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Collaborations, News, Sound/Composition

Commission Outspoken Arts

Love Street – The Musical

Martin O’Connor and I are once again working together  – this time on a co-commission by Outspoken Arts Scotland.

We have been invited to develop a proposal for a  new theatre production in Paisley called Love Street – The Musical.

Over the last couple of months we have been out and about visiting organisations and gathering stories from people in Paisley who have memories and connections to Love Street. More to follow…

Love Street Paisley Express
Call for stories in the Paisley Express
Love Street research
Research at Paisley Heritage Centre
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News, Performance, Sound/Composition, Writing

Night Vision

Night Vision Nichola Scrutton

The starting point for Night Vision is a series of non-narrative texts captured through an experimental writing practice in the middle of the night lying down in a semi-conscious, or liminal, state.

This is a very different artistic approach for me. Early inquiries were focused on selection, how to interact with the texts,  and what happens when these words/sounds are given voice off the page?

The work was initially developed at Rough Mix, Magnetic North’s creative development programme. The residency was held in Perth Theatre in January 2019. Big, big thanks to Magnetic North and the artists and performers involved in the residency. Thanks to Lorna, Neil, Ian and Laurie for the first performance sharing of Night Vision. And thanks to Lise for recordings, chat and tech support.

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News, Reviews/Articles

The Mark of the Beast review

The Mark of the Beast gets a ***** review

Presented by Martin O’Connor and Platform
Written and Performed by Martin O’Connor
With Nichola Scrutton and the North East Recovery Community
Platform, Easterhouse 13th-15th April
The Scottish Storytelling Centre 19th April

Inspired by Glasgow and its relationship with alcohol and addiction, Martin’s latest poetry performance The Mark of the Beast explores society through a prism of morality, temptation and family attitudes towards the ‘demon drink,’ and is performed in Martin’s recognisable blend of Scots and song, shot through with religious references and imagery.

The performance includes sound design created by Nichola Scrutton featuring personal experiences of alcohol addiction from members of the North East Recovery Community.

Creative Team:
Martin O’Connor – Writer and Performer
Nichola Scrutton – Composition/Sound Design
Fergus Dunnet – Set Design
Hana Allen – Stage Management
Davie Green – Lighting Design
Alan McKendrick – Directing Support
Eoin Carey – Image and Production Photography

Theatre Review – The Herald
The Mark Of The Beast
Platform, The Bridge, Glasgow

*****

“Whit ye huvin?” The voice has a chirrupy geniality to it: pure Glesca’ camraderie. “Ur ye huvin’ a drink or no?” The camaraderie is now teetering on the querulous, the aggressive even. Offence is on the verge of being taken, here. Minutes into this pithy, comedic, often harrowing monologue about various shades of alcohol addiction, writer/performer Martin O’Connor has wheeched us inside a pub, and into the core shorthand of belonging – of being a mate, a part of a community – that is inherent in the offer of a pint.

One pint… unseen voices chip in with memories of the wee swally that first introduced them – often, as far back as childhood – to the compulsive disorder of getting totally blootered. The recorded voices belong to Glasgow’s North-East Recovery Community: mixed into Nichola Scrutton’s chorale-cum-sound design, they will add personal witness to O’Connor’s tangy, savvy progress through the cumulative effects of long-term alcohol abuse. There’s the bilious heartburn of self-loathing, the upsurge of resolve – “Ah’m affit..” – and the lonely isolation of battling your demons when your pals remain in the boozer.

There’s a graphically vicious section when a posse of well-dressed lads become a pack of drunken thugs, relentlessly kicking a total stranger

just because… because he was there. It all sounds, feels, pungently real.

O’Connor’s talent for morphing social documentation into a bravura prose-poem pivots merrily on the rhythms of everyday Glesca’ patois, but – back-lit by designer Fergus Dunnet’s row of stained glass windows – he offsets the gallus patter with the soaring fire and brimstone of biblical texts, juggling revelations and hallucinations in a linguistic cocktail of those abiding havens: bevvy and religion. We laugh a lot, because O’Connor understands bathos but he never mocks the alcohol-afflicted, or diminishes their trials in what is a truly exceptional piece of work.

Read the review online

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Collaborations, News, Sound/Composition

Martin O’Connor/The Mark of the Beast

Mark of the Beast 1

The Mark of the Beast is a collaboration with writer/theatre-maker Martin O’Connor that explores issues/ideas around alcohol and addiction in Glasgow.

Between November 2015 to March 2016, Martin and I undertook a period of research and development, commissioned by GEAC Platform-to-Health and GRAND (Getting Real About Alcohol n Drugs). Working with the North East Recovery Community.

At that time, I composed a sound installation Good Days Bad Days, incorporating the many voices/stories of participant’s experiences. For The Mark of the Beast, I re-visited and re-composed that material for Martin’s live solo show.

***** The Herald (Platform Glasgow)
**** The Wee Review (Scottish Storytelling Centre, Edinburgh)

Performances

2018
13th – 15th April, Platform, Glasgow
19th April Scottish Storytelling Centre, Edinburgh

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Collaborations, News, Sound/Composition

Martin O’Connor/Building a Nation

Building A Nation eflyer

Collaboration as composer/sound designer with writer/theatre-maker Martin O’Connor on his solo show Togail Nàisean/Building a Nation. We toured as part of a double bill with Aisling Oidhche Meadhan Samhraidh/A Midsummer Nights Dream and had a performance at Tramway, Glasgow in 2018. Read more about it at Martin’s website here.

Performances

2018
Glasgow

2017
Lewis
North Uist
South Uist
Skye
Isle of Mull
Glasgow
Edinburgh

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Films, News

Phoenix Dance Theatre/Is there a mistake…

Is there a mistake around today that’s as big as the idea of the earth being flat? was created during the Phoenix Dance Theatre Choreographers and Composers Lab.

Choroegrapher/composer team:
Claire Lefèvre and Nichola Scrutton
Dancers: Andreas Grimaldier, Lisard Tranis, Marie Astrid Mence
Percussionist: Sean Hamilton
Vocalist: Nichola Scrutton.

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