"Playing the Rookery" featuring Imogen Bland, Jo Lewis and Paul Mclaughlin
"Playing the Rookery" was commissioned by the Friends of Streatham Common to celebrate the centenary of the Rookery garden, Streatham Common and was premiered at the community event "Centenary Celebrations" on 13th July 2013.
Following workshops with 150 children in three local schools designed both to inform the younger generation about the history and beauty of the garden and also to create their own sections of "Playing the Rookery", Music Off Canvas worked with a dancer, an actor and an artist to bring together the complete 40 minute work. Like pied-pipers, Music Off Canvas led the audience around three main areas of the garden revealing 'bird song and creatures of the forest' with dancer Imogen Bland and pupils from Immanuel School by the Cedar Tree, 'memories of the Rookery' with actor Paul Mclaughlin and pupils from Sunnyhill School by the Wishing Well and 'the sounds of water and origami boats' with artist Jo Lewis and pupils from Granton School by the Water Cascade.
www.streathamcommon.org @Rookery100
Following workshops with 150 children in three local schools designed both to inform the younger generation about the history and beauty of the garden and also to create their own sections of "Playing the Rookery", Music Off Canvas worked with a dancer, an actor and an artist to bring together the complete 40 minute work. Like pied-pipers, Music Off Canvas led the audience around three main areas of the garden revealing 'bird song and creatures of the forest' with dancer Imogen Bland and pupils from Immanuel School by the Cedar Tree, 'memories of the Rookery' with actor Paul Mclaughlin and pupils from Sunnyhill School by the Wishing Well and 'the sounds of water and origami boats' with artist Jo Lewis and pupils from Granton School by the Water Cascade.
www.streathamcommon.org @Rookery100
Imogen Bland, dancer
'I graduated from London Contemporary Dance School in 2011 with a first class BA honours. Since then I have been leading or being part of creative projects.
I like to create my own work and use external stimuli to challenge myself and keep exploring new ways to think, in particular the influence of psychology, sociology, culture and language.
I am co-director and resident choreographer/performer in Sounding Motion,a collaborative company of musicians and dancers.
My work'Naturale' with Sounding Motion was selected for Resolution! 2013 dance festival.
I have created and produced works which performed at Testbed1,Battersea; Chisenhale Dance Space, Simpkins Lee Theatre, Oxford, The Blue Elephant Theatre and The Robin Howard Dance Theatre.
I collaborate with different artists, most recently musicians and performance artists.This has drawn my practice to be more focussed on live improvisation and dance theatre.'
http://immy-174.wix.com/imogen-bland#!
I like to create my own work and use external stimuli to challenge myself and keep exploring new ways to think, in particular the influence of psychology, sociology, culture and language.
I am co-director and resident choreographer/performer in Sounding Motion,a collaborative company of musicians and dancers.
My work'Naturale' with Sounding Motion was selected for Resolution! 2013 dance festival.
I have created and produced works which performed at Testbed1,Battersea; Chisenhale Dance Space, Simpkins Lee Theatre, Oxford, The Blue Elephant Theatre and The Robin Howard Dance Theatre.
I collaborate with different artists, most recently musicians and performance artists.This has drawn my practice to be more focussed on live improvisation and dance theatre.'
http://immy-174.wix.com/imogen-bland#!
Jo Lewis, artist
Jo Lewis is a painter who lives and works in London.
'The work comes from my love of being in the landscape.
I work outside and in the moving waters of rivers and the sea.
The water flows over the paper as I paint, and the stones are collected from the waters’ edge.'
http://www.jolewisart.co.uk/index.html
'The work comes from my love of being in the landscape.
I work outside and in the moving waters of rivers and the sea.
The water flows over the paper as I paint, and the stones are collected from the waters’ edge.'
http://www.jolewisart.co.uk/index.html
Paul Mclaughlin, actor
Paul is a professional actor experienced in television, theatre, short film and commercials. Television includes: All Saints (Channel 7: Grundy). Theatre includes: Wasted (John), Richard III (Lord Hastings), And Then They Came For Me (Heinz Geiringer, Hitler Youth), Things We Want (Charlie), Plenty More Fish In The Sea (Andrew Farmer), and Macbeth (Lennox, Doctor of Psychology). Short Film: The 5th Stage for Rockus Productions.
Paul has a continuing interest in developing acting that has a deep intimacy, power and truth.
Paul has a continuing interest in developing acting that has a deep intimacy, power and truth.
