Emergency 2017
Evening: 5pm-10pm
An evening of short new performances presented by Word of Warning, STUN + Z-arts during Emergency 2017; mainly aimed at adults, see Access Info
Artists in Chronological Order (subject to change)
Katy Dye† | Krissi Musiol† | Jon Coleman | Tom Estes | Greg Saxton† | TukaWach† | Matt & Nath | Emma Geraghty† | Dan Craddock & Sophie Unwin† | Ben Mills & Lydia Cottrell ( † limited capacity)
Katy Dye & Craig Manson | The Cat’s Mother
A live art re-imagining of Kate and Gerry McCann as cats. The performance examines who gets attention, and why we in the western world are drawn towards giving our sympathy towards attractive white people. Why is it that certain names such as Alan Kurdi are barely recognised — yet Madeleine McCann is iconic? The Cat’s Mother explores the nature of empathy, and how far this can or cannot stretch. We want to critique the crassness of the idea that humans who are more photogenic, attractive, young and privileged are more deserving of compassion. Is our cuteness factor, the colour of our coats and pedigree important factors in terms of how much we matter in other people’s eyes? Supported by The National Theatre of Scotland’s Engine Room.
Katy Dye is a performance artist interested in censorship, dehumanisation and freedom of speech. Her performance Baby Face explores the infantilisation of women, and has been performed at Camden People’s Theatre, Buzzcut + In Between Time.
Craig Manson is an artist whose work primarily addresses physical, emotional and political exploitation and objectification. So far he has used live performance to re-imagine ancient myths in a live art context and to extensively embody different species — from seals to bears and deers. He has toured his work Selkie to Unfix, Camden People’s Theatre + Edinburgh Fringe.
@katydye1
Krissi Musiol | Work It Out!
I have been up most of the night, exhausted but unable to sleep, thinking about stuff. About Trump & May, Brexit & Grenfell Tower, the gender pay gap & the thigh gap, about food waste & sugar addiction. Whilst you’ve been sleeping, I’ve been trying to work it all out. I’m working out, I’m working it out, & once I’ve worked it all out it’ll be fabulous. So let’s smash this! Let’s get lean & come clean in 15.
Krissi Musiol is a deviser, writer, performer, lecturer, mother & bad-dancer. She has been making ensemble and solo performances since 2004, in studio theatres, galleries & cafes, one-to-one performances, sited work, festival pieces and public engagement projects. Her interests focus upon culture, identity & autobiographical live art and performance.
kmusiol.wixsite.com/krissimusiol | @KrissiMusiol
Jon Coleman | Two Suns in the Sunset
“Two suns in the sunset, could be the human race is run“
The Universe is vast, infinite even. It’s full of wonders and mystery. We can’t be the only ones here, so if that’s true why haven’t we met anyone else yet? Is it that we’re looking for the wrong things? Are we looking in the wrong way and in the wrong places? Or is it that the Universe was once teeming with life but now we are the only ones left and soon there won’t be anyone left at all…
Jon is a Manchester-based theatre maker, whose work explores the nature of storytelling and a range of social issues underpinned by key themes of hope and failure; failure because the moment of vulnerability is the most beautiful and hope because it is important to hold onto the possibility that things can improve. His 2016 solo show How To Be A Man toured nationally; he won a 2012 Independent Studio Theatre award for Best Actor, and has worked with Paper People Theatre, Imitating the Dog + Proto-type Theater among others.
@JonathanColem
Tom Estes | The Speculator
Long before the term ‘Fake News’ became part of the public lexicon, artist Tom Estes was exploring ‘The Digital’ as a shaping condition and a structuring paradox. Through his work Estes examines how fantasy and illusion are not a contradiction of reality, but instead an integral part of our everyday lives. Inspired by modern Capitalism, his amusing, if not startling performance work The Speculator reveals how dataflow from the virtual realm impacts on the significance and symbolism of real-world human senses, and generates unexpected questions about how the digital is inscribing itself on the surface of reality.
Tom Estes grew up on a small farm in the USA and moved to Paris before settling in London. He studied History of Art at the American University in Paris, Social Economic History at Oxford University, and Fine Art at Central Saint Martins London. His work has been hung, played and performed in a few of the world’s right places and a couple of deliciously wrong ones. His work has been presented internationally at exhibitions such as the opening night of The London Art Fair, AXIS International in Chicago, Tate Modern’s exhibition No Soul For Sale and Into The New at Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, and is in several major collections such as The Agency of Unrealized Projects at The Serpentine Gallery + Tate Modern’s archives.
TomEstesArtist.com | @TomEstesArtist
Greg Saxton | Same Same But Different
Greg has just got divorced. And he’s taking a trip: a tour around South East Asia. And he’s going to tell you about all the places, the experiences, the sights, the people, the friendships, the romances, the highs and the lows. He’ll tell you about the hippies he befriends, about his narrow escape from Thai gangsters on the Khao San Road and about the beautiful American girl he leaves behind. He’ll tell you everything that happens, in infinite detail. The thing is… he hasn’t actually done it yet.
