Ghost Train

/in /by

Its been a while since the last post but that does not mean things have been quiet at Avanti HQ, quite the reverse. In 2022 we were approach to pitch for a commission to create a large scale work to commemorate the bi-centenary of the first passenger railway that ran between Darlington and Stockton. After a couple of rounds our project was selected. Bill Palmer began by putting together a creative team and for this project we have been joined by Bryan Tweddle, Andy Plant and Steve Gumbley, later by Chris Squire and Jane Revitt. An impressive team with years of know how and a shared sly sense of humour. Since those early days we have developed and dreamed our way from sketches and simple models to scale models and CAD plans, then on through feasibility and structural engineering, until now we stand poised to deliver this epic project. The three years have seen us doing engagement work with all the primary schools in Darlington and work across five departments at the Northern School of Art. We have recruited a composer and a band and we have brought in some of the most experienced and exciting performers from across the U.K. Finally we have partnered with the Walk The Plank, surely the most experienced producers of large scale arts events in the UK. This is a wide and deep project and certainly the most ambitious work we have ever made. So on the 20th September we will present ‘The Departure’ in Darlington, a series of seven specially commissioned ‘carriages’ that will take to the streets of the town later forming into a parade to travel to Hopetown the railway museum. A week later we will play the Arrival part of the project, a large scale show for 10,000 on the riverside in Stockton-On Tees, home of the amazing SIRF. Ghost Train has been an epic undertaking and promises to be an epic show. Hope to see you there. Here are some of the key people apologies to any I have missed.

Darlington ‘The Departure’

For Avanti:

Bryan Tweddle

Andy Plant

Chris Squire

Jane Revitt

Lizzie Lockhart

Steam and Whistles carriage creator and performer: Dougie Nicholson

Space Telescope carriage creator and performer: Graeme Leake

For Walk The Plank:

John Wassel

Alice Carter

Gareth Jones

Helen Gorton

Richard

Sarah Du Toit

Performers:

Mandy Rose

Patrick Toms

Peter Finnegan

Adam Griffiths

Garth Williams

Megan Brooks

Steve Gumbley

Paschale Straiton

Mark Tillotson

Peadar Long

Daz Jones

Stockton ‘The Arrival’

Bryan Tweddle

Andy Plant

Chris Squire

For Walk The Plank:

John Wassel

Alice Carter

Gareth Jones

Helen Gorton

Richard

Sarah Du Toit

Composer: Sarah Llewellyn

Head of Costume: Jane Revitt

Costume Assistant: Lizzie Lockhart

Lighting Design: Steven Page DBN Audile 

AV Designer: Nick Sparks

Steam and Whistles carriage creator and performer: Dougie Nicholson

Performers:

Semay Wu

Mandy Rose

Patrick Toms

Peter Finnegan

Adam Griffiths

Garth Williams

Megan Brooks

Mark Tillotson

Paschale Straiton

Musicians:

Peadar Long

Daz Jones

Dave Insua-Cao

Brian Acton

Graeme Leak

Performing arts students from Northern School of Art

Head of NSA Stuart Drummand

 

Crow Returns

/in /by

Crow the show commissioned by Without Walls in 2023 will be playing a few dates this year. This unusual show will play The Vale in Mossley on 24th May, Out There Festival Great Yarmouth on 29th May and finally at The Birch Community Centre in Manchester on 21st June. We will be reuniting the extraordinary talents of SemayWu and Seaming To with the projection wizardry of Chris Squire and the one and only Paschale Straiton.

Crow 2023

/in /by

A selection of pictures from Crow performances this year. Its fair to say it’s quite a technical show but, in what has been officially the wettest summer on record, we have only missed one performance of the evening show. It’s been a joy to work with this team who have shown such resiliance and determination.

Finishing with the shows at SIRF, one of my favourite festivals, in such a brilliant location as the Trinity church was a fitting end to a great year.

Crow At Timber Festival

Crow Commissioned By Without Walls

/in /by

The piece we began developing right at the start of lockdown has been commissioned for touring for this summer. We have been in residence at 101 for a couple of weeks and things are looking and sounding promising. The show has been designed to play at twilight taking advantage of how the atmosphere alters as the sun goes down. With poetry by Lou Glandfield and music by Seaming To the piece treads its own path, both lyrical and comic.

Artist or Artisan

/in /by

I remember back in the eighties a debate around what was art and what was craft. Potters, Textilers, Glassblowers all wanting to be defined as artist rather than craftsperson. I guess they were feeling a bit insecure that their work was devalued by a craft definition. However shouldn’t all artists have a relationship to the practicalities and processes of the materials they are working with? Display some element of craft? And craftspeople display artistry in their work? David Hockney is interesting on this subject and came in for some stick over a crack relating to the YBA’s (Now not so young eh?) Hockney’s art school background is from a time where techniques and processes were taught before concepts. I once heard him in an interview speak about being taught bookbinding. Instinctively I feel that all practitioners in any given art form should, at some point, put their greasy thumbprint on the material itself, know something about its history its techniques and the artists who have travelled the road before. There is often a great deal of craft involved in making successful outdoor work, the really great shows often utilise this craft to exploit the possibilities that are unique to the great outdoors. The French have a neat way of describing the difference they define work as théâtre dans la rue (On the street) or  théâtre de la rue (Of the street). I’m off to SIRF this weekend to try to see some of the latter.

Photo Les Hommes en Noir