A Festival of Secrets

Not satisfied with the four miniature festivals we've already put together for you we've decided to add another...

As is almost always the way we've had an incredible last minute rush of exciting little projects and experiments that we've decided to smuggle into our programme, all of which we've decided to gather together under the banner of a Festival of Secrets.

We can't yet tell you where and when, or even what, these may be, but keep a track of us on twitter, facebook and by dropping into the venue and you'll find out how you can experience some secret projects by the following artists:

Action Hero

Chris Thorpe

Nigel Barrett and Louise Mari of SHUNT

Kindle Theatre

Charlotte Jarvis

Ryan Van Winkle

Jo Bannon

Just two weeks to go now. Let the good times roll...

Brizzle and Glazzgo

So it's over.

After a frantic, breathless, deliriously exhilarating few weeks we are back home from our Microfestival adventure. It's been an incredible experience. We've worked with 60 different artists or companies in 4 cities, with a total audience of over 500 people. We've had installations, one-on-one encounters, rock freakouts, secret games, haunting imaginary cinemas, an attempt at mapping the world in stories, Sir Walter Raleigh, a cabinet of ideas, a library of sounds, a human bird table, a man covered in salt, romance, music, heartbreak, tears, wonder, and in addition to all of that we've just a grand old time of it.

Thank you to all the artists and the venues and the volunteers and everyone who has helped make this such a fascinating and brilliant success.

We'll be bringing all that's happened together before Edinburgh so people can have a look at what we did but for now here's some links and photographs from Bristol and Glasgow to give you an idea of what went on. If any of you got a chance to come along to any of the four events please do feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments - we'd love to hear them.

BRISTOL

In Bristol we took over the Old Vic for the opening weekend of Mayfest. You can read a lovely review of the event here:

An evening that really had to be seen to be appreciated, the Forest Fringe was like tumbling down the rabbit hole - initially totally confusing, but once I left my reservations behind, and just gave into the madness. It was a novel, unique and memorable evening. If ever the Fringe crew are back in town, I suggest you leave any expectations of normality at the door and get involved.

Or check out Hannah Nicklin's brilliant Microsite which she was updating throughout the weekend, as a means for people to keep track of everything going on.

There's also a beautiful collection of images by Finlay Robertson here, some of which are posted below.

Action Hero

Peter McMaster

Search Party

Little Bulb

GLASGOW

In Glasgow we had the whole run of the incredible maze of spaces that make up The Arches. You can read Mary Brennan's truly wonderful review in the Herald here:

What was it like?

Like being a kid, let loose in a sweet shop full of tantalising choices... Much better than sweets. You can gorge on Forest Fringe and never get sick, or tired of the flavours.

We also have another lovely collection of photographs, this time by James Baster, here.

Abigail Conway

The Love Calculator

Jenna Watt & Rachel Moffat

Third Angel

Forest Fringe Microfestivals

Is this country a big place?

Put into context obviously not. It takes three days non stop to drive half way across Canada. And yet you could realistically sleep for almost two of those days and miss virtually nothing bar prairie. Travel from the West Midlands to South Wales in a couple of hours and you’re moving between two different worlds.

We’ve had plenty of time to think about these kind of questions as we’ve roamed up and down the country in the last few months. I’ve learnt new things. I’ve become more outraged by the cost of petrol. I’ve discovered how hard it is to be vegetarian at service stations. I’ve fostered a deep, ingrained mistrust of thetrainline.com.

The result of all of this is that we have a programme of Microfestivals for you – beginning in London in April and ending in Bristol in May.

Each will be a unique weekend of strange events, intimate encounters and performance installations. In each place one ticket will allow you to be a part of everything.

It goes like this:

In London on the 2 & 3 April we’ll be working with our long-time supporters BAC, using a dizzying array of spaces scattered across the beautiful Old Town Hall in Battersea.

In Glasgow on the 16 & 17 April we’ll be with The Arches in their epic subterranean maze of railway arches beneath Central Station.

