And Tigers MIngle 11

Dreadlockalien welcomes the guests

So the dust is softly descending after the performances; Richard and Sonia have moved on to other projects and Wightwick is settling back after all the noise and rhythms of the performance tours.

The back to back tours were a bit frantic inside the house as the resetting time between each one seemed to shorten and we rushed from the end of one tour to the beginning of the next.

Outside the house, however, Tracy and Simon calmly managed the arrival of each successive audience and Helen kept them sweet as she collected their names in front of the house. Afterwards, Bobby, Natalie and Frances were there to receive them out of the house again and get their feedback; so for audiences, it was a much calmer affair.

As is usual in these things each audience behaved in a very individual way. It’s like the audience arrives at a shared character in the first few minutes – and then all the individuals with in it seem to respond in that way for the rest of the performance.

There are some lovely comments from them, collected after the shows:

“It was breathtaking!...As if the things in the house were alive.”

“Sonia was amazing...like an unobtrusive spirit within the house.”

“The falling feathers were beautiful. I felt I was in another world and things around me were awake.”

“It was all new to me. I wanted to know what was behind the next room. I wanted the journey to continue.”

“There is something about kathak on wood...The way it reverberates through the whole house.”

The residency, from my point of view was a tremendous success. The house, volunteers and staff, were very hospitable and kind (many thanks to all of you). The artists worked hard at establishing truthful and original reactions to the place and its history. Then the way in which the spoken word and the kathak combined in places like the Great Parlour was truly memorable and unique (and ended with the falling feathers….)

Highlights for me were the combination of the poetry, dance and Sonia singing in the great parlour, Dreadlockalien’s welcoming of people into the house (and the opening poem by the grandfather clock) and Sonia dancing in the entrance hall with Billie Holiday playing from one of the rooms close by.

At those moments, I felt the interaction between the artists and the location were at the very best, creating something unique, not just in terms of the art produced, but also in the history of that house.

If there's one incident that shows how important work like this is, in a wider context, it was when we were doing our final run before the performances on Saturday. As I said in the previous post, we were running through whilst there were visitors in the house. One of them stopped Deb, who was stage managing and asked why Sonia was performing in the house "there isn't an Indian connection, is there?". It wasn't said unkindly, but it demonstrates how people like to see and pigeonhole artists and their work. The only legitimate reason for a South Asian artist to be interpreting Wightwick Manor (or presumably any other historic house) is if there is a clear historical link to the subcontinent.

To project forward to a time when the heritage of the UK can be discussed and interpreted by its current population, what ever their cultural background, we need projects like this. To truly claim the cultural assets of the UK for all its population we need projects like this. And for the sheer excitement of combining original new artforms like hip hop poetry with classical Indian dance, in a historic house that's never seen the like before - we need projects like this.

I've really enjoyed the last two weeks. I shall miss working with Sonia and Richard, will miss Wightwick – and I'll definitely miss the cream teas from the café….

Sonia in full flow

And Tigers Mingle 10

Richard and Sir Geoffrey Mander

It has been a very busy couple of days running down to last night’s first performances.

Most of Friday morning – our last concentrated time to actually rehearse in the house - was given over to filming a short piece for BBC Midlands Today. We want to make sure that we sell as many tickets as possible, so it was seen as an important thing to do. As it turned out, the piece was centred around the story of the two Indian princesses and was interesting in itself – and probably good for the whole “Whose Story” project. However, it was less useful to us, it didn’t make much sense of what we were doing and didn’t give much of a plug for the performances.

Friday evening was the time for our first public dress – we had about 8 people along and it gave us a good dry run at preparing the house, after the visitors had gone, for the performances.

Luckily, we were joined on Friday by Deb Justice – who is the Administrator at BCT, but also a good and experienced stage manager. She has slotted in alongside of us providing great discreet support and finding her way around this maze of a house in no time.

The dress rehearsal went well, but threw up a few problems that we needed to address before the performances.

Saturday had its own challenges. To fit in a final run in situ on Saturday was difficult as there were tours going around the house from 10 in the morning. We scheduled a run in between these tours for 11. In practice what that meant was, we were chasing people through the spaces and we had another tour chasing us. In the individual rooms, this wasn’t so much of a problem, the difficulties came when we were in the great parlour.

