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MANIPULATE Festival 2021 Launch

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Manipulate Festival 2021 trailer

Tickets go on sale today for Puppet Animation Scotland‘s 14th MANIPULATE Festival. The festival will combine a bespoke multi-city outdoor installation artwalk, and a digital programme packed with performance, screenings and workshops. MANIPULATE Festival returns in brand new form against the odds this January.

The innovative festival of international, award-winning visual theatre, puppetry and animated film will return in a new hybrid format. Festival fans can enjoy MANIPULATE Digital Festival (29 January – 7 February 2021) from the comfort of their own homes. Those in Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow can experience a specially commissioned outdoor kinetic sculpture series called Restless Worlds (21 January – 21 February 2021).

Eat Me, by Snap Elastic. Photo credit Brian Hartley.
Judy Rosenthal, Manual Cinema, The End of TV.

A note from Dawn Taylor, Puppet Animation Scotland’s new director


“In the challenging circumstances that the pandemic has thrown up for our sector, the immediate priority for myself and the Puppet Animation Scotland team was finding a way to generate work for as many artists as we could. Commissioning, hosting installations and digital theatre – all these represent uncharted territory for Puppet Animation Scotland, but we have been overwhelmed by the creativity and ingenuity of artists in meeting this brief, said Dawn.
 
“It’s clear that there are challenges to come for us as a society this winter, and so we also wanted to create something exciting and concrete that audiences can put in their diaries and look forward to.  We’re thrilled to be able to keep providing boundary-pushing creative experiences through MANIPULATE in 2021.”

The full programme and tickets are available on the MANIPULATE Theatre website.

Darkfield’s DOUBLE joins the official selection for the Venice International Film Festival 2020

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DARKFIELD’S ‘DOUBLE’ CONFIRMED TO JOIN THE  OFFICIAL SELECTION FOR THE VENICE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2020 

  • First ever audio-only experience to be shown at Venice Film Festival
  • 2500 people worldwide have experienced DOUBLE in two weeks
  • London-based AR company’s run extended into September due to popular demand
  • Evening performances to begin on United States time zones from mid-August

Announced today across Europe and round the globe,  DARKFIELD RADIO’s first broadcast DOUBLE is confirmed for the Venice International Film Festival, the first ever audio-only experience in the programme.  DOUBLE is part of Venice’s ‘Best of XR’ (eXtended Reality a catch all term for immersive productions including AR and VR) category and represents an innovative shift for the immersive theatre company, from physical installations to home entertainment as a reaction to the ongoing COVID19 pandemic.

Alongside this announcement DARKFIELD are excited to announce Darkfield Radio and DOUBLE performances will open up to the US with evening performances added for Eastern and Pacific time zones . 

Darkfield Radio, a groundbreaking new project, brings DARKFIELD’s innovative audio experiences to audiences at home. DOUBLE, the first ever audio only experience to be part of the official selection for the Venice International Film Festival, will be shown as part of the ‘Best of XR’ category usually held in a site specific island in the Italian town, it will instead be hosted on well-known XR gaming platform ‘VR Chat’ opening up the festival XR programme to audiences worldwide.

DOUBLE, a strange and curious world built from 360 degree binaural sound, is a troubling exercise in familiarity for two people sitting opposite each other on either side of their kitchen table. It asks ‘‘everyone to be who they say they are”. DOUBLE explores the Capgras delusion, a condition in which the sufferer is convinced that a loved one has been replaced by an exact replica with malign intentions. This follows the theme of Darkfield’s previous shows, exploring ideas around Drug Placebos, the Multiverse and the unknown beyond the veil.

The experience is communal – not only are audiences experiencing the show in pairs, but the show is replicated in hundreds of rooms across the world with a set performance time, much like going to the cinema for a screening, or a theatre for a play. The DARKFIELD RADIO app, available on IOS and Android is designed to deliver the show at a set time and date. Part of  The magic of the show is the ability for Darkfield to deliver a powerfully immersive experience with just a pair of regular headphones, a mobile phone, and a kitchen table. 

