Artist Background
I have worked in the field of theatre and participation for over ten years. During that time I have developed my practice in playwriting, poetry and participation which has resulted in many successful self-led performance and education projects, including a site specific performance in an ice cream van, a large outdoor community performance, various community and participant projects and my own solo performance work. I am especially interested in ideas of representation, Scottish and gender identities, and equalities. For six years I held the post of Drama tutor in Cardonald College's Supported Learning department, working with adults and young people with learning difficulties on a variety of performance related education activities, and recently completed a Master of Arts in Education (Equality and Diversity) where I specialised in the transformative practice of performance in participation.
I have worked in the field of theatre and participation for over ten years. During that time I have developed my practice in playwriting, poetry and participation which has resulted in many successful self-led performance and education projects, including a site specific performance in an ice cream van, a large outdoor community performance, various community and participant projects and my own solo performance work. I am especially interested in ideas of representation, Scottish and gender identities, and equalities. For six years I held the post of Drama tutor in Cardonald College's Supported Learning department, working with adults and young people with learning difficulties on a variety of performance related education activities, and recently completed a Master of Arts in Education (Equality and Diversity) where I specialised in the transformative practice of performance in participation.
Connecting With Culture in Inverclyde: Proposal
Proposal
I propose to use my extensive participatory experience to create a large-scale community engagement project for Inverclyde, centring on the theme of home and place. This will be delivered in three stages: conversation-based material collection with individual participants, sound installation of recorded material and performance/publication of new writing.
“How can the arts make people happier, healthier and more nurturing of their environment and communities?”
Throughout my performance and participation work I have used the idea of conversations as a tool for engaging participants to be stronger agents in their community and as a means to gather information which can then be re-presented in a new form of artwork. I believe that through the words we use we can understand our place in society and what we have to contribute. Conversations are highly accessible, informal and participant-led and focused. Central to the conversations are the questions at the heart of the research that can be elicited to create deeper meanings. Using the conceptual framework of the inquiry, these conversations can then be crafted into unique artworks that can stand alone and be situated within the community in which they were generated, and within an artistic and social discourse.
For this project I propose to meet with participants across a large age range, including early years, a primary and secondary school group, young adults, adults, older people and people with additional support needs or mental health issues. I will engage in conversation-based activities that are tailor-made to each participant, and I will use my experience in reminiscence, youth work and early years to elicit appropriate and relevant responses. These conversations will then be used to pose questions and provoke the opinions of those in the other age groups, creating connected conversations across generations. The resulting recorded conversations, questions and provocations will then be edited, crafted and installed as sound pieces in various locations throughout Inverclyde which have historical or personal significance. The aim is that these sound pieces will continue to provoke and elicit responses from others in the community, and connect more people to the themes through further conversations. When all conversations are recorded or logged, they will be published in text form. I also propose to stage a performance in an appropriate site that can act as a final event or launch of the published/sound work.
Engagement: Engaging Communities
I am used to working in a variety of environments and I have developed strategies and activities that positively encourage participation from non-artists and other types of participant. Over the years I have developed a strong aesthetic in conversation-based work and verbatim performance that I am confident can be utilised in this project, through material collection and crafting new work. I am interested in how people view themselves, the words they use to describe themselves and how they position themselves within broader environments. I have experience of collecting information from participants in creative ways that can then become integral to the final artwork, evidenced in such projects as The Pokey Hat and the Theatre Royal Heritage project, and can be accessed on many levels by participants and audiences alike.
Improving Health and Well Being
I am also interested in how people create a master narrative, which becomes a version of organized reality as seen by the participant. These are made up of meanings, opinions and lived experiences that weave a personal story for each individual, putting people in the centre of their lives, allowing them to make meaning of their experiences through telling stories, which can uncover hidden meanings. This approach has the power of transformation on participants, resulting in increased confidence and well being. Engaging in conversation presents real life, real people and real events to show how individuals make sense of their own social constructs. They can then actively critique their world and allow for dominant assumptions of society and individuality to be challenged. Participants can reject mainstream ideas that marginalize them and can be shown them new possibilities, which can offer an alternative to top-down planning strategies.