The great parlour and particularly the balcony is a cross roads of the house, so all through this section we had people crossing through and amongst what we were doing. When we have been rehearsing in the malthouse, we were able to explain what was going on, here, as we were running to time and as for real, so we had no such luxury. So we had people wandering and wondering through the performance.

After the run, we had to go else where to rehearse, as the malthouse had become the overflow tearoom for the weekend. In some ways it was good to go off site, as it all felt a little calmer down at the Newhampton Arts Centre.

At 4 we returned to the house and Deb and I were like cats on hot bricks waiting for the moment when we could get into the house after the last tour and start setting.

Once we were underway, the tours were running back to back and for the next three hours, we didn’t really stop. Sonia and Richard did well, adapting to the different groups and keeping their energy levels high.

There were two moments that people really seemed to enjoy. The section in the great hall, which focuses on childhood, and ends with three white feathers drifting down from the balcony to the floor of the great hall – in complete silence. And then the very end, where everyone gets up and is encouraged to dance the Charleston and play billiards. It works really well – and everyone seems really keen to get up and have a go. A highlight of that bit for me was seeing Kate Organ, the Chair of our board getting those knees swinging!

And Tigers Mingle 9

We're racing towards the end now and it feels a bit scary. We have our structure and we have our material - now it's just being able to do it. And if we can do it, hope that it speaks to an audience in a way that makes sense to them.

In such a short process, two weeks from start to finish, you really have to trust to instinct. Everything is based around working on immediate responses and hoping those responses will resonate with your audience.

However, there are several key things working in your favour, which will help support you. The first and most obvious, is the location. It's been the inspiration for the work and if you were performing in a theatre, it's highly unlikely you'd ever have such a magnificent set. If your responses have been true, then the audience should see the logic of what you've created in relation to the surroundings.

Secondly, you have the artists. Richard and Sonia are both excellent - they are warm and charismatic performers - and in the intimate locations in the house, their relationship with the audience is enhanced - it doesn't distance them like a theatre might.

Thirdly we have the excitement of combining the art forms, the spoken word with the kathak - and both of them interacting with the house. It is new and unique - audiences don't know what to expect and therefore it should feel new and different.

But we still need to get it right...

And Tigers Mingle 8

The house is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, so we've been able to work in the house completely in situ for the past two days, today it was back to the half in half out way of working.


On days when the house is open, we can work in the house until the first tour starts - which is usually about 11.20. This gives us about an hour and a half to use the locations. For Richard, this is tricky, but he can use his imagination to a large extent when we are working in the Malthouse. For Sonia it is almost impossible - the layouts are hard to reproduce, the surfaces are different, there aren't pillars to use or billiard tables to pivot on.

As you can see from these pictures:


This is Richard and Sonia working on the end section in the billiard room.

This is us, trying to recreate the scene in the Malthouse. There is quite a difference...

The good thing about working in the Malthouse, is that we get a steady stream of visitors popping in and watching what we are doing. The feedback is generally positive, but then only the brave ones stay. For some people walking into a rehearsal is just too much, and they scurry off with a wild and fearful look in their eyes.

And Tigers Mingle 7

We’re half way through the devising process and we’re still looking for our end.

There is a point in the devising process (which we have now reached) where it is difficult to recognize what material you are actually using. You think you know, but everything you have ever talked about is still in your head, as well as the stuff you are using, and sometimes it is hard to tell the difference between the two.

Today we had a visit from a community group to see what we have come up with so far. This is a really useful visit, because you get the chance to talk to them about what it is they think you are doing and what the material is saying to them. I also get the chance to watch them as they listen to Richard’s poetry and watch Sonia dance.

Even before they speak I already know far more about what is in the material we are using, I can see that subconsciously we have been leaning towards one story in particular, and that it seems to appear in all the bits we have.

Once you add into that the comments of our visitors it becomes a very useful session. Some of the visual ideas we thought would work don’t – either because of sight lines – or because we have been too subtle. On the other hand, things I thought were a bit obscure seem clear to our audience and bits we had just thrown in delight them.