'Playing The Rookery' - Synopsis and Photographs
Photographs taken by 'Roxane Grant Photography' www.roxanegrant.com
Movement 1 - 'Bird Song and Creatures of the Forest'
'Bird song and creatures of the forest' with dancer Imogen Bland and pupils from Immanuel School by the Cedar Tree opens the piece with a natural and organic opening. Flute, oboe and dancer are all hidden in the trees and bushes until the dancer eventually finds her sanctuary out in the open under the Cedar Tree. The flute and oboe play bird song until they reach the Cedar Tree when they turn to 'pixie music' calling the children form Immanuel School or 'creatures of the forest' out to play. The chidlren throw colourful roles of crepe paper in to the air as they run to circle the tree. When the dancer awakens however, they run and hide in the trees behind and the flute and oboe accompany a 'sleepy dance' with structured and developed birdsong. The dancer discovers the 'creatures of the forest' as they call out with their unique creature sound and brings them out to play once again. The group mirror one another both in sound and movement before uniting to proceed to the next area with the 'Rookery chant'.
Movement 2 - 'Memories of the Rookery'
The 'Rookery chant' leads onto the Wishing Well and Sundial area of the garden to reveal 'Memories of the Rookery' based on memories of local Streatham residents with actor Paul Mclaughlin and pupils from Sunnyhill School. Dancer Imogen Bland opens the movement by laying out strips of crepe paper down each of the six paths leading from the Sundial to represent different memories of a character's life played by actor Paul Mclaughlin.
The first path - purple crepe paper, represents childhood memories of going to the Rookery every Sunday after church. Children from Sunnyhill School gather the congregation with two strips of crepe paper to ten bell chimes played by flute and oboe. The second path - blue crepe paper, represents the streams of the Water Cascade and the character plays as a child, jumping to and from stepping stones. At the end of the path, the character finds a coin in the streams and leads onto the third path which represents the wishes of the wishing well. The music suggests dreams from various stages of the characters' life as he throws the coin up in to the air to the tambourine shakes of Sunnyhill school children. As the character reaches the end of the path, he throws the coin down the well and hears its 'echo' played by the flute. The character 'coo-ey's' down the well only to be responded to by tens of Sunnyhill school children revealing themselves from hiding places around the garden calling back 'coo-ey' as they replicate physical shapes of the trees and bushes surrounding them. The character chases after the children who run away into the 'White Garden' which entices the character to re-live his memories of this 'White Garden' on the fourth path. Accompanied by the 'White Garden Song' sung by Sunnyhill school children, he speaks of finding post-war peace, escapism and most of all love as he calmly follows the strip of white crepe paper to lead him up the fourth path and back to the Sundial. The fifth path - red crepe paper, sees the character swept off his feet in love as he dances with the paper to a flute and oboe duet reminiscing love songs of the 1930's. The character's kneel into proposal at the end of the path sees his figure morph back into that of an old gentleman again and he steers his way to the sixth and last path which represents 'change'. On this last strip of green crepe paper are powerful words taken directly from an 86 year old local resident, about future 'change' of the Rookery garden. Five children from Sunnyhill school read out the lines as the musicians proceed to carry the audience through to the final area of 'Playing the Rookery' - the Water Cascade.
The first path - purple crepe paper, represents childhood memories of going to the Rookery every Sunday after church. Children from Sunnyhill School gather the congregation with two strips of crepe paper to ten bell chimes played by flute and oboe. The second path - blue crepe paper, represents the streams of the Water Cascade and the character plays as a child, jumping to and from stepping stones. At the end of the path, the character finds a coin in the streams and leads onto the third path which represents the wishes of the wishing well. The music suggests dreams from various stages of the characters' life as he throws the coin up in to the air to the tambourine shakes of Sunnyhill school children. As the character reaches the end of the path, he throws the coin down the well and hears its 'echo' played by the flute. The character 'coo-ey's' down the well only to be responded to by tens of Sunnyhill school children revealing themselves from hiding places around the garden calling back 'coo-ey' as they replicate physical shapes of the trees and bushes surrounding them. The character chases after the children who run away into the 'White Garden' which entices the character to re-live his memories of this 'White Garden' on the fourth path. Accompanied by the 'White Garden Song' sung by Sunnyhill school children, he speaks of finding post-war peace, escapism and most of all love as he calmly follows the strip of white crepe paper to lead him up the fourth path and back to the Sundial. The fifth path - red crepe paper, sees the character swept off his feet in love as he dances with the paper to a flute and oboe duet reminiscing love songs of the 1930's. The character's kneel into proposal at the end of the path sees his figure morph back into that of an old gentleman again and he steers his way to the sixth and last path which represents 'change'. On this last strip of green crepe paper are powerful words taken directly from an 86 year old local resident, about future 'change' of the Rookery garden. Five children from Sunnyhill school read out the lines as the musicians proceed to carry the audience through to the final area of 'Playing the Rookery' - the Water Cascade.