“By turning your house into a stage, this one, fleetingly, becomes a doppelganger for the real thing” ★★★★ The Guardian 

“Darkfield prove themselves arch manipulator” Lyn Gardner, Stage Door

“Conceptually, this is sorcery” – ★★★★ Reviews Hub 

“…What has been created fills [the audience’s] senses and the room around them“ – ★★★★ The Stage

“all the classic horror tropes are here as the sinister soundscape sweeps you up in a wave of irrational fear” ★★★★ Time out

“your kitchen – so achingly well known to you – becomes an eerily defamiliarised place” ★★★★ Metro

DARKFIELD creates new innovative work at the forefront of technology and theatre, utilising binaural sound and sensory effects. Previous acclaimed pieces SEANCE, FLIGHT and COMA, sited in shipping containers, originally premiered at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and have since toured the UK and Australia.  DARKFIELD has so far welcomed 167500+ audience members globally and with DARKFIELD RADIO, will now reach even larger audiences worldwide in their homes. The Darkfield Radio App is powered by Wiretapper, and funded by the Arts Council for England. 

Tickets are available via the DARKFIELD website and will be signposted within the ‘Best of XR’ at the Venice Film Festival on ‘VR Chat’.

Shows run every Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday at 20:00 & 21:30. PLEASE BE AWARE SHOWS ARE 14+.

Experienced through the DARKFIELD RADIO app available for android and iphone. 

darkfield.org/radio

NOTES TO EDITORS

CREDITS

PERFORMER Chris Brett Bailey

DIRECTORS David Rosenberg & Glen Neath

WRITER Glen Neath

SOUND & TECH David Rosenberg

PRODUCER Victoria Eyton

PRODUCTION COORDINATOR Sara Codrington

IMAGERY Alex Purcell

For press information, images and interview requests please contact Miriam Attwood miriam@storytellingpr.com 07825642225 

Venice International Film Festival

Wednesday 2 September 2020 – Saturday 12 September.

https://www.labiennale.org/en/cinema/2020

Best of XR

A popular new strand of Venice International Film Festival screening the best of XR / VR / AR from around the world.

VR Chat

https://www.vrchat.com/ create and play in virtual worlds 

PRAISE FOR DARKFIELD CONTAINER SHOWS

“[Darkfield] harness the very Uncertainty Of Pretending, and In Doing So Create An Experience That’s Properly

Exhilarating. It’s A Perfectly Programmed High-art Theme Park Ride That Spits You Out Into The Sunlight Feeling Palpably, Certainly, alive.”

Exeunt Magazine

SEANCE PREMIERED 2017 EDINBURGH FESTIVAL FRINGE

★★★★

Natasha Tripney, The Stage

‘It’s skin-tingling, breath-quickening stuff’

★★★★

Lauren Mooney, The Stage

‘Perfectly contained and completely absorbing, spine-tingling’

FLIGHT PREMIERED AT SUMMER 2018 AT LATITUDE AND THE EDINBURGH FESTIVAL FRINGE 

★★★★

Hannah Wright, The Wee Review

‘Outstanding…an all-consuming experience that takes you away from the busy streets of Edinburgh and into a different reality’

★★★★

Niki Boyle, The Scotsman

‘…Absolutely unsettling. The sound and production design are both excellent – in addition to the authentic interior, boarding passes and Kafkaesque safety cards are distributed, all of which enhance the creeping unease.’

COMA PREMIERED AT THE 2019 EDINBURGH FESTIVAL FRINGE 

★★★★

Fest Mag

’An immersive experience that takes audiences to another realm’

The Independent

‘If you’ve never experienced one of Darkfield’s shows, absolutely go: it is technically astonishing, completely uncanny, and deeply unnerving. You start to question your own senses. You may start to feel a rising panic. It’s not for faint-hearted.’

