outskirts of Joburg. It was a really interesting and informative museum about the struggle although some sections of the museum were quite hard to take in. It has certainly given me a better insight to that period in South African history. I learnt about the seven pillars of the constitution which we are basing our October education project with CTO on. The seven pillars, each celebrating one of the cornerstones of the South African Constitution are Democracy, Equality, Diversity, Respect, Freedom, Responsibility and Reconciliation. http://www.apartheidmuseum.org
There was also an extremely interesting exhibition on Nelson Mandela including video clips, props and information panels. Matthew and I are looking into whether we can get a tour version for when the Mandela Trilogy is at the Centre.
After the visit to the museum we drove into Johannesburg and had a quick look at the Market Theatre. Unfortunately we couldn’t peek at the auditorium so didn’t really see that much. http://markettheatre.co.za
And that was it! My time in South Africa was over and it was time for me to head home. I had such a brilliant time, it was a wonderful thing to experience, tiring but worth it. I can’t wait to return. Next time I’d like to spend more time in Cape Town as I really didn’t get a chance to see much of it. I’d also go back in their summer so it’s warmer at night!

Cardiff Before Cardiff - Keith S. Robertson and Jon Pountney

One of the privileges of my position is that I get to visit artists in the process of creation; I get to see the manipulation of raw materials or the development of ideas which, for me, is often the most exciting part of the process.  Everything that exists in an artist’s studio contains the potential to be something or nothing, depending on the vision, skill and influence of the artist. 

On Tuesday I went out to visit Jon Pountney, a freelance photographer and one of the men behind the Warwick Hall artist residence/recording space in Gabalfa.  Jon’s been working on a project called Cardiff before Cardiff, which we’re projecting in its current form in the Angorfa foyer here at the Centre.

Originally created by photographer Keith S. Robertson in the early 80’s, a body of work – and it is a substantial body of over 250 prints and more than 1,000 negatives – was  unearthed by Jon as he set about renovating Warwick Hall.  It documents Cardiff around 1983/4, or perhaps more specifically, it documents the people that made this one of the world’s preeminent industrial cities before the decline of the docks and the re-birth (or re-branding) into Cardiff that we know today.

As Jon started to leaf through the stack of prints I fell silent.  The volume, the quality and the breadth of subjects that Keith managed to capture is overwhelming.  It was a genuine privilege to be able to see such an important collection, as near as possible to the way they were discovered by Jon.  It was almost as if I had discovered them myself.

Jon talked me through some of the stories, his eyes, seasoned by his own professional photography work, picking out the details that I may not have seen.  The stories that he has collected thus far range from straight facts to almost heart-wrenching melancholy.

It’s a body of work that carries significance across a number of subjects; historically it documents a city in great detail, socially it shows how far Cardiff has (or in some cases hasn’t) changed over the past 25 – 30 years and moving forward it begs questions about where the people are and what they’ve done in the preceding years.

I’ve made a short film with Jon, talking about the project, some of the stories that have arisen from various press coverage and how he intends to continue the project.  I hope to see this project grow and develop, so that in another 30 years someone can discover the work of Jon Pountney and Keith S. Robertson and add their name to this list.

Please take a look at the website and, if you can, contribute your stories.  http://www.cardiffbeforecardiff.tumblr.com