In Search Of Resonance.
My journey through ritual theatre has always walked hand in hand with the queer voices I’ve met along the way in life. I believe that performing experiments in collaborative devising and composing can challenge the individual's participation in society; that It can invite radicalisation of thought without the weight of western education and all that it erases. I work with collectivism as a form of societal healing, as a form of magic, and practicing collaborative creation through the trans-pantheist lens has brought me to the deeply winding path of striking resonance and sharing it.
Experiencing life outside of institutions after training classically as a singer taught me that our society has a lot to learn about where it places value and worth, and a desire to reclaim androcentric bodies of work lead me to experiment with collective vocal resonance and theatre in places where I found expressions of art in response to societal trauma. As a runaway teen I was performing in underground club circuits in the punk and metal scene with body modification troupes. I toured with freak shows and found myself at home in the underbelly of cities I moved through. Social margins magnetised us to certain venues, but it was shared vulnerability which brought folk together in a fantasy world of expression. Finding spaces which acknowledge queer identity within the class system, acknowledge racism, which moved at the speed of trust in crip time. This inspired a passion towards devising collective rituals which abolish ‘the fourth wall’ and intellectual fascism through reciprocity in presence.
In no order, here are some huge influences in my life:
Madame Blavatsky, Warsan Shire, Mabel Collins, Meredith Monk, Samuel Beckett, Hunt-Hendrix, Kurt Weill, Ute Lemper, Austin Osman Spare, Maya Angelou, Marina Abramovic, Franz Kafka, William Shakespeare, Sarah Kane, Stephen Berkoff, William Blake, Ursula Le Guin, Friedrich Hollaender, Marlene Dietrich, Noam Chomsky, Felix Barrett, Nina Simone, Jaqcueline Du Pres, Benedict Spinoza, Pina Bausch, Jackie Holborough & Jenny Hicks, W.B. Yeats, Marian Anderson, Yayoi Kusama, Robert Icke, Sylvia Plath, Tilda Swinton and Bjork.