THE INVISIBLE

In 2020 DARKFIELD partnered with Universal Pictures to create ‘The Invisible’ – a bespoke experience in a container created to partner the  launch of Universal’s  ‘The Invisible Man’. The experience was sited at Universal Citywalk, Los Angeles, and gave audience members a unique experience inspired by the film.

Wonder Fools announce new summer season of work

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Announced this week: five new projects come from the young Glasgow Company as they, along with most of the country, rewrite their diary for 2020.  Stories to Connect Us is an entire season of digital work from Wonder Fools, with three completely new pieces of storytelling: Secret Private World, Home Made and The New Normal.

A reworked audio version of The Coolidge Effect will be available from July and the theatre company’s sold out Scottish touring show 549: Scots of the Civil War will be available for a limited time to watch online, with a new intro from the team explaining why they’ve decided to share the archive footage online. The online premiere with a Q&A will take place on June 30.

Wonder Fools co-founder, Jack Nurse commented:

“Wonder Fools were set for 2020 being the most productive, far reaching and artistically challenging yet. With the advent of COVID19, we have put our planned live shows on the backburner and turned our attention to creating digital work that directly speaks to today. At heart, we are a company that tells stories and have always experimented with different forms – Stories to Connect Us is no different.

“We can’t wait to be back in theatres again but for now we are excited for audiences to interact with some of our favourite old shows in new ways and to create brand new work for the first time in two years. We hope the season will utilise the possibilities of digital forms and through the stories we have chosen to tell offer audiences great entertainment and, above all, a sense of connection for these isolated times.”

Online from Tuesday July 28 a new audio version of Wonder Fools’ play, The Coolidge Effect, starring Robbie Gordon & Jamie Marie Leary, (written by Gordon and Nurse) will be available for download. Having toured extensively across the UK through 2016 – 2018 the show explores the impact of pornography addiction on people’s mental health. Devised from interviews with porn advocates, addicts, mental health experts and scientists The Coolidge Effect has become an even more relevant conversation as we sit at home behind our screens. 

At its core, The Coolidge Effect is a story about isolation and the importance of connection, the new audio version features a powerful and upbeat score written for the show by VanIves.

549: Scots of the Spanish Civil War will be shared through archive footage from one of the most joyous nights on the UK tour. Available to watch on Tuesday June 30. Filmed live in an Ayrshire town hall, the recording celebrates the raw power of rural touring and community, and tells the story of a moment in our history where international solidarity and hope stood up in the face of oppressive fascism. The need for this story to be retold regrettably continues today. Wonder Fools hope to reach more of the families of the 549 who were unable to see it on tour in 2019, inviting them to contact the team directly to share their stories contact@wonderfools.org. A huge archive of information gathered around the project of 549 men who traveled from Scotland to support the anti-facist movement in Spanish Civil War is continually being built at 549.scot.

The three projects that will be announced in more detail through the course of summer 2020 include, The New Normal, a collection of monologues created by the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland Young Company which tell the stories of those people most profoundly affected by the pandemic.

A co-production with MGA Academy, Home Made looks at how our relationship to home evolves as we move out into the world. Created on zoom with the final year acting students – what home means seems very poignant, especially right now.

Finally, Secret Private World is a new thriller by Wonder Fools to be serialised as a six-part podcast. Set in lockdown Glasgow, the familiar story of gazing out windows, staring at the same walls, watching the rubbish pile up, will come to life with fictional James, as our narrator. Whilst creating narratives in his head about the lives of his neighbours he notices something, a peculiar incident nobody else seems to notice.

Further information about this impressive season of work from the independent theatre company coming through summer 2020.

For images, interview requests and further info please contact Miriam at Storytelling PR miriam@storytellingpr.com 07825642225 (and hopefully the rest of the team soon!)