Movement 3 - 'Origami Boats floating on the Sounds of Water'
The flute and oboe lead the audience through to the Water Cascade to find children from Granton School sitting round buckets full of water. As the children work their way through five 'water sounds' - plonking (cups 'plonked' quickly in and out of the water, pouring (cups held at a good height to poor water into the buckets), pitta-pitta (fingertips splashing the surface water), squeaking (rubbing the side of the bucket with wet finger tips) and knocking (hitting the sides of the bucket) the flute and oboe play music of bubbles, waves, drifting and choppy waters interspersed with haunting melodies as if they were 'tales from sea'. Collecting the children one by one to form a line as they transfer from bucket water sounds to vocal water sounds, the musicians lead them to pick up their Origami boats made in workshop with artist Jo Lewis. When the musicians reach the top of the Water Cascade, the children are free to let their boats set sail in any part of the stream or ponds which they desire.
The piece ends as organically as it opened, with Music Off Canvas disappearing into the bushes and trees once more playing bird song.
The piece ends as organically as it opened, with Music Off Canvas disappearing into the bushes and trees once more playing bird song.
The Workshops
Immanuel & St Andrew Primary School
On 18th June 2013 Music Off Canvas visited Immanuel and St Andrew primary school in Streatham with dancer Imogen Bland to explore the 'Cedar Tree' section of the Rookery. 30 children from Year 5 learnt about the history of the Rookery and joined us in exploring the sounds and shapes of nature. The children created their own unique sounds as 'creatures of the forest', performed exercises in mirroring shapes both in pairs, as a group led by dancer Imogen Bland and also in copying those of nature. They also created their own 'Rookery chant!' and presented the entire work to the rest of the school, who all left the room chanting "Roo-Ker-Ry" too!
http://www.immanuelschoollambeth.co.uk
http://www.immanuelschoollambeth.co.uk
Granton Primary School
On 19th June 2013 Music Off Canvas visited Granton School in Streatham with artist Jo Lewis to explore the 'Water Cascade' section of the Rookery. 60 children from Year 5 learnt about the history of the Rookery and joined us on a creative journey to express some of the beauties of the garden. They made origami boats with Jo which set sail in the ponds of the Rookery on 13th July as part of "Playing the Rookery" as well as learning about the sounds of water; creating their own sounds with water in buckets which were performed alongside Music Off Canvas.
http://www.grantonprimary.org.uk
http://www.grantonprimary.org.uk
Sunnyhill Primary School
On 5th July 2013 Music Off Canvas visited Sunnyhill Primary in Streatham with actor Paul Mclaughlin to explore the 'Wishing well and sundial' section of the Rookery. 60 children from Year 5 learnt about the history of the Rookery and joined us on a creative journey in presenting memories of local residents about the Rookery. The children wrote their own song about the White Garden, performed readings taken from memories of a local 87 year old, learnt how to create sound for mime acting with tambourines representing the throw of a coin, made physical shapes which represented those that could be found in the Rookery garden and presented vocal call and response as they echoed the actors 'cooey' down the well.
http://www.sunnyhillprimary.com
http://www.sunnyhillprimary.com
The Canvas
150 school children helped to create this canvas which represents the Rookery logo. Immanuel and St. Andrew Primary School wrote their 'creatures of the forest' sounds on to green leaf-shaped card forming the border, Granton Primary School wrote their 'water sounds' on blue wave-shaped card forming the background and Sunnyhill Primary School wrote down words which reflected the White Garden on red feathers which became the Rook.
Forget-Me-Nots
Whilst creating "Playing the Rookery" we collected memories of the Rookery from local residents from all generations. These were shared with the local primary school children and also became inspiration for the piece, particularly the sundial and wishing well section with actor Paul Mclaughlin. For the event on 13th July Music Off Canvas presented them all in a beautiful, secret and winding "Forget-Me-Not Path" written on old luggage tags and hung from branches.
Press and Publicity
Media
Radio
Friends of Streatham Common event manager, fundraiser and commissioner Sophie Hussey talks with Robert Elms on BBC London 94.9 about the Rookery Centenary celebrations. Music Off Canvas was mentioned and all their work in local schools too.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01bp09f
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01bp09f
'Forget-Me-Nots' - memories of local residents of the Rookery over its 100 year existence, were posted daily in the month leading up to the performance. They can be found on twitter -@MusicOffCanvas #rookeryforgetmenot
Rookery Centenary celebrations on twitter - @Rookery100
Rookery Centenary celebrations on twitter - @Rookery100