Tackling inequalities
As a means of engagement, conversations are highly accessible and inclusive, as participants can engage on whatever level they feel is appropriate for them. They can simply contribute their own story or they can be supported in investigating their own creative potential in performing their story to an audience. Throughout my work it is important that I can put marginalised voices on stage – whether it’s through my own autobiographical work or their biographical work – but it is important to me to keep challenging the dominant discourses that exist in society and in theatre. I believe arts engagement is all about recognition and familiarity: if people attend performance and they can recognise someone on stage, or the words they use, this can offer greater agency to the viewer who can feel validated.
Nurturing the environment
I am excited by the prospect of returning to a post-industrial community to investigate people's relationship with their recent history, As I discovered in Clydebank, younger participants are generally unaware of their community's contribution to the wider Scottish landscape. I see a clear correlation between the rise and fall of industry, and the impact on self-expression and self-identity. The conversations will take place in familiar locations, and I am keen for participants to show me places of personal significance, which can foster deeper relationships to place and the environment and will have an impact on how they view their community, promoting healthy, honest debate. It is vital to understand the participant's relationship to their environment, especially those who have a strong place attachment to their homes and community despite mainstream opinions. I am keen to reintroduce sites where relatively few people interact, and understand history not as 'the past' but as 'someone's past.'
Management
I propose to work closely with Inverclyde Council, The Beacon and partners to create a project that has a single, clear artistic and strategic focus. Being the sole artist brings the advantage of being the constant link between participant and artwork, fostering strong relations and developing trust through the one to one activity. I hope that in partnering Inverclyde Council I am able to positively influence the arts development output and strategy, broadening the understanding of arts engagement by introducing new methods of participation.
To assist me in the management of the project I propose to create a steering group made up of stakeholders (councillors, participants, young people, local artists and other interested parties), and to appoint a core team of participants from each age range who can assist the administration of the project at a local knowledge level. They will also assist the installation of the sound pieces, make decisions relating to the publication of the text and direct their own performance of the work. I believe that the artistic process should have a rigorous transparency and accessibility at it's heart, especially when working with community participants.
If appropriate, I will work with my regular collaborators, sound designer Nichola Scrutton, A/V artist Kim Beveridge and photographer Eoin Carey to assist in the editing and installation of work and the documentation of material.
Planning
The initial planning stage will be the opportunity to research the proposed elements of the project closely with Inverclyde Council. Between May and June, in collaboration with Inverclyde Council participants will be identified, the steering group and core team established and the proposed engagement activity will begin with preliminary questions for conversations. There will then be a period to review the proposal based on this early research, and reflect on the preliminary questions and the main aspect of the project can then be carried out:
Schedule
Jul: Engagement activity, identification of key locations, confirmation of performance venue/site.
Aug: Engagement activity, finalise sound pieces.
Sep: Installation and launch of sound pieces, conversations created in response.
Oct: Further engagement activity, writing and rehearsal of performance.
Nov: Performance.
Dec: Finalise publication texts.
Jan: Evaluation and feedback completed.
Feb onwards: Publication and launch with further readings, performances, events.
I have selected a range of projects which illustrate each aspect of the proposal including the process of engagement towards a performance, intergenerational approaches, heritage and industry, inspiring young people to use their voices for positive change and high quality new writing.
I propose to use my extensive participatory experience to create a large-scale community engagement project for Inverclyde, centring on the theme of home and place. This will be delivered in three stages: conversation-based material collection with individual participants, sound installation of recorded material and performance/publication of new writing.
“How can the arts make people happier, healthier and more nurturing of their environment and communities?”
Throughout my performance and participation work I have used the idea of conversations as a tool for engaging participants to be stronger agents in their community and as a means to gather information which can then be re-presented in a new form of artwork. I believe that through the words we use we can understand our place in society and what we have to contribute. Conversations are highly accessible, informal and participant-led and focused. Central to the conversations are the questions at the heart of the research that can be elicited to create deeper meanings. Using the conceptual framework of the inquiry, these conversations can then be crafted into unique artworks that can stand alone and be situated within the community in which they were generated, and within an artistic and social discourse.