Listings Stories to Connect Us

The Coolidge Effect – available 28 June 2020

549: Scots of the Civil War – viewing on Tuesday 30 June, tickets available via the website on a ‘pay-what-you-can’ basis alongside a live Q&A with the creative team. Fundraising around the re-run of 549 Scots of the Civil War will see 50% of money raised going directly to the cast and creative team behind 549.

Home Made – to be announced

Secret Private World – to be announced

New Normal – to be announced

Wonder Fools Team

Robbie Gordon co-founder / co-writer/ performer

Jack Nurse co-founder / co-writer/ director

Steph Connell producer

549: Scots of the Civil War on tour was ‘in association with Citizens Theatre and the Brunton supported by Ayr Gaiety’. The Peggy Ramsey Foundation is supporting Secret Private World.

Project X celebrating 3 years dancing together

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Storytelling PR has been lucky to work with Project X bearing witness to the important work they do in Scotland and we wanted to share an important message from the company below.

For details on how to support Project X by donating, visit their new website here.

We are a Scotland-based, collectively run organisation which champions dance and performance from the African and Caribbean diaspora. 

At this time, whilst we are celebrating three years of amazing and enriching accomplishments which we are so proud to have achieved, we are also saddened and enraged by the recent, historic and ongoing traumatic incidents, loss of life, and sickening acts of anti-blackness which continue to dominate the world we live in. 

Through witnessing and experiencing racial inequality within our own lives and professional careers, we came together as friends and colleagues to remedy this through democratising the art sector in Scotland and beyond. We created educational contexts to understand the history, heritage and contemporary African and Caribbean cultures through dance. We wanted to support the amazing artists and practitioners creating work here in Scotland, whilst addressing the multi-faceted and oppressive barriers put upon Black and/+ POC artists.

Covid19 may have brought the world to a halt but our work is ongoing.

As a small organisation which is delivered on a project-by-project basis, we are using this time to become more sustainable so that we can continue to deliver our work with communities and artists. We know that across the UK, COVID has had the greatest impact on Black and People of Colour and as an organisation, we urgently need to put systems and procedures in place to support and care for our collaborators, communities and ourselves. Therefore, whilst ensuring that the health, safety and mental wellbeing of those we work with is paramount, we will continue to reimagine and reconstruct a better and more inclusive sector, celebrating the history and contemporary cultures which intertwine in the myriad of dance forms and styles.

You can donate to help support our organisation here:
www.projectxplatform.co.uk/support-us

Thank you to our community for the on-going support.

Love and Solidarity 
Project X – Ashanti, Mele & Rhea

A note from Miriam

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View over the Firth of Forth, Newhaven, Edinburgh.

Hello!

Hope this finds you okay, home, with / in close contact with pals and loved ones.

I just wanted to pop a wee note out from the Storytelling perspective to let you know how we can help – and what’s going on up in Scotland.

Of course all of our current touring work; the brilliant Superfan with Like Animals; Theatre Gu Leor with MAIM; Harry Clayton-Wright’s first UK solo tour with Sex Education; Ellen Renton’s superb Within Sight; and our home at Summerhall has closed its doors for the time being.

At Storytelling we are lucky to have access to some of the best in the business in PR, but also to our accountant and finance manager Sal. Sal and I are jumping on webinars, reading long, long documents and gaining as much knowledge as we can on the current situation to 1) keep Storytelling going, and 2) to be able to provide support for our artists.

To our dear trans, lgbtq+ artists, please let us know if you need any allyship – whatever form that takes – we’re here.

This is going to be a hard time for all – I know there’s nothing I can say. The future will come round, it may look different, I think we all hope it will, and as I’ve said before, artists and events people know how to prepare new strategies, systems and manage a crisis up there with the best of them, so know you GOT THIS.

Take the breaks you need, drink all the tea and wine you need to.

Miriam & the storytelling team X  

P.s: if you need a wee pick-me-up, we’ve put together a Spotify playlist! Give ‘er a listen!