Dr Tom Payne's Blog (158)

Do you have an interesting story about water?

Right now I'm at a storytelling event at the Friendship in Borth. Peter Stephenson is entertaining a packed pub with tales of the sea and the bog. This storytelling event is part of Cymerau, an arts based research project exploring the relationship individuals and communities have with water in Borth and Talybont, mid Wales. Part of the event was streamed live online earlier this evening. Peter is just telling his final tale of the night. It's about a beautiful mermaid.

We want to…

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Added by Dr Tom Payne on December 16, 2014 at 10:06 — No Comments

Find out about 'Cymerau': part of a UK wide creative conversation about Water!

Cymerau (or confluence in English) is part of a UK wide research project called Hydrocitizenship (2014-2017) that is being funded by the AHRC. This work aims to engage communities in creative conversations about water and related…

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Added by Dr Tom Payne on December 9, 2014 at 4:30 — No Comments

For the Birds - Review

I recently went to see Jony Easterby's for For the Birds at Ynyshir Nature Reserve. I wrote a review of the event for Culture Colony Quarterly. 

"After disembarking a crowded coach from Aberystwyth, I joined almost two hundred warmly dressed spectators in the chilly moonlit car park at the entrance to Ynys-hir Nature Reserve, in the centre of the UNESCO designated Dyfi Biosphere. Moving slowly on foot we spread out along a narrow track lit by a string of a thousand…

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Added by Dr Tom Payne on October 17, 2014 at 4:30 — No Comments

Standing on the Edge Episode 2 - The Hafod

Sam Christie and Tom Payne present the second episode in a brand new series about the arts in Wales. Featuring the latest content fromhttp://www.culturecolony.com



This second episode features:



- The…
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Added by Dr Tom Payne on July 27, 2011 at 2:34 — No Comments

Richard Allen - Relation and Participation in Performance

Richard Allen from TFTS Aberystwyth University talks about 'relation' and 'participation' in performance.

Recorded at the 'Relation and Participation' symposium held at Aberystwyth Arts Centre May 2011

Added by Dr Tom Payne on July 24, 2011 at 22:40 — No Comments

Fred McVittie - Relation and Participation in Performance

Fred McVittie from the Theatre Department at University College Falmouth talks about 'relation' and 'participation' in performance.

Recorded at the 'Relation and Participation' symposium held at Aberystwyth Arts Centre May 2011

Added by Dr Tom Payne on July 24, 2011 at 8:39 — No Comments

New arts magazine Programme for Wales

Added by Dr Tom Payne on May 17, 2011 at 8:56 — No Comments

Notes From the Edge of the East

Notes From the Edge of the East is a film that I made with Sam Christie. We shot it last March in Krakow Poland. The hour long film explores thee changes in the Polish city of Krakow since the fall of Communism through the eyes of an Englishman, Karl Naylor, who has lived there for the past 10 years. 

 

The film is being screened at Aberystwyth…

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Added by Dr Tom Payne on May 13, 2011 at 21:51 — No Comments

NTW and Commitment

At the recent 'relation and participation' symposium in Aberystwyth, NTW artistic director John McGrath spoke about a new paradigm through which to explore the opening year of National Theatre Wales. 'Commitment'.



Commitment rather than location? In addition to location? If we begin to think about theatre and the theatre of NTW specifically through this paradigm then what might that mean?



It might refer to the commitment by NTW to be innovative, engaged and international.… Continue

Added by Dr Tom Payne on May 10, 2011 at 2:41 — 2 Comments

Jacob Gough and Freedom Theatre

Added by Dr Tom Payne on May 8, 2011 at 22:59 — No Comments

Relation and Participation: Approaches to Performance (aberystwyth symposium)

 

A two day post‐graduate led symposium (May 2nd - 4th 2011) exploring approaches to participation and relation in performance. The event will be hosted by Aberystwyth Arts Centre and The Department of Theatre Film and Television Studies at Aberystwyth University and is…