For this project I propose to meet with participants across a large age range, including early years, a primary and secondary school group, young adults, adults, older people and people with additional support needs or mental health issues. I will engage in conversation-based activities that are tailor-made to each participant, and I will use my experience in reminiscence, youth work and early years to elicit appropriate and relevant responses. These conversations will then be used to pose questions and provoke the opinions of those in the other age groups, creating connected conversations across generations. The resulting recorded conversations, questions and provocations will then be edited, crafted and installed as sound pieces in various locations throughout Inverclyde which have historical or personal significance. The aim is that these sound pieces will continue to provoke and elicit responses from others in the community, and connect more people to the themes through further conversations. When all conversations are recorded or logged, they will be published in text form. I also propose to stage a performance in an appropriate site that can act as a final event or launch of the published/sound work.
Engagement: Engaging Communities
I am used to working in a variety of environments and I have developed strategies and activities that positively encourage participation from non-artists and other types of participant. Over the years I have developed a strong aesthetic in conversation-based work and verbatim performance that I am confident can be utilised in this project, through material collection and crafting new work. I am interested in how people view themselves, the words they use to describe themselves and how they position themselves within broader environments. I have experience of collecting information from participants in creative ways that can then become integral to the final artwork, evidenced in such projects as The Pokey Hat and the Theatre Royal Heritage project, and can be accessed on many levels by participants and audiences alike.
Improving Health and Well Being
I am also interested in how people create a master narrative, which becomes a version of organized reality as seen by the participant. These are made up of meanings, opinions and lived experiences that weave a personal story for each individual, putting people in the centre of their lives, allowing them to make meaning of their experiences through telling stories, which can uncover hidden meanings. This approach has the power of transformation on participants, resulting in increased confidence and well being. Engaging in conversation presents real life, real people and real events to show how individuals make sense of their own social constructs. They can then actively critique their world and allow for dominant assumptions of society and individuality to be challenged. Participants can reject mainstream ideas that marginalize them and can be shown them new possibilities, which can offer an alternative to top-down planning strategies.
Tackling inequalities
As a means of engagement, conversations are highly accessible and inclusive, as participants can engage on whatever level they feel is appropriate for them. They can simply contribute their own story or they can be supported in investigating their own creative potential in performing their story to an audience. Throughout my work it is important that I can put marginalised voices on stage – whether it’s through my own autobiographical work or their biographical work – but it is important to me to keep challenging the dominant discourses that exist in society and in theatre. I believe arts engagement is all about recognition and familiarity: if people attend performance and they can recognise someone on stage, or the words they use, this can offer greater agency to the viewer who can feel validated.
Nurturing the environment
I am excited by the prospect of returning to a post-industrial community to investigate people's relationship with their recent history, As I discovered in Clydebank, younger participants are generally unaware of their community's contribution to the wider Scottish landscape. I see a clear correlation between the rise and fall of industry, and the impact on self-expression and self-identity. The conversations will take place in familiar locations, and I am keen for participants to show me places of personal significance, which can foster deeper relationships to place and the environment and will have an impact on how they view their community, promoting healthy, honest debate. It is vital to understand the participant's relationship to their environment, especially those who have a strong place attachment to their homes and community despite mainstream opinions. I am keen to reintroduce sites where relatively few people interact, and understand history not as 'the past' but as 'someone's past.'
Management
I propose to work closely with Inverclyde Council, The Beacon and partners to create a project that has a single, clear artistic and strategic focus. Being the sole artist brings the advantage of being the constant link between participant and artwork, fostering strong relations and developing trust through the one to one activity. I hope that in partnering Inverclyde Council I am able to positively influence the arts development output and strategy, broadening the understanding of arts engagement by introducing new methods of participation.
