New Project with Natasha Gilmore/ Barrowland Ballet

Vox Motus fans may remember Natasha Gilmore’s beautiful choreography for our illusion-fuelled 2009 piece Bright Black. Jamie and Candice are thrilled to be collaborating with Natasha again on her next production A Conversation with Carmel.

Scheduled for May 2011 the production fuses dance, theatre and the work of award-winning film artist Rachel Davies. We are currently at the R&D stage and have spent several days drinking tea and divulging family secrets… both very pertinent to a show exploring inter-generational relationships at a chaotic family party.

In fact it would be great to know what defines a family party for you…

And (slightly left-of-field) if you ever visualise a ‘heaven’, what do you see?...

http://www.barrowlandballet.co.uk/

Vox Motus does Victorian Séance!

After two and a half months on the road The Not-So-Fatal Death of Grandpa Fredo packs up its shed and takes a rest. But as there’s no rest for the wicked Jamie and Candice are straight into developing the next VM show.

We’re exploring Victorian séance parlours – especially the rise and fall of the (in)famous Davenport Brothers who travelled the world performing magical feats by contacting ‘the spirit world’. Jamie’s in his element researching spectacular Victorian illusions. He also gets to gloat a lot as Candice tries to figure out how they’re done.

One of our favourite finds so far has been Derren Brown: Séance. Put aside an hour, dim the lights and prepare for the hairs on the back of your neck to stand upright. That said, we watched it in broad daylight and it still had the desired effect!

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/derren-brown-the-specials/episode-guide/series-40/episode-1

We’re aiming to stage a Work-in-Progress in January/February 2011 so watch this space…

Glasgow Fabulous

When touring a show it is always nice to return to home turf and the Grandpa Fredo bandwagon has not one but two Glasgow venues on the horizon.

Firstly this evening if you can brave the pope traffic, we will be appearing at Eastwood Park Theatre in Giffnock (www.eastwoodparktheatre.co.uk) where we will also be musing on the nature of faith in today's society but with polar bear costumes instead of papal robes and with altogether more humour, creativity and (in my humble opinion) better songs. After the performance tonight you also get the the chance to participate in a post-show discussion with writers, directors and designers Candice Edmunds and Jamie Harrison.

Next week from Tuesday 21st until Saturday 25th September we will be returning to our wee home from home the Tron Theatre (www.tron.co.uk.) There is always an amazing atmosphere at the Tron and as we are there for 5 nights we really want to get as many friendly Glasgow faces along as possible. Just in case you need further enticement here is what some other people have said:

"multi-talented cast" **** The Scotsman

"magnificently inventive" **** The Herald

"slickly acted and wickedly funny" *** The Guardian.

"Ingenious" **** The List.

"Again and again it astonishes and entertains with its technical ability... a beautifully unnusual piece of comic theatre." The Sunday Herald

Looking forward to seeing you soon...

image credit: Eamonn McGoldrick

Edinburgh antics

Vox Motus have been mostly focussing our attention on all things edinburgh of late. Firstly we can now proudly and officially announce that our festival venue is Traverse One which we are incredibly excited about. Full details of of the Traverse's festival programme can be downloaded here: http://www.traverse.co.uk/downloads/Traverse%20Festival%20Brochure%20final.pdf

It looks like a very strong and varied programme with everything from existential clowning to ballet.

On Sunday the Bright Black posse headed back through to Edinburgh to attend the CATS awards as we were nominated for Best Technical Presentation. Although we were pipped at the post by Perth's Jane Eyre and it's collapsing house we had much theatre celebratory fun. A full list of nominees and winners can be found here: http://www.criticsawards.theatrescotland.com/

Having very much enjoyed the tea and cakes at the Traverse on Thursday and the canapes and Kir Royales at the CATS on Sunday Vox Motus is now open to any other offers of events that involve free food and drink...

Watch this Space!

Vox Motus have an exciting new production opening this summer

THE NOT SO FATAL DEATH OF GRANDPA FREDO

“I don’t want to achieve immortality through my work. I want to achieve it through not dying.” Woody Allen

A frozen body found in a woodshed wreaks havoc in the local community, forcing them to confront questions of science, faith and immortality. Inspired by an incredible true story, Fringe First 2008 winners Vox Motus present a pitch dark comedy featuring a host of eccentric characters, original live music and stunning design.

“ faultless, fast-paced, brilliant sense of style...a cutting-edge comic-strip show for theatre” The Scotsman on festival sell-out success Slick.

“A technical and emotional triumph.” The Stage on Bright Black


http://www.voxmotus.co.uk/

[image credit - Gary Birnie http://www.garybirnie.co.uk/]

Full production details coming soon!

the end of the tour..

The Bright Black team arrived at the Tron last week to finish off our tour and what a great way to finish the show! The theatre was really busy and the audiences were really receptive to the show. It was also lovely to be back in our old spiritual stomping ground. Thanks to everyone who came to see the show throughout the tour and of course thanks to the fantastic (and extensive) team who made it such a success.

While we were hanging out at the Tron last Wednesday, the lure of free bellini's drew us to the Victorian Bar for the launch of Open.Stage the Tron's new playwriting competition. It is a brilliant opportunity for playwrights new and established to get their work read by a team of industry experts with the opportunity to get development during the writing process and the ultimate chance of having your work premiered on the main stage of the Tron Theatre.

For more information check out the Tron website: http://www.tron.co.uk/openstage

Heading East...

While the Bright Black cast and crew have a well deserved week's holiday Jamie, Candice and Susannah are heading off to Lithuania (Europe's "best kept secret" according to Lonely planet..)

Along with several other scottish companies such as Vanishing Point, Plan B, the Traverse Theatre and Grid Iron, we will be participating in the IETM theatre and dance networking event in Vilnius, discovering what Lithuanian theatre and dance has to offer (Chekov seems to be particularly popular) and no doubt sampling some local hospitality. News and pictures from our trip to follow when we return to these shores.

(image Peter Adams/ Getty images)