October Newsletter

Events & Such: 
Village de Cirque in Paris is having its tenth anniversary this year. I haven't seen so much of the programme, but I liked the La Scabreuse show L'homme de boue when I saw it at Mirabilia a few months ago. I used to go to quite a lot of physical theatre shows, and L'homme has that same quality where the intensity of it is actually very relaxing to watch; it's close to circus but very different, in a way. Then Circo Circolo, which only comes round once every two years, is happening in the Netherlands. It's always sounded quite idyllic – a tented festival pitched in the middle of some verdant Estate. Cast your eye over its extensive programme. Happening on almost exactly the same dates, CIRCa is huge again. I'll be there for a week or so. Reflecting the shifting balance of my professional life I'm going to be spending a bit less time seeing shows and a bit more time having various kinds of meetings, but I've at least lined up a couple of interviews that I'm looking forward to doing and that will be something slightly different to past offerings.

In the UK, Casus look like they have a pretty intense work schedule with three shows at Canterbury Festival – Jerk, Finding the Silence, and Tolu. Compagnie Non Nova's vaunted performance Plastic Bag Show (unofficial title) is touring England with dates all-about, and Cie Kiaï are starting up on the House circuit with Off. 

There's not so much going on in London, at least not in circus. Yesterday I went to the Tate Modern to look at the Turner Prize, realised that was actually at Tate Britain, then drifted around the collections instead. I liked the Louise Bourgeois stuff and I felt... I don't know... psychically enveloped in some way by Derek Jarman's film Blue. Sometimes you can walk around a gallery and feel like you're looking at pinned specimens – which is fine, and at times that literally describes the experience you're having –  but in visual art I always feel drawn to works that seem to be alive in some way. Blue is like this radiant cave in the corner of the gallery; you enter and, a silhouette, you can imagine yourself a visitation into a man's consciousness. It digs in hard, but all its energy is independent. In my imagination Tate staff unplug the projector at the end of each day and then it just keeps on running anyway, all night like that, and no one can quite remember if the script today is the same as yesterday.

Well, the point is it made me think about things. If anyone out there is making installation or durational circus work drop me a line – I'd love to hear about it. 


Ockham's Razor:
As you can see below, Ockham's Razor are auditioning for the their next project, but it's worth attaching here that they put out a little video of their R&D. Looks kinda nice, right? Get in on that. 
  

John