Arts

4 Arts Outpost presents: Uninhabited- Eleanor Rodwell

By Jack Warren

Lockdown changed the concept of home radically for everybody. In some ways it might never be the same. The relationships between our bodies, our lives, and each other were all shifted into another paradigm. Amid these changes, Norwich-based artist Eleanor Rodwell was working on her recent project Uninhabited which featured in residence at Outpost Studios earlier this month.

As with much of her work, Eleanor focuses on the body and its often anxiety-generating mechanisms that make us function and feel. With this project though, Eleanor brought the impact of lockdown on the mind and body into a perspective that can only be viewed now that we are allowed out again. I went to view Eleanor’s work on the first night of opening in Gildengate House, Anglia Square.

There was something about this exhibition that had an element of being both public and private. In part because of the space itself; Gildengate House can be difficult to find if you don’t know where to look. But also, these pieces were created in a very different world. One where the eyes of the public and the walls of the gallery were distant. We must wonder about the impact this had on the creative process. This kind of questioning is something which Eleanor Rodwell specialises in as an artist.

Eleanor’s ability to communicate the often-indescribable emotions and bodily murmurs that we all experience has always been a touching theme in her work. But the pressures of lockdown clearly stimulated something more in this project: the abrasion and melding of the home and the body. These ideas are explored in a depth of feverish imagination, with lockdown as the catalyst. We are once again asked to look at how being in isolation changed the way we perceive ourselves, our emotions, and the spaces that we inhabit. Put simply, that is what this exhibition is all about.

As she points out through her work, in some ways the home is an extension of the body, and the body in itself is a home. Lockdown brought this whole relationship into question. The calico and silk fabrics that hold Eleanor’s figurative explorations are not only an echo of the furnishings which surrounded us during isolation. They are also a demonstration that fabric is bodily in quality and like the mind and body, can distort, drape and crumple under abrasion and pressure. This sets the precedent for the ideas explored in many of the pieces.

The most striking elements of Eleanor’s project are large tapestries that bridge into sculpture, through both form and curation. One of the pieces was draped off the wall and across the floor, highlighting the difficulty Eleanor must have had in deciding what form her work was going to take. Eleanor used charcoal and pastel on calico and silk fabric to communicate the human body, and all its capability for feeling physical emotion, into abstraction.

As with the materials, the colours and textures also crossed the boundary between the body and the home. A meld of blacks, browns, reds, and yellows evoke a sense of the body in an elemental way with no time for ostentation. Eleanor melds the literal fabrics of home with chalked abstractions of the body, bringing the two concepts together in friction. Much like the domestic tension that was bubbling under the surface of our lockdown lives did.

Arts Theatre’s intermission is over

By Louise Collins

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

I describe myself as a theatre kid without the talent that most theatre kids possess. I adore everything about a trip to the theatre, I nearly exclusively listen to show tunes, and I collect all my theatre trip programmes. If I had a lick of talent, I would have been the most unbearable kid growing up. Alas, I can’t hold a tune, nor can I dance on beat. So, I live vicariously through watching theatre productions.

Every birthday and Christmas, I would be gifted at least one trip to the theatre, whether to watch a ballet, a play or a musical. It became a tradition for me and my mam, it was exciting, and it was fun. There was nothing like the post-show buzz where we’d be swarming out of the foyer and into the street with awed grins on our faces.

But then, of course, Covid hit and shut down theatres across the country. I’d been fortunate to have travelled to London a fortnight before the country shut down. I’d been to see Be More Chill which had only recently opened on the West End. When we went, there were only a couple of cases in England, nothing to worry about. How wrong we were.

The lockdown happened, and everything was cancelled. My flatmate and I were booked to see Everybody’s Talking About Jamie in June, and I’d had tickets for shows back in my home city. I was restricted to listening to the soundtracks or waiting for the professional recordings of live shows to be released. Obviously, it had to happen. But for me, and many other theatre lovers, it was a massive loss.

So, you can imagine how quick I was to book in when they started to open.

