Because I was in Swansea last Saturday 31 October to participate in ShellShock Theatre's lovely pervasive theatre experience:
HiddenCity.
ShellShock Theatre are
Stephen Donnelly and
Sian Stuttard, two really exciting and enterprising performers who are based in Swansea.
HiddenCity was a theatrical experience devised by the Company with four actors. Divided into three teams we were given a series of clues that took us on a journey of discovery through Swansea city centre.
We travelled through a series of encounters with various Swansea residents who encouraged us look at the city and our relationships within it and with it. Very interesting for me to investigate my relationship to Swansea as a Cardiff girl. The last time I went out down Wind Street was as a teenager with an older boyfriend whose sister got into a fight with a nightclub bouncer. I remember biting and headlocks. That is my image of Swansea.
The journey accumulated in a lovely community "happening", where we all got to come together and share our ideas and thoughts on the city of Swansea. There were ideas for regeneration, for creating utopia and retreating back to the past. There were people who loved Swansea and people who couldn't wait to get away to somewhere else. It was fantastic swapping attitudes and prejudices with other audience participants, most of whom knew the city much better than me!
Continuing the spirit of playfulness,
Esko and I bought sherbet Double Dips as we drove out of Swansea and back to Cardiff. (Thanks Esko for the photos in this Blog!)
I thought that having a playful theatrical experience that made me think about social issues and local themes by engaging in my environment, rather than having a worthy didactic performance to simply watch, was a really clever way of getting me to learn something new and challenge my own opinions of Swansea.
Then I dropped the sherbet Double Dabs open in the car, spilling pink and orange fizz everywhere. And I was back down to earth and apologising for trashing the place. It was like my ex-boyfriend's sister all over again.
HiddenCity is performing AGAIN next Saturday 7 November. Noon start in Swansea Met University's Dynevor Campus in the City Centre. Contact Stephen or Sian before hand through this Community because it already has limited ticket availability.
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