To assist me in the management of the project I propose to create a steering group made up of stakeholders (councillors, participants, young people, local artists and other interested parties), and to appoint a core team of participants from each age range who can assist the administration of the project at a local knowledge level. They will also assist the installation of the sound pieces, make decisions relating to the publication of the text and direct their own performance of the work. I believe that the artistic process should have a rigorous transparency and accessibility at it's heart, especially when working with community participants.
If appropriate, I will work with my regular collaborators, sound designer Nichola Scrutton, A/V artist Kim Beveridge and photographer Eoin Carey to assist in the editing and installation of work and the documentation of material.
Planning
The initial planning stage will be the opportunity to research the proposed elements of the project closely with Inverclyde Council. Between May and June, in collaboration with Inverclyde Council participants will be identified, the steering group and core team established and the proposed engagement activity will begin with preliminary questions for conversations. There will then be a period to review the proposal based on this early research, and reflect on the preliminary questions and the main aspect of the project can then be carried out:
Schedule
Jul: Engagement activity, identification of key locations, confirmation of performance venue/site.
Aug: Engagement activity, finalise sound pieces.
Sep: Installation and launch of sound pieces, conversations created in response.
Oct: Further engagement activity, writing and rehearsal of performance.
Nov: Performance.
Dec: Finalise publication texts.
Jan: Evaluation and feedback completed.
Feb onwards: Publication and launch with further readings, performances, events.
I have selected a range of projects which illustrate each aspect of the proposal including the process of engagement towards a performance, intergenerational approaches, heritage and industry, inspiring young people to use their voices for positive change and high quality new writing.
Participant Engagement Towards a Performance: The Pokey Hat, 2014
"The Pokey Hat is coming round the houses
Welcome to our story. Treats galore a shop right to your door A knickerbocker glory." |
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"How much have I got left mister?
I want a ten pence mixture. What you after hen? Better take your pick then... No wait gies a Feast and a Twister." |
The following projects are illustrations of the proposal in that they are based on participant research and feedback on chosen topics; were crafted into staged performance; and allowed participants and audiences to engage in the artwork in a variety of ways regardless of age or experience.
The Pokey Hat was a family show created for Culture 2014 during the Glasgow Commonwealth Games. It was performed in and around a custom-built ice cream van which toured the country as part of the Queens Baton Relay, visiting over 100 locations in a variety of Scottish local authorities. The performance was created from conversations with people from the East End of the city, and centred on their memories of ice cream. After the initial research and development we found that asking about ice cream memories revealed insightful information on a past way of life, families, childhood, housing and sheds light on the socio-economic changes that have taken place throughout Glasgow in the last 30-40 years. We were then able to tailor the conversations and interrogate these memories further. As writer, I took the recorded feedback and crafted it into anecdotal scenes containing scenarios based on lived experiences, and re-presenting the material back to participants and new audiences alike.
The Pokey Hat was a family show created for Culture 2014 during the Glasgow Commonwealth Games. It was performed in and around a custom-built ice cream van which toured the country as part of the Queens Baton Relay, visiting over 100 locations in a variety of Scottish local authorities. The performance was created from conversations with people from the East End of the city, and centred on their memories of ice cream. After the initial research and development we found that asking about ice cream memories revealed insightful information on a past way of life, families, childhood, housing and sheds light on the socio-economic changes that have taken place throughout Glasgow in the last 30-40 years. We were then able to tailor the conversations and interrogate these memories further. As writer, I took the recorded feedback and crafted it into anecdotal scenes containing scenarios based on lived experiences, and re-presenting the material back to participants and new audiences alike.
Participant Engagement Towards a Performance and Intergeneration Work: Pop Up Theatre Royal, 2012-13
The Pop Up Theatre Royal project was created by Scottish Opera and is part of a wider celebration of the Theatre Royal Glasgow’s heritage as the building underwent a major redevelopment of its public spaces. Scottish Opera, who own the theatre, secured funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund to research and explore the theatre’s heritage and develop education and outreach opportunities that raise awareness of the Theatre Royal as a key part of Glasgow’s cultural landscape.