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Added by Dr Tom Payne on February 25, 2011 at 4:00 — 1 Comment

Day 2010 - Remembering the Persians - Penparcau

Added by Dr Tom Payne on September 25, 2010 at 8:52 — 2 Comments

Day 204 - Do we know how to be critical of theatre in Wales? - Aberystwyth

"Working in Wales the debates surrounding independent media work are quite advanced and within those fields there is a preparedness to address issues of meaning, issues of process, issues of representation, and really get in amongst the art form, really pull it apart and analyse it, and move on into pieces of work that synthesise that analysis. That may be because if you make a film you've actually got the thing there, so you can rewatch it, and you can debate the thing. With theatre once it's… Continue

Added by Dr Tom Payne on September 19, 2010 at 7:08 — 6 Comments

Day 146 - End of Week 2 on the Persians - A dark room with no daylight somewhere in Chapter Arts Centre Cardiff

Another 20 minutes and I am off to catch the train. Highlights of this week include...


1) A pen getting stuck in a hole in the corner of a chair.


2) Long-life energizer batteries (Thanks Ellie)


3) Live tv broadcast by S4C from the arts centre cafe.


4) The line dancing that was the subject of the live tv broadcast in the arts centre cafe.


5) Big cardboard…
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Added by Dr Tom Payne on July 23, 2010 at 3:47 — No Comments

Day 141.1 - The Persians Day 8 - Chapter Arts Centre

The fine details of the text are worked through painstakingly. Linking the language of the play to detailed choreography. I watch the material develop and try to imagine it within the location. An impossible task as I have never been to the place. I did try, a drive by, from The Greystone's Motel near Trecastle, over the public road that bisects the military land, to Tirabad. The village was sat high up on a hill to the right, several miles from the road. It looked inviting, one of my… Continue

Added by Dr Tom Payne on July 18, 2010 at 23:30 — No Comments

Day 141 - NTW06 Commuting - Arriva Trains Wales

I join the throng of early morning commuters as they make their way between Shrewsbury and Cardiff. Somewhere between 6 and 9 in the morning are the best hours of the day. The light is different, sharp, grey, blue. The day is unsullied by the lethargy of the late riser. Newspapers sit straight upon the tables, anticipating creases. I sip coffee from a stainless steel flask, a cumbersome addition to my luggage, it is necessary however... paying £1.50 for a cup of instant coffee with UHT… Continue

Added by Dr Tom Payne on July 18, 2010 at 19:30 — No Comments

Day 137 - The Persians Day 4 - Chapter

During the previous three days I had settled into a pattern of documenting, and then things changed. What had worked for the first part of the week suddenly left me floundering around trying to find a way to record and make sense of the process I was witnessing. Retreat, regroup, change strategy.


i am documenting the genetic processes at work in the creation of The Persians, the forwards and backwards moves in the rehearsal process that lead up to the live…
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Added by Dr Tom Payne on July 15, 2010 at 7:25 — No Comments

Day 136 - The Persians Day 3 - Chapter Arts Centre Cafe

77 pages of writing, 18 hours of audio, 2 hours of video, a script and a map. Mike Pearson commented that I am probably making hard work for myself when the time comes to listen back to/read/watch all of this material.


I am planning to write the first week up when I travel back to Aberystwyth on the train on Friday, and then next week I will try to arrange research interviews with the performers and crew. Hopefully I can pick some useful questions out of the -…
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Added by Dr Tom Payne on July 14, 2010 at 5:41 — No Comments

Day 135 - The Persians Day 2 - Chapter Arts Centre

Lines mark out the space. The lines are a map. A map of a location. A map hangs on the wall. Denoting the location of a village, the village housing the location on the floor. And that is as close as I have been so far. I tried to drive there, but you can't. Well you could but you would probably get fined £500 by the military... honestly, you should read the signs... don't stop, do not pass go etc. etc. And so all I have at this stage are the maps. Not just the cartographic kind, for… Continue

Added by Dr Tom Payne on July 13, 2010 at 6:30 — No Comments

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