MAYFEST RADIO SPECIAL

This episode is a conversation about vulnerability in live performance.

About how artists can present traumatic material whilst looking after ourselves.

About not being consumed by an audience. 

And it is full of love.

This episode was commissioned by Bristol Mayfest Radio (the official radio station for the Mayfest Theatre Festival) and Emma is speaking to Selina Thompson, an artist and performer whose production ‘Salt’ is one of the highlights of the festival.

We talk about making autobiographical performance and placing yourself between an audience and the Sun.  About self care being a prevention rather than a cure and about the places where trans issues and race issues intersect and the places where they don’t.

Selina Thompson is an artist and performer based in Leeds. Her work is playful, participatory and intimate, focused on the politics of identity, and how this defines our bodies, lives and environments. She has made work for pubs, cafes, hairdressers, toilets, and sometimes even galleries and theatres, including Spill Festival of Performance, The National Theatre Studio, The Birmingham REP, East Street Arts and the West Yorkshire Playhouse.

Emma Frankland is an award winning theatre maker and performer.  Recently she has been creating performance work based on transgender identities & the politics of transition through her None of Us is Yet a Robot project. Throughout her work, there is a shared theatrical language that focuses on honesty, action & a playfully destructive DIY aesthetic.

You can keep up to date with Emma's movements through the None of Us is Yet a Robot project at www.notyetarobot.co.uk or @elbfrankland on twitter and with Selina at http://selinathompson.co.uk and on twitter @selinanthompson

Opening music was by Visitors and closing music (as ever) by Señor Coconut y Su Conjuto.

Some things we mentioned in the conversation were:

Salt: http://totaltheatre.org.uk/ship-shape-and-bristol-fashion-the-story-of-salt/

Rituals For Change:http://notyetarobot.co.uk/portfolio-item/rituals-for-change/

Mayfest: http://mayfestbristol.co.uk

The Cop in the Head: Augusto Boal: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augusto_Boal

Forest Fringe: http://www.forestfringe.co.uk

Buzzcut Festival: https://glasgowbuzzcut.wordpress.com

Caravan Showcase: http://caravanshowcase.org.uk

Sue MacLaine - Can I Start Again Please?: http://www.suemaclaine.com/can-i-start-again-please/

Woodland Secrets: http://woodlandsecrets.co/episode/51

Trans Pride Brighton: http://transpridebrighton.tumblr.com

Simon Bowes writing about Rituals for Change: http://simonbowes.tumblr.com/post/144555756602/0212-now16-week-1-emma-frankland-rituals-for