In Swansea on the 24 & 25 April we’ll be sharing an unusual space with National Theatre Wales’ Assembly programme as part of their month of events in the city.

And Finally in Bristol on the 8 & 9 May we’ll be helping launch the brilliant Mayfest by taking over the whole of Bristol’s legendary Old Vic Theatre, from stages to workshops to backstage corridors and other hidden corners of the building.

In each of these locations we’ll be working with a mix of local companies and Forest Fringe artists from across the country. You’ll be able to see some of the most exciting events that we supported at the Edinburgh Festival last summer, and a collection of brand new pieces, many of which we hope will be journeying to Edinburgh with us this summer.

For each of the individual Microfestivals we’ll be announcing a full line-up of artists closer to the time but already we can tell you that featuring in the programme will be Melanie Wilson, Forced Entertainment’s Tim Etchells, Co-creator of the amazing Home Sweet Home Abigail Conway, the legendary Stoke Newington International Airport, Tinned Fingers, Action Hero, Search Party, Brian Lobel and Emma Benson as well as a host of incredible young artists such as Tania El Khoury, Peter McMaster and Swansea’s Shellshock Theatre. We’re also still programming more events for all the locations so if you’re an artist and you’re interested in being involved leave a comment below or get in touch via our website.

The Microfestivals will also see the launch of the Forest Fringe Travelling Sounds Library, an exciting new collaborative project bringing together a brilliantly diverse range of audio-pieces into an interactive library made from recycled hard back books and mp3 players. But more on this very, very soon…

So that’s it, basically.

Hopefully we’ll be coming somewhere near you. We’re stupidly excited by it all and we hope you will be too. As always, if you’ve got any thoughts or comments or questions – just leave them below and we promise we’ll get back to you.

Otherwise – bring on the spring.

Music to watch shows by

So there we were, crumpled contentedly on the sofa, itunes whirring down the alphabet. Through conversation and tiredness the music was simply washing over us. But suddenly with only the first five seconds of a song we didn't even know the name of, we were somewhere else entirely. The song was French duo Air's Don't Be Light but to us it wasn't really a song any more, it was a chunk of memory, a slither of Action Hero's Watch Me Fall torn from its context and sat here with us in the living room.

This was more than just a nod of familiarity. This was pop music equivalent of a tea-stained madeleine. This was transporting, like those songs that make you 14 or in love again. Because this song wasn't an accompaniment to a show, an accessory, a well-chosen aural flourish. This song was a vital part of the whole experience of being there; the power of its whirring, accelerating beats and its distorted vocals a necessary element of the show's unsettling, euphoria-baiting climax.

A song in a show is always an alien body. It is another work of art smuggled in. The power of a good show is in acknowledging that. In admitting that any work of art is a collage of borrowed thoughts and ideas, half-remembered quotations, conscious and unconscious allusions and echoes and pastiches and the memory of everything that might have happened in that space before you. The most thrilling, exciting, beautiful shows revel in that, in being a startling combination of the strange and the familiar, the borrowed and the new.

These shows understand what good pop music can do when it's given a proper part to play. When it is knitted into the fabric of the show, when the two are inseperable so that you hear that same song in a living room six months later and you the whole show is suddenly there in your head.

The more we thought about it, the more we realised that a lot of our favourite shows, those truly sublime experiences that live you fizzing with excitement, used music in this way. We found that many of our best show memories were formed when a brilliant song merged into, was an essential part of, an incredible theatrical moment. We started to tally them up in our heads and then as the list grew and grew we did what felt like the only appropriate thing - we decided to make them into a mix tape.

Which is exactly what we have done. Below are the results, by 'song (musical artists), theatre artist, show'. These were our rules (because a mixtape is NOTHING without rules).

1) You can only have songs you love

2) from shows you loved

3) The song has to be an integral part of the show, not just background or interval music

4) and when you hear it it must send you skidding back to the show itself

So, this is what we have. These are our selections. If you so wish, all the songs are available on itunes.