The end is still a bit of a mystery, but a shape is starting to develop. We need to edit some bits and add to others – flesh on the bones. Clearly we need to hone the story we are telling…. And we need to find an end.

And Tigers Mingle 6

Sonia is away performing in Colchester today, so Richard and I are here, carrying on and looking at his side – the poetry side of things.

The motivation behind this project is the National Trust’s desire to get more people from Black and Asian back grounds to come to, and enjoy, National Trust properties.

There is a whole drive to establish points of cultural contact and uncover stories of cross cultural exchange in relation to the houses, the families who lived there and their histories. This house is relatively new (in National Trust terms – only 110 years old), it was built by the Manders – local Wolverhampton industrialists, who made their money by building up their paint and varnish business from scratch over a long period.

It isn’t built on slave money, it isn’t inherited wealth. The Manders that built this house were very concerned with social progress, creating good working conditions for their workforce, treating them fairly. Geoffrey Mander, whilst on Wolverhampton Council fought for and introduced the first minimum wage for council employees in the borough. He negotiated with Ernest Bevin to introduce the 40 hour week into his factories, without a loss of pay – or productivity. As an MP he was deeply interested in foreign affairs, he asked questions in the House of Commons for Haille Selassie about the British attitude to the Italian invasion of Abyssinia. He was one of the first MP’s to question the appeasement of Hitler. His two brothers, Lionel and Alan, married two Indian princesses.

All in all, a good place to be running a project like this, until you come across passages like this in your research:

‘Geoffrey Mander, for all the liberal brownie points he earned for his stance on appeasement and workers rights, had less than enlightened views on his sister-in-law. He had a problem with her being black. At one dinner party he said to Alan, “I don’t know how you can put your arms around that woman.” ‘

As Sonia said, “Oh Geoffrey!”

But as Richard pointed out, why are we surprised that at the height of Empire, he had those opinions, and isn’t it easy to look back and view someone with our own value system and impose it on them? If it was me, would I have been any different?

Today Richard and I had a long and complex debate about relative values, race, Britishness, belonging (and what that means in a place like Wightwick – do I, from my background, feel any more at home in Wightwick than him?).

But Wightwick is a part of both of our shared view of our British heritage – if we had visitors from abroad, it is the kind of place we would bring them to as an example of Britishness. In that sense we both feel like we own it.

Richard will continue his response through his poetry…

And Tigers Mingle 5

You can see from the picture above, that Sonia is getting to grips with the house in a very real way (and it is the right way up). Starting to explore movement in the actual spaces, and finding a way through to the performance by experimenting directly with what is about her.

Then there is a mass of information about the house and the Mander family, which we are trying to get to grips with. The house itself is stacked to the gunnels with beautiful things. It is a really rich and vibrant setting to work in. Yesterday I got to see some of Burne-Jones’s sketch books, small pocket sized books full of writing and sketches, some of which look like ideas for poses or details of pictures. One page had beautifully drawn pairs of hands folded through the barely legible writing.

All that contrasts with the house as family home and the stories which come back in relation to that. It seems to have been a cold and empty place to have been a child in – the introduction to the guide book, written by Anthea Mander, who grew up in the house, is a very personal and passionate piece. It has revealing phrases like “visitors were a welcome relief in the bleak bell jar of family life” and “there is a marvellous archive about the family….giving clues to numerous betrayals and abandonments” and “painful memories make me reluctant to go round the house.”

Yet when we talk to visitors (as we have been doing) most people like the house because it “feels like a family home”. Apparently Geoffrey Mander was fond of telling his daughter “Remember Anthea, we have given our home to the public!” The Manders were the first family to give their house to the National Trust whilst they were still alive (and living in it).

In amongst all this rich material, Richard and Sonia are trying to find their places as dancer and poet. Exploring how Kathak and Hip Hop sit in this environment and with these stories and what it is they want to tell.

Ideas emerge, which we like for a time and then they fade or change. There is a story of how two brothers of the family married Indian princesses (two sisters), but the sisters never visited the house. Sisters keep popping up – the two we met on the first day, the two maharanis and two sisters called Paint who met two Mander brothers who were on a trade visit to Canada, selling…paint – and then married them and came to Wolverhampton.

Today, childhood is a theme we’re exploring. Childhood in the house, children of the house.