Greg Saxton is a writer, director and actor. His most recent play, Somewhere in the A.M., premiered at the Greater Manchester Fringe Festival in July 2017. He has also written and performed two one-man shows, How I Went Insane + Kim Noble Gave Me A Fiver. He is one half of the performance duo Dr Mango.
@gregsaxton
TukaWach | How the Hares are Dying
“For me the Hare is a symbol of incarnation, which the Hare really enacts — something a human can only do in imagination. It burrows, building itself a home in the earth.” An imaginary workshop of Joseph Beuys, the setting for an exploration of self-sacrifice and transformation. Dedicated to this great German artist, who believed in the revolutionary and healing power of Art. Partners: Studium Teatralne (Warsaw), supported by Polish Institute, under artistic scholarship from the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage.
Magda Tuka: performer, dramaturg. A graduate of the Warsaw Theatre Academy she toured internationally with Studium Teatralne and has worked with interactive theatre company The Other Way Works.
Sound design by Opaean.
tukawach.com
Matt & Nath | don’t try this at home (WIP)
Violence is a multi trillion dollar business, whether on television or on the battle field, in music or in sport. Violence is all around us. In don’t try this at home, Matt & Nath attempt to uncover their memories of wrestling as kids, brawling in bars, and the whole CLEAN EATING - TRAINING DIRTY fad and whether or not we can ever find peace. Dramaturge Hannah Woods; supported by Arc Stockton.
Nathan Birkinshaw is a performer and theatre maker from Wakefield who gets naked and usually has a dead badger not far away from him. He is a Works Ahead alumnus who has toured nationally.
Long time collaborator Matthew Pearce is an actor and writer from Sheffield; Matt has also created work solo and with Greg Saxton, most recently for the Greater Manchester Fringe.
Producer + dramaturge Hannah Woods has just finished working on a national tour of ArtWithHeart’s Declaration.
@NathBirkinshaw
Emma Geraghty | Fat Girl Singing
Fat Girl Singing does what it says on the tin. It is about the long journey towards body positivity and the different ways that we find our confidence. It’s also about using music to express ourselves, and how the lyrics we normally hear are all geared towards an ideal type of body. Fat Girl Singing is trying to be happy, about finding the thing you love and doing it until it drowns everything else out; about finding coping mechanisms against a world that invalidates you. Fat Girl Singing is rewriting an Ed Sheeran song so it is actually good.
Emma Geraghty is a theatre-maker with award-winning company Powder Keg. She has collaborated with People United, Leo Burtin, They Eat Culture and One Tenth Human, among others. She was shortlisted for Penguin Random Houses Write Now Live with her novel The Matinee Dog, which focuses on gender and sexuality in post-Industrial Revolution Manchester. She has a background in music and technical theatre design.
@patchworkduck
Dan Craddock & Sophie Unwin | All At Sea
Welcome. Come on in. I hope you’re wearing suitable clothing. Prepare to be soaked in a mysterious atmosphere that will douse your thoughts with a faint scent of fish. All at Sea is a trawl through the mystical questions of our age with a penchant for mischief and always fishing for a line. Don’t worry it’s not harmful. At least… we don’t think it is…
Dan Craddock is a multi-disciplinary maker with a talent for improvisation and comedy who has performed a number of roles at international festivals and national venues, including hosting, performance interventions and solo performances.
Sophie Unwin is an artist whose work derives from autobiographical scrawl, observations of the everyday and a fondness for the sardonic, in an attempt to find answers to life’s many questions. Sophie was a Yorkshire Dance new associate artist and has toured dance works both regionally and nationally, both her own and with Wendy Houstoun + Gary Clarke.
@DanJCraddock | @SophieUnwin2
Ben Mills & Lydia Cottrell | Atomic
A physical exploration into small actions that have huge consequences and the ethics of decision making. The work also draws inspiration from the cold war, Russian sleep experiments, the Manhattan Project and the CIA’s MKUltra mind control experimentation.
Lydia Cottrell is a dancer, performer, apocaloptimist, NASA lover and is prepping for the end of the world; Ben Mills is a live artist, bread maker, mover, rugby player, pun lover and lacks time management skills. They are going to create a work together.
@LidyaaAndstuff
Venue + Booking Details, for Evening Session
Date: Saturday 30 September 2017, 5pm-10pm; full event runs from 12noon
Venue: Z-arts (incl. STUN Studio), 335 Stretford Road, Manchester, M15 5ZA
Tickets: no booking required, Pay What You Decide in person on the day, come and go as you please. ( † NB Some work has a limited capacity and will have sign-up sheets on the day or operate on a first-come, first-served basis.)
Tel: 0161 232 6089 (Z-arts)
Access Information
Emergency 2017 is mainly aimed at adults: some work may not be suitable for under 18s and will be clearly signposted — details here from 19 Sep. It takes place in a number of different spaces and formats — some seated, some standing, some spoken word, some visual, some limited capacity (marked †), some participatory. We apologise but some work may not be wheelchair accessible. For specific age and access information please email info@habmcr.org or call 0161 232 6086.
Credits
Emergency 2017 is produced by hÅb; supported using public funding by Arts Council England, and by Manchester City Council, STUN + Z-arts. | Image: Scudeletti & Figgis by Matt Warner Photography