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21:05:15

GET YOURMIND

BLOWNLike new theatre on theedge? Delve into WATCHOUT Festival. It’s going to

be one to remember.

30 | May 21, 2015 | cambridge-news.co.uk | Cambridge News

LEAP into a whole day of mindblowing theatre.Following in the considerable footsteps of

Cambridge Junction’s previous experimentalfestivals, Sampled and Night Watch, WATCHOUT is set to become an annual one-day event“continuing that legacy”.

Dubbed a “festival of dangerousnew theatre anddance,” Junction artsproducer Daniel Pittsays: “We’re calling ittheatre and dance butwhere the boundariesbetween those end andfinish, and also whereyou might say live artand cabaret and spokenword meet, are all quitevague. We’re pushing theboundaries between thesethings.”

WATCH OUT will takeover every room in the Junction,staging eight newly devised shows that havebeen supported, commissioned by or created incollaboration with the venue. One piece will alsotake to the streets, while another utilises virtualreality goggles. “Theatre in all its possible forms,”Daniel grins.

Most of the shows are still being worked on andhoned (“So some surprises may happen”). In factthe earlier you arrive at the festival, the earlier inthe development stages the work will be, with thelater shows being more finalised.

“It’s a place for the even more unusual stuff tobe tried out. It’s all a bit edgy, it’s all quite fun andit’s got an attitude to it that’s worth listening to.It’s people saying things that need to be said indifferent ways,” says Daniel. “We like to supportalternative viewpoints.”

Although billed as “dangerous” he promises:“It’s not dangerous because someone’s going to bebleeding in front of you or anything like that!”

Instead it’s eclectic, experimental and unique;not a risk to your person.

Daniel says: “My policy in general is to presentwork which speaks to people about the wider

world – this is work that speaks about the widerworld in more innovative ways, but it’s notdesigned to be scary, it’s designed to be relevant.It’s about contemporary issues and contemporarysociety: the problems and difficulties that we allface, and giving space to artists that don’t get muchof a voice.”

The showsFEATURING two world premieres and one UKpremiere, the line-up is rousing and intriguing. Inorder, we have . . .

Wrecking Ball by Action Hero (2pm)Wrecking Ball is still a work in progress. Centred onthe male gaze, celebrity, control and perception,two performers (a male photographer and a female‘celebrity’) cajole the audience into reading outparts of the script.

It will increasingly test what the audience is

willing to say and do and asks just how far we’ll goto put words in other people’s mouths.

360° by Dan Koop, Andy Field andNathen Street (2pm, 4pm & 6pm)First premiered in Melbourne, Australia, the UKdebut of 360° will see participants go on a soloaudio experience around the city. The idea is touse your phone to navigate channels opened upby an astronomer on the other side of the world,while thinking about place, technology and theneed to be solitary sometimes.

The Cube by Circa69 (from 2pm)The Cube is a 12-minute experience in oculusrift virtual reality (goggles are involved), whereyou will face the question: “How do you build areality which doesn’t collapse within three days?”Deep stuff.

SWAGGA by Project O, Charlotte Cooperand Kay Hyatt (3.30pm)SWAGGA combines black and mixed race danceartists Project O with performers Charlotte Cooper

The WATCHOUT Festivalat CambridgeJunction isa series ofexperimentalshows whichwill challengeaudiences. ELLAWALKER strapson her tin helmet.

Editor:Ella Walkeremail:ella.walker@cambridge-news.co.uk

For breakingentertainment newsfor the city, visitcambridge-news.co.uk/whatson

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THE HEADLINER: MUSIC

the critical listThis week’s entertainment highlights

WATCHFesti

Feeling dangerous?WRECKING BALL: ActionHero will test how far anaudience will go

THE CUBE: Virtual reality

Cambridge News | cambridge-news.co.uk | May 21, 2015 | 31

HOT TICKETS WHAT’S ON

WHAT’S ON HOT TICKETS

HOT TICKETS WHAT’S ON

WHAT’S ON HOT TICKETS

HOT TICKETS WHAT’S ON

WATCH OUT Festival, Cambridge

Junction, Saturday, May 23 from

2pm until late. Full details and

tickets – festival pass £10-£15 –

available from (01223) 511511

or junction.co.uk.

OUTval

and Kay Hyatt, an obese lesbian couple who alsohave a band called Homosexual Death Drive. Theycall this show their “giant goddess attack” and it’sabout not being ignored and dancing like mad.

Easy For You To Say by Rowan James(5pm)Easy For You To Say comes from Ely poet RowanJames after he impressed the Junction crew with a

performance at local platform night, View FromThe Bridge.

He has learning difficulties and a speechimpediment, and this show, he explains, is an“exploration into the use of labels and the conceptof being normal in society, and, from a disabilitypoint of view, what happens to people who fall onthe wrong side of that due to their bodies or howtheir minds work”.

