John's Final Footsteps - review of The Berkshire Giant

Photograph copyright: Farrows Creative. For more photos from the event, please visit http://theberkshiregiant.blogspot.co.uk

The Berkshire Giant: John’s Final Footsteps, in Newbury town centre, on Saturday, June 23

THE town had been buzzing all week with the story of John Ever Afraid, with whispers of strange happenings in Aldworth and on Snelsmore Common spreading like wildfire, exacerbated by announcements from milk floats and the distribution of news pamphlets announcing his coming.

And so, on Saturday evening, as darkness fell, a large crowd braved the drizzle to line Northbrook Street to greet the fabled giant, hidden in the walls of Aldworth Church for hundreds of years before finally arising and trekking the 10 miles to Newbury to face his destiny.

His arrival was heralded by a doom-tinged rock & roll band atop a bus, flanked by the devil’s acolytes, stilted skeletal crows who pranced and poked at the crowd as they led the procession through the town and into the Market Place, where the music of a devilish mardi gras band welcomed John himself.

And what a darling John turned out to be. An ungainly figure, with the most soulful blinking blue eyes, he was not to be feared but was himself as timid as a kitten, as he prepared to face his destiny with the devil.

His supporters tried to fight off the acolytes but without success, and John was bowed by his fear, his head in his hands. But through the crowd came the spirit creatures of the forest, - a stag, bear, hare and horse - to save John, festooning him with colour, and bestowing him with antlers of his own.

As John rose back up to the cheers of the crowd, lanterns and fireworks lit up the sky, and a message appeared on the bank building behind him: “I am not afraid anymore”.

Visually stunning, moving, strange and wonderful, this was the culmination of The Corn Exchange’s first large-scale outdoor arts project produced in-house from scratch by creative producer Simon Chatterton, with input from Irish outdoor theatre company Macnas and a host of local volunteers.

The most ambitious project so far in the theatre’s two-year Arts Council-funded outdoor events programme, with additional funding from Greenham Common Trust and West Berkshire Council, it is really quite stunning that a community as outwardly sensible as West Berkshire can come up with something as wonderfully outlandish and beautiful as this.

I don’t know about you, but I rather like the fact that West Berkshire is a little bit weird these days. It rather suits us.

• First published in the Newbury Weekly News on Thursday, June 28, 2012

Boxing clever - review of Compagnie Luc Amoros, Page Blanche

Page Blanche, presented by Compagnie Luc Amoros, in Newbury Market Place, on Saturday, October 1

IT may in part have been the unexpectedly balmy weather that attracted people in their masses to the Market Place on Saturday evening; but it is becoming increasingly common knowledge that The Corn Exchange’s Outdoor Arts Programme (funded by Greenham Common Trust) are free events not to be missed if at all possible.

Page Blanche involved a high scaffold installation divided into nine boxes, with six continental European artists creating a series of powerful, thought provoking, often intricate pieces of artwork and graffitied prose on plastic sheeting, using paint, etching and printing, only to destroy each piece within seconds, leaving a “blank page on which to start again”; questioning the place of art in the world, and whether it has to be permanent to be important. The painted sheets were in turn ripped off their perspex canvas and flung down to the ground, gathering in a colourful pile, as the artists themselves - five women and one man - became daubed in the paint as the hour progressed.

As they worked with intensity and urgency, the six artists chanted, danced, drummed and sang, accompanied by a double bassist, using live looping the music and singing to create an aural tapestry as complex as the creations appearing on the canvas. Indeed, this may have been fast art, but it was far from simple; there were many “can you tell what it is yet?” moments as each artist worked on different levels of the scaffold to reveal the cohesive whole on an epic scale.

Much of the artwork and its presentation had a point to make about various atrocities through human history, although the subtlety and cleverness of some of the images - a “carved” mandala depicting the wiping out of an Orinoquian tribe, where the weapons were the last part to appear - was not always reflected by the bluntness of the words, both written and oral. Some interesting points were made, but to me, comparing taking children to see celebratory fireworks to the horror of the atomic bomb seemed a little harsh.

Among the colourful paintings and stark black-and-white etchings, representations of famous artwork were sometimes created. Van Gogh’s self-portrait appeared, and the final giant depiction was reminiscent of Gauguin’s paintings of the women of Tahiti. Hypnotic and energetic, this was a rich and exhilarating performance that will leave those fleeting images imprinted in the memory for a long time.

• First published in Newbury Weekly News on Thursday, October 6, 2011

Invasion of the supersized minibeasts - review of Sarruga, Insectes - A Night Carnival

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Insectes - A Night Carnival, in Newbury town centre on Saturday, July 16

LESS than a week after the “real” Newbury Carnival, the concept was turned on its head on Saturday night as mini beasts became supersized for an eerie and atmospheric crawl through the town centre. The darkening air was filled with hissing smoke, glowing lights and banging tunes, as the crowd screamed with delight and fear as two giant ants, a spider and a praying mantis crept among them as if searching for prey, their spiky legs forever moving as they made their way up Northbrook Street and into the Market Place. 

There was no escape even for those cowering behind, as a tenacious venus flytrap swung over the heads of the crowd, snapping its fearsome jaws close to them.

The parade culminated in the Market Place, with a deadly showdown between the spider and the praying mantis, as slowly the other  insects and plants stopped moving and dimmed their lights. With the cyclists powering the mechanisms hidden from view, and the audience gathering in a more unstructured manner than they had been along the route, it truly looked like the beasts were walking over the heads of the crowd, until finally the praying mantis became the victor. It may have had a little trouble getting over the water bridge, but in the battle between mantis and spider, the mantis had the edge.

Hosted by The Corn Exchange and funded by Greenham Common Trust, Spanish artists Sarruga presented the Insectes carnival with the help of local volunteers who helped to build and cycle the machines. With the rain stopping just in time for the event, the parade was a ray of dark light for the community. With funding cuts for arts projects fast taking hold nationwide, the input of the Greenham Common Trust to make such thrilling and exciting free events happen in Newbury is to be welcomed and applauded. Long may it continue, as the people of West Berkshire wait with anticipation to see what amazing experience will next bring the crowds flooding into the town.

• First published in Newbury Weekly News on Thursday, July 21, 2011