Julie's Shoes
TOURED the pubs of West Yorkshire 9th December - 17th December 2011
- Henry Boons - Wakefield
- The Fox & Newt - Leeds
- The Packhorse - Leeds
- The Rat & Rachet - Huddersfield
A dark reflection on the impact of the war on the families left behind and a satirical expose of Government agendas. In true POUT style the show is built upon the foundations of the late and great alternative theatre enabling us the freedom to laugh with Julie at the lunacy of it all.
Julie's Shoes offers a provocative, surreal and intense look at the life of Julie Meadow's, a mother who has lost her son to the front line in Afghanistan. Watch uncomfortably as Julie breaks from reality in an attempt to cope with the pain of her relentless grief, and in a moment of fury we grip our seats as she entraps those who offer her support - Cherrie, Tony and David.
Julie acts out her fantasy of being reunited with her son Richard on an unwilling and silent victim. Julie's victim has been psychologically broken down through a method of stress position training that Julie has developed from researching how her son might have been trained, treated and de-humanised during his time in Afghanistan.
As Julie's intentions become clear we see the politics of war exposed at a human level and cannot help but reflect on the historic war that continues to affect lives across all borders.
You will laugh, cry, feel restless and disturbed but we hope you will also leave with a thirst for more political performances that break from the norm.
Already performed as part of Development Lab's staging new writing project back in July 2010
The piece has since been through an extensive work-in-progress period Performed in its early redevelopment stage at Yorkshire Dance in March 2011, a work-in-progress piece with audience feedback led by Rod Dixon and participants of Red Grit (Red Ladder).
To be honest: we had no money, a shit show, no real understanding of what political agenda we were trying to push (other than flannel), a pass to Edinburgh Fringe headquarters and a cheep hostel that stank like stale feet but at least we had a go, eh!
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Muffin and Prime Minister Earsbig have a bet, they want to arrest a citizen to settle an argument and Muffin doesn't think Prime Minister Earsbig can do this without fucking up. Twelvety pounds are at stake and as the absurd recruitment of Joyce the cleaner and her troops slips into chaos, we reveal an uncomfortable alternate ending to Jean Charles' tragic murder.
Produced at Winchester University after a 5 month research and development period the piece pissed a few folk off along the way - think Kubricks Doctor Strangelove meets physical theatre.
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Geisha: 2005
This is what I said about the show at Uni: "A subversive exploration of sexuality and approaches to performance, piece fused silent movements with a pop culture aesthetic to produce a unique expose of the life of a Geisha. With themes of gender politics that transcended across the borders of Japan, this dark ensemble presented the reality of an extraordinary life.
Exploring the artistic practices of butoh, live art, movement and media the cast developed a brief yet profound understanding of the hard work involved in learning the skills of a Geisha, adopting a 3 month (self taught) training programme for the piece. "
Now, well, I can't remember but I sure don't understand what the hell the above means now!