Jacksons Lane has announced a new residency programme, Transmission, that will support five circus artists/companies over August and September as they work on new creations.
Ella Robson-Guilfoyle (working on Echoes), Jilted Pig (A Cosy Murder), Keziah Serreau (Strike), Company Pepper-Choc (Fishes Have Wishes), and Vagabond’s Hat (Kinesonic) will each have up to two weeks at Jacksons Lane, receive individualised mentoring from JL staff, and give a public work-in-progress performance at the end of their residency.
Adrian Berry, artistic director at Jacksons Lane, explains that the addition of a final presentation has been a choice of the artists, and that the culture of the residency is focused on experimentation and research: 'Previous residencies at Jacksons Lane have largely focused on moving towards “finished” work or presentations. [...] The difference here is that there is a genuine offer to play and experiment. More importantly I want, through the showings, to open up the process. The danger when you give a company access to LX, a technician, etcetera, is they start to structure it into a show format with a beginning, middle and end. If that happens by accident, fine. If they just show and tell for twenty minutes, good also. But I'd like it to be a genuinely reciprocal experience and for the artists to learn, fail, succeed and think.'
The five Transmission companies are all artists who are just beginning to strike out alone. Adrian: 'They've all worked with some pretty established companies – Crashmat Collective, The Exhibitionists, Square Peg, NoFit State – but this is artists branching out to establish their own identities and work.' Why these five? 'They've all been known to Jacksons Lane in some way, but the most important thing is they excited me with their ideas. It all happened in different ways. Keziah and Ella's work was through their pitches at Circus Now. With Alice (Jilted Pig) it was in a pub in the Brecon Beacons at 1am in the morning after Façade. We already work with established artists and most of the circus NPOs so this gives us a chance to do something a bit off the radar.'
The first of the residencies will see Ella Robson-Guilfoyle working on Echoes, with a public showing on 14 August 2013. Check the Jacksons Lane website for dates and information on the other Transmission artists.