Joe on You Tube
For all those people who have asked to see a recording of our Joe on the streets of Nuneaton – here he is (pop up performance number seven for actor Jon Morris) at the George Eliot Obelisk on Saturday 21st January 2012. Follow this link for part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSgKAm9wXCU and this for part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfrl14owcsU.
Joe will be popping up again in Nuneaton on Saturday 19th May 2012 as part of The Fellowship’s George Eliot Day – for more information contact John Burton jkburton@tiscali.co.uk
Still desperately seeking George
Although this is the end of my residency at the museum & art gallery in Nuneaton, it isn’t the end of my own search for George. While ‘The Oracle of the Taprooms’ was written specifically for Nuneaton audiences and local sites relating to George, I am also interested in her life in Coventry (1841 – 1849), and her relationship with both her father and her faith. I haven’t even started researching the new play yet but it does have a title (I can’t seem to start a play until I have a title) – ‘A Ploughed Heart’. Of course at this stage of the process there is no funding for the project or any partners in place so please don’t expect my blog posts to be as frequent in the future but do check in/subscribe for occasional updates.
Many thanks for joining me on the journey so far (5,788 views, 312 comments) and sharing what George means to you. I hope that it has inspired all you loyal ’lurkers’ out there to seek out George for yourself, to learn about her inspiring life story and read her incomparable novels.
everyone talked about her as a staggering genius…
Catherine Nisbet (Senior Museum Officer)
At the end of my residency with the museum & art gallery I asked Catherine if it had changed the way she now approached George.
i think it has… it’s always nice when someone is enthusiastic about the objects we care for… we think the collections here are really interesting…but because we felt there had been a lack of interest you start to think are we mad? these objects speak to people about her life story… all the objects point to this interest, particularly local interest… it has reignited an interest for me in the collection… i spent a lot of time trying to gauge people’s interest in her… the residency has clarified that people are not necessarily interested in reading her books… if it’s about her life… should she be a figure of inspiration or aspiration for local people… she being independently famous and wealthy from hard work… i think because she was a literary figure i wasn’t interpreting her as i would other things… there’s no point in me doing an exhibition if no one is interested… we know that there are people who are interested but what is it about her that they find so interesting and want to learn… having someone come in with different techniques has helped… what you interpret has to be interesting… it’s easy to see her as very different… you start to read her books for local connections… maybe i need to go back to her life and how she lived it and stop obsessing about whether there is a line in a book about this character that’s relevant to local history…her changes over religion… how do you deal with big moves… operate within a society different from the one you grew up in… the question i keep coming back to is why don’t we know the specifics of her life… no one is clear what she died of… these are not just my questions, they’re questions that a lot of people have… i need to stop worrying about the books and start concentrating on her and the journey she went on… i struggled for a while because everyone talked about her as a staggering genius… at what point is she not a person… it’s about explaining that… she’s starting to chime with the act of life film* where one of the people is talking about what they want… wealth, fame, she achieved all those things… within the social conventions of the time she carved out a radically different life for herself… a number of things that led to that were not conscious choices… she set out to write to support herself.
* An Act of Life (2008) written and directed by Vanessa Oakes and performed by students from King Edward’s College, is a short film which was originally commissioned for the exhibition ‘Fit for Heroes’ (Nov 08 – Feb 09), it is currently installed in the Local History Gallery at Nuneaton Museum & Art Gallery.
Joe’s back in the papers (although this time it’s not The Times)
I finally got to see a copy of the press article in the Nuneaton News courtesy of Geoff at Corley Tai Chi
‘you brought it all on yourself mate!’
For my 100th post I thought I’d document Joe’s progress around Nuneaton (come rain or shine) and some of the people he met.
DAY ONE Friday 20th January 2012
Sleeping in the relative comfort of the Museum & Art Gallery
Meeting a group of local teenagers by the obelisk
Stopping off at one of his favourite watering holes (George Eliot Hotel)
Popping into St. Nicolas Community Centre
Reciting in George’s childhood home
DAY TWO Saturday 21st January 2012
The word is out around town
Standing room only at the Museum
Sheebee – a potential canine companion?
Joe and I stop for a spot of lunch
The calm before the storm
People stop to watch the action
Back at St. Nicolas
The final word
Joe packs up
I certainly had a great couple of days listening to all the audience’s reactions to Joe. My favourite performance (Day 2 George Eliot Hotel) involved Joe dealing with a heckler (from the safety of an outdoor balcony at the rear of the pub), who completely bought into Joe’s story and shouted down in exasperation ’you brought it all on yourself mate!’ before threatening ’if you keep your mouth open i’ll come down and kick your head in!’. It really resonated with me as the idea for the play had come from an encounter I had in 2010 with a homeless gentleman who had warned ‘don’t you go taking the p*** out of my george eliot or she’ll come back and haunt you!’.
I was also delighted to meet a performer and member of The Punch & Judy Fellowship (Day 1 at Griff House) who shared his card tricks with us after the show – I learnt a lot about the Fellowship and their plans for Mr Punch’s 350th anniversary at Covent Garden.
Thank you to everyone who came along to meet Joe. We are now in the process of evaluating both the residency and the play/performances for our funders so do comment below and let me know your thoughts.
The Creative Team meet to rehearse
i copied her words out in longhand… beautiful… clear words… full of humanity
Mark and Jon
Last night we met at The Ellen Terry building (Coventry University) to continue to rehearse ‘The Oracle of the Taprooms’, tomorrow we do site visits at all the venues and the inevitable risk assessment before our final rehearsals and the first show next Friday.
The Creative Team
Director
Mark Evans trained with Jacques Lecoq in Paris at the École Jacques Lecoq and with Monika Pagneux and Philippe Gaulier. Mark has spent over twenty years teaching theatre practice and is currently Associate Dean, School of Art & Design, Coventry University. Mark’s work as a director includes: The Kindness of Strangers, A Body Moving Through (the estate), 1994 – 2001 STORM Theatre Company, 1985 Yorick Theatre Company, 1984 Floorboards Theatre Company, 1981 – 1983 Hallmark Theatre Co. His books include Jacques Copeau (Routledge, 2006) and Movement Training for the Modern Actor (Routledge, 2009). He is currently writing a new book on movement and theatre to be published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2014.
Actor
Jon Morris grew up in Coventry and had his first contact with live drama with the Belgrade Youth Theatre in the 1980’s. Although he had no formal training he has worked extensively as an actor with many theatre, film and television companies. Jon has worked on two previous plays by Vanessa, ‘The Last Things’ and ‘Touching Jane’, both for the estate. More recently he has focussed on directing and working with young people. In this capacity he has worked for Birmingham Rep, The Belgrade Theatre, The Playhouse, Women and Theatre, National Youth Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company amongst others. Jon currently divides his time mainly between the latter two companies. He lives in Birmingham with his wife Cheryl and their two boys Aldo and Eli.
Playwright
Vanessa Oakes trained as a theatre designer before working extensively in scenography, community arts and arts administration. Her recent plays include; The Game Anew for Pentabus Theatre’s May Fair at Latitude, The Watched Sea (CAPITAL), The Permitted Number (Paines Plough/Belgrade Theatre), I Am Active (Red Teapot), The Kindness of Strangers (Warwick Words), Lost in Paradise CV6 (Belgrade Theatre), A Body Moving Through (the estate), Live Like Us (Belgrade Theatre). Current projects include His Naked Eye for Theatre in Action (Glasgow) and a new play A Ploughed Heart.
We look forward to meeting a few of you ‘lurkers’ in person at one of the venues (same times/venues each day: 11am Nuneaton Museum & Art Gallery, 12 noon George Eliot Memorial Gardens (obelisk), 1pm George Eliot Hotel (archway), 2pm St. Nicholas Community Centre, 3pm Griff House). Do stop by and say hello to the team.
There’s something about a dog
I think it was Joan Littlewood (theatre director) who said if you want an audience put a dog on the poster. Looking at the first few comments on The Writing Room there certainly seems to be something special about a certain dog or at least her cuddly alter ego. The photograph below is on top of the desk with Belle’s short biog: Look who’s under the desk? Belle is a Border Collie. She is 14.5 years old. When she isn’t helping Vanessa her owner think up new ideas for plays, she likes walking, swimming and playing games with her favourite squeeky toys.
