10 February 2012 (Theatre Preview)

Words: Caomhan Keane

16 shows, 12 days, over 80 people involved. But just what is Collaborations, the festival curated by The Jack Burdell Experience, about? Caomhan Keane asks Jen Darcy for the skinny.

What is the Jack Burdell Experience?
The Jack Burdell Experience is a new theatre company that opens its doors to exciting artists who are trying to find a home for those ideas that have been knocking around their heads for the last few months. We want to provide an environment that encourages new work to be made, created, designed, and exposed.

Can you tell me about The City Electric?
The City Electric, Jack Burdells first big adventure, ran for three sold out days in The Complex, Smithfield. It received warm and enthusiast responses from its audience. Devised over a number of workshops, Clara and the cast explored the city they lived in, the good, the bad and the ugly: uncovering the magic in the every day, the excitement in finding new places to visit and realising that Dublin is not such a bad place afterall.

"The show, like the city, was truly electric"
"As a Dub, it brought a tear to the eye"
"What a heart warming play, the music was beautiful"

Tell us about Collaborations?
This February Jack Burdell brings you 14 One Act plays and Works in Development, and 2 Full Scale Productions as part of the COLLABORATIONS festival. Each day will bring you a block of three 20 minute pieces and an evening show that will run for the week. These Works in Development are short pieces by vibrant new theatre practitioners and performance artists, still growing and evolving for an audience.

What kind of work are you looking for?
We're looking for that new idea knocking around your head, be it new writing, movement piece, dance piece, devised piece, multimedia piece, all the pieces.

How would it differ from a Project Brand New or The Theatre Machine Turns You On show for example?
Like both these festivals, we want to provide a platform for new work. Collaborations, by the very nature of its name, wants to encourage and promote an environment that brings various artists from different backgrounds together.

Is their a structure to the festival? Certain types of shows shown at certain times for specific reason, etc?
We have three 10-20 minute pieces in four blocks over the two weeks and two full productions, one each week.

Tell us a little about the shows that you have lined up for the festival?
From the 6th to the 11th, Andy Crowe presents, I WAS AN EMPEROR, a story of family and home and having to day goodbye. From the 13th-18th, Roger Gregg takes the main evening slot with THE MUSE UNBIDDEN, a dark satire on modern poetry and self-discovery asking the question, who is your Muse? We are also showcasing 14 one-act shows and works in develpment. These shows bring you from a shoe shop, to the wax museum, to the woods to lay seeds, to finding who you are, finding the right words and finding beauty within.

What are the challenges in getting a show like this off of the ground?
The challenge is taking it day by day, being our first festival it's a constant learning process. Luckily we have a wonderful family of 80, dinner time around the table is hectic.

 

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