What was that song she played in the sad bit? [A Mix Tape]

1) How Fucking Romantic (The Magnetic Fields) - Rosie Dennis, Love Song Dedication

2) Billy 1 (Bob Dylan) - Little Bulb Theatre, Crocosmia

3) The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades is out to get us (Sufjan Stevens) - The TEAM, Particularly in the Heartland

4) Gulag Orkestra (Beirut) - Gob Squad, Saving the World

5) Set Yourself on Fire (Stars) - Nic Green and BAC's Young People's Theatre, The Fire in the Woods

6) Sing, Sing, Sing (Benny Goodman and His Orchestra) - Punchdrunk, The Masque of the Red Death

7) Don't be Light (Air) - Action Hero, Watch Me Fall

8) Let's Dance (David Bowie) - Jerome Bel, The Show Must Go On

9) First Breath After Coma (Explosions in the Sky) - Ontroerend Goed, Once and For All We're Going to Tell You Who We Are So Shut Up and Listen

10) You Are My Sister (Anthony and the Johnsons) - Chris Goode, Sisters

11) The Power of Love (Frankie Goes to Hollywood) - Uninvited Guests, Love Letters Straight to your Heart

All of which we are very pleased with. Problem is however, as any mixtape lover will tell you, 11 is no kind of number for a mix tape. It has to be 12. So we want your suggestions. What have we missed? What are the songs that have you tingling with remembrance? Leave your favourites in the comments and hopefully we can build ourselves a whole library of music that can make up the soundtrack to Forest Fringe this summer.

[This mix tape was put together with the brilliant Laura McDermott, who has seen more music gigs and more theatre shows than is probably healthy.]

Residence

[Here's something from James of Action Hero about Residence, an artist-led collective of companies and individuals based in Bristol who make theatre, performance and live art. Members include both Action Hero themselves and Ed Rapley, who will also be at Forest Fringe with some of his solo work.]

A few weeks ago Residence were forced to move. The council had decided they needed the old police station we were in and so we found a new space (coincidentally another police station) and moved in. The day we moved was an uncharacteristically hot day in May and at the end of the day as we all stood in our new space overwhelmed by the work that needed doing and bickering about where things should go someone suggested we needed to go for a swim to cool off. So we jumped in our hired van and drove to a river near Bath picking up a bottle of champagne on the way and jumped in. As I swam on my back I listened to the others who only a year ago I had never met and started to realise the essential brilliance of what, as a group, we had achieved.

As artists when you’re all sitting on your own in your bedrooms competing for the same limited pots of arts council money and the same limited opportunities its easy to see other companies as a threat. Its easy to be overly judgemental of other peoples work or jealous of those who are getting attention. In the short time we’d all been part of one organisation that competitive edge has gone, we can see more clearly how collectively we are stronger and the support we give each other is more important than anything else because it is what drives us to continue making work and its what pushes the quality of the work higher. Instead of moaning over a pint in the pub or sulking at home we were swimming in a river drinking Bollinger.

Now before you shoot me for my disgusting smugness let me defend myself. Setting up Residence has not been easy and as an organisation we are far from perfect. There have been many obstacles on the way and there have been conflicts and tears and we’re still facing new issues everyday that often seem insurmountable. But I guess its these challenges that stop most people beginning such a venture and I wanted to paint the (sickeningly) idyllic picture above because I really want to encourage those who are maybe tentatively putting their toes in the water at the moment to jump right in. What I didn’t tell you about that day was that we got lost trying to find the river and spent 2 hours walking through fields treading in cow shit and grumbling before we got there but that’s the thing about idyllic rivers. You have to walk through cow poo to get there.

Residence came about because a few like minded artists wanted somewhere to rehearse, office space and to feel more connected with each other. We’d all been making work at home in our bedrooms, and felt isolated doing that. So Residence was really a response to the problems we all faced making performance work as young companies in Bristol: can we support each other, can a dialogue between artists help us all make better work, can we pool our resources for the collective good?