Myself and filmmaker Iain Piercy delivered a series of engagement workshops with community groups and organisations local to the theatre and with an interest in heritage and the arts. Each workshop was tailor made to the participants requirements, and resulted in reminiscence sessions, exploration of architecture, and conversation-based data collection.
The research formed the basis of a new, free community-touring production that celebrates this ongoing regeneration of Glasgow's oldest theatre. Performances were staged in Scottish Opera’s Theatre Royal Community Trailer; a specially converted scenery truck that was designed to reflect the interior of the Theatre Royal. The 40 minute performance narrated the heritage and history of the theatre through music and drama, and included an education workshop to explore the themes through interactive drama activities.
The Pop Up Theatre Royal project was created by Scottish Opera and is part of a wider celebration of the Theatre Royal Glasgow’s heritage as the building underwent a major redevelopment of its public spaces. Scottish Opera, who own the theatre, secured funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund to research and explore the theatre’s heritage and develop education and outreach opportunities that raise awareness of the Theatre Royal as a key part of Glasgow’s cultural landscape.
Myself and filmmaker Iain Piercy delivered a series of engagement workshops with community groups and organisations local to the theatre and with an interest in heritage and the arts. Each workshop was tailor made to the participants requirements, and resulted in reminiscence sessions, exploration of architecture, and conversation-based data collection.
The research formed the basis of a new, free community-touring production that celebrates this ongoing regeneration of Glasgow's oldest theatre. Performances were staged in Scottish Opera’s Theatre Royal Community Trailer; a specially converted scenery truck that was designed to reflect the interior of the Theatre Royal. The 40 minute performance narrated the heritage and history of the theatre through music and drama, and included an education workshop to explore the themes through interactive drama activities.
“Old Glasgow’s gone. My life has gone.”
“My age. That’s all I can see in it.” “Makes you feel like you want to go back to those days.” |
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Industry and Heritage: The Nation//Live, Clydebank, 2012
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Audio Performance
"I mean, if you’re talking about work, what are you talking about there? You’re talking about machinery, you’re talking about factories; these are inanimate objects. Much more important are human beings."
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In 2012 I led a large-scale community project with theatre company Visible Fictions and The National Galleries of Scotland. The Nation//Live: Work was part of a year-long engagement project that spanned the length and breadth of the country using key figures form the National Portrait Gallery to explore our recent histories. I was based in Clydebank, with the figure of Jimmy Reid as inspiration, and worked with school groups, a writing group and shipbuilders and veterans from Upper Clyde Shipbuilders to create a live performance, film and sound piece based on Reid's legacy. We questioned the role of Work in today's economy and social life. Together, we reinvestigated the textual elements from the 1971/2 work-in at John Browns Shipyard such as speeches, interviews and union meeting minutes. We reappropriated these texts into many forms such as staged conversations between former and new employees of the industry, used them as the basis for further conversations with young people, and created a recorded document that was used for a live performance. During the process I engaged with the public of Clydebank by asking them the question Jimmy Who? to elicit responses. These responses were edited and crafted into an epic poem, performed by the young people on the site of the former shipyard, and the sound piece and film were exhibited in the National Portrait Gallery.
The project received a Highly Commended Award for Project on a Limited Budget, at the Museums and Heritage Awards 2013.
In 2014 I gave a presentation at the National Galleries/Engage conference. The full text transcript can be read here.
The project received a Highly Commended Award for Project on a Limited Budget, at the Museums and Heritage Awards 2013.
In 2014 I gave a presentation at the National Galleries/Engage conference. The full text transcript can be read here.
New Writing Poetry and Performance: Theology, Glasgow, 2014
Glory Be tae the faither
And tae the son An the Sons ae the Faithers Glory be to the genetic closures. Glory Be tae the Faithers and our Faithers An tae the Sons Is now Is now an ever shall be Nothing Nothing but a monument Of uncertainty As it was in the beginning |
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I have been showcasing my poetry performances for the last seven years in Edinburgh and Glasgow and have gathered a committed following. I have performed with event producers Rally and Broad, Words per Minute, Monosyllabic and was a finalist in the Glasgow Commonwealth Poetry Slam 2014.
