We had a great session yesterday working in collaboration with The Black Smock Band and Rhiannon Kelly on our new project exploring England’s history of protest, radicalism and dissent.
Exciting things to come. Watch this space…!
Thanks to Ovalhouse, the Arts Council and private funders, we had our first proper development period on our collaboration with The Black Smock Band: an undertaking which emerged from our East storytelling project but which seems to be taking on a life of its own. Temporarily known as The Radical History Project, it looks at the texts, oral and musical, left behind by our radical forbears and the mythology of English radicalism they created, while also searching out contemporary and local stories of struggle. We had a very productive week – well, it’d be shameful not, given the incredible wealth of material we have to work with. Our research so far has focused on the Diggers movement, but since we were working just yards away from where the Chartists gathered, we looked at them and at the challenges facing the area today. In fact, a modern-day version of the enclosures is taking place, with social housing being replaced by private developments.
The end-of-week sharing at Ovalhouse cafe seemed to go down well. There was even some dancing. And lots of helpful feedback – thanks everyone!
The team was Alex Swift, Andy Bannister, Dan Cox, John Bryden, Rhiannon Kelly and Paul Burgess.
We’re still sorting out the documentation but, in the meantime, here’s a photo (credit: Kanatip Soonthornrak). And the project will be back for further research and development soon…
Protest and rebellion are as English as rainy bank holidays, cream teas and plundering foreign countries. But plenty of people would have us ignore the great radical moments of our history.
As part of our commitment to exploring the potent mix of local stories and history, we have joined forces with The Black Smock Band – London’s premier gay socialist folk band (as far as they know) – to take a look at how out forebears fought the power, and what their stories mean today. By rediscovering the songs and ideas that helped change our country, we hope to find where all this turbulence and disorder could lead us today. We’ll be at Ovalhouse so you’ll also hear local stories of resistance, past and current.
This work-in-progress performance will start as a gig. If all goes well, it will end with the revolution we’ve all been waiting for.
November 6th, 9pm, Ovalhouse cafe, free
See you there!
As part of the research for the Daedalus/Black Smock Band Radical History Project (yeah, still a working title), a few of us visited the Disobedient Objects exhibition at the V&A. It was fascinating and inspiring. And a bit overwhelming – a lot of very emotive stuff in one room. Well worth seeing before it closes. Last day is 1st Feb. And it’s free.
Here’s a wonderful trade union banner from the exhibition; a nice update on tradition. Can we have one of those for our project please? (That’s not a joke. I’m actually currently trying to work out how to cost having one made for the band.)
The Black Smock Band, with whom we regularly collaborate, and in which our artistic director Paul plays fiddle, will be playing at the Old Red Lion in Kennington this evening. It’s free, and starts somewhere around 8pm, with the band on at 9ish. Or thereabouts.
There’s a Facebook event here, or you can look at the list of upcoming events on the band’s website.
From our Radical History Project workshops at Ovalhouse, as part of Fun Palaces today. Photos: Andy Bannister
Tomorrow we’re at Ovalhouse as part of Fun Palaces. As part of our Radical History Project, we’re working with The Black Smock Band, inviting the public to join us 2:30-4:30 in updating protest songs and writing placards, before a gig/demo in the cafe at 5pm.
Info on Ovalhouse Fun Palaces weekend can be found here, or there’s a Facebook event for our workshop and gig/demo.
We hope to see you there!
Join our mailing list to be kept up-to-date (there’s a signup form on the right). But here’s a summary:
Oct 5th – We’ll be taking part in the Fun Palace weekend at Ovalhouse, working with The Black Smock Band, as part o the development of our Radical History Project. Join us 2:30-4:30 to create new lyrics for protest songs and write some placards, then come along when we occupy the cafe at 5, for a gig-cum-demo!
Oct 22 – The next meeting of the Radical Performance Reading Group. Next book: Our Word is Our Weapon by Subcommandante Marcos – drop us a line to be added to the Reading Group email list (separate from our main mailing list).
Nov 7th – We’re very honoured that The East storytelling group will be part of The Season of Bangla Drama. We’ll performing at Queen Mary, University of London, at 7:30pm.
Hope to see you soon!
Here’s ’84-’85 Miners’ Strike Project, a video by Sean Yongxiang Li which re-imagines the community events organised in support of striking miners. Our regular collaborators The Black Smock Band appear as the in-house band. It’s a great piece; both thoughtful and powerful. And it’s a great inspiration for our upcoming collaboration with the band on The Radical History Project (working title), about which more soon…
’84-’85 Miners’ Strike Project from Sean Yongxiang Li on Vimeo.
The Black Smock Band, a regular partner for our sharing events, is playing is playing a party on FRIDAY JULY 11 to celebrate the end of the 2014 3 Rivers Clean Up events – a three week long Festival of Rivers in South London: The Quaggy, The Ravensbourne and The Pool. The party, which is a free public event, will take place at Ladywell Fields (north, by the cafe) – near to Ladywell Station (a 10-12 minute train journey from London Bridge). The event runs from 6.00-9.00 pm p the band will be on around 7.00.
3 Rivers Clean Up (3RCU) is organised by Thames 21 alongside a number of local volunteer organisations from the boroughs of Lewisham, Greenwich and Bromley. For more information about 3RCU check out: http://
