Scratching and Settling In
Yesterday we did some scratching. Not the DJ kind of scratching, but a scratch performance of We Are Ian.
The Bike Shed Theatre holds various Framework Scratch nights, where artists from around the area can show little bits and bobs, ideas and snippets of projects they are working on. Afterwards we got to feedback to one another, eat delicious Bike Shed pies and talk about how great we all are.
It was great, we used the platform to test how we should best show Ian. Music, sound recordings, dances, crazy lighting and mime – everything but our voices? Currently these are all the materials we are using to bring Ian to the stage. We wanted to see if the audience got a good sense of Ian – and what bits did that the best.
The music went down the best – as we expected. One thing we can say that’s super cool about this project is that we get to spend hours listening to some seriously great house tunes. Music immediately takes people back, transporting them to a place and time. And something we’ll definitely explore further.
Ian’s voice being the only voice in the show, also seems strong. But we need to find ways of exploring this. How are we relating to his voice? Does he possess us at times? Etc. But there’s something so intriguing about not hearing our voices and never seeing Ian.
Finally, we wanna play around with the audience. People were laughing which is great, but we’ve started to consider bringing them into the performance MORE. How can they join us on an Ian adventure to 1989? This is something we only found from testing in front of an audience – and we should definitely keep showing and getting feedback.
It’s wonderful to get in the Bike Shed space and start getting We Are Ian on its feet – exploring and testing. Feeling mighty motivated.
The Bike Shed Theatre is rapidly becoming our second home. We’re starting to feel like the cast of a sitcom – hanging out in the bar every night, coming in if we ever need to see a friendly face or some advice (both professional advice and personal hehe). And we're seeing so much great THEATRE!!! We walk in and out singing ‘Where everybody knows your name, and they’re always glad you came’. We’re settling into our role as Graduate Company, although we feel more like adopted daughters a lot of the time. We <3 Bike Shed.
Also see our cool portrait (by Hugh McCann). It's putting a stamp on our new home.
