Thanks Romy and the beautiful inspiring words are more from Matilda than me of course! Love to you Phelimx
> On 29 Jul 2021, at 16:23, Romy Shovelton via OSList > <[email protected]> wrote: > > Dear Phelim……. Your speaking is SO inspired…… words are now flowing onto > paper here …. and will be with you in the coming hours/ days…. > > Your home is coming….. coming home indeed….. > > with love…. 😊 > > Romy > > > Romy Shovelton > > Executive Director > Wikima and the 5* Tyddyn Retreat > Mid Wales Venue & Holiday Cottages > > >> On 29 Jul 2021, at 15:15, Phelim McDermott via OSList >> <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>> >> wrote: >> >> Dear Open space friends, >> >> I’m sure some of you have already seen this but I wanted to share this >> invitation with the Oslist from Improbable. As you know we’ve been on a big >> journey of invitation with our Devoted and Disgruntled events over the years >> and the building of a community who have used and spread the practice of >> opening space in the theatre world and beyond. See here if you are >> interested. www.devotedanddisgruntled.com >> <http://www.devotedanddisgruntled.com/> >> >> We’ve been in a period of space opening as the pandemic took us into >> stillness and then online in the theatre world. Now it’s time to open space >> to come home. We’ve decided to do it through Invitation, Art and >> Conversation.. >> >> I’m never quite sure if things copied in appear in the OS list so forgive me >> that I’ve included the text twice and also i’ve include the link to our >> website if this doesn't come through. Do let us know if you have any >> thoughts or straws you’d like to share. >> >> Lots of Love Phelim >> >> https://www.improbable.co.uk/posts/the-gathering >> <https://www.improbable.co.uk/posts/the-gathering> >> >> <e39b00b4-af68-4c74-8b13-774299560d46.png> >> >> <500b71ae-a5c1-31cf-0df1-47c605453d6a.png> >> >> >> The Gathering >> >> Improbable are moving… >> But to where? Maybe you can help us to find out. >> >> This is an invitation to work with us on the next big Improbable project, >> which is taking an unprecedented form. This is surprising for a company that >> has explored so many diverse forms to date: we’ve done plays, operas, >> puppetry, panto, musicals, big outdoor spectacles, small indoor Impros. What >> else is left? Here’s one thing the company has never yet done: created a >> home. >> >> We’ve had small offices. Plenty of those. But to do the creative work we >> have always rented, begged, borrowed, been asked into, other peoples’ >> spaces. And now, after twenty-five years, we want a space of our own. >> >> Not a venue. Not a ticketed theatre. An Improbable space. A playful one. A >> porous one. One that can welcome and hold all the roles - those with tickets >> and those without. A place to share the work, make the work, or take a break >> from the work and just hang out. >> >> Why? >> >> Some of us are getting old. Older. Pushing fifty, sixty. The dream of a home >> is the dream of a place to house the practice, so that we can both deepen it >> and pass it on. If Improbable were on a hero’s journey, now would be the >> time for us to bring the gift back home - but we need a home to bring it >> home to. >> >> During the pandemic the only space we had, the office space, had to go >> online. We have done a huge amount of work like this - remotely - and now, >> as things start to re-open, if we are to move back into a real, embodied >> space, we want it to be a creative one. The pandemic has also made us less >> London-centric, so we could go, almost, anywhere. But we want to be >> somewhere that we want to be, and somewhere that wants to have us. Somewhere >> other people would want to come. So, we are thinking landscape - not inside >> a city but near enough to one to be within reach. >> >> But where? >> >> We do not know, but we are quite good at not knowing. If there is one thing >> that we have been practicing these last twenty-five years, it’s that - the >> art of not knowing. >> >> One thing we do, when we do not know what to do is this - we invite in all >> the voices, the professional, the personal, the irreverent and the seemingly >> irrelevant, the incidental, the marginalised, the dead and gone, the ghosts. >> And then we listen to them. This is how we make our shows. Put the voices >> and all the things they have to say, all the images they bring with them, >> into the middle of the room, making a strange, haphazard collection of >> stuff, a great pile of straw, and then we see what we can create from them, >> what gold we can spin from them, or - better still - we wait and see what >> wants to be spun. This time what we are hoping to spin is a home. >> >> And this is where you come in. >> Because for this project, yours is one of the voices we want to invite in.... >> >> Much of Improbable’s work to date has centred around building community, >> whether that is the temporary community of a show - a group of performers - >> or the whole artistic community that comes together at our Devoted and >> Disgruntled >> <https://improbable.