We started the year off with a serious planning session. In fact it started right after the Edinburgh Fringe last year. With the help of Fran Medley, our business mentor, confidant and friend, we put together a plan of creative activity that was both stimulating and challenging. We planned to collaborate, to travel and present our shows in new places and we are half way through this ever revealing journey. So here is the news from The Clarks camp as we plan our journey from Newport to New York and onto North Africa…. we start with a little re-cap.

In the first part of the year we presented Marega’s show Sometimes We Look in Chapter (and it snowed), made Admissions in Love with 20 students in Swansea Metropolitan University. We toured NiNE in Wales (and it snowed again!) and made The Big Dance Show (or Strictly Come Clarking) for The Blue Lagoon Festival.

The Big Dance Show

In June we collaborated with Hijinx Theatre Company to present The Waiting Room at this years Unity Festival in Cardiff. Under the direction of Ben Pettitt Wade we made an interactive piece of theatre that celebrated the wonder of waiting. We also directed a new piece of walk around performance with Odyssey Theatre Group that led to an almighty song and dance flash mob crescendo. Our residency work with Frantic Assembly is well documented in these blog pages but needless to say it was an inspiring fortnight.

The Waiting Room

In July with the support of Arts Council Wales, National Theatre Wales and Newport City Council we were instrumental in setting up Newport International Airspace, a new arts collective. With Stephanie Roberts and Jo Haycock we spent 4 days sharing our individual practice… this included photographic assignments, devising workshops, mosaic making and blind drawing as well as walking and talking about the city we all live in.

In August we are now set to work with Denni Dennis supported by Arts Council Wales and No Fit State. PORNO is a clown/dance performance that examines the possibilities of love in the sex industry. This work begins in Cardiff and then Denni and Mr Clark are heading to New York, with the support of Wales Arts International and The Brick Theatre, for 5 weeks to develop the show with an international cast in September as part of The Annual Clown Festival. We are delighted to be working with Philipp Ignatiev from Russia who is designing costume.

Denni Dennis

Mrs Clark will be working with Sean Tuan John on his new production in Cardiff and Aberystwyth and it is with a heavy heart that we leave her behind in Wales… but we will take her spirit, music and choreography across the pond.

October is looking very good for Marega as she has been invited to present Sometimes We Look at the Fez International Dance Festival in Morocco. We are heading there with Belinda Neave, John Thorne and Catherine Bennett for a week to perform and deliver workshops with the local community, supported by Wales Arts International. Belinda inspired Marega to dance with her performance in Moving Beings production, Brecht in 1984. The teenage Marega then headed to the London School of Contemporary Dance.

Sometimes We Look

Then we resume work on Ladies and Gentlemen with Lea Anderson in November. Ladies and Gentlemen was originally commissioned for Blysh Dance and is now being produced by Chapter Arts Centre, further supported by Arts Council Wales and Coreo Cymru. This show will open in Chapter in February 2014 and will be the first performance by The Cholmondeleys in Wales for 3 years. It is the tale of an old music hall family who cannot quite remember their act. The music is performed by the cast and composed by Steve Blake.

In our spare time we have formed two new bands – The Newport City Picnic Society and The Shelley Duvalls – both have been performing around Newport this summer. Look out for some rogue recordings soon.

My name is Shelley Duvall

So there you are… all that planning has paid off and we are looking forward to the ensuing challenges of making and showing performances at home and abroad. Watch this space for updates and images.

Gareth