Analog.Ue

So,

This is an Archive recording of a show i made in 2013/2014.

I first wrote and performed the show in 2013 for St Anns Warehouse in New York and it is safe to say that that first iteration of the show was a rickety kerfuffle (aka - not great).

Every aspect of the idea proved to be more difficult and take more time than i'd anticipated. From writing the show, to acquiring the machines, to learning how to use the machines, to the recording of individual tapes, to the practice and execution of the show.

The show fried not only my brain but also the brain of Jon Meggat, the long suffering show technician who was in charge of resetting everything after each performance which involved, amongst other things, the accurate cuing up of unmarked reel to reel tapes and dealing with a leaking roof after a snow storm that resulted in melt water flooding our equipment table.

In the entire month long run in New York, not one show was free of either a machine breakdown or an operator (me) error.

It's safe to say the show divided people and certainly not equally. Retrospectively, I would say that the first two or three shows were shit storms of varying intensity but after that whilst people were certainly, continuing to dislike the show, they were more often than not disliking it for the wrong reasons.

Part of the concept for the show was that i wouldn't speak live at all, a restriction i found interesting and difficult and that worked with the story being told on the tapes. Some people felt irredeemably short changed by that decision and their highlights were the moments when a machine broke down beyond the point of repair, or i lost my place and found myself having to explain something there and then to the audience.

Whilst those incidents provided some people with what they saw as an overdue respite from the austere distance of the recordings, they were, for me, heartbreaking little failures that undermined everything i was trying to achieve.

So, over the following two months, i rewrote the show, wove a new thread through it, acquired all new machines (the american ones wouldnt have worked in the UK), integrated slide projectors, increased the numbers of machines, re-recorded everything, discovered a new way of resetting the show with the invaluable assistance of Shane (Thom) and Jonas (Handsome). (It turns out, it was at least a three person job and that i should have been re-cuing the machines myself - whoops) and restaged it at the National Theatre in London.

And this version of the show (if not this specific, recorded performance) is, i believe, one of the best things i've ever made. Certainly, its one of the most ambitious and difficult and satisfying things i've ever made but maybe those aren't the same thing and i am too close to notice the difference.

Anyway.

I think the show explains itself quite well, but in case you cant see whats going on, there are two trestle tables at the back of the double depth stage, lit with work lights and covered with a pile of reel to reel machines and tape recorders, there's also various projector screens, coiled cables and speakers. I fetch the machines, one at a time, place them, sometimes connect a speaker and run a power cable to the central table. On that table there are 60 switchable plug sockets. I plug the machine in. And flip the switch at the right time to piece the story together and whilst that machine is playing its bit of the story i go back and get the next machine.

It was filmed largely on a single camera from the back of the stalls, so everything is a bit tiny and i'm quite often lost in the dark. So, It may be worth watching on the biggest screen you can - but then that will probably lead to pixelation. So who knows. The sound quality is not actually too bad - considering that it is all coming from old tapes and was again recorded through that single video camera.

I like the nature of the recording because it somehow fits with the tone and the content and the nature of the show but i imagine it could be quite tricky to watch.

Also, theres a weird noise over a black screen for a bit at the start which was the sound of the fire curtain opening, if you watch to the very end you’ll see it close again - its cool.

Good luck.