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=a5189ca3fc76859d6e74c21e3&id=539685174e&e=98c6fdf648> >> Open Space events. We know we cannot do this new, home-making project alone >> - it is going to be a big collaboration, our biggest to date. We are not >> like Jack - we cannot just go and build ourselves a house. We are going to >> need the help of builders, farmers, estate agents, architects, >> entrepreneurs, ecologists, funders, artists, children, animals. Trees too. >> Stones. And we are going to need help at every stage, including now, at the >> dreaming, wondering, questioning stage. >> >> We are on a treasure hunt. We are on the look out for clues, like strands of >> straw, and they could come from anywhere. At the moment, Phelim’s and >> Matilda’s son, Riddley, is doing a project at school to build a model of a >> shelter, some form of dwelling. Phelim and Matilda went with him to the >> Weald and Downland Museum in West Sussex at the weekend and saw some old >> buildings- thatched roofs, wattle and daubed walls, as well as a beautiful >> gridshell construction >> <https://improbable.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=a5189ca3fc76859d6e74c21e3&id=a6259c96e4&e=98c6fdf648>, >> like an upturned ark - that felt like a clue. >> >> On the way back, driving in the car, they slowed down, seeing something in >> the road - it was an owl, perched on the ground, staring, having just killed >> a rabbit. It flew away with the rabbit in its claws. That felt like another >> clue. >> >> We don't know what any of these clues mean. We do not need to know that yet. >> As with a show, at present we are simply searching, gathering. We’ve been >> having conversations with other artists, other home-owners, inviting in >> different voices, collecting clues. This, now, is us widening the >> conversation further, to include you, whoever you are reading this, however >> you have or haven’t engaged with Improbable till now. Because you might have >> a clue. It could be a place you know which you love that you want to tell us >> about. It could be a memory you have from a show we once did. It could be a >> dream. It could be a photo. It could be a book. It could be you - you could >> be a clue. >> >> Imagine we are all sitting in a circle, a growing circle, like at an Open >> Space event, like every show we have ever made has started. If you have any >> clues, any strands of straw you wish to add to the pile in the middle please >> do - leave a comment on our website >> <https://improbable.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=a5189ca3fc76859d6e74c21e3&id=e1687f3832&e=98c6fdf648>, >> or get in touch - email [email protected] >> <mailto:[email protected]?subject=The%20Gathering>. We need all the >> straw we can get - we have a big dream, a whole home to build. >> >> Phelim, Lee, Matilda >> July 2021 >> >> <dark-facebook-96.png> >> <https://improbable.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=a5189ca3fc76859d6e74c21e3&id=91193633d6&e=98c6fdf648> >> <dark-twitter-96.png> >> <https://improbable.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=a5189ca3fc76859d6e74c21e3&id=fc1c583103&e=98c6fdf648> >> <dark-instagram-96.png> >> <https://improbable.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=a5189ca3fc76859d6e74c21e3&id=3b38260a89&e=98c6fdf648> >> <dark-link-96.png> >> <https://improbable.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=a5189ca3fc76859d6e74c21e3&id=386fee4239&e=98c6fdf648> >> <749494cb-bd86-48d5-b1c0-9dfd8ba7890a.png> >> Improbable is a National Portfolio Organisation of Arts Council England >> Copyright © 2021 Improbable. All rights reserved. >> You have received this email because you are on the Improbable Mailing List. >> To update your profile or unsubscribe, please follow the links below. If you >> have any queries, suggestions or complaints, please email >> [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>. >> >> Our mailing address is: >> Improbable c/o PopHub, 41 Whitcomb Street, London WC2H 7DT, United Kingdom >> >> The Gathering >> >> Improbable are moving… >> But to where? Maybe you can help us to find out. >> >> This is an invitation to work with us on the next big Improbable project, >> which is taking an unprecedented form. This is surprising for a company that >> has explored so many diverse forms to date: we’ve done plays, operas, >> puppetry, panto, musicals, big outdoor spectacles, small indoor Impros. What >> else is left? Here’s one thing the company has never yet done: created a >> home. >> >> We’ve had small offices. Plenty of those. But to do the creative work we >> have always rented, begged, borrowed, been asked into, other peoples’ >> spaces. And now, after twenty-five years, we want a space of our own. >> >> Not a venue. Not a ticketed theatre. An Improbable space. A playful one. A >> porous one. One that can welcome and hold all the roles - those with tickets >> and those without. A place to share the work, make the work, or take a break >> from the work and just hang out. >> >> Why? >> >> Some of us are getting old. Older. Pushing fifty, sixty. The dream of a home >> is the dream of a place to house the practice, so that we can both deepen it >> and pass it on. If Improbable were on a hero’s journey, now would be the >> time for us to bring the gift back home - but we need a home to bring it >> home to. >> >> During the pandemic the only space we had, the office space, had to go >> online. We have done a huge amount of work like this - remotely - and now, >> as things start to re-open, if we are to move back into a real, embodied >> space, we want it to be a creative one. The pandemic has also made us less >> London-centric, so we could go, almost, anywhere. But we want to be >> somewhere that we want to be, and somewhere that wants to have us. Somewhere >> other people would want to come. So, we are thinking landscape - not inside >> a city but near enough to one to be within reach. >> >> But where? >> >> We do not know, but we are quite good at not knowing. If there is one thing >> that we have been practicing these last twenty-five years, it’s that - the >> art of not knowing. >> >> One thing we do, when we do not know what to do is this - we invite in all >> the voices, the professional, the personal, the irreverent and the seemingly >> irrelevant, the incidental, the marginalised, the dead and gone, the ghosts. >> And then we listen to them. This is how we make our shows. Put the voices >> and all the things they have to say, all the images they bring with them, >> into the middle of the room, making a strange, haphazard collection of >> stuff, a great pile of straw, and then we see what we can create from them, >> what gold we can spin from them, or - better still - we wait and see what >> wants to be spun. This time what we are hoping to spin is a home. >> >> And this is where you come in. >> Because for this project, yours is one of the voices we want to invite in.... >> >> Much of Improbable’s work to date has centred around building community, >> whether that is the temporary community of a show - a group of performers - >> or the whole artistic community that comes together at our Devoted and >> Disgruntled >> <https://improbable.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=a5189ca3fc76859d6e74c21e3&id=539685174e&e=98c6fdf648> >> Open Space events. We know we cannot do this new, home-making project alone >> - it is going to be a big collaboration, our biggest to date. We are not >> like Jack - we cannot just go and build ourselves a house. We are going to >> need the help of builders, farmers, estate agents, architects, >> entrepreneurs, ecologists, funders, artists, children, animals. Trees too. >> Stones. And we are going to need help at every stage, including now, at the >> dreaming, wondering, questioning stage. >> >> We are on a treasure hunt. We are on the look out for clues, like strands of >> straw, and they could come from anywhere. At the moment, Phelim’s and >> Matilda’s son, Riddley, is doing a project at school to build a model of a >> shelter, some form of dwelling. Phelim and Matilda went with him to the >> Weald and Downland Museum in West Sussex at the weekend and saw some old >> buildings- thatched roofs, wattle and daubed walls, as well as a beautiful >> gridshell construction >> <https://improbable.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=a5189ca3fc76859d6e74c21e3&id=a6259c96e4&e=98c6fdf648>, >> like an upturned ark - that felt like a clue. >> >> On the way back, driving in the car, they slowed down, seeing something in >> the road - it was an owl, perched on the ground, staring, having just killed >> a rabbit. It flew away with the rabbit in its claws. That felt like another >> clue. >> >> We don't know what any of these clues mean. We do not need to know that yet. >> As with a show, at present we are simply searching, gathering. We’ve been >> having conversations with other artists, other home-owners, inviting in >> different voices, collecting clues. This, now, is us widening the >> conversation further, to include you, whoever you are reading this, however >> you have or haven’t engaged with Improbable till now. Because you might have >> a clue. It could be a place you know which you love that you want to tell us >> about. It could be a memory you have from a show we once did. It could be a >> dream. It could be a photo. It could be a book. It could be you - you could >> be a clue. >> >> Imagine we are all sitting in a circle, a growing circle, like at an Open >> Space event, like every show we have ever made has started. If you have any >> clues, any strands of straw you wish to add to the pile in the middle please >> do - leave a comment on our website >> <https://improbable.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=a5189ca3fc76859d6e74c21e3&id=e1687f3832&e=98c6fdf648>, >> or get in touch - email [email protected] >> <mailto:[email protected]?subject=The%20Gathering>. We need all the >> straw we can get - we have a big dream, a whole home to build. >> >> Phelim, Lee, Matilda >> July 2021 >> >> >> <open.php.gif> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> OSList mailing list >> To post send emails to [email protected] >> <mailto:[email protected]> >> To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] >> <mailto:[email protected]> >> To subscribe or manage your subscription click below: >> http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org >> <http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org> >> Past archives can be viewed here: >> http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] > > _______________________________________________ > OSList mailing list > To post send emails to [email protected] > To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] > To subscribe or manage your subscription click below: > http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org > Past archives can be viewed here: > http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]
_______________________________________________ OSList mailing list To post send emails to [email protected] To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] To subscribe or manage your subscription click below: http://lists.openspacetech.org/listinfo.cgi/oslist-openspacetech.org Past archives can be viewed here: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]
