We start again. The show that we made with Jonny Cotsen two years ago comes back. We’ve had a few days in the studio at Chapter Arts Centre to prepare for a tour that takes in venues from Lowestoft to Milan, venues that vary from village halls in Gleaston to well established theatres in London and Paris.
Jonny has been speaking about his experiences of making this show. He is the undoubted star and has taken significant strides to take to the stage and tell his story. However the show has been made with very important key collaborators and of course with us, Mr and Mrs Clark, and we have a fair bit of experience in how to make theatre.
Firstly we should acknowledge Catherine Bennett’s contribution as the choreographer or movement director. She works instinctively with individuals to bring out their unique movement quality. She said of this project….
“I led Jonny through improvisations in which we thought of his body as an archive. Populated with influences that shaped him as a person and artist. We mapped personal memories, artistic heroes, fantasies and invisible forces as if he were a moving self portrait. Experiences were cut up and spliced together to ricochet through Jonny’s body, his movement, always working across the human scale.”
Catherine has worked with us Clarks on three previous projects, SMASH IT UP, Electioneering and on Marega’s movement based exhibition Sometimes We Look. She has also worked with some of the UK’s most recognised dance practitioners including Siobhan Davies and Wayne McGregor.
Another worthy contributor was Jorge Lizalde who created film and captioning for the show. I challenged Jorge to find a way to allow Jonny’s computer to ‘speak’ to another lap top so that we could project from on stage and the technical area. Jorge is a problem solver extraordinaire and the show has now been performed over 50 times with a 50 metre HDMI cable and a syphon making that vital connection.
I asked Christopher Young to write a song for the show. My intention was to give Jonny an opportunity to sing, something he had always wanted to do, and instead of singing a known pop song I felt we could use this medium as a way of sharing the ridiculous things hearing people say to a deaf person. Chris wrote lyrics from the conversations that the three of us had and then composed a real ear-worm of a tune. If you’ve seen the show you’ll know exactly what I mean. Chris also designed sound for the performance to add levels of texture and dynamic shift where needed. Music and sound play a massive part in Jonny’s world and Chris created a sound track that really illustrates this beautifully.
I should of course mention Marega as her role is as important as anyones. When Jonny and I started working on this we would train every morning to improve his cardiovascular health. The show has its physical demands. We worked really hard and Jonny certainly rose to the challenge often saying how much he enjoyed the workouts. Marega has continued this tradition and adds strength and flexibility exercises into the rigours regime. She has a very special way of preparing Jonny for shows and whilst in Edinburgh the two of them could be found on the Meadows jumping until the worms came to the surface. Marega is also an excellent outside eye and has helped refine some of the movement in the show.
Ceri Benjamin our technical manager is now tasked to create the lighting and sound across a very broad spectrum of venues. They are incredibly versatile and adept at working out solutions to get the show to look and sound as best as it possibly can. They are also highly skilled in 50 metre cable management.
Jonny is of course the main man. However behind him is a creative team that devised and moulded his story into a multi-layered experience that reflects the struggles of someone who is different. The narrative structure of the work was carefully constructed to give the audience an experience that would make them reflect, empathise and feel empowered. The show is now booked to be performed in 5 countries and that for a small company like ours, feels good.
Gareth Clark – Director
Special Thanks to Chapter Arts Centre and Hijinx Theatre Company