TOUCH≈ the handbook

January 1, 2021
General, Theatre

WHERE: @ The Alhambra, Morecambe, North West England
WHEN: Friday August 13 to Sunday August 22 (not Saturdays 14 & 21) 2021
Curated by the Other National Theatre

Contact festival director Nick Awde – +44 (0)7961 154590 / nick@deserthearts.com

Please note that some of the notes below refer to the original national/international pre-Covid concept (keeping in touch which has now become getting back in touch). We’ve left them in to give an idea of the bigger picture. For August 2021 we’re going for local, Northern and national creatives — but we do hope to have something international in the pipeline…

A QUICK VIDEO-PEEK AT THE FRONT & MAIN SPACES OF THE ALHAMBRA:

(Note that the big black & white partition across the Main Space rolls back and it won’t be there for TOUCH≈ in August, making a far larger single area. This is a video from before Lockdown when our [volunteer] work was in full swing to upgrade the theatre.)

AN IDEA FOR INSTALLATION PODS (WE ALSO HAVE ROOMS AND INTERESTING WALLS):

(An earlier concept for stage scaffolding which Invi says can now be done using plastic tubing that is secure but far more flexible. The pens give an idea of how a Covid-safe bubble with a height of, say, 5ft 6in per onlooker works.)

The piece
—An installation, exactly 3mins 30secs or 8mins 20secs in duration.
—Original or adapted or abridged!
—An audience of one-four people walk into it and experience it for three minutes before walking to the next one.
—Local-national-international – solo or, better!, a collaboration between practitioners: one in the UK, one from another country (who can be based of course in the UK).
—To explore issues including class, race, gender, disability, poverty, health, and how they have fared through the Covid world, the good as well as the bad. Ecology too.
—Aimed at an audience that, in general is family (i.e. accessible to all ages even if the subject is more focused) and people who don’t go to theatre or performance.
—Any elements from theatre to dance to music to performance art but needs a narrative.

Technical
—You can use audio, screens, objects, puppets, posters, anything. The Covid irony being that nothing should designed to be touched physically.
—Footprint is a circle with a 6ft radius and/or the square that goes around that, plus lots of headroom.
—Easy to assemble and to take down.
—Easy and safe to store.
—We will instal. We can also build for you.
—You can come to Morecambe of course at any time and you can do your own setup we can put on something else. Let us know.

Online and/or live
If you want to:
—Add to the show online or live.
—Do an online show instead.
—Do a live performance (of any length), in situ or streaming.
… All is possible – let us know and we can work it out.

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