We had no plan, and we still have no mission statement. We’re a loosely bound group who are united by similar needs. We have just tried not to limit ourselves by using what has gone before as a model, we’re trying to focus on the specific opportunities that exist in today’s environment and how we can benefit from that. Once a few of us started, more people joined us, more opportunities arose and soon we had something resembling an organisation. I’m really excited to be part of the Forest Fringe this year because its been set up in a really similar way and is showing how artist led initiatives can make all the difference. To be able to create a like-minded supportive, creative community in the middle of the pot noodle musical meat market that is Edinburgh is no mean feat and I can’t wait to see what fun it brings. See you there!

You can find out more about Residence on their website or simply by finding James and Gemma of Action Hero or Ed while they're at Forest Fringe.

Action Hero will be showing a work in progress of their new show Watch Me Fall from Tue 5 - Thu 7 at 5pm

Ed Rapley will be creating a series of one-on-one experiences from Fri 8 - Sun 10 at 7pm and then showing his solo show 10 Ways to Die on Stage on Mon 11 at 5pm

Company Profiles: Action Hero

So it's the beginning of July and everything is getting mighty, mighty close.

I'm pretty ridiculously ecstatic about the programme for this year. So I figure it might be nice to start to try and talk really briefly about a few of the companies that we have coming down, which is what I'll be doing in a few regular posts between now and the Festival. So first up:

Action Hero

I first saw Gemma and James from Action Hero at I Am Still Your Worst Nightmare, a weekend-long live art spectacular at the Arnolfini in Bristol. The whole event was great in its openness; with a completely uncurated collection of work things swung from the brilliant to the kind of awfulness that takes you to a very sad place inside. Action Hero (along with Ed Rapley and Emma Bennett from These Horses) were probably the best thing about the whole weekend.

For their short piece they did a recreation of Evel Knievel's 1969 Caesar's Palace jump that left him in a coma for over three weeks. It was a simple and beautiful idea, playing lovingly with the difference in scale between the theirs and the original jump while retaining some really tangible trace of the original's sense of euphoria and fear. Here we all were staring at a guy on pedalling towards a ramp on a little red bicycle and yet, there was real pause, a real breath held, an authentic moment of danger. The really beautiful thing about the piece however was its loving attention to detail; it wasn't just a good idea. It was done so thoughtfully, borrowing text from a number of sources to create something that already at this early stage was already subtly questioning and undermining the collective excitement that it so effortlessly generated.

Anyway, it was a beautiful piece and I was super excited when we agreed to have them come do the next stage of development at Forest Fringe. In the meantime I also got the chance to see a version of possibly their most popular show A Western, which has toured across the country. It's a wonderful little show; a show that demonstrates that the act of playing (because they are always playing at being in a Western, covering themselves in Ketchup, riding on another little bike) can be as meaningful as doing anything for real. What struck me this time however was that both pieces were slightly in love with and slightly nervous of this kind of deeply Midwestern American mythology that seemed so familiar to me.

I grew up listening to my parents record collection, getting lost in the world of a collection of denim-wearing, guitar twanging lovesick bearded men roaming dusty open roads in big American cars and staring out at an ocean I'd never even seen. The Eagles and the Allman Brothers (and everything from Steven Spielgberg to Perry Mason Investigates) were the nearest I came to a cultural heritage. Despite my resolutely, awkward, humdrum Britishness there's part of me that feels in some weird way American. But a kind of imagined, mythic American.

And this is another reason I love the Action Hero - that they seem too to have this strange pull. They wear their Englishness on their sleeves and yet there's a longing for freeway pancake houses and lonely towns called things like Splitwater Falls and the faded yellow colour of any American TV show from the 70s. It's strange and its sad and its familiar and I think they tap into something really meaningful for a whole generation of suburban English kids who's parents were big fans of Christopher Cross or who spent their childhood watching movies like and Capricorn One and Earthquake, a beautiful, bizarre film that coincidentally features its own desperate daredevil hero.