Produced by Headway Arts
Devised & Performed
by The Seven Stars
Directed by Allie Walton-Robson
Today at Come On Down
will see a short scratch performance of what will be our winter production
'Stories from The Chip Heaven Café'. Here is how we've begun to make it.
As a permanent company
based at Headway ArtSpace, The Seven Stars know each other pretty well, in
Andy's words 'like a family'. Just like a family a theatre company sees people
come and go, ups and downs, challenges and successes, good times and bad,
impacting upon everyone - and so we respect, look after and support each other
through it all.
Led by a different
person we start each day with 'warm up'. We play favourite games to get our
mind and body awake. We love to sing together and I often get out my ukulele
for a session (as a happy enthusiast rather than a musician!). A special favourite
is 'I Believe In Angels' by ABBA. Sometimes people struggle to remember song
words. I thought we should learn the song properly and encourage some critical
thinking. I asked why everyone liked this song so much and to look closely at
the words and discuss their meanings, searching for understanding. We chose
the most meaningful words for each of us and then based drama improvisations
around these. We created vivid text based drawings, using the words. Paul
Denton then took a series of individual photo portraits using this artwork,
images inspired by the words. The next step was to build sequences of movement,
then natural dialogue inspired by the banter round the table, scenes and
script. Each week we have Fish & Chip Thursday - a very sociable occasion
where we all sit down around the kitchen table for a feast together and talk
over our dreams and challenges. There are many challenges for a learning
disabled person. Everyone helps to set the table. Fran joins us and Kerri and Natalie sort out
the (often complicated) order. Paul doesn't eat any chips but pops in anyway.
It is of course not their only contribution. We all have a good laugh. I think
it has become an important time together. A new ritual.
We also thought about
the idea of 'angels' - religious angels, hells angels, the Angel of the North,
beings who make magic happen, the angels in our own lives who help us, the
magical people who inspire us and the real people who are there for us. Some
who are both.
A dream trip to America
was a recurring theme within sessions: favourite shows made at universal
studios, the set of Charmed & Glee, Star Trek, Elvis and Graceland, Rock
& Roll, NYC, Yellowstone park. We explored American music. Worked in a
collective love of all things 'space' - a constant theme in our work
(resistance is futile).
And so during our
R&D sessions we threw all of this into the improvisational mix, we have
more work to do and scenes to develop. It is important to everyone to make art which is entertaining but says
a little something meaningful about our lives, using our unique 'co-creative'
methodology. I do hope we have begun to create a great piece of magical realism
which everyone will enjoy. We've cunningly worked the key words chosen from the
song into the script (see if you can spot them!) and have begun to unfold a
story of friendship, fantasy, dreaming, wonder, reality and believing. With
chips.
On behalf of Fran, Paul, Kerri, our board and
all our crew here at Headway Arts.
Enjoy Come On Down 2014.
Allie Walton-Robson
Oct 2014
