Hello!

My name is Elan and I am currently on a work placement at National Theatre Wales from Wales Millennium Centre (that's a mouthful...) and this is my first blog post on this thing. So... *deep breath*...

I've been on placement here now for about 3 weeks and I have a week and a half left and the whole experience has been great! This is a really buzzing place to be and everyone is lovely to me. I came here to be a Project Co-ordinatior on a very exciting project called Mr Clevver's Puppet Company (yes, spelt with two v's). So let me tell you a little bit about the project.

Mr Clevver's Puppet Company.

It's a touring puppet show that travels unhurriedly around rural Wales visiting castles, pubs, communities and beaches. This summer the show’s old-fashioned truck and trailer will arrive and open up to reveal a stage and benches, and exquisite wooden puppets (it's really cool - the trailer has a wood burner and a sink in it!) and it will perform to families right on their doorstep.

A child learns to become an adult, but an adult struggling to remain afloat within the life he has made for himself. Nuclear Family examines some fundamental human truths, whilst also poking fun at governmental and religious power structures.

Click here to visit the show's web page!

What I've been doing.

So, I have come on board to co-ordinate the whole shebang - scheduling, contacting, confirming and driving the route that the performers and the Truck will take. During the rehearsal period I was up with them in a picturesque cottage in Pembrokeshire which was great because I was right in the middle of it all and was able to see the creative juices flowing. 

This project is a bit of a mammoth one as is has lots of little bits to sort and lots of very big bits to sort and all the bits are pretty vital so, y'know... no pressure! One of the big bits was the route, and that's what I focused on last week. In four days I drove non stop from Newport in Pembrokeshire to Flintshire, driving a squiggly route along the B roads so I could find little gems along the way (some photos to follow). I was a bit nervous about driving solo for all of this - let me tell you that I am now a wiz at following maps (my map was my best friend over those four days) - but I had a good time, met loads of really nice people who were really positive and excited about the project and welcomed me and it with open arms. Good one.

So in the final week and a half of my placement here, there is still lots of work to be done (including another route finding trip) and I'm really glad I got the opportunity to work on something so different with a vibrant bunch of people.

Heather & Ivan Morison (I totally didn't write this bit...)

Turkish-born Ivan and Heather from Northamptonshire - make art as an active engagement with materials, histories, sites, and processes. Through peripatetic travels, they have produced sculptures, photographs, buildings, fiction and are developing their own arboretum in a wood in north Wales. Heather & Ivan Morison represented Wales at the 52nd Venice Biennale and are internationally acclaimed having been commissioned or resident in places as diverse as Tasmania, Canada and Norway. They live and work in Brighton and north Wales.

Okie dokes, that's it for now, I'm going to get some photos up of the rehearsal period, my route-finding trip and little teaser photos of the truck & co.

Thanks for reading!

Elan.