I'm super excited to finally announce (long overdue!) that I have been commissioned to make a show in Wales this year.
Howl! is a magical tale of a wild were-wolf woman. A narrative aerial theatre show performed in Welsh.Written by me, Directed by Gwen Thompson. Original musical score by Daniel Rhys Lawrence with Welsh support and costume design by Kate Jones.
Commissioned by Wales Outdoor Arts Consortium.
Rehearsed in my Mum's field.
We have loads of performance dates throughout Wales this summer, posts coming soon!
Rwy'n hynod gyffrous i gyhoeddi o'r diwedd fy mod wedi cael fynghomisiynu i wneud sioe yng Nghymru eleni. Mae Howl! yn stori hudolus am blaidd-ddynes wyllt. Sioe theatr awyrol naratif yn cael ei pherfformio yn Gymraeg. Ysgifennwyd gennyf fi, cyfarwyddwyd gan Gwen Thompson. Sgor gerddoral wreiddiolgan Daniel Rhys Lawrence, gyda chefnogaeth Gymreig a chynllun gwisgoedd gan Kate Jones. Comosiynwyd gan Gonsortiwm Celfyddydau Awyr Agored Cymru. Wedi Ymarfer yng cae fy Mam. Mae gennym ni lwyth a ddyddiadau perfformio dros Cymru yr haf yma.
This year I was drawn to a small festival organised by the Landworkers Alliance- The Land Skills Fair. It is a festival that focuses on land, food and climate justice. It is a medly of workshops, talks, music, performances and networking. Going there to perform combines my work life and my hobbies and passions.
So, along with Daisy Black of Gossamer Thread Circus we created bespoke aerial and spoken word performances on the themes of nature connection, climate, seasons, ecology and folklore. Writing and creating the piece was a very enjoyable creative endeaver, and I was keen to see how it was received by the audience. Daisy used some material from a film project she made during lockdown, adapting a part of it for live performance, as part of a larger project to be realised in 2023.
Both rope performances, they sat together beautifully and our short shows were well received by the very lovely audiences. It was, as ever a challenge to perform outside- we were rained off on Friday, but the weather held for Saturday and Sunday.
One of the things I do sometimes, is deliver text live while doing aerial, which can be a challenge for numerous reasons. On this occaision, because of being outside at a festival with background noise, I used a headset radio microphone, which of course brings its own problems, not least, where put and how to secure the battery pack and how to keep the headset on your head whilst going upside down and moving dynamically! In this case the wind also presented a challenge, as, the higher up you are, the windier it is, and the microphone was picking up the wind noise, which was a little distracting.
Despite this, the shows went well, we had fun and received good feedback on the performances. We are hoping to develop this into a full show to tour next year, and bring in Daisy's existing dream for the larger project- watch this space.
https://www.landskillsfair.com/
https://gossamerthreadcircus.weebly.com/
I was lucky enough to be cast in a new show with Rowanbank Environmental Arts Education. The show "Positive Imaginings" was the most ambitious of the company to date, is a site-specific circus theatre show about the climate crisis for children. It was challenging and rewarding, and I loved working with the team of 3 other performers- 2 musicians and 2 circus performers and director Rachael McIntyre. We devised the show, using ground work already done by the company with a school local to the site- Craigmillar Castle Park in Edinburgh. We wove a tale with magical charecters in the woods- I was "Gwynt" which is Welsh for wind, a kind of magical woodland sprite, I lived in the woods as part of nature and observed the world of humans with curiosity. The performance used aerial circus, narrative, text and live music and culminated in a children's climate assembly where the audience had the opportunity to express their ideas for a positive climate future. All transport to and from rehearsals and performances was, in line with the subject matter of the show, by bicycle or public transport.
The company is now seeking funding to tour this show in 2022.
To find out more about this show and to see the promotional film and a mini-documentary about the making of the show take a look at the Rowanbank Environmental Arts Education Website: