Sharing work at Toynbee Hall
Yesterday Emma and I joined several other pairs/collaborators to share work we had each been exploring. One of the best things about it, besides the incredible range of creativity on offer, was how relaxed the day was. We were in a space populated by a supportive group of people all trying things out and succeeding by ‘daring to fail’. It couldn’t have felt more appropriate.
I very much enjoyed all of the projects and was particularly impressed with the fun and energy of Kym and Jason’s Rattle My Cage. Both they along with Anne who worked with Noami, and her husband later joined in with Emma’s and my own project so it was a very full day of collaborating for them.
Emma and I were scheduled to show our work in the afternoon after tutor/organisers, Caroline and Carla. This initially made me a bit nervous as I suspected they would be a hard act to follow. In fact, their powerful mix of live audio and film (I loved it) was the perfect precursor. It set a tone and gave me the confidence to really go for it with our own plans of mixing live and recorded work.
While developing our film I had the thought that it would be great to introduce human voices in the final section but we did not have the time to write for and organise a choir. I had recently done some improvisation games with the Pic London group, which were very much like the ones I spent three years doing while at drama school (1991-94). Although I have not acted in some years now, the skills – I have recently learned – are still embedded within me; and improvisation and performance seem to be a language I am relatively fluent in. Revisiting has felt like a wonderful ‘awakening’ and these experiences are encouraging me to keep heading in this direction. I suggested to Emma we try out the improvised vocal games with volunteers, to see how that goes, and she was open to the idea.
Even so, I had no idea if or how it would work, or if we’d even have any volunteers. Thankfully we did and Kym, Jason, Anne, along with her husband were fantastically open and committed. The result was an evocative and powerful additional layer that makes the work a hybrid, in parts ephemeral but also long-lasting.
Reflections on the working process
As I have mentioned here previously, it was not an easy process. Emma and I are very different people and come from dissimilar working backgrounds. I think we arrived (as perhaps others in the group did) with expectations that were challenging to match up. As Carla mentioned, some people like to chat endlessly about ideas while others just want to get on with something. I definitely fall into the former camp. I tend to throw an abundance of possible concepts around, experimenting, building up layers and creating a journey of experience, which to others might look a little like a crazed mouse running about a maze constantly bumping into walls. For me, that is the process. Which I am certain can be quite frustrating for others. At one point I thought, well I’m obviously too chaotic and shouldn’t try to impose that on other people – and perhaps collaboration isn’t for me. About ten days ago, I actually wanted to drop the whole thing and pull out altogether. Obviously, I couldn’t do that, especially after Emma worked so hard. Instead, as one would expect with so little time left, I pulled all the ideas into a ‘narrative’ which was more contained and formed than it had been and Emma and I worked all Saturday (the week before) bringing it to the state it was in yesterday.
As we brought the work to a place that felt OK for showing, I was reminded of Clod Ensemble’s process. They had taken ten years to develop On the High Road (2019) starting with a Checkov story about an inn in a storm. I also remembered the big lesson I learned at drama school about exploring, not shutting down, keeping things open for as long as possible and only closing in on elements when absolutely necessary. This makes for scary work – I find it terrifying! But I think it has to be the most productive way of creating.
In the end, I am incredibly impressed and pleased with the music Emma wrote. And we did manage to find a common language.
Collaboration
I think people interpret the word ‘collaboration’ in many different ways. Perhaps sometimes photographers use the word to overcome potentially tricky ethics. We all feed off each other but some feed more than most! Photography might nearly always be seen as collaborative if people are included in the frame. Even a candid street photo where the subject looks at the camera is collaborative, especially if there is an acknowledgment between photographer and captured person. Others use the word when perhaps they mean one person giving instruction to ‘underlings’ simply because it’s trendy. Saying that, having someone to lead is necessary for some scenarios. But I wonder if finding genuine deep collaborations, the sort described by Carla and Caroline, where the separation between two individuals becomes blurred is probably quite rare. I enjoyed seeing Stefan and Vicky’s work which literally represented this process.
Overall, I am incredibly glad I did not give in to my terror last week – thank you, Emma, for being calm and reassuring. I learned a lot and am grateful for the experience.
I am considering using it for my fist BOW assignment now which I had not had in mind at all. I will certainly refer to it in the Critical Studies essay due in soon.
See other ongoing notes here