Sheep and opportunity..

I am writing this from a beautiful 17th century farm house in mid wales. I can safely say I have seen more sheep than people in the last weeks I have been here. The nearest town is an hour's walk away, the wind turbine is currently generating energy for the house and this afternoon I am going to be picking a huge bucket of dandelions with which to make wine. This pioneering small holding is owned by Fran and Kevin Blockley (www.oldchapelfarm.org). They are artists, archaeologists as well as small holders and a host of other things. I am volunteering here to learn about sustainable living and building a community as well as getting some perspective on London life. Well, that's what I intended to do. What has actually happened is I have ended up planning a trial residency for performance makers and mini-festival in June.

Fran and Kevin are eager for their amazing site (encompassing the farm house, an 1820s chapel with church yard, sheep fields, ponds, 16 acres of woodland, an 18th century barn, yurts, a bus with a turf roof and a tree house) to be used as a place for artists of all sorts to make work in. This lead to discussions about my interest in creating a home for performance makers; a place that people can cook together, work together, drink together in a sustainable environment and generally call 'home' at least whilst making a piece of work.

The trial will take the form of a week long residency (based in the Chapel) for up to 7 theatre makers/artists/performers from London and elsewhere in partnership with local musicians. The first day's work will begin at dawn on the Summer Solstice (21st June) and end at sunset with a sharing of what we have created. This will inspire the rest of the week's work, like a huge brainstorm of ideas feeding and electrifying the project.

The week will culminate in a one-night festival for up to 50 local people (though this number keeps growing!). Everyone will bring food and drink for Midsummer feasting and the 'resident company' will curate a night of storytelling and music all across the farm. I have no idea what form this will take (that is for the week of workshopping to decide) but what ever happens it will probably be celebratory, unique and totally chaotic.

We will document the process throughout the week here and with video blogs so stay posted for that. Really very excited about this. The opportunity to make work with some smashing people in a beautiful, welcoming space is rare and tantalising and who knows where it may lead...

Witch in the Woods update

We have just finished two days of workshopping Witch in the Woods at BAC. Exciting to get our new people all together for some concentrated time. I drew a most excellent map of the site, we thought about the rules of the game, the world of the woods and individual characters... Now we are all off to do research on everything form extremism to e-harmony. First hunt on the 1st May!!

Allegra x

Tree of Lost Things at London Word Festival

Thank you to Alex Muller who took the amazing pictures below... see more pictures from the London Word Festival on his website: http://www.alexmullerphotography.com/

Tree of Lost Things at London Word Festival

London Word Festival - Photos

Thanks to all who came and made it such an excellent night in a beautiful venue...here's a few dodgy pics taken with my sub-standard camera. We should soon have a link to the photos taken by a very talented photographer...

London Word Festival

It's a wee while away yet but best to get these things in the diary early; The Tree of Lost Things will be at The Art of Storytelling as part of The London Word Festival on the 31st March. The night will be held at Shoreditch Church with performances from Terry Saunders, Matthew Robbins and more to be announced. Hurrah.

More info here: http://www.londonwordfestival.com/?p=1278

There's lots of other lovely stuff happening during the festival so check out the rest of the programme too.

To The Lighthouse

For my first post on our lovely Ignore The Forecast blog, I'm going to take a leaf out of the equally lovely Allegra's book - incidentally, I was fortunate enough to admire her extensive collection of novellas whilst housesitting her abode with Kirsty, where I made a lifelong friend in Jet the cat.

I'd been meaning to read Virginia Woolf's To The Lighthouse for quite some time, mainly thanks to the Patrick Wolf song of the same name, and and also because I'm in love with the imagery of lighthouses. I'm halfway through so far, and although I'm finding the style and language quite hardgoing in places, I've already been captured by a few quotes that I've decided to share here.


'Indeed, he seemed to her sometimes made differently from other people, born blind, deaf and dumb, to the ordinary things, but to the extraordinary things, with an eye like an eagle's. His understanding often astonished her. But did he notice the flowers? No. Did he notice the view? No. Did he even notice his own daughter's beauty, or whether there was pudding on his plate or roast beef? He would sit at table with them like a person in a dream.'

'And that's the end', she said, and she saw in his eyes, as the interest of the story died away in them, something else take its place; something wondering, pale, like the reflection of a light; which at once made him gaze and marvel. Turning, she looked across the bay, and there, sure enough, coming regularly across the waves first two quick strokes and then one long steady stroke, was the light of the Lighthouse. It had been lit...
...he kept looking back over his shoulder as Mildred carried him out, and she was certain that he was thinking, we are not going to the Lighthouse tomorrow; and she thought, he will remember that all his life.'