Belle (playwright’s muse)
My story is epic so it’s with Belle Sian & Mewiffa
How nice of you to comment about Belle Lilly, Bethan & Simon
I really loved Belle. I read her a story. She’s lovely. Rene
Do you like theatre?
Some of you may have seen these cards at your local theatre and/or a piece about the I Like Theatre Resolution Scheme on BBC News last week. I for one didn’t feel as if I saw enough theatre last year (compared with previous years) so I had a look at my diary to see if I could see any patterns emerging in my recent trips:
2011: Cinderella (Belgrade), Chouf Ouchouf (Maz, Bruges), Too Much Pressure (Belgrade), New Black Showcase (Belgrade), Stationary Excess/Pedestrian (Warwick Arts Centre), Trojan Barbie (Playbox), The Tempest (Cheek by Jowl @ WAC), Columbo (Belgrade), Notes to Future Self (B’ham Rep @ MAC), The Usual Auntijies (Belgrade), Love, Love, Love (Paines Plough @ Curve), Uncle Vanya (Arcola @ Belgrade), C&E Sharing event, Keepers (Plasticine Men @ MAC), The City Madam (RSC), The School of Night reading (RSC), The Night Queen (Hoopla @ Belgrade), Dunsinane (RSC), Macbeth (RSC), Mechant of Venice (RSC), Hundreds & Thousands (Buckle for Dust @ Soho), Dancing Bears (Clean Break @ Latitude), Mayfair (Pentabus @ Latitude), For Once (Pentabus @ Hampstead), The Homecoming (RSC), Pitman Painters (National @ Belgrade), Bombers Moon (Belgrade), Medea (Crescent), The Vagina Monologues (Belgrade), Lovesong (Frantic @ WAC), Marat Sade (RSC), Dig (Paines Plough @ Belgrade), Written on the Heart (RSC), You Cannot Go Forward From Where You Are (Paines Polugh @ Belgrade), Juicy Fruits (Paines Polugh @ Belgrade), Spring Awakening (Belgrade), Silas Marner (Bedworth Arts), Schrödinger (Reckless Sleepers @ WAC) 39 shows
I’ve certainly been to the RSC more than in recent years but then Dunsinane, Merchant of Venice and The Homecoming were all so great it encouraged me to go more often. My other favourite shows of 2011 were Chouf Ouchouf (Maz, Bruges), The Tempest and Schrödinger (both at WAC) but I wouldn’t have missed any of the 39 on the list because I most certainly do like theatre.
Why not make it your New Years resolution – pick up a card or join in online at: http://www.iliketheatre.co.uk/
I believe there’s a show happening on the streets of Nuneaton in a couple of weeks time about a certain Mr. Joseph Liggins - we’d certainly love to get your feedback and/or even an award…
THE ORACLE OF THE TAPROOMS by Vanessa Oakes
We present most humbly FOR YOUR UTMOST PLEASURE AND DELECTATION a pop up performance on the streets of Nuneaton. Come along RAIN OR SHINE and MEET THE INFAMOUS WELL EDUCATED LOCAL LAYABOUT MR. JOSEPH HENRY LIGGINS as he tells us his extraordinary story.
i needed to belong somewhere and those words anchored me… the truth is living like this… adrift… always alone with no comforts to speak of… it leaves one so full of longing…
After being asked to leave Cambridge, Joseph Liggins (1801–1872) struggled for years to make a living before being wrongly identified as the author of ‘Scenes of Clerical Life’ and ‘Adam Bede’.
In 2010 while I was working with local teenagers who were photographing the George Eliot statue, a homeless gentleman who was bedding down for the night in Debenhams’ doorway called over to us with a warning, ‘don’t you go taking the p*** out of my George Eliot or she’ll come back and haunt you!’, which inspired me to write this short play.
15 MINUTE PERFORMANCES THROUGHOUT FRIDAY 20th & SATURDAY 21st JANUARY 2012
Come rain or shine at the following times and places
11am Nuneaton Museum & Art Gallery
12noon George Eliot Memorial Gardens (obelisk)
1pm George Eliot Hotel (archway)
2pm St. Nicholas Community Centre
3pm Griff House, Coventry Road CV10 7PJ
All performance sites are within a short walk of the Museum except Griff House
2011 in review
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 5,000 times in 2011. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 4 trips to carry that many people.
