« December 2005 | Main | March 2006 »

January 19, 2006

Intimate History makes it on air

Just heard last week that Radio 4 have accepted 4 15 minute episodes of Intimate History. I'll be re-writing with Craig Stephens (Stans Cafe) and Derek Nisbet (Talking Birds) over the summer. It should be aired february 2007 if all goes to plan.

It's co-incided with interest from Litchfield festival for a weeks run of the show in July. Keep a look out here to see if that comes through.

Other good stuff - I'm included in this years British Council Performance in Profile. Click here for a link to the site http://www.britishcouncil.org/arts-performance-in-profile-2006-jake-oldershaw.htm

Also last weeks Scratch version of Midland Aquaphiliacs went really well. Thanks to all who came along to see it. I find it quite wierd, the idea of paying good money to watch people practice but after an intense weeks work with Jo Carr (who directed) I was really happy with the results. If i can work out how to get photos up on this thing i'll post some up.

The plan at the moment is to give it a month or two's breathing space, then look at redeveloping and touring later in the year.

Next stop Spain for a month with Stans Cafe. Of All The People In All The World visits Madrid and Valencia for pretty much the whole of february.

Posted by Jake at 12:04 PM |

January 06, 2006

What do I do for a living?

It's a question that comes up pretty regularly when you're a freelance artist. But after a festive break full of the customary booze, trivia and sleeping a lot why is it always so hard to go back to work?

That said, the christmas break did give me some good time out to think about the performance 'Midland Aquaphiliacs' that is making its first steps on Friday the 13th Jan (no getting superstitious now).

At present it's a mix of recorded conversations, portrait photography and a bit of end of the pier charm. That's the theory anyway...a week of development in Battersea could turn it into an all singing all dancing rock opera. But somehow i doubt it.

Here's a clip of text from the current script for anyone who's out there.

Click the BAC link here http://www.bac.org.uk/whatson.php?view=current for more details

"I met a man with a plastic hip who liked to be at the edge of everything. He enjoyed the edge of everything so much that he decided he wanted to walk around it. ‘I’ve got a new hip’, he said, ‘Now I’ve made the decision to do something with it’. He went to Cornwall, and started at a place called Lands End, not a bad place to start. He thought, ‘If I do one day it’s better than none’.

But the thing was he was a fanatic, he never missed anything out. There were rules, strict rules; he could never walk more than two kilometres inland. He could never take a boat or go on a bridge over tidal waters. Do you know how far it is to walk the length of the British coast at high water? He told me. There’s a thing called the fractional geometry of nature, which means it could be infinite. I didn’t understand, it’s something to do with the pebbles. He chose a five thousand mile journey.

This is Britain in the early 21st century. Britain is a small island.
The cliff sides.
Deserted beaches drenched in light.
Beaches that were far better than anywhere in the world as far as he could see.
Images of darkness and branches.
Hinkley Point Nuclear Power Station.
Atomic Kitten in the Blue Peter thing.
He saw old groins rusting up and wondered if a plastic hip would do the same
A lone fisherman, nowhere near the sea and he’s fishing.
Newquay town centre on an August day
A family group he would have loved to follow just to see what they were up to.
They looked pissed off, they looked worn down with life but they were supposed to be on holiday. Even the baby had a strange expression."


Happy and successful New Year, Jake

Posted by Jake at 05:03 PM |