This Last Tempest preview @ Contact 26-27.10.15

Contact Theatre is one of the most innovative theatres in the North West, consistently presenting creative works that are thought provoking, outspoken and daring. Productions presented at Contact often cross art forms, creating wonderful and wacky hybrids. This summer I experienced Sensored, a day of creative events that merged sound, smell, texture, music, dance and theatre; this multi-art-form approach allowed something really powerful to come through and was a fantastic insight to Contact's creative amplitude. So it's safe to say that Contact is the perfect venue to host the upcoming collaborative project This Last Tempest. 

On hearing the title, some readers may have immediately thought of Shakespeare’s The Tempest, which they would be correct to do so. However This Last Tempest is a sequel and radical taken on the Shakespearean classic, that is equally accessible to audiences familiar and new to Shakespeare. Created by producing organisation Fuel and internationally acclaimed theatre company Uninvited Guests, this show fits perfectly with Contact’s innovative programming, promising an experience which is part theatre part gig. 

Beginning where Shakespeare left off, Ariel and Caliban are left alone on an enchanted island as Prospero's ship sails over the horizon and out of sight. In the hours that follow spawns a spectacle of magic where the spirit and creature weave unheard versions of the story, and conjure up what we mortals thought impossible; a world where humans are monsters and inanimate things come to life. 

With a an already stunningly visual play as its inspiration, this immersive experience is set to be like no other with an atmospheric soundscape by composer and musician Neil Johnson creating a strange but familiar world for both characters and audience. The concept of the piece is refreshingly simple, but one which removes limitations and enables the creative team to demonstrate their overwhelming creative ability.

The play has a strong key theme of freedom and questions the notion of utopia. We have all done it, where we hope for a better tomorrow or have the belief that a different time and place would bring us happiness; This Last Tempest explores what happens when one finally gets what they have been yearning for and maybe the grass isn't always greener. Although it would be easy for the audience to draw political parallels the company aim to empower their audiences to create their own meaning.  

Uninvited Guests are a company of national and international acclaim, melding the lines of theatre and social festivities to provoke and stimulate their audiences to think about the world around them and the times we live in. This Last Tempest is a brilliant example of these aims, which I urge you to take in while you have the chance.

This Last Tempest 

Thursday 26 November 8pm
Friday 27 November 8pm
contactmcr.com

Words: Kate Morris

Images: Aerial 3 is by Tom Medwell; This Last Tempest and Ariel in Flight by Ben Pacey

The Shrine of Everyday Things @ Contact, 25.07.15

I've always found it interesting the things we get attached to and what we choose to hold on to. It may be a particular blanket or cuddly toy we had as a child which has survived into our adulthood; although that existence may inhabit the attic, still we valued it enough to never let it go. But what of the little things we never knew we would miss until it’s gone; the smell of an old book, the porcelain figurine that sat on your Nan’s mantelpiece; or the wallpaper from your first home? The Shrine of Everyday Things is an immersive, interactive journey that gives you a new perspective to how big the little things can be.

The talented Contact Young Company devised the site-specific piece in four properties in a Brunswick estate facing demolition and refurbishment, peeking behind their net curtains to explore the stories of the residents gone by. With that in mind the piece is extremely ghostly with a buzzing feeling of apprehension; which is no surprise given the location remains secret until it’s too late to turn back. 

The audience is asked to meet at the Contact Theatre before they are guided to the housing estate. On the walk we are asked to wear headphones playing slow, moody music and (unbeknownst to us) voices of former residents talking of their favourite rooms and memories of the estate.

As we approach the estate we see a long balloon drifting through the sky, which isn’t an odd occurrence until we see another floating from one of the windows. It’s strangely surreal; but more so across the road to welcome us are the “picture perfect” suburbanites, smiling creepily and waving, oh so slowly.

The audience are then split up into smaller groups and guided to different rooms. Each experience is strange and eerie in its own way, equally as strange are the residents. Visiting the rooms we meet three women listening to the whispers of their neighbours. Sit in on an awkward dinner while sugar spills out from the ceiling. Then on to a lonely son in a kitchen filled with empty water bottles.

A strange calm is cast in the final room however, as we are invited to remember our dreams. This was a clever twist to the piece’s proceedings; one that was thought provoking and emotive as it made me personally connect with the content but reminded me I was stood in someone’s home. We were asked to write on the walls the best dream we have ever had, and it was lovely to read the dreams of strangers. As I read, I remembered that this was a real person’s bedroom; they had reflected, dreamt and looked to the future as we were now. 

That shared experience between a stranger and me; was the core of the piece for me. The power of an everyday occurrence, and exhibition of these little moments which make up our lives. The Shrine of Everyday Things is in our dreams.

Words: Kate Morris

Images: Courtesy of Contact 

RITES @ Contact Theatre, 12.05.15

“The secret of change is to focus all your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new.”

This humble quote from Socrates has been at the forefront of my mind. Most recently I have came back to these words when watching the lead up to the election, trying to see through the murky waters of promised change. And again in the aftermath to deal with the result we were dealt. Above all, these words fired to my brain faster than a round from a Smith and Wesson when I witnessed RITES at the Contact Theatre this week.

RITES is a co-production between the National Theatre of Scotland and Contact, which explores the deep-rooted cultural practice of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). Both theatres have earned a significant national and international reputation for daring and original work, and continue to do so through RITES, their most recent production.

RITES is abundantly powerful and does incredibly well at approaching an issue objectively but with sensitivity. The idea for the piece dates back two years ago where director and co-creator Cora Bissett was advised by a friend working as a Children’s officer for the Scottish Refugee Council, to devise a piece which would shed light on the practice of FGM. After musing on how to tackle the subject, Bissett joined forces with writer Yusra Warsama whom she met at Edinburgh Fringe. The two then conducted a series of complex interviews around the UK with FGM survivors, doctors, midwives, campaigners and lawyers; the accounts of which make up the this honest and thought provoking piece.

A soundscape of statistics and news reports engulfs the auditorium as we take our seats, which is interrupted by the entrance of Fara saying the pivotal line ‘I am real’. What a wonderful way to start a topical piece! We’re engaged from the first utterance but we’re not permitted to become too comfortable; urged to remember these characters exist; they’re real as are their words. This practice is really happening.

The piece has an authenticity which is aided by stunning performances from all the cast whom take on a variety of personas, moving the narrative along while covering all perceptions towards FGM. Fara played by Paida Mutonono is wonderful. Beth Marshall particularly stood out in various roles, going from affirmative and direct detective one moment, to a wholesome and kind but stumbling midwife. A very compelling performance came from Janet Kumah as she played a repentant ‘cutter’ (the women that would perform FGM in their native villages), after learning a new understanding of the ritual she abandons the practice and appeals others to follow her example. This character was particularly pivotal as it embodied the ethos of the piece and of words of Socrates: change happens in the future and it is to be built upon.

Words: Kate Morris

Images: Courtesy of Farrows Creative (top), Sally Jubb (bottom)