Punchy and eloquent, Rowan has collaboratedwith beatboxer Marv Radio – a perfect matchconsidering he is heavily influenced by hip-hop andpunk. His writing technique is as interesting ashis performance too. “I’ve always had goodideas but I can never get them onto paper and I lost things, so Ilearnt to write them in my

You haveto admit, eightshows in one day for£15 (£10 concessions)is an absolute bargain.The bar will be open andthere’ll be local foodiesproviding energy booststhroughout the daytoo.

SWAGGA: It’s a “giantgoddess attack” aboutnot being ignored

EASY FOR YOU TOSAY: Poet RowanJames explores theuse of labels andthe concept of being

normal in society

Turn topage 32

32 | May 21, 2015 | cambridge-news.co.uk | Cambridge News

THE HEADLINER: MUSIC

head so I didn’t have to worry about not beingable to get them on to paper.

“As soon as it would sound right in my head,when I was concentrating on the writing Iwould lose the rhythm and lose the inflectionsand it just stopped feeling organic and feelingright.”

He adds: “I want people to explore theirrelationship with disability. It affects all of us.I think everyone feels what it’s like to not be

good enough, to not feel like they fit in. I thinkeveryone’s experienced that, so I want that asthe starting point, and then I want for people tolisten to the voices of people who don’t oftenget a voice and how, if there is an issue, to thinkabout it for themselves.”

A Room For All Our Tomorrows by Igorand Moreno (6.30pm)Performers Igor and Moreno will dance, drinkcoffee and push the boundaries of what itmeans to be free, social creatures. Who knowswhat they’ll get up to?

Show Off by Figs in Wigs (8.30pm)Show Off is about social media and narcissism.The madcap five-piece Figs in Wigs explain . . .

We were interested in whether social mediaplatforms have made people more narcissistic,whether the incessant status updates havemade us think we are more important thanwe actually are. Perhaps humans have alwaysbeen self-centred creatures, but what if moderncommunication and technology is giving us anaggrandised sense of self. We love Twitter, butwe started to wonder if people who love Twitterjust love themselves . . . A lot of people think the

show itself is narcissistic, but that’s exactly whatwe’re playing with. What kind of self-obsessedfreaks would make a variety show starring onlythemselves? And not only that, attempt to performas multi-disciplinary artists. Whatsort of self-orbiting idiotswould think they could passthemselves off as circusperformers when theonly hula hoop theyhave any experiencewith is the potato-based snack? That’sright, it’s us. Figs inWigs.

What shouldpeople expect?Expect organisedchaos, industrialnoise-making and aguarantee that somethingwill go wrong. We arecontinually taken by surpriseonstage in this show, and I don’t thinkwe’ll ever get rid of the glitter. We’ll be forevercovered in the stuff.

What are you trying to achieve with the

show? Fame, notoriety and a verified Twitteraccount.

How are the outfits shaping up?This show contains the most costumes to date

including a grand total of 19 wigs. We’ve hadthe suits dry-cleaned so they are looking

pretty sharp. The bejewelled trainersrequire the most maintenance and

upkeep as we inevitably lose a fewgems each time we do the danceroutine. The cow onesies arebeginning to smell but we’vestocked up on Febreeze.

What do you suggest we‘watch out’ for?

Low flying pigeons.

Calendar Girl by LucyMcCormick (9.45pm)

Calendar Girl comes fromGETINTHEBACKOFTHEVAN member

Lucy McCormick. It’s a show where shehas cast herself as Jesus Christ “in an attempt

to find greater connection to her own moralconscience”.

Prepare for chaos, noise and crowd surfing,and raincoats are advised . . .

Daniel’stop picksFigs in Wigs will be a sure-fire hit,I’m involved in Rowan James show

so that should be really exciting seeingit reach an audience for the first time,I think Igor and Moreno’s show will

be great, I’ve seen part of it and it’sgot a wonderful table on stage thathas a piano inside it. They’ve had

it specially made. I think LucyMcCormick’s show will be agreat, raucous end to thefestival.”

IGOR AND MORENO: Pushing the boundaries

From page 31

“THE artier end of entertainment should be about inspiringchange,” says Daniel on the wider aims of WATCH OUT.

“The more that we can do as society in general to encouragefreer thinking, the better. That is fundamentally what this festivalis about.”

He adds: “What I love about theatre and dance and musicand clubs – all the stuff we do here – is that it’s good to get

people in a room together to experience things that make youfeel something.

“Whether it’s dancing in a club or singing along to CourtneyBarnett, and you can’t get that from TV, so people shouldcome out and see some stuff in front of them – it’s much moreexciting.”

Step away from the remote. Go have some real fun.

The point of art . . .

FIGS IN WIGS:Do people wholove Twitter

just lovethemselves?