Artistic Collision: My collaboration with Grennan and Sperandio

Relentless reinvention and serendipity are at the heart of new creative ideas and practice. When you have been making work for a long time its even more important than ever to seek out new artistic collaborations, have your eyes open for the unexpected encounter. Follow your intuition about a moment that stirs something in your imagination, that gives rise to the rush of possibility, something that appears freshly, that you have not thought before.  My artistic practice as a theatre director entered a new and unexpected space when I got a random call from the artist Simon Grennan, half of the enigmatic Grennan and Spearandio -  their website says of their work:  "Two things remain constant in their practice: they always work together and their work invariably involves the authorial or editorial participation of other people – other members of the public. Their work often utilizes media that are culturally compromised: chocolate, comic books and television, appearing at social sites of consumption in the home and store and on the street."
http://www.kartoonkings.com/


I have been working on a project with these guys in Barking, East London where Arc has its studios. Grennan and Sperandio approached us - well Simon Grennan in fact, and God forbid you imagine for a moment that he is a solo artist. His partner, Spearandio intrigues me, not least as I have never met him or even spoken, skyped, emailed him. Now that seemed pretty enigmatic to begin with, a partner in the ether. So my puzzlement was met with a worker like response from Simon, as if my curiosity was business as usual for the team and actually quite a boring question! Of course this marked the start of an extraordinary journey - just the very way they work signals the possibility of surprise, chance encounters that give rise to something other. And indeed they found Arc by accident,  and as the result of being let down by another theatre company. A simple google search brought us up and the fact that we are based in East London, have access to lots of wonderful young people, made us a very good target! What seemed like a random call for a chat on a Saturday afternoon, was in fact step one in a tube-line map, which was something I came to learn about G and S. Simon is rigorous and gritty in his approach to design and planning ( sorry so is Sperandio!), he's planned the journey to give space and structure and indeed housing to the possibilities presented by the question asked.


So he got me and us. I am used to following my own artistic nose, checking in with my "does this stir me" thermometer, and then if it does, finding ways to make it happen. So it is with this project "Truce". Arts Council funded and curated by A New Direction, that I found myself in the stirring place on a cold January Sunday morning, talking to Simon, amidst cackles of laughter and points of recognition as potential collaborators. I was fired. ( well not sacked - not yet!) and we got moving.
Arc has a wealth of young creative talent emerging into a new world, of which they are natives. All of our young people ( 16-24) were invited to join the project - in the end we had just the right number, 12. This group  work with Arc on a number of different projects and were game for this one. Grennan and Sperandio focus their practice on inviting people to do ordinary and extraordinary things in new spaces and new ways which respond to the artistic vision and invitation presented to them. 


This invitation was to this motley group of young people all from Barking and Dagenham, to co-create a series of eight photographs, capturing the essence, shape and movement of a moment of "Truce", the genesis idea behind the Olympic movement. Coming up with their favourite films, the team came up with eight moments of characters agreeing to disagree in the context of best outcome for both. They chose great moments from current films the like.


Then the work for me began, slight though it was in fact, but embued with an excitement driven by the creative conversation i had throughout with G and S. Unlike most theatre I direct, my role was to work with the young actors and directors ( this was their first experience of such a process) to look forensically at body shape, muscle, especially face muscles, breath, and most of all the capturing of a moment in action. These moments of Truce lasted just a few seconds, but conveyed a universe in their smallness. An opportunity for me to drill deeper than ever into the moment of actualisation of character. What a treat. Including the moment before and after, each scene was no more than 30 seconds. I am used to making a minimum of 60 minutes. It was exquisite.


With inimitable energy and quirkiness, Simon chased back and forth from his home in Wrexham to stay at the Premier Inn in the A13 to be right by our Studios at the Malthouse. And he worked with the team to determine the locations around Barking and Dagenham where they would recreate each image from the films, matching the setting, colour and their own clothing of the original still.  This was a blast, cordoning off Ripple Road in Barking made everyone feel like they were on location in some exotic place! Not to say that Ripple Road is not exotic!.


The resulting films, masterfully made by Simon, Ted and James of O Production http://www.oproduction.co.uk/ are amazing and they will be on the web shortly. Breathtaking pieces of art, made by young actors and directors inspired by an idea which they entered as makers and participants. 

Over dinner with Simon last week, we talked for hours about what it is we make, how it touches something other in all of us. Simon said it was a holiday, it was for me too.