SOME REFLECTION
I've been working on a solo project called TigerFace. With the support of The Riverfront and The Bristol Old Vic I spent January making a 50min pilot piece that I was able to perform to an audience of about 60 people as part of Ferment Fortnight.
As a solo artist, working almost entirely alone, unfunded and looking for a place to share something, Ferment exists as an almost entirely risk free platform, great for experimentation, and good as a space for mealing out your ideas to other alive people in the vein attempt of gleaning some insight into whether or not the show/idea works. Other than that, it's leaves me wanting a few key things, that I feel could be an important part of the onwardness of this work. The first thing (Dear Jesus) is a CONVERSATION with my audience. The second thing (Mary Mother) is FUNDING. The Third and final thing (Lordy Lord) is strategic SUPPORT... because as an Artist I am capable, but as a human man navigating my way through the tricky and sometimes invisible sticky strings of creating new work, I could use a little fucking help.
So here are some thank yous to all the people that helped make this work: George, Tone, Bob, Kirsty, Freda and her Mum Tamsin, Emma, Tracy, Aled, Sara, Liv and Leah. THANK YOU.
The sharing it's self went well and I got some insightful feedback from some audience members who attended. I do feel galvanised and assured, but I also still feel a trifle uncertain.
A PROJECTION
With TigerFace now in the fridge, slowly rising (or what ever dough does when you do that to it) ready for the oven (oven is a metaphor for "next phase"), I'm in the same state I'm always in, which is working on the strategy of one thing whilst developing the concept for another. Balancing my solo work with the, quite frankly, AWESOME work we're putting out as Tin Shed Theatre Co. right now, I find myself juggling multiple irons in numerous fires to 1) Keep passionate and 2) Keep living the luxurious *Bombay Beans life style I've become accustomed to.
As Artists I think it's safe to say we always want to make more work. We always want to create and explore, experiment and divulge. If it's an idea in it's very early stages, or something that's somewhat more fully formed, whether we want to talk it through to help make it make sense, or enact some of it live, unhinged, and in a warm atmosphere. To me these things feel very necessary for the growth of the work... and that's exactly how I feel rn. So on that note I want to briefly tell you about two ideas I have floating around in my brain... I'll explain later exactly why I've chosen that phrasing.
#IMBRUCEWILLIS
In a world of post-truth politics in which we live through digital avatars created from carefully selected self made art, where conversations about social politics are fraught with tension and difference, it feels like we're on the brink of massive change.
Identity, history, and the truth are all up for grabs.
We can truly be whatever we want.
I'm Bruce Willis.
I'm exploring the idea that it is impossible for you to collate a reasonable amount of information that can act as evidence to disprove this fact if we accepted that nothing is irrefutable once we fully understand the solidity of 'truth' is actually non-existent... or something like that.
MACHO
I want to wrestle... I guess deep down I always have.
When I was growing up my heroes were made of muscle, and mainly existed in the vibrant and artificial world of Championship Wrestling.
Now Sting has retired, Hulk Hogan has been struck from the WWE Hall Of Fame, and The Ultimate Warrior is dead. I've learnt our heroes will eventually crumble or literally die.
Through the act of wrestling I want to explore themes of hero worship and masculinity whilst attempting to remember details from my blurry past.
You can see more about both of these pieces, and keep up to date with TigeFace happenings on my website: www.justinteddycliffe.co.uk
A QUESTION
Actually, I have a few questions:
- Where do we go to explore new work?
- Whose happy hosting half-formed experiments?
- What happened to all the scratch nights, and were they any good, anyway?
- How can we work together to better cultivate grassroots work in order to help it grow?
- Where's the safe space for failure?
- Is "opportunity" the only option for solo artists?
- Is space the only commodity on offer?
- Is funding fundamental?
- Can anybody hear me?
But what about the here and now? What about the people without those crucial links? What about the brand new ideas that need to be flexed, the half-formed-things that need form and shape, the almost completed concept pleading for time and space, the unarticulated thought that has the potential to be completely and utterly brilliant?
"Ideas floating around in my brain" is an interesting concept because unfortunately it feels like even after you've expended time, energy, effort and expense brining theses ideas forth into the real world, they don't float around any less.
One last question. I want to work towards developing a way/space/place in which this can happen for Wales based artists. Do you?
Mucho,
JTC
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*Bombay Beans
1 teaspoon of curry powder
1/2 teaspoon of cyan pepper
1/2 can of baked beans
1/2 finely chopped red onion
2 freshly chopped chillies
1 table spoon of oil
1 tablespoon of pan bronzed sesame seeds
2 slices of wholewheat bread
A handfull of shredded baby spinach
Process
Setting the rusty hob at 6 (full heat) gently sautée the onion in an oil of your choice. Then add the baked beans and stir together before adding the chillies, curry powder, cyan pepper and sesame seeds. Bring to a full heat as your toast cooks.
Once your toast has popped, spread upon it a hippolyte mege-mouries of your choice, before pouring your delicious bombay beans evenly over the two slices, before finally sprinkling with the shredded baby spinach.
1 serving costs approximately £2.05. Eat once a day, two days consecutively, or as much as necessity requires.