On September 1st, I was gifted tickets to see Heathers on opening night for my 21st birthday. In a week’s time, I was due to return to what felt like my second home. I couldn’t wait. As per our tradition, we made a night of it. We went out for food and a few drinks before making our way to our local theatre. Everyone was wearing masks, but I could still hear the excited chatter as we waited for the show to begin. And holy cow. What a return. My experience of Heathers was possibly one of the best audience experiences I’ve ever had. I’m not sure if that’s down to the sheer love of being back that I felt, or if it was just one of those shows. But the emotions were high, and I was close to crying with utter joy. I was buzzing afterwards, and I couldn’t stop thanking my mam for buying the tickets.

Two weeks later, I saw Six! at the Norwich Theatre Royal. It was my first time in this theatre, and it was my first time seeing this show. And wow, what a show. As with Heathers, I was moved to tears. At the end, the audience were all up dancing and it genuinely felt like coming home. It was clear to me that everyone in that audience was there because they had a genuine love for theatre, and they’d missed it during the pandemic just as much as I had. It may not have been the full theatre experience – part of the stage was blocked by the person in front of me – but it brought back a sense of comfort that was deeply missed during lockdown. I can’t wait to find myself in more audiences this year, catching up on all that was missed.

Afterall, there’s something about the arts that just makes you feel at home.

Nothing Happens in a petrol station

By Jess Blissitt

On opening night, I huddled into UEA’s Drama Studio for Minatour’s first show of their season. I was also particularly excited as it was my first piece of live theatre I had seen since the pandemic. The play entitled Nothing Happens In A Petrol Station performed for three nights at UEA’s Drama Studio. It was entirely created by students, written by last year’s graduates, performed by and directed by their successors. It truly showed off every aspect of UEA’s creativity.

The play surrounds a petrol station which appears to be in the middle of nowhere and follows seven different people and how their lives slowly intertwine. It brings all different ways of life together, from a sex-worker to a policeman. Each scene occurs in the twilight hour of 2am and when a nervous robber accidentally kills the store manager, the policeman decides she must replace her victim as store manager, to pay for the murder he just witnessed. A year later, another man kills her with the same mistake and ends up working there as well, in a cyclical theme that manifests throughout, all coerced and crafted by the police officer and his ill-fitting moral guide. The multiple points of view that entangle each character to be trapped in this gas station like their own personal hell, the idea was innovative, and this came across in every aspect of this performance.

The cast was only made up of seven actors, but each were faultless and brought their own fascinating performance. Additionally, there was a nice sense of familiarity between them which truly added to this realism from simply tiny nuances or how the actors kept a steady pace around the stage, it never felt dull or passive. The actors constantly used all the space around them, and this movement made the plot even more immediate. A huge congratulations to Ruby Belassie who directed with such detail in such a limited amount of time, as the cast and crew were only given a month to rehearse.

The costumes were created by each of the actors themselves, which added another creative twist to this play, as it offered a sense of character but also an insight into how the actor viewed their role and what kind of person they were trying to portray. The scenery was basic but functional, showing the interior of the gas station and the bench outside. Yet each of these items were used frequently by the cast, which truly brought the setting to life. The lighting and sound were also smoothly executed throughout, particularly the projector as it showed the exact date and time of each scene; a crucial part as the play had a non-linear timeline which helped build tension in this gripping drama. Overall, the backstage crew created a supportive front for the actors with steady, precise cues, as this allowed us to see exactly what the writers envisioned.

The actors were each incredible, but I found the policeman (played by Finn Lynch) particularly excellent. This was because they made a character so conceivably dislikeable and such a leering presence onstage, it was hard to believe he was anything other than an immoral police officer that coerced strangers into working in this petrol station. Indeed, his last scene with the sex worker had me enrapt by the abusive relationship between the two characters that I was inescapable invested in. As well as this, the Hitchhiker also stole the show, as his light comic relief got a big laugh from the audience. From his constant nose sniffles to his comedic timing, their huge charismatic presence set the standard high from the beginning.

Ultimately, I thoroughly enjoyed the performance, and I thought the cast and crew did incredibly well and I hope they are proud of what they produced.