My solo spoken word performance Theology was staged as part of the Arches Behaviour Festival 2014, offsite at the Pearce Institute in Govan. It received a Quality Production Award from Creative Scotland and was produced by the Arches and supported by a National Theatre of Scotland Artist Attachment.
The performance looks at the politics of language from a Glaswegian and Religious point of view: The first part is a local reinterpretation of the Catholic Mass with traditional Scottish songs (performed by a participative all-male choir) and new compositions from a modern Scottish point of view, fusing the language of the city with formal and received language. The second part is a long form spoken word poem performed over a soundscape created by sound artist Nichola Scrutton which focuses on Glasgow's industrial decline and the impact on a younger generation of men.
Both parts of Theology are linked through an investigation into the power of language and how we interact with our traditional voice and modern vernacular. They also consider the dominant discourses that maintain power through language and the implications of placing marginalised voices on the centre stage. The language of the streets and the language of religion become intertwined, creating an honest and personal portrait of religion today. Celebrity culture and football traditions are invoked as well as modern movements within Catholicism such as sectarianism, the recent visit from the Pope, and personal experiences of growing up in a 1980’s Catholic household.
The performance aims to elevate our everyday language to make us appreciative of our own voice and identity, playing with stereotypes, characteristics and assumptions all through a Scottish standpoint, which can show us what is imperfect, such as failings and embarrassments and self-deprecation. The piece aims to create a collective narrative through which people can be different yet share the same experience, where the space can welcome people without asking them to synchronize their religious beliefs or experiences of a specific place.
The performance was nominated for a Critics Award for Theatre in Scotland for Best Music and Sound.
My solo spoken word performance Theology was staged as part of the Arches Behaviour Festival 2014, offsite at the Pearce Institute in Govan. It received a Quality Production Award from Creative Scotland and was produced by the Arches and supported by a National Theatre of Scotland Artist Attachment.
The performance looks at the politics of language from a Glaswegian and Religious point of view: The first part is a local reinterpretation of the Catholic Mass with traditional Scottish songs (performed by a participative all-male choir) and new compositions from a modern Scottish point of view, fusing the language of the city with formal and received language. The second part is a long form spoken word poem performed over a soundscape created by sound artist Nichola Scrutton which focuses on Glasgow's industrial decline and the impact on a younger generation of men.
Both parts of Theology are linked through an investigation into the power of language and how we interact with our traditional voice and modern vernacular. They also consider the dominant discourses that maintain power through language and the implications of placing marginalised voices on the centre stage. The language of the streets and the language of religion become intertwined, creating an honest and personal portrait of religion today. Celebrity culture and football traditions are invoked as well as modern movements within Catholicism such as sectarianism, the recent visit from the Pope, and personal experiences of growing up in a 1980’s Catholic household.
The performance aims to elevate our everyday language to make us appreciative of our own voice and identity, playing with stereotypes, characteristics and assumptions all through a Scottish standpoint, which can show us what is imperfect, such as failings and embarrassments and self-deprecation. The piece aims to create a collective narrative through which people can be different yet share the same experience, where the space can welcome people without asking them to synchronize their religious beliefs or experiences of a specific place.
The performance was nominated for a Critics Award for Theatre in Scotland for Best Music and Sound.
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Young People: Take a Stand, Glasgow, 2012 This idea of elevating our everyday language was a main element of Take a Stand – a participation project with National Theatre of Scotland in association with the Citizens Theatre production of Glasgow Girls. Working with young female participants form Dumbarton Road Corridor in Drumchapel, the aim of the project was to build confidence in young people by asking them to stand for an issue they strongly believed in. As lead artist, I ran a series of workshops and engagement activities in the language of protest, using speeches, poems and song lyrics to provide participants with the tools for self-expression. These statements were placed on placards with personal images and used by the participants in further workshops, which they delivered for other young people. |
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Verbatim: Children's Hospice Association 2012-15
I am currently involved in on-going work with the Children’s’ Hospice Association in collaboration with Scottish Opera. Throughout a series of residencies I created a space for dialogue that allowed parents who were recently bereaved or were going through the process of having a child in the hospice a space to talk openly about their lived experiences. These became the basis for the stories that were read at an event celebrating 21 years of Rachel House. It was important to give this space for dialogue, and allow the empowering nature of hearing their voice read back to them, which adds value to their contribution and allows their story to be heard by a new audience.
I am currently involved in on-going work with the Children’s’ Hospice Association in collaboration with Scottish Opera. Throughout a series of residencies I created a space for dialogue that allowed parents who were recently bereaved or were going through the process of having a child in the hospice a space to talk openly about their lived experiences. These became the basis for the stories that were read at an event celebrating 21 years of Rachel House. It was important to give this space for dialogue, and allow the empowering nature of hearing their voice read back to them, which adds value to their contribution and allows their story to be heard by a new audience.
"When you mentioned to me hospice I just sort of imagined…well I didn’t really know what to imagine. Though not something like this."
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"People find an inner
strength from somewhere – I don’t know – it might be faith – it might be family
– but whatever it is – it gets them through these very challenging times."
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"But if I can tell them there is light at the end of the tunnel – you can come out the other end and possibly come out a stronger person – then… you know, why should people not hear that?"
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Press Quotes
"If the next generation of acting talent were to be found anywhere in Tron Participation, it was in this complex, and funny look at inter-personal relationships that featured a set of fantastic performances." (The Herald on Tron Young Company’s Subject to Change)
"Martin O'Connor's script merrily turns the pleasures of a bygone era into some gleefully inventive set pieces...full of fun but painstaking and sophisticated with it" ★★★★★ (The Herald on The Pokey Hat)
"Martin O’Connor’s wonderful ear for dialect is perfectly pitched to entertain the young audience...the script fizzes with energy" ★★★★ (The Stage on The Pokey Hat)
"This brilliant young Glasgow writer and performer quietly engineers the most eloquent and moving collision between the language of religion, and the passions that play out daily on Glasgow’s streets...a display of nuanced language and imagery that confirms him as a brave and significant dramatic poet in contemporary Scotland learning from past masters like Tom Leonard, but moving things on, in a bold and memorable direction of his own." ★★★★ (The Scotsman on Theology)
“These compelling monologues are suffused with a droll humour...rendering them believable with bold flourishes of gesture and demeanour, though never obscuring the subtleties in O’Connor’s script, which frequently reveals more in what remains unsaid.” ★★★★ (Scotsman on Ch Ch Changes)
"If the next generation of acting talent were to be found anywhere in Tron Participation, it was in this complex, and funny look at inter-personal relationships that featured a set of fantastic performances." (The Herald on Tron Young Company’s Subject to Change)
"Martin O'Connor's script merrily turns the pleasures of a bygone era into some gleefully inventive set pieces...full of fun but painstaking and sophisticated with it" ★★★★★ (The Herald on The Pokey Hat)
"Martin O’Connor’s wonderful ear for dialect is perfectly pitched to entertain the young audience...the script fizzes with energy" ★★★★ (The Stage on The Pokey Hat)
"This brilliant young Glasgow writer and performer quietly engineers the most eloquent and moving collision between the language of religion, and the passions that play out daily on Glasgow’s streets...a display of nuanced language and imagery that confirms him as a brave and significant dramatic poet in contemporary Scotland learning from past masters like Tom Leonard, but moving things on, in a bold and memorable direction of his own." ★★★★ (The Scotsman on Theology)
“These compelling monologues are suffused with a droll humour...rendering them believable with bold flourishes of gesture and demeanour, though never obscuring the subtleties in O’Connor’s script, which frequently reveals more in what remains unsaid.” ★★★★ (Scotsman on Ch Ch Changes)
Please continue to explore this website to read press reviews, listen to sound clips and see further videos/images.