Performance

Secrets, Trees and Stars

Stillness

The addition of light – that feels so essential in advent – has, this year, been characterised by trees and stars.

As well as illuminated stars in Studio Hundy and our Girrick cottage window, this week I created a “sustainable” tree from garden bamboo canes. Whilst making the structure, as if on cue, a “Christmas” Robin visited to investigate and then drink from the bird-bath.

November had been a busy time in Studio Hundy, fulfilling a commission for 150 lino-printed Christmas cards. As soon as these were complete and we turned to December, I started to sketch out a new design for my own card this year – a Heron.

The stillness of the Heron in the lino print was inspired by a chapter in a wonderful book we are currently reading – an anthology of weekly contempations and practices for spirituality through the lens of psychology, inspired by the culture and mythology of the Celts in Britain and Ireland and their connection with nature.

“Psychologically, the heron represents a part of us who longs to penetrate below the surface of life into its Mystery for the long-forgotten memory of who we are, which we begin to discern in times of stillness”.

Wilson, Michael. Portals into Deep Imagination. Celtic Mythology, Nature’s Year, and the Quest for Soul. Aeon, 2025

Finding stillness at this time of year seems all the more important as the outer pressures of the lead-up to Christmas mount.

This includes taking time to reflect on the year that is coming to a close.

APRIL – Clare’s show in Stroud
MAY – another performance, this time in Peebles
….. and no hitches for me on the sound desk in Eastgate Theatre
JULY – installation of new wood burner and chimney liner
… and some congestion with neighbours
Also in JULY – constructing a new wood store
AUGUST – Edinburgh Fringe
Also in AUGUST – exciting installation of dip tank
…… and barrel sauna in the garden
… and the “must have” sauna spirit – Loylynhenki
SEPT – Sound residency – Deep listening to the rumble of the tide
… and listening to the “sound of stones”
OCT – harvesting pears, plums and apples
… preparing spicy plum sauce
NOV – full moon rising
… and shining
DEC – making natural firelighters

Quite an eventful year.

And the “secrets” in the title of this post?

Firstlly it refers to the mystery that lies “below the surface of life” (quote above); and secondly it takes me back over 12 years when Clare devised and performed her other solo show as part of LTP (Landscape Theatre Project). Clare’s Many Threads. Part exhibition, part theatre piece, it painted an intimate portrait of a landscape.

“What really lies out there in the hills and valleys? What lives in the trees and by the stream. Come along to LOOK, LISTEN and DISCOVER!!”

It was 5 years earlier, whilst collaborating with Clare in developing the methodology for LTP, that my interest in field recording was really sparked.

During a 2 week, immersive study of a local valley (Muckle Thairn) I experimented with my 1980’s Aiwa stereo cassette walkman, two basic plug in mics, mounted on an adapted paint roller on the end of a extended umbrella!! Very DIY!

I used this kit to record the soundscape for our first LTP scratch performance at the local village hall.

Who’d have thought 17 years on I’d be at an amazing ambisonic sound residency in Argyll! Sound of Alchemy

A year (and much more) to remember.

1980’s Aiwa Stereo cassette recorder – nostalgia

In/Visible

Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival 2024

As part of the SMHAF (Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival) 2024, LiveBorders have a programme of shows and workshops exploring this year’s theme – In/Visible – including Clare’s solo show CAN I BE A BUTTERFLY?

The SMHAF theme considers “what it means to be ‘visible’ or ‘invisible’ when we think about our mental health. Which aspects of our mental health do we keep hidden and which do we feel able to share? How can we use the arts and creativity to make mental health more ‘visible’, in a way that engages people and challenges stigma?“(SMHAF 2024)

CAN I BE A BUTTERFLY, initially performed as part of this year’s Duns Play Fest, is a semi-autobiographical, part imagined, solo play about Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and its possible message to a fast world.

The show opens up questions central to the theme – particularly around feeling unseen or unheard. Using movement, poetry, sound, song and text the performer (Clare’s Many Threads ) weaves her own story around the fairytale of Briar Rose accompanied by the voices of others who have experienced ME and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.

I am, we are, she is invisible

From: Dream sequence in Can I be a Butterfly?

It will be performed at the Heart of Hawick on 16th October at 7.00pm Heart of Hawick Booking

The show was devised between January and April 2024 and integrates voices from 4 very profound recorded interviews held in February and March this year. Each of the interviewees gave us permission to use their voices as part of the play. Creating the soundscape has been a collaborative project that has accompanied Clare’s devising process In collaboration.

Listening to the stories and experiences of the interviewees on the recordings, we tried (through the cutting and pasting process for the sound effects) to honour the uniqueness of what each person had expressed. This process felt as if it allowed the “invisible” to become “visible” through the medium of sound and finally, through the show itself, enabled these voices to be heard Voices heard.

A short extract from the Castle sequence in Can I be a Butterfly?

"Briar Rose woke early, before anyone else was up and began to explore parts of the castle where she had never been before.............    She arrived at a door and there was a key in the door. She turned the key and the door swung open. Inside was a spiral staircase. She began to climb".

Extract from SFX 5 – Castle sequence

Find the other LiveBorders events that are part of the SMHAF 2024 programme at SMHAF programme 2024 – Scottish Borders

Voices heard

“Gently powerful”

After many weeks of devising, sound designing, editing and rehearsing, CAN I BE A BUTTERFLY was performed in front of an audience of over 70 at the Duns Play Fest on Sunday.

Preparing the space – warming up

Clare’s devised solo play was about Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and its possible message to a fast world. Using movement, poetry, sound, song and text, she wove her own story around the fairytale of Briar Rose accompanied by the voices of others who have experienced ME and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.

It was very well received, with really positive feedback from those we were able to speak to after the performance. A few examples of comments we’ve received subsequently:

It was a brilliant show, thank you for presenting your situation so well. Really memorable and well written. You are a very talented woman. LB

An excellent, mind stopping soul reviving performance. Thank you. RS

MASSIVE congratulations and well done. Too much to review in a text. The sound/editing/narrative was so well done – how it was interwoven with the physical performance. Structure, story, movement and sound so authentic and strong. J said the performance was “aptly pared down but also so rich”. A-LK

I’ve been working collaboratively with Clare on the sound design to produce a range of audio effects for the show. The sound desk did us proud, after just an hour’s tech run early Sunday morning. Many thanks to Marc on sound and Kirk on lighting; we were delighted with the sound reproduction in the main stage area.

The voices that we’d included from the 4 interviews were crystal clear and, at moments, it felt as if there were 5 people present in the theatre space speaking about their experience of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.

One of the sound effects I’d created accompanied Clare’s movement peice, depicting the hedge growing on the outside of the castle, whilst Briar Rose slept in the tower on the inside. Listen on headphones if you can.

SFX 8 – Hedge growing sequence

The recordings of the Duns and Smailholm singing groups performing “Curl Up and Dream” were very atmospheric.

SFX 7 -“Curl Up and Dream” – Duns singing Group

SFX 10 – “Curl Up and Dream”- Smailholm singing Group

The two poems written, read (so beautifully) and recorded by Lucy fitted seamlessly into the performance.

The Epilogue poem – The Stone – written by the late Jay Ramsay, encapsulated so much of what was being explored within the play and felt like a fitting memory to Jay’s special interest in the alchemical.

The golden butterfly prop is shown here on the cover of his collaborative book – Alchemy of the Invisible. A sequence of paintings by Jenny Poretzky-Lee with poems by Jay Ramsay.

Thanks to Duns Play Fest and to all those that came along to Clare’s solo show to witness a small window into the world of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.

Programme notes/credits

See more at Clare’s Many Threads

A view from the sound desk

Dress rehearsal – Can I be a butterfly?

Wednesday saw our final rehearsal of “Can I be a butterfly” in the local village hall, with a small audience in the round.

Using my vintage Sony amp (bought in July 1977) and 4 speakers, dismantled from our hi-fi system at home, we created a “sound in the round” effect for the 11 SFX audio files that are now part of the show.

The 6 audience members gave us very complementary feedback after the performance. This was extremely encouraging for the last few days before the play receives its debut on Sunday 28th April at Duns Play Fest.

A short audio clip, that did find its way into one of the final sound effects, brings together the voices of 3 of the 4 interviewees. This forms part of a sequence towards the end of the show, as Briar Rose wakes from her long sleep and “hears something new”.

From SFX 9 – “shift”

If you are in the Scottish Borders this Sunday (28th April) come along to Duns Play Fest at 6.15pm to see the show. Duns Play Fest Tickets – Can I be a butterfly?

In collaboration

A solo play about Chronic Fatigue and its possible message to a fast world

During the last 6 weeks I’ve been busy creating the soundscape for a devised solo show that my partner, Clare at Clare’s Many Threads, has been working on since January.

Clare will be performing Can I be a butterfly at the local Duns Play Fest here in the Scottish Borders on 28th April at 6.15pm Duns Play Fest 2024

Can I be a butterfly? is a semi-autobiographical, part imagined, solo play about Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and its possible message to a fast world.

Using movement, poetry, sound, song and text, Clare weaves her own story around the fairytale of Briar Rose accompanied by the voices of others who have experienced ME and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.

Creating the soundscape has been a collaborative project that has accompanied Clare’s devising process. We have been working with 4 very profound recorded interviews. Each of the interviewees gave us permission to use their voices as part of the play.

It has involved a lot of intense listening and a painstaking process of cutting and weaving together their stories and experiences – often similar and sometimes very different. Trying all the time to honour the uniqueness of what each person expressed when they spoke to Clare during the interview/conversations.

As well as the voices from the 4 interviewees, the collaboration has gone wider, incorporating into the soudscape recordings of the singing groups in Duns and Smailholm, performing a song Clare composed for the show.

A full run through this week at the local village hall went well, but was not without its fair share of technical glitches.

Some of the early sound editing work has not made its way into the final play. “Colour of Fatigue” is one such clip. We couldn’t find a place for it, despite the fact that it encapsulates the gravity and humour expressed in the interviews:

What’s the colour of fatigue?

In the final stages of rehearsing and refining the play, we’d both like to acknowledge the collaboarative contributions of the 4 people who were interviewed (Gill, Lucy, Adrian and Eula), the poems Lucy recorded for the show and the singing groups in Duns and Smailholm.

If you are in the area on 28th April come along to Duns Play Fest to see the show. Duns Play Fest Tickets – Can I be a butterfly?

Clare’s Many Threads is the Artist name of Clare Watson. She is an interdisciplinary practitioner living in the Borders, who works with theatre practice, walking, creative writing, textiles and song.

Paper & performance, words & weaving, sound & story

Open studio 2019

My partner Clare and myself shared our recent creative processes at a small Open Studio event in August this year. Plays were performed, words were literally woven, stories were threaded together and Studio Hundy opened its doors exhibiting a series of 4 artworks, “memory fragments” created out of paper.

These “Paper thin memories” were the culmination of a personal transformatory journey following the death of my father in October 2016. Working with papers and other related materials cleared from the family home, I was inspired to transform these “objects” – so tangibly full of meaning – into artworks of some kind.

A synopsis of the 4 pieces that arose as part of this creative process can be viewed by following the Exhibitions link – Open Studio 2019