We now have more videos on our website and on our youtube page.
See our Living Portraits, our Tart & Vicar and our Lost Ramblers, as well as two videos from Freetannia - the Freetish National Dance and the first rock concert in Freetannia - Queen Daphne headlining!
We have also made it on to Italian TV, featuring at the beginning of this news item on the Milano Clown Festival.
Tuesday 7 July 2009
International Arts Fair, Paderborn, Germany
Just received word that UK Trade & Investment are giving us a grant to go to the International Arts Fair in Paderborn, Germany this September!
Tuesday 2 June 2009
starting one's own country
Frantically preparing for Freetannia in Manchester this weekend. Starting your own country is a lot of work! Took it to Southbank last Thursday - what a great place to perform! The Security Guards were absolutely brilliant fun. Going back this Thursday for another run through.
Tuesday 12 May 2009
ISAN meeting
Went to the ISAN meeting in Norwich last Friday at The Curve, hosted by the Norfolk and Norwich Festival.
Very worrying developments, with the Police starting to charge festivals vast amounts for their presence. Maybe a condition of this should be that they are made to wear a costume (or a different one!), or patrol on stilts, or perform an act. The Naturals' Kissing Coppers could be in line for some extra duties...
There was a presentation on the 2012 Inspire Mark - I will be putting The Allotmenteers up for that one!
Caught up with Geert of Odd Enjinears, who I originally met at the City of Wings Festival in Ypres earlier this year. I can highly recommend the Concert of Your Life, a symphony programmed specifically for you, based on answers you give to a questionnaire. Very surreal - the desert rat and the fork on the tambourine still haunt me!
Also came across Radio Barkas' mobile radio station. Fantastic, unknown versions of classic songs. Very lounge!
And met up with Nick, a.k.a. Edmond Tahl of Stuff and Things, to collect a PA for Freetannia. He also showed me his new PA system for outdoor performance - very compact, lightweight and powerful. Highly recommended!
Very worrying developments, with the Police starting to charge festivals vast amounts for their presence. Maybe a condition of this should be that they are made to wear a costume (or a different one!), or patrol on stilts, or perform an act. The Naturals' Kissing Coppers could be in line for some extra duties...
There was a presentation on the 2012 Inspire Mark - I will be putting The Allotmenteers up for that one!
Caught up with Geert of Odd Enjinears, who I originally met at the City of Wings Festival in Ypres earlier this year. I can highly recommend the Concert of Your Life, a symphony programmed specifically for you, based on answers you give to a questionnaire. Very surreal - the desert rat and the fork on the tambourine still haunt me!
Also came across Radio Barkas' mobile radio station. Fantastic, unknown versions of classic songs. Very lounge!
And met up with Nick, a.k.a. Edmond Tahl of Stuff and Things, to collect a PA for Freetannia. He also showed me his new PA system for outdoor performance - very compact, lightweight and powerful. Highly recommended!
Tuesday 5 May 2009
Life in 3D
Premiered our new act, a 3D Cinema, last Saturday at the Slow Food Market, part of the Slow Down London events at the Southbank.
Our 'audience' think that the public walking past are characters in a 3D movie they are watching, complete with surround sound and extra special effects.
The characters in the film are seemingly able to understand the audience and respond accordingly.
There was much whooping and squealing when characters lunged at our audience members, and jaws dropped when a character took a photo of the audience and it actually appeared on the screen!
Our 'audience' think that the public walking past are characters in a 3D movie they are watching, complete with surround sound and extra special effects.
The characters in the film are seemingly able to understand the audience and respond accordingly.
There was much whooping and squealing when characters lunged at our audience members, and jaws dropped when a character took a photo of the audience and it actually appeared on the screen!
Friday 27 March 2009
The Allotmenteers
In homage to the great British allotment and those who tend them.
Dedicated to the Manor Garden Allotments Society.
Meet The Allotmenteers, or The Olympic Three!
Harry, Harvey and Hyacinth are an unlikely trio, yet they have a mutual passion - the allotment in Hackney Wick they share.
They have tended it lovingly and painstakingly for years, dividing up the seasonal, organic produce they grow together. It saves them money on their shopping bills and it tastes so much better because they have grown it themselves. But it means so much more to them than just the food they grow.
They get exercise in the fresh air, and they feel they are doing something positive in this warming climate. They are also aware of how very lucky they are to have this small green space in the middle of London, as allotment numbers are dwindling and waiting lists are getting longer. Most of all, however, they simply enjoy each other’s company.
But The Allotmenteers are on the run! These three have fallen foul of the 2012 Olympics - their humble plot of land has been bought by Compulsory Purchase Order to make way for the London Olympic site.
They campaigned and protested as long as they could, but as the bulldozers approached they saw no alternative but to dig up their allotment as it lay, load it onto a wheelbarrow and scarper!
But Harry, Harvey and Hyacinth they think they are being followed. People in tracksuits are everywhere. Besuited Lord Coe look-a-likes peer out of taxis and cafés. And tourists seem disconcertingly interested in the 2012 Olympics. Our three fugitives are starting to think their particular piece of land must be so vital to the success of the 2012 Olympics that the IOC want it back.
So our heroic gardeners now trundle about London with their mobile allotment, never in one place for long, always looking over their shoulders, recoiling from joggers and cyclists in fear.
But whenever they feel safe or amongst friends there is nothing they like better than setting up a deckchair for Harry and tending to their veg, chatting to passers-by about the joys of allotmenteering and offering gardening tips or a bite of a juicy carrot, with a few conspiracy theories thrown in.
Meet The Allotmenteers, or The Olympic Three!
Harry, Harvey and Hyacinth are an unlikely trio, yet they have a mutual passion - the allotment in Hackney Wick they share.
They have tended it lovingly and painstakingly for years, dividing up the seasonal, organic produce they grow together. It saves them money on their shopping bills and it tastes so much better because they have grown it themselves. But it means so much more to them than just the food they grow.
They get exercise in the fresh air, and they feel they are doing something positive in this warming climate. They are also aware of how very lucky they are to have this small green space in the middle of London, as allotment numbers are dwindling and waiting lists are getting longer. Most of all, however, they simply enjoy each other’s company.
But The Allotmenteers are on the run! These three have fallen foul of the 2012 Olympics - their humble plot of land has been bought by Compulsory Purchase Order to make way for the London Olympic site.
They campaigned and protested as long as they could, but as the bulldozers approached they saw no alternative but to dig up their allotment as it lay, load it onto a wheelbarrow and scarper!
But Harry, Harvey and Hyacinth they think they are being followed. People in tracksuits are everywhere. Besuited Lord Coe look-a-likes peer out of taxis and cafés. And tourists seem disconcertingly interested in the 2012 Olympics. Our three fugitives are starting to think their particular piece of land must be so vital to the success of the 2012 Olympics that the IOC want it back.
So our heroic gardeners now trundle about London with their mobile allotment, never in one place for long, always looking over their shoulders, recoiling from joggers and cyclists in fear.
But whenever they feel safe or amongst friends there is nothing they like better than setting up a deckchair for Harry and tending to their veg, chatting to passers-by about the joys of allotmenteering and offering gardening tips or a bite of a juicy carrot, with a few conspiracy theories thrown in.
Sunday 15 March 2009
Kendal Mintfest
We've just been invited by M.I.A. to perform at the Mintfest Street Festival in Kendal!
We'll be taking some of our walkabouts to the town centre on Saturday 30 August, and our cake stall will be in the park on Sunday 31st.
We'll be taking some of our walkabouts to the town centre on Saturday 30 August, and our cake stall will be in the park on